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LED đź’ˇ for 4ft x 4f x 6.6ft tent

HCMPA

Active member
Well, I'm a good boy with few hobbies, no smoke, no whores, almost no drinking, wearing same clothes for years (sorry, but my size is still the same since I was 20 years old, XXL :p), so I think I'm going to pull the trigger since I have the way to keep it around €970.

The tent is going to be spider farmer 1.2m x 1.2m x 2m or the Mars Hydro equivalent, is only €9 difference between both, if my invaluable guide @Ca++ ask why, well my friend, I have (Spain) not so many choices (there are, but I'm going to talk only about the ones that have a bare minimum quality), I have one at €94 (Trafika brand), but is 200D (could be 240D, not sure ATM, but irrelevant) :eek:, on top of the "smoke paper walls," people complain badly about their zippers. I have another one (Hortosol brand), 600D, still flimsy, to make it worst, is only €20 less than Mars Hydro, and €29 less than Spider Farmer, then there are a few more (Cultivox, Secret Garden), all of them in the same price point than Mars and Spider (negligible price differences), so, still to decide, but is going to be Mars or Spider, €29 at worst is nothing, Spider Farmer looks to me better in the zippers department than Mars, so could be the one.

Lights are going to be Mars Hydro FC6500 730W LM301B, thanks to CA++, at €668 I think is the wise choice.

I have found out where to buy some nice carbon filters (again thanks to @Ca++, you have a friend in Spain, so don't hesitate to reach me if you come around, I will take care of you), brands are: Mountain Air, Prima Klima and KoalAir, depending on the inline fan I will buy one or another, nice news, I have all kind of sizes to chose, and they work perfect, being Mountain Air and KoalAir tested for a friend with no problem what's so ever, even one Mountain Air is still working perfect after 7x grows o_O (I must see/smell it by my self, but I have no reasons to no trust my friend), I'm pretty sure the "skunkis cat piss" that my friend is used to grow are much, much difficult to conceal than my sativas.

Inline fans, still I only have 100% clear the size, but nothing more, Prima Klima, RVK, Mrs Hydro or Spider Farm are the only available choices here, the AC Infinite (available only in amazon) are pricey (right now there is only 4" available which aren't sufficient), they cost almost double than Prima Klima or Mars/Spider and more than double than RVK, RVK are really cheap and reliable (most of them last years and years), not so quiet (but I'm almost sure are enough for me), still I can DIY a silent box easy, fact is, I'm not willing to DIY something that at the end between the fan and the DIY box is going to cost around €120 looking ugly cheap AF thing hanging around in front of my eyes day after day, because I will end hammering it till dust, and then spent again money to buy the right one almost at same price that the final cost of the DIY + fan.

Tuesday, finally I can get high, so I will keep high till the next Friday (Black Friday) right then I'm going to pull the trigger, I can't cry under Malawi fruity phenos influence :smokeit:

Thanks to all of you that spent your time helping me, icmag is the only international cannabis forum where I could ask things without being trolled to the end of the days, and even gets the right info, I'm lurking the ACE Seeds vendor sub-forum for years, is a pleasure to know that there are nice people not only there, but entire icmag forums.

Peace.
 
Last edited:

zachrockbadenof

Well-known member
Veteran
The thing is none of those 2.5 come from the factory pumping out “a couple bar of boost” more commonly 1-1.5bar. Now lots and lots of people like to add a turbo to a Honda, or other 4 banger and try to say it can hang with a V8. Well maybe a little. But now let’s compare that modded Honda/ext.. to a modded V8. Any Ford Mustang that someone takes the time to turbo will walk all but the most wild 4cyl build. Same with any other V8 that is turbocharged or supercharged.

I have a 2017 Honda Civic Si that is a lot of fun to drive. It might, I stress might, be able to hang with my 2016 F150 Crew Cab 5.0 V8. It would probably be door to door up to ~100 then I’ll admit the Honda will pull on the truck. Main reasons that the truck has a 105mph cut off built into the computer.

So stock for stock there aren’t many 4 cylinder cars that are running away from V8 cars while I’ll admit there are a few. Modded the V8 car wins hands down.

Back to regularly scheduled programming.
true ... true... i harken back to when i was growing up and got my license ... dec 1968... the cars that ran were running low/mid 13's.... today thats a joke... u can buy a caddy off the floor that will run in the 12's... ofcourse it will cost you 100k ...plus.... but the tech today is crazed...

a 1000+ hp challenger... holy shit...

but a question... a 760hp corvette will run a 450hp Porsche at the track, and will be quicker down the 1/4... how could this be??? approx same weight.... so either one is over-estimating the hp, or one is under-estimating.... it mite be that the americans r over-estimating... u know we have to have the bigger dick...
 

Ca++

Well-known member
Another good guy I can see on my travels :) it's always good to know. I would make the same offer, but the chances of you coming here are about zero lol

The term '6' goes back a few years now. 4's 6's and 1000's is probably starting to make sense. They are HID sizes. The 6 is a 600w HPS. I would post you one, but it's not worth the postage lol

Look where your tent is going, then look if your tent choices have different access styles. One annoyance I have found, is a straight zipper down the front, that opens from the top. I don't want to check on my filter and lights, I want to water my plants, and not see the light in my eyes at all. These things might not be immediately obvious, so picture yourself using it. This might be the decider.

I vent a bigger tent with a 100mm fan, that has not been past 60%. Then again.. England.
The RVK is my weapon of choice. They are the only style that will deal with a difficult duct run, and still suck the tent walls in enough that you don't need an inlet fan. I'm done with the usual motors though, and now I like the EC ones. They can trickle along without vibration, making nothing but ruffled air noise, that silencers can do a great job with. Most come with speed control, and can use fancy controls if you are handy with wiring. TBH I just set the speed on a manual control, and my fancy RH/Temp controller sits in it's box, waiting to get trod on. I vent for odour control before all else.
I'm probably paying 120 euros for a 100mm EC motor rvk, but there is a waiting time. In the EU, Germany to be precise, is a radon? gas company. They are the cheapest I have seem them on the shelf. Around 180 euros. These fans are absolutely killing it though. The one's I get are 900Pa, and a mixed flow is about 250pa iirc. Which loose half it's capacity, just because of the filter.
I have a thread I'm sure..
It's a bit chewy https://www.icmag.com/threads/free-fan-save-money-and-reduce-noise-massively.18124953/
 

HCMPA

Active member
Another good guy I can see on my travels :) it's always good to know. I would make the same offer, but the chances of you coming here are about zero lol

The term '6' goes back a few years now. 4's 6's and 1000's is probably starting to make sense. They are HID sizes. The 6 is a 600w HPS. I would post you one, but it's not worth the postage lol

Look where your tent is going, then look if your tent choices have different access styles. One annoyance I have found, is a straight zipper down the front, that opens from the top. I don't want to check on my filter and lights, I want to water my plants, and not see the light in my eyes at all. These things might not be immediately obvious, so picture yourself using it. This might be the decider.

I vent a bigger tent with a 100mm fan, that has not been past 60%. Then again.. England.
The RVK is my weapon of choice. They are the only style that will deal with a difficult duct run, and still suck the tent walls in enough that you don't need an inlet fan. I'm done with the usual motors though, and now I like the EC ones. They can trickle along without vibration, making nothing but ruffled air noise, that silencers can do a great job with. Most come with speed control, and can use fancy controls if you are handy with wiring. TBH I just set the speed on a manual control, and my fancy RH/Temp controller sits in it's box, waiting to get trod on. I vent for odour control before all else.
I'm probably paying 120 euros for a 100mm EC motor rvk, but there is a waiting time. In the EU, Germany to be precise, is a radon? gas company. They are the cheapest I have seem them on the shelf. Around 180 euros. These fans are absolutely killing it though. The one's I get are 900Pa, and a mixed flow is about 250pa iirc. Which loose half it's capacity, just because of the filter.
I have a thread I'm sure..
It's a bit chewy https://www.icmag.com/threads/free-fan-save-money-and-reduce-noise-massively.18124953/
UK guy! I go there to some very well known metal's festivals, I love Knebworth Park (Stevenage), IMO best metal festival in Europe (the sound, the place, the incredible main stage, the history, the people behind it, is awesome), now these festivals are called Sonisphere, sadly it doesn't do festivals every year, but I try to not miss one, I have been several times at Downloads Festivals as well, but in recent years it has changed its style to accommodate the new generations (and some music styles that have nothing to do with modern metal or metal at all), and being so far away I prefer to spend my money on the few Spanish festivals that are more of my liking.

Back to my indoor adventures, I know 6" (150mm) inline duct fans are enough to pop the tent like a hot air balloon, maybe I cut it to 125mm or even 100mm, because noise is not going to be so much of a problem (I'm going to grow in the second history of my house, which is empty and doesn't face the street, it faces my interior garden), just is obvious, that an oversize fan is going to work way more relaxed, with all that means, IMO isn't a bad idea, but yeah, going to 3x the needed CFM is a bit dumb, if I'm not mistaken, 1.2 x 1.2 x 2 = 2.88, 2.88 x 60 = 173, 173 x 1.33 = 230 CFM (cubic meters), 230 cubic meters per hour is nothing for a 150mm fan, they could go to 700/900 as everyone can read at Prima Klima, RVK, etc, etc, specifications, that being said, I'll go for something that don't need to run much more high/fast than 50% of the max capacity to renew the total cubic meters of my tent every minute.

Peace
 

HCMPA

Active member
i bought a mars fce8000 ( the cheap light) for a 5x5ft tent - 1st grow at about 70pct power was under-welming - but maybe it was the grower .. we will see...
You already did any full run under fce8000? If so, would be nice if you tell us how it was. I don't know how reliable and all the other things (light spectrum/blues/reds...) are the diodes on the FC E Mrs lights models, if my memory doesn't trick me, they are not Samsung, which I don't think means anything bad or good, just I don't know, and can't read almost nothing about them on the Internet, there are few opinions saying that they are happy, but only in the official Mars website, and well, is not the best place to looks for unbiased opinions.

Peace
 

zachrockbadenof

Well-known member
Veteran
i agree, opinions about mars on their site, ain't the best place to get unbiased opinions- yes i did a full run last spring into may... as many have said, led is a learning curve. to my mind , the grow was under-welming.. we grew headbanger,sour diesel kush, purple punch, runtz,panama, and i think 2 others... prob toooo many plants for a 5x5ft tent... was not impressed with the bud development , rather small compared to 315cmh's which were used on our previous grow/s... as said the power was about 70pct, and maybe the lights were tooo close to the tops... i dunno... my feeling is you want whatever lights u use as close to the tops without burning em... the fce series uses bridgelux diodes ... prob not as powerful as samsung, but my feeling was the 8000 is overkill for a 5x5 tent, so went cheap...

this present grow is in veg, will go 12/12 shortly - what i have noticed , are the clones from last grow r nice and green, but the seeds we started (always looking for better weed) , are pale green... not sure why.. i bumped up the fox farm nutes a few days ago, so we will see if they green up...

does any of this refer to the lights.... i dunno...
 

Ca++

Well-known member
UK guy! I go there to some very well known metal's festivals, I love Knebworth Park (Stevenage), IMO best metal festival in Europe (the sound, the place, the incredible main stage, the history, the people behind it, is awesome), now these festivals are called Sonisphere, sadly it doesn't do festivals every year, but I try to not miss one, I have been several times at Downloads Festivals as well, but in recent years it has changed its style to accommodate the new generations (and some music styles that have nothing to do with modern metal or metal at all), and being so far away I prefer to spend my money on the few Spanish festivals that are more of my liking.

Back to my indoor adventures, I know 6" (150mm) inline duct fans are enough to pop the tent like a hot air balloon, maybe I cut it to 125mm or even 100mm, because noise is not going to be so much of a problem (I'm going to grow in the second history of my house, which is empty and doesn't face the street, it faces my interior garden), just is obvious, that an oversize fan is going to work way more relaxed, with all that means, IMO isn't a bad idea, but yeah, going to 3x the needed CFM is a bit dumb, if I'm not mistaken, 1.2 x 1.2 x 2 = 2.88, 2.88 x 60 = 173, 173 x 1.33 = 230 CFM (cubic meters), 230 cubic meters per hour is nothing for a 150mm fan, they could go to 700/900 as everyone can read at Prima Klima, RVK, etc, etc, specifications, that being said, I'll go for something that don't need to run much more high/fast than 50% of the max capacity to renew the total cubic meters of my tent every minute.

Peace
A bigger fan will make a little less air noise, at the same flow rate. The noise that carries though, is usually the mechanical hum and vibration. The bigger fans greater moving mass, making it like a bigger speaker. This vibration issue about vanishes with EC fans though.
I have been buying from Ali, where any size EC RVK is about 60 euros inclusive. The problem is postage. The train via russia is another 60. That could mean a 2 month wait. While dhl/tnt/dnt might ask 120 themselves.
The Vents VK might be more available. VENTS VK 100 EC P perhaps. 340 meters per hour, and the Pa rating to make it happen against strong odds. Though you really won't want that air exchange per minute.
 

HCMPA

Active member
i agree, opinions about mars on their site, ain't the best place to get unbiased opinions- yes i did a full run last spring into may... as many have said, led is a learning curve. to my mind , the grow was under-welming.. we grew headbanger,sour diesel kush, purple punch, runtz,panama, and i think 2 others... prob toooo many plants for a 5x5ft tent... was not impressed with the bud development , rather small compared to 315cmh's which were used on our previous grow/s... as said the power was about 70pct, and maybe the lights were tooo close to the tops... i dunno... my feeling is you want whatever lights u use as close to the tops without burning em... the fce series uses bridgelux diodes ... prob not as powerful as samsung, but my feeling was the 8000 is overkill for a 5x5 tent, so went cheap...

this present grow is in veg, will go 12/12 shortly - what i have noticed , are the clones from last grow r nice and green, but the seeds we started (always looking for better weed) , are pale green... not sure why.. i bumped up the fox farm nutes a few days ago, so we will see if they green up...

does any of this refer to the lights.... i dunno...
Well, if 8000 is overkill in your 5ft tent, then 6500 are about the same in a 4ft tent, even more if really the Samsung diodes LM301B are more powerful. The trick looks like is in the dimming and distance from canopy, at least there are way fewer factors than in my outdoor adventures, there are no deer, wild boars, donkeys, all types of caterpillars, etc. etc. so a bit of fun/game with the lights in the long run would be welcome :biggrin:

I don't think I would do more than 4 pots/plants per run, not from seed of course, I have more cannabis than I need, so I want to enjoy it as a hobby, and for my love to the plant, I don't want to be a "slave watering guy" breaking my back.
My veg time should be around 2 weeks from seed, and when I'm gets confident enough, I will try some more untamed Hazes and Thai ones (I must say the more out of control beast I grew was a Honduras x Panama, it was huuuuuge, around 5 pounds dry, I never seem so big, large and powerful roots, Golden Tygers was put almost to shame).

Peace.
 

HCMPA

Active member
A bigger fan will make a little less air noise, at the same flow rate. The noise that carries though, is usually the mechanical hum and vibration. The bigger fans greater moving mass, making it like a bigger speaker. This vibration issue about vanishes with EC fans though.
I have been buying from Ali, where any size EC RVK is about 60 euros inclusive. The problem is postage. The train via russia is another 60. That could mean a 2 month wait. While dhl/tnt/dnt might ask 120 themselves.
The Vents VK might be more available. VENTS VK 100 EC P perhaps. 340 meters per hour, and the Pa rating to make it happen against strong odds. Though you really won't want that air exchange per minute.
I have them all already in Spain shops (and no so more than €60), only the few big ones shops ofc, but they are already here, I order today and tomorrow are in my house, not all is bad around here, praise to God xD
I can buy from "The Green Brand" (time ago called growbarato) or from eurogrow, which I love for their service and prices, growbarato called me liar time ago, I get some seeds packs already open and ofc empty (I send them photos, it was clear that the packs never was sealed, it was a packaging fault), after years of spending nice money every year, and even when I could trick them a couple of times because some errors from their part, but I was nice enough to no take advantage, so eurogrow will be :kiss:

I have some experience with aliexpress and all the like, time back I was doing some work and buying a lot of electronic parts from there, thanks to God I don't anymore, eternal times and it was rare if I have the chance to claim... I did just because I need to be competitive to win/keep customers, but bye bye :party:

Best regards.
 

Ca++

Well-known member
I don't think 60 euros will get you an EC fan. Maybe 160 euros. Though an AC fan can be had for that sort of money. Having added a speed controller, the gap closes a little, but the power bill fully closes the gap, very quickly.
60 is a nice figure though, if noise is truly no issue.
 

blondie

Well-known member
I did end up keeping my fc-e6500. It seems to be a nice light. Very bright and you can dim if need be. Very very bright in the 4x4. Good luck.
 

HCMPA

Active member
I don't think 60 euros will get you an EC fan. Maybe 160 euros. Though an AC fan can be had for that sort of money. Having added a speed controller, the gap closes a little, but the power bill fully closes the gap, very quickly.
60 is a nice figure though, if noise is truly no issue.
- RVK extractor (from €81).
- VK Extractor (from €56).

If I'm not mistaken, they are Germans/Swiss, so maybe this is why they cost a bit more in England.

Peace.
 

HCMPA

Active member
I did end up keeping my fc-e6500. It seems to be a nice light. Very bright and you can dim if need be. Very very bright in the 4x4. Good luck.
Thanks so much, I already assumed (I hope it will be rock solid decision till the next Friday at less jajaja), that FC 6500 will be.

Best regards.
 

Ca++

Well-known member
- RVK extractor (from €81).
- VK Extractor (from €56).

If I'm not mistaken, they are Germans/Swiss, so maybe this is why they cost a bit more in England.

Peace.
Yes, I can get AC fans like those, but they are not as good. I'm talking EC fans. They still plug in the wall, but internally they are DC brushless motors. It makes them save lots of electric, while doing a better job, without the 50/60hz vibration.

The AC fan is near the end. Building regs in the EU are stopping them being fitted. The current energy class requirements almost outlaw them, and the in coming one's will see these old fans vanish

The 125mm fan you linked to, offers 142 pascals of pressure. My 100mm EC offers 900 pascals of pressure. So while I was at 60%, it was still shoving like 4 of these on full power.
The cubic meters per hour figure, is measured against no resistance. The fan is just sat in free space, doing it's best. In these circumstances, a 7" $20 clip fan shifts more air. That axial fan design we are used to seeing on our desks, offers no shove though. It won't work in a duct. In ducts, we have to start looking at the resistance to flow, that the fan must overcome.
The link you sent, shows each fan size comes with two different motors. Another $10 gets the better motor, and 332pa of shove. Perhaps half of that will be lost to the filter, leaving it performing like the low power fan did, without a filter. While the low powered one with a filter on, is a waste of a good filter. You couldn't use a 300mm filter, as it might not breathe, and a 600mm long filter, is half the tent gone. Leaving 600mm to fit fan and a silencer. It's just not enough space. However, the higher powered fan will suck through the 300mm filter, and have room in the tent for a 500mm silencer.

The 900pa of the 100mm EC fan is enough for two filters. Sucking through one, and out the other, while keeping the filters running at a reasonable 75%. With one filter I never went below a 150mm high power, when using AC motors. Because anything smaller was toy town. It's only EC motors that make 100mm fan&filter sets a real prospect.

You could probably do a grow without a fan at all. Many of the extract kits we can buy, are sub standard cheap stuff, that is better than nothing. Pulling together all your fan, filter and ducting specs (if available) is hard work. All I could ever hope a reader to do, is look at some of these figures I have used, and see which way the wind is blowing.
That thread I linked to is full of graphs for fans and filters, and I think I have a thread on ducting also. It's well worth looking at how your fan and filter choice will work together. I think you will go for a high powered 150mm, from the shop you showed me. While it's obvious I would go with the 100mm EC fan (they don't sell)


Most of the recent tube fans we see with fancy LCD controllers are EC fans. It's just a shame we are getting mixed flow designs, instead of centrifugal. Soon your supplier should pay the extra 20 euros the EC fan costs at source, and the AC fan will be gone. For now though, that 20 euros is something people don't want to pay. Not until they must. Then like with LED, they will wish they did it long ago.
 

Douglas.Curtis

Autistic Diplomat in Training
Giving away 6's... at least in Colorado it means people have an over-abundance of 600w HPS ballasts, and lamps are cheap. Unless super stealth/anonymity are important, look around and you may be able to pick up an HID ballast, lamp and hood for under $100.

Get growing while you continue your research and savings for the LED light you really want/need. :)
 

HCMPA

Active member
Yes, I can get AC fans like those, but they are not as good. I'm talking EC fans. They still plug in the wall, but internally they are DC brushless motors. It makes them save lots of electric, while doing a better job, without the 50/60hz vibration.

The AC fan is near the end. Building regs in the EU are stopping them being fitted. The current energy class requirements almost outlaw them, and the in coming one's will see these old fans vanish

The 125mm fan you linked to, offers 142 pascals of pressure. My 100mm EC offers 900 pascals of pressure. So while I was at 60%, it was still shoving like 4 of these on full power.
The cubic meters per hour figure, is measured against no resistance. The fan is just sat in free space, doing it's best. In these circumstances, a 7" $20 clip fan shifts more air. That axial fan design we are used to seeing on our desks, offers no shove though. It won't work in a duct. In ducts, we have to start looking at the resistance to flow, that the fan must overcome.
The link you sent, shows each fan size comes with two different motors. Another $10 gets the better motor, and 332pa of shove. Perhaps half of that will be lost to the filter, leaving it performing like the low power fan did, without a filter. While the low powered one with a filter on, is a waste of a good filter. You couldn't use a 300mm filter, as it might not breathe, and a 600mm long filter, is half the tent gone. Leaving 600mm to fit fan and a silencer. It's just not enough space. However, the higher powered fan will suck through the 300mm filter, and have room in the tent for a 500mm silencer.

The 900pa of the 100mm EC fan is enough for two filters. Sucking through one, and out the other, while keeping the filters running at a reasonable 75%. With one filter I never went below a 150mm high power, when using AC motors. Because anything smaller was toy town. It's only EC motors that make 100mm fan&filter sets a real prospect.

You could probably do a grow without a fan at all. Many of the extract kits we can buy, are sub standard cheap stuff, that is better than nothing. Pulling together all your fan, filter and ducting specs (if available) is hard work. All I could ever hope a reader to do, is look at some of these figures I have used, and see which way the wind is blowing.
That thread I linked to is full of graphs for fans and filters, and I think I have a thread on ducting also. It's well worth looking at how your fan and filter choice will work together. I think you will go for a high powered 150mm, from the shop you showed me. While it's obvious I would go with the 100mm EC fan (they don't sell)


Most of the recent tube fans we see with fancy LCD controllers are EC fans. It's just a shame we are getting mixed flow designs, instead of centrifugal. Soon your supplier should pay the extra 20 euros the EC fan costs at source, and the AC fan will be gone. For now though, that 20 euros is something people don't want to pay. Not until they must. Then like with LED, they will wish they did it long ago.
Thanks, you just bring light to the darkness of my knowledge!!

I will go with EC fans, I already have found one (even temp/RH controlled) at affordable price, I will post the final setup, thanks sir!
 

Ca++

Well-known member
Be wary if that EC motor is attached to a mixed flow blade set. Check the specs, and perhaps reference them in that other thread. A few fan/filter combos are used as examples over there.

A typical mixed flow with smart colour controller, performs around 50% with a reasonable filter, iirc. I would have to check my other thread. A 6" would do it, if the duct run is pretty straight and clear.
 

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