Jumping on board the LED train...looking for the proper light

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Ryante55

Well-Known Member
nflguy said:
I realize that like anything else, "you get what you pay for" reigns in the lighting business too, but I simply cant afford $600 for a light. Its way over my budget. What makes these lights so far better than anything from Amazon where I see various setups well under $200? No disrespect intended by the way
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If you buy blurple you need twice as many watts as quantum boards so 600w if you go with cheap lights 300w if you get quantum boards make sure you factor that into the cost
 
Frank Nitty

Frank Nitty

Well-Known Member
Ryante55 said:
I would consider $600 to be a really good deal for led to fill out a 3x3 if that sounds expensive to you stick with hid.
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But wouldn't that be too much for that size? Like I have a tent thats 2x2x3, if I put 600 dollars worth of light in there i would burn everything that is in there up!!! I suppose that if his tent/room has high ceilings then he would be alright...
 
GBAUTO

GBAUTO

Well-Known Member
Frank Nitty said:
But wouldn't that be too much for that size? Like I have a tent thats 2x2x3, if I put 600 dollars worth of light in there i would burn everything that is in there up!!! I suppose that if his tent/room has high ceilings then he would be alright...
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THIS ^^^ is where all of the confusion starts.
The efficiency of the light source determines how much 'light' it emits. Lower efficiency like CFL, fluorescent tubes or older 'blurple' fixtures produce less than 1/2 the amount of photons from the same watt of power pulled from the wall plug. This is where using better technology lets you get more for less-its that simple.
 
BarryBwana

BarryBwana

Well-Known Member
Ryante55 said:
If you buy blurple you need twice as many watts as quantum boards so 600w if you go with cheap lights 300w if you get quantum boards make sure you factor that into the cost
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So here's a question. Purely from a quality and quantity of yield perspective.... is that 600w blurple equal to, inferior to, or superior to that 300w quantum board?

I got a cheap 600w vipar spectra led because it came on a good deal for a 4x2x6 unit farm tent and I know I need to get some better lighting for flowering and even just going forward. Doubling that blurple 600w is a lot cheaper than getting a good quality even at just 300w led (white cob/QB) from what I've seen. I've been planning on a HLG or Timberline but if I don't have to spend that money (which I don't mind if the investment returns are worthwhile) to get top quality yields I'll invest it elsewhere in my setup.
 
R

Ryante55

Well-Known Member
Frank Nitty said:
But wouldn't that be too much for that size? Like I have a tent thats 2x2x3, if I put 600 dollars worth of light in there i would burn everything that is in there up!!! I suppose that if his tent/room has high ceilings then he would be alright...
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Pretty sure he said 3x3 and plug an play fixure if you have something cheaper that is not a kit or diy in any way post a link. The hlg300 is exactly $600 and would be perfect
 
R

Ryante55

Well-Known Member
BarryBwana said:
So here's a question. Purely from a quality and quantity of yield perspective.... is that 600w blurple equal to, inferior to, or superior to that 300w quantum board?

I got a cheap 600w vipar spectra led because it came on a good deal for a 4x2x6 unit farm tent and I know I need to get some better lighting for flowering and even just going forward. Doubling that blurple 600w is a lot cheaper than getting a good quality even at just 300w led (white cob/QB) from what I've seen. I've been planning on a HLG or Timberline but if I don't have to spend that money (which I don't mind if the investment returns are worthwhile) to get top quality yields I'll invest it elsewhere in my setup.
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It would probably be cheaper to get hps vs getting another viparspectra so I'm not sure what your point is if your not trying to save power don't worry about led. if you want the lowest power output with the most light spend the money if you don't want to spend the money get hps. Im really not sure what point your trying to make

Edit: those 2 vipars would yield the same or less than the hlg300 assuming the grower knows what they are doing
 
Frank Nitty

Frank Nitty

Well-Known Member
Ryante55 said:
Pretty sure he said 3x3 and plug an play fixure if you have something cheaper that is not a kit or diy in any way post a link. The hlg300 is exactly $600 and would be perfect
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Ive never seen that... Im a small time noob dude! All I have is a qb288 135w kit... In my 2x2x3 it has worked wonders for me and my plants, $187 out the door from growerslights.com
 
R

Ryante55

Well-Known Member
Frank Nitty said:
Ive never seen that... Im a small time noob dude! All I have is a qb288 135w kit... In my 2x2x3 it has worked wonders for me and my plants, $187 out the door from growerslights.com
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So a kit? The stated he wanted plug an play if he's cool with a kit he can save money. Your using 4 square feet he has 9 so he need just over double the light.
 
Frank Nitty

Frank Nitty

Well-Known Member
GBAUTO said:
THIS ^^^ is where all of the confusion starts.
The efficiency of the light source determines how much 'light' it emits. Lower efficiency like CFL, fluorescent tubes or older 'blurple' fixtures produce less than 1/2 the amount of photons from the same watt of power pulled from the wall plug. This is where using better technology lets you get more for less-its that simple.
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That doesn't answer my question... Maybe you did, but I still don't understand... All I really care about is the end result of the grow...
 
coreywebster

coreywebster

Well-Known Member
BarryBwana said:
So here's a question. Purely from a quality and quantity of yield perspective.... is that 600w blurple equal to, inferior to, or superior to that 300w quantum board?
.
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One of these lights is an individual, one of these lights is doing its own thing.

Sorry, bit of sesame street came to mind.

One of the lights is a true 300w super efficient unit with a great spectrum all round.
The other (600w vipar) is a 269w much much less efficient unit made from cheap parts that have a high fail rate and a terrible spectrum.

The QB wins by a mile. But two vipars adding up to 538w might beat the 300w QB. Might not though.
 
blowincherrypie

blowincherrypie

Well-Known Member
coreywebster said:
One of these lights is an individual, one of these lights is doing its own thing.

Sorry, bit of sesame street came to mind.

One of the lights is a true 300w super efficient unit with a great spectrum all round.
The other (600w vipar) is a 269w much much less efficient unit made from cheap parts that have a high fail rate and a terrible spectrum.

The QB wins by a mile. But two vipars adding up to 538w might beat the 300w QB. Might not though.
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And at that point you really may as well get a 600w hps
 
BAMS

BAMS

Well-Known Member
blowincherrypie said:
And at that point you really may as well get a 600w hps
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I Agree, might as well get a 600w HPS. But then there are other factor to consider for end of use cost if one opts for the HPS route. First and foremost is that they run intensly hotter, so dependant on where one lives, that person will have to consider extracting the heat more efficiently which could be as drastic as using some form of refrigerant cooling device (Air conditioner, aquarium chiller to chill revervoir water if doing hydroponics, etc etc), which at the end of the day chews thru a power bill. Another cost factor is the life of the HPS globe. When I used HPS lights, I would always change the globes after each grow, sometimes stretching it out to every second grow. At a rate of $50 (Minimum) per globe, the cost added up.

For me personally I like COB better than QB, and the the only reason I put COB before QB is that if one of my COB chips die, I can replace that COB chip for $15-$30 (aud), rather than having to buy a new QB. Though I will say that light distribution on a QB is unmatched compared to COB
 
blowincherrypie

blowincherrypie

Well-Known Member
BAMS said:
I Agree, might as well get a 600w HPS. But then there are other factor to consider for end of use cost if one opts for the HPS route. First and foremost is that they run intensly hotter, so dependant on where one lives, that person will have to consider extracting the heat more efficiently which could be as drastic as using some form of refrigerant cooling device (Air conditioner, aquarium chiller to chill revervoir water if doing hydroponics, etc etc), which at the end of the day chews thru a power bill. Another cost factor is the life of the HPS globe. When I used HPS lights, I would always change the globes after each grow, sometimes stretching it out to every second grow. At a rate of $50 (Minimum) per globe, the cost added up.

For me personally I like COB better than QB, and the the only reason I put COB before QB is that if one of my COB chips die, I can replace that COB chip for $15-$30 (aud), rather than having to buy a new QB. Though I will say that light distribution on a QB is unmatched compared to COB
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Those 600w of vipar will kick off as much heat, if not more, than a 600w cooltube imo.. and I would almost guarantee your yield would be better (should be way better)
 
Frank Nitty

Frank Nitty

Well-Known Member
Ryante55 said:
Sounds like you would be happy with hps
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Nope, qb for me... I know that you can get more with the big lights, but I'm not in the market for that... Too much electricity being used... If I took the res out of here, I could probably get 3 288s in this cabinet and that would probably be too much for 3 plants, let alone 2...
 
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