sounds coool as fuck man hope those ufo's and spot led's ya picked up do the trick for ya lots of crap out there on ebay unfortunatley
keep us posted for sure man
I have mostly had success with ebay. I know many people believe there are different quality in lights that have the same spectrum and strength. I would be interested in proof of this. I see a lot of marketing here and I can assure everyone I am marketing nothing except the cheapest way to make it work well.
I have had great success with 9Watt led spots which you can now get for about $3 each on ebay if you buy 10 at a time (from China). That's .33 a watt. They also have the advantage of being able to point them places. I have added them to a array with 90 watt UFOs. 90 spots with 3 UFOs. I point some of them forward (in each direction) because there is a tracker and it seems to help the plants not go cold when the light is at the opposite side. I use old bathroom bar lights, salvaging the sockets with wires and some have metal tabs that can be slid into the frame of the UFOs. I solder all connections, tape and shield with plastic auto wire covering then solder a plug on these strings of 6 to 10 sockets which hold the spots. They look funky but are safe and work. The spots are just standard E27 sockets with 3- 3 watt leds. I use both warm and cool. I also use some reds and blues. They are now selling small spots with the red and blues of the Ufos. They are a bit over $1 a watt.
I have had great success with using white spots in a cloner. It is an ebb and flow with rockwool type and cost less than $20 to make. I make 45 clones in a small space (8x11 inches). Basically the plastic drawer to a Walmart sock drawer. At first I thought I would not work and be too crowded but it does and even seems to work better crowded with clones. Not sure why or if it is really true but I do get clones in about 2 to 3 weeks at about 90% or better. So I did a led vs cfl cloner test. I made 2 pretty identical cloners. On one with I used 2 - 40 watt CFLs and one with 4 - 9 watt leds. 2 warm, 2 cool. The LED tray did far better and the ones right under the leds did best of all. It was not scientific as there were other variables but showed to me that Leds work great for this and since that test have made 2 batches with success.
I also have excellent results in a small 3x3 tent Vegging with a tracker and 2-90watt UFOs with 10 spots. It only moved about 2 ft on the light rail but it seemed to help a lot. This room was stuffed with 36 plants from clones for a month. They grew well and remained bushy and healthy. They were in soil bags I make out of landscape fabric. (6x6x12 inches) These are the plants that are now in the 4x8 room.
I have read many post about the comparison between LEDs and HIDs. It seems that many have an almost religious zealotry for their preferred technology. I have never flowered plants with LEDs but will attempt it soon. I am not convinced that HIDs will be needed but am considering running a test in my 4x8 tent. In 1/2 the tent I'll use my 3 - 90watt UFOS (450 watts total) with spots and the other side a 600 watt HPS. At present I am vegging with just the UFO array on a tracker. It's coverage is not adequate for flowering but it is doing a good job at present with almost the full 4x8 in veg. So in 1/2 the UFOs and the other 1/2 the 600 watt HPS. They can be on the same tracker with a add a light kit. Not bought but made from crap lying around the metal pile out back. So they will both move about 3 feet on the tracker. That will cover the 4x4 of each area. I think that UFO array might be able to do 4x6 on it's own but then there would be no test against the HPS.
Not sure I want to risk this and end up with a low yield. The safest way would be to just add a 600 watt HPS to the LED array, removing the center UFO and putting in the HPS. It is more complicated cause you got to use a cool tube and then track the whole room (7 ft). I designed this system but have not tried to set it up. You know how it is. Roll one up then come up with all sorts of crazy ideas. But some of them are right on so?
I am a bit surprised I have not seem a direct comparison with 2 identical rooms. One with LEDs and one with HPS for flowering. It must have been done but maybe nobody's saying for some reason the results. You read claims but then the next sentence is "Buy my product".
What you Stoners think?
blackstars are good units too a little on the cheaper end of things but they produce for sure and they only offer a 1 year warranty which kinda worries me.
