MissinThe90’sStrains
Well-Known Member
The 3 Hunza Valley 91 plants I posted several pics of on the Lucky Dog thread were grown under 2 Viparspectra xs 2500’s. I’ve got a cheap par meter I can take some readings with if you’d like.
2x4 tent , light upgrade.
- Thread starter Moistvonlipwig
- Start date
laddyd
Well-Known Member
I ran two Viparspectra XS1500 lights in a 2x4 tent, a pro and a regular. They will give you wall to wall corner to corner coverage.
I had and continue to have a problem with heat. 300 watts sounds good on paper but that's a lot of heat being generated. I switched to a 6" fan and that seems to do the trick but still I just run the lights at 75%.
I had and continue to have a problem with heat. 300 watts sounds good on paper but that's a lot of heat being generated. I switched to a 6" fan and that seems to do the trick but still I just run the lights at 75%.
The Vipar site has had problems with their product listing pages for the 1500 and the 2500 for months which is pretty sad. I can't find a link to it but you can get to the product page by using the search feature. The link is here.
This is their PPFD map. The PPFD map from Amazon is shown below and they're different. Apparently, their product engineering people do a much better job than their software engineering people (I'm a software engineer).
If you're running 100% at 10", that's right at 900µmol. Congrats - many growers won't go near the light level. You should be getting excellent results.
From the Amazon product listing:
And it's a board light with an on board driver (so it's going to be warmer than a bar light with a dismountable driver).
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Which meter? I'd be interested to see how it compares to Vipar's numbers.
MissinThe90’sStrains
Well-Known Member
Amazon uni-t meter.
pegboy
Well-Known Member
Just noticed Spider Farmer has a redesigned G4500 that looks pretty nice and the price is right. 320W.
www.spider-farmer.com
EDIT: this one too.
www.spider-farmer.com
2024 Newest Version Cost Effective 320W G4500 Led Grow Lights For Plants
The latest series, budget-friendly. Perfect for 3x5 or 2x4 indoor plants, ideal for beginners. Efficient cooling driver, high yields.
www.spider-farmer.com
EDIT: this one too.
Spider Farmer®SE4500 EVO 320W LED Grow Light Samsung LM301H EVO Diodes
2024 Spider Farmer SE4500 320W led grow lights. High efficacy up to 2.85umol/J. Dimmable full spectrum, cover 2x4FT(70x140cm). Hydropinc Plant growing lighting.
www.spider-farmer.com
Grrrr…Just noticed Spider Farmer has a redesigned G4500 that looks pretty nice and the price is right. 320W.
2024 Newest Version Cost Effective 320W G4500 Led Grow Lights For Plants
The latest series, budget-friendly. Perfect for 3x5 or 2x4 indoor plants, ideal for beginners. Efficient cooling driver, high yields.
EDIT: this one too.
Spider Farmer®SE4500 EVO 320W LED Grow Light Samsung LM301H EVO Diodes
2024 Spider Farmer SE4500 320W led grow lights. High efficacy up to 2.85umol/J. Dimmable full spectrum, cover 2x4FT(70x140cm). Hydropinc Plant growing lighting.
You got one of the good ones. The new 4500's use a 320 watt driver vs 430 and PPFD is far lower than your light. On the positive side, the spectrum has a lot more red in it but, overall, it's a step down for
The V1 4500 was a PPFD monster. I'm looking to replace my Growcraft flower light because it's a 2020 design and has some light falloff at the edges.
The issue that I'm looking to deal with is to be able to put 1kµmol on the canopy with temps at the flower tops <78°.
The 4500 could hit those numbers.
Check out the 16" values. My thinking was that I could raise the 4500 (SE or G) to 18" or higher and hit my temperature mark.
Why <78°?
As Mitch Westmoreland discovered and as he shared in his YouTube videos, cannabanoid levels plummet when flower tops are >78°. (Westmoreland is a PhD student and now candidate under Bugbee).
The V1 4500 is far more powerful than any other 2' x 4' light and they did it by shoehorning in a 430 watt driver, which is what they were using for one of their 4' lights.
A week ago, they introduce the new "gelded" model. (Well, they didn't call it "gelded", I might have slipped that in.)
It's the same price, more red in the spectrum and the 320 watt driver puts out enough light to make it just another light.
My business owner + cannabis grower brain figures that they were getting call from growers who were damaging their plants + the cost of the 420 watt driver + very few people will actually use all of that light so they came out with a product that will still sell but will be cheaper to produce and growers who think that 100% at 12" hang height is a good idea won't be able to fry their plants. All of those are rational reasons but I got left with my d*ck in my ear.
The new light is a decent light and I like the spectrum more than the spectrum on the Mars 320 (300?) watt model but the V1 4500's, the one that you have, is the cat's meow.
hairryhands2000
Member
Good post. I was v nervous about frying my plants and v gradually increased the power on my xs2500pro.
Can't believe they're posting 2 different par maps. That's confusing as hell.
Bottom line is i'm now more sceptical than ever about broscience 420 forum posts.
I have a few wks till finish and it's a nervey time.
"Just dont F it up" mantra.
Looking forward to being able to put a proper evidenced report on the xs2500pro.
Thanks
HH
hairryhands2000
Member
Hey, are they pro models with dimming all the way down to off?
How long you had them? Many grows? Happy?
MissinThe90’sStrains
Well-Known Member
I’ve completed 2 grows with them so far, and like them enough to keep going. Ive got some older spider farmer panels too, and they seem to have a bit more red in them (visually), but both perform well. The Viparspectra is a bit stronger than my SF 2000 and has better coverage (bigger light). It seems to be stronger on the “sides and ends” than the SF. Dimmers work, and the non-attached ballasts are nice to be able to hang outside of tent to help with heat.
I'm skeptical, by nature, but you're taking it to another level.
"Good post. I was v nervous about frying my plants and v gradually increased the power on my xs2500pro.
It's very hard to damage a plant using an LED grow light. It takes "a high level of unfamiliarity", to be kind, or negligence. HPS lights generate a lot of heat and, if a grower wasn't attentive, the heat could rapidly cause tissue death. In contrast, an LED produces very little heat. A typical description is that they're "warm to the touch". I've seen pictures of plants touching LED bars and there's no tissue damage.
What about harm to the plant caused by excess light? Not easy to do, ref. my comment above. I had a dimmer fail in a 330 watt light. The plant was at 1100±µmol and the dimmer went out, so the plant was at 1350 or so. The only way I caught it is that the temperature reading on the AC Infinity Controller 69 went up and I happened to see it. When I walked into the garage, I could see the blaze of light. Fortunately, I had a spare dimmer so I swapped in the good dimmer. The plant had done what was completely normal when a cannabis plant gets excess light - it reduced the surface area exposed to the light by "canoeing". After turning the light down, the leaves started "unfolding" and were at their normal shape with in an hour of so.
I grow in high light conditions and I'd have to say that I probably turn it up too fast every other grow or so. No big deal. When the plant reacts, either by canoeing/tacoing or rotating the leave toward the vertical, as if it were a Venetian blind, you just turn the light down a bit/raise the light an inch.
The worst I've ever done was to bend a cola. The cola bent at a slight angle and stayed that way when I turned the light down.
Growers lose more yield by not turning their light up high enough than the do by turning up their lights too high. Per the paper, "Frontiers in Plant Science - Yield, Potency, and Photosynthesis in Increasing Light Levels", crop yield increase about 4% for each 50µmol of PPFD.
If your grow isn't in the 900-1000µmol region, which is a light level where cannabis thrives in ambient CO2, you can calculate the amount of your crop that you're not getting.
"Can't believe they're posting 2 different par maps. That's confusing as hell."
Those PPFD maps are different because those are different lights. The new model has a lower PPFD, just like I explained in the text. And there are valid reasons for Vipar to make the change, just like I explained in the text.
"Bottom line is i'm now more sceptical than ever about broscience 420 forum posts."
I don't know why you say that but, if there are things you don't understand, ask away. There's a lot of expertise on RIU.
"I have a few wks till finish and it's a nervey time."
No need to be nervous but each to their own. One thing that I got a kick out of when I joined RIU was the acronym "LTFA". If conditions in your grow are decent, you'll get a good crop.
"Looking forward to being able to put a proper evidenced report on the xs2500pro."
You've said similar things in other postings and I'm not sure what you want. A grow light has a limited number of characteristics and the marketing literature covers the big pieces. The 2500 has a blue heavy spectrum so it will tend to grow plants that are compact and bushy. It has a good PPFD map so the light can generate a pretty high yield. The driver isn't dismountable and it's a board light so it's going to heat the grow area a little more than a bar style light with a dismountable driver.
Since you're already using the light, what are you expecting or hoping to learn from a review?
joesoap2013
Well-Known Member
The older g4500 was half a g8600 basically
I rememeber it at Christmas it was really cheap I was gonna buy 1 then buy another in a month or 2 that was my thinking
They upped the price of it big time bout 2 weeks later
I rememeber it at Christmas it was really cheap I was gonna buy 1 then buy another in a month or 2 that was my thinking
They upped the price of it big time bout 2 weeks later
OK, got it. I knew that high watt driver had come from a big light. Thanks for that piece of the puzzle!
joesoap2013
Well-Known Member
I dont know abou
t the drivers
Must have been stoned the time I checked them light numbers
Somehow I had that in my head
Couldn't a been but lol
There's the g8600
t the driversMust have been stoned the time I checked them light numbers
Somehow I had that in my head
Couldn't a been but lol
There's the g8600
That's really impressive. The PPFD values are very high but they're also incredibly uniform, even at 10". And it gets better as hang height increases.
joesoap2013
Well-Known Member
You would have to turn it down like
For some reason tho I had that in my head that the 4500 was half a 8600
That big thing in a 4x4 would need dimmed prob about 30 percent
Would it give better numbers running dimmed to 500 watts vs a 500watt light going at 100 percent
If your in 4x2 mate what I would be putting into your calculations ..is the size of the actual light itself a 4x2 is 120 x 60 cm
You near want a light that is near the same size as your tent
Oh, yeh, that's a beast of a light. I run my plants up to 1100µmol± but I want a light that can generate that much light in my 2' x 4' tent, at a hang height of 18" and with a red heavy spectrum.
I just finished PPFD testing of the Mars SP3000R and it's going back. I wasn't able to come up with a combination of hang height and dimmer % to get rid of the hot spot. I even added my older Mars SP3000 in and tried to get things evened out but, no joy.
After couple of days, all told, hands on with various lights and working with Excel, as strange as it sounds, I'm going to stick with my Growcraft flower light from 2021. I haven't been able to find anything that gives a better combination of spectrum, PPFD, and PPFD map.
joesoap2013
Well-Known Member
A 4x2 bar light all the led companies will have one in that size
You will have to need out compare them all
Says mars hydro 4x2 light for talk sake the light itself is 80cm by 40 cm
Then vipaspectra 4x2 light actual size is 110 cm by 50cm
I'd go with the viparspectra cause of the size of it
I pulled them numbers out of my head could be the opposite
You will have to need out compare them all
Says mars hydro 4x2 light for talk sake the light itself is 80cm by 40 cm
Then vipaspectra 4x2 light actual size is 110 cm by 50cm
I'd go with the viparspectra cause of the size of it
I pulled them numbers out of my head could be the opposite
joesoap2013
Well-Known Member
Here's 2 I compared just the size really both really good 
