Going mars hydro for summer, help welcome

TreeFarmerCharlie

Well-Known Member
Don't worry, everyone all over the world will be equally out of work for the foreseeable future.
(apologies to the OP for pooping all over his thread)

Not to mention we're all (illegal?) drug manufacturers ....... hard to take the moral high ground, eh!
Just imagine at your local cop shop, "I'm a drug dealer but I've never infringed someone else intellectual property rights"
Or at your local seed bank, "I've never cloned one of your seeds"
You may be an illegal drug manufacturer but I didn’t start growing until it was legal for me to. I personally don’t think it should be illegal anywhere, but I also don’t consider people who grow to be stealing other peoples hard work.
 

Rocket Soul

Well-Known Member
I agree with lukio: diyled is a good way to go for guaranteed good parts.

The chinese boards/kits arent bad; you can generally afford to get a decent setup running your diodes half as hot as with HLG boards. Even if the kits are slightly less speced you can generally make up for this and then some by just using a few extra boards with same wattage. By running a quantum/china board at about 60w each makes them more efficient and lower diode temps make them last longer.
 

$licc Ricc

Active Member
I agree with lukio: diyled is a good way to go for guaranteed good parts.

The chinese boards/kits arent bad; you can generally afford to get a decent setup running your diodes half as hot as with HLG boards. Even if the kits are slightly less speced you can generally make up for this and then some by just using a few extra boards with same wattage. By running a quantum/china board at about 60w each makes them more efficient and lower diode temps make them last longer.
So go Chinese and dim them down then? By now most of these knock off brands have to be using Samsung chips right ..I read somewhere on here they buy boards from China..I get that it's a design stolen from the creator but in all fairness if the driver board and chip is all relatively the same....how much would you actually loose on
 

Rocket Soul

Well-Known Member
So go Chinese and dim them down then? By now most of these knock off brands have to be using Samsung chips right ..I read somewhere on here they buy boards from China..I get that it's a design stolen from the creator but in all fairness if the driver board and chip is all relatively the same....how much would you actually loose on
Rather than dimming them down you can just buy 2 for the job of 1. I cant guarantee it for every case but many times this will give you the same performance as top bin chips, but with added value of spread, lower diode temps and easier thermal management. Each one to their own. I really appreciate hlg, if in us its probably the best way to go, but im allways paying high shipping and import taxes so china works out

Edit: bridgelux strips, eb and vestas, are similar to china, loads of diode for little but a lot of work
 
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CherryLola

Well-Known Member
If anyone’s wondering I ended up going with a alibaba special haha, got 2 x 240watt 3000k 660nm, Meijiu was the company, no complaints apart from the government import charge which I was unaware of, it wasn’t their problem to be honest but maybe they could have mentioned make that there would be charges on this end, I’ve never ordered over 100£ from China before so was unaware. But the service was fine and impressed with the quality and the brightness. Not set up yet so can’t comment on performance. But yeah I got 2 boards for the same price( actually cheaper) than 1 hlg, I’m from uk so couldn’t care about if hlg is made in USA. Cheapest for me. Just for summer anyways, probs go back hps in winter.
 
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