Which led grow light to choose for a 5x5?

If you want top diodes, you'll have to pay for them... The 301B's aren't much better than a lot of the other diodes on the market tbh... There was a change in performance with those diodes after they upgraded the casing to EVO lines. They were very quiet about this but I think there were some issues with the 301B's in Fluence's product line. I'm not really sure if they applied this to the 301B?? But in comparison to many other diodes on the market the 301B is sub par quality... It's just that brand loyalty and hype makes you think they are somehow better...

You should be more concerned about the number of diodes and the current they are run at. Usually, white diodes have a test current of 65mA and anything above this will have diminishing returns in output over time as the diodes are run hotter.

KitnerPush said:

If you want top diodes, you'll have to pay for them... The 301B's aren't much better than a lot of the other diodes on the market tbh... There was a change in performance with those diodes after they upgraded the casing to EVO lines. They were very quiet about this but I think there were some issues with the 301B's in Fluence's product line. I'm not really sure if they applied this to the 301B?? But in comparison to many other diodes on the market the 301B is sub par quality... It's just that brand loyalty and hype makes you think they are somehow better...

You should be more concerned about the number of diodes and the current they are run at. Usually, white diodes have a test current of 65mA and anything above this will have diminishing returns in output over time as the diodes are run hotter.

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Nichias 3030 is better, at least when bought directly from them: you can also buy it in quarter bins: the top 25% of top bing only. Samsungs bins are +-7% so when they come in slightly under spec theres not much you can do.
If you compare spectrums aswell youll see some diodes have more tendency to red or green; anything green leaning will have more lums than photons relatively.

600-700w of LED in ~3000K range with some supplemental IR. Both American and
Chinese brands are made in China and use the same components.

I like Meijiu since they are of high quality and very affordable and mostly run 3000-3500K diodes that are more effective than say a light with mixed 3000-6500k for example. They are very up front about what diodes they use and you have more different options compared to other brands.

The mixed diod lights are easier to use with lower ceilings but you get more effective photons for flower with a light only using 3000K diodes.

HLG makes a big light....not sure the name of it. It's expensive, but they make good lights.

Another alternative that I keep forgetting to mention, when people ask, is Apache Tech. They have a bar light that uses the the LED strips that former forum member, Greengenes, was involved with designing. Most of their lights are completely outdated technology and are ridiculously expensive, but for some reason the bar light is somewhere in the $500 range. Apache Tech has been around longer than most any other grow light company at this point and they have a 5-year warranty -which might actually mean something since they haven't folded the way a lot of other companies have done. Just throwing it out there for thought. You'd have to go to their website to check it out.

I wish I could recommend the Updayday light I am using at the moment. It's been an awesome performer so far....Some things about it are really nice and solid, but the switches and electronics are really cheap....and the company is already folding from the looks of all their "currently unavailable" models. It's a really unique idea that I wish would have come from a higher-level manufacturer.

You could go "modular" and use a couple different lights instead of just one.

What's your budget?

Why are you growing cannabis?

Do you "just want to grow some weed" or do you want put time and effort into growing cannabis to get excellent results?

The reason I ask those questions is that you can buy a light for a 5' tent for a few hundred dollars and you will get a crop. On the other hand, if you're the kind of person who like to nail down the details and "do it right", a light that will get you super results is about three times the price of a light that will get you some weed.

tstick said:

You could go "modular" and use a couple different lights instead of just one.

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There's a good argument to be made to buy multiple lights for a 5' space. One big issue is that getting an even canopy across 25 square feet is not easy task and multiple lights make it easier to light a grow.

Rocket Soul said:

Nichias 3030 is better, at least when bought directly from them: you can also buy it in quarter bins: the top 25% of top bing only. Samsungs bins are +-7% so when they come in slightly under spec theres not much you can do.
If you compare spectrums aswell youll see some diodes have more tendency to red or green; anything green leaning will have more lums than photons relatively.

Click to expand...

I'm not familiar with Nichia, but I heard they are proud of their diodes and the cost reflects it too. They might be better 1-1, but right now you have so many other high efficiency white LED's on the market that you will win with any of them really... Most manufacturers have lm-80 reports, that's how you really see. Usually, it comes down to bonding wire material and casing material in example lm301b vs lm301b EVO. Improved thermals in casing increases efficiency... But not by a ton. We're pretty maxed out right now... and I think Samsung knows it.

KitnerPush said:

I'm not familiar with Nichia, but I heard they are proud of their diodes and the cost reflects it too. They might be better 1-1, but right now you have so many other high efficiency white LED's on the market that you will win with any of them really... Most manufacturers have lm-80 reports, that's how you really see. Usually, it comes down to bonding wire material and casing material in example lm301b vs lm301b EVO. Improved thermals in casing increases efficiency... But not by a ton. We're pretty maxed out right now... and I think Samsung knows it.

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This info is from some friends who has a growlight project who used to be here on the forum. Its based around steady state tests in a goniometer of the actual diodes they could buy from samsung/nichia and more. While samsung was a slight bit under spec and has quite wide bins the stuff they could get from nichia was actually often over spec, and nichia would let them buy specificly from different ranges of the bins; top bin of top bin so to speak. But in the end its all about diode count aswell; they did 240w out of 420 diodes (monos and whites) which is obviously running rhe diodes very hard comparatively where i would run diodes.

Rocket Soul said:

This info is from some friends who has a growlight project who used to be here on the forum. Its based around steady state tests in a goniometer of the actual diodes they could buy from samsung/nichia and more. While samsung was a slight bit under spec and has quite wide bins the stuff they could get from nichia was actually often over spec, and nichia would let them buy specificly from different ranges of the bins; top bin of top bin so to speak. But in the end its all about diode count aswell; they did 240w out of 420 diodes (monos and whites) which is obviously running rhe diodes very hard comparatively where i would run diodes.

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This must have been before the evolution to the EVO diodes:

They have their absolute maximum rating a 180mA, vs 200mA for Samsung.

imo. mid-power is not really suited for commercial type grow-lighting and never really was inteded for it. It works well in grow tents with reflective walls. If you remove the reflective walls... meh...

KitnerPush said:

This must have been before the evolution to the EVO diodes:
View attachment 5440542
They have their absolute maximum rating a 180mA, vs 200mA for Samsung.

imo. mid-power is not really suited for commercial type grow-lighting and never really was intended for it. It works well in grow tents with reflective walls. If you remove the reflective walls... meh...

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I dont really know what this is? Nichias? Sammies? Point i madee was that the samsung datasheet tend to be a bit higher than actual output but always within tolerance margins. Its a bit sneaky...
Dont know why youre dogging on midpowers though... It seems like they work fine to me and in open space aswell. If anything high powers have less diffuse light which is a minus to me. Please dont start talking about penetration as a factor depending on intensity at source... Ive seen zero to believe anything like that.

I'm not dogging... I'm just saying that if you are going to grow in an open space, you will always need more diodes vs less more efficient diodes.

Rocket Soul said:

I dont really know what this is? Nichias? Sammies? Point i madee was that the samsung datasheet tend to be a bit higher than actual output but always within tolerance margins. Its a bit sneaky...
Dont know why youre dogging on midpowers though... It seems like they work fine to me and in open space aswell. If anything high powers have less diffuse light which is a minus to me. Please dont start talking about penetration as a factor depending on intensity at source... Ive seen zero to believe anything like that.

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and that is nichias datasheet

KitnerPush said:

I'm not dogging... I'm just saying that if you are going to grow in an open space, you will always need more diodes vs less more efficient diodes.

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Yeah but you can compensate a lot with just doing higher diode densities. With higher watts per diode you couldnt pack them in in the same way.

KitnerPush said:

and that is nichias datasheet

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For which diode. Doesnt really matter though, what im talking about is based on gonio tests, not on the data sheets.
You need to look at the asterix footnotes: samsung bins are +-7% wide. Thats 15% margin. If you were to just push your datasheet numbers up a little its very hard for us mere mortals to actually check, we dont have 50000$ equipment to test it. Nichia also have wide bins but If you buy directly from nichia and in bulk you can buy in quarter bins, to make sure your on the highest end of that 15%. At least this is what i have from sources ive found reliable.

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Thank you and Happy Holidaze