LED Grow Light choices

[DesignatedDave]

Hi Guys,

So I been growing in 2x 1.2m tents using Generic 640w - 8-bar lights running samsung 301H and osram 666nm diodes, with 730nm and UV and they look like this:

 

I can't say that I have been overly impressed with them, they work fine and have produced some quality flower, but...

I then decided to buy a Lumii Black 720w LED, as I was going to do some cloning/mother stuff, but then decided against it,

However, buying this Lumii light has started a head spinning series of testing which has left me feeling rather undecided.

 

So first off, this Lumii LED is monster bright, but in the region of around 12 000 lumens brighter than my existing 8-bar Samsung 301H lights.

The lumii spectrum is 50/50 red blue (3000k + 5000k), while my existing lights are more a 70/30 towards the warm side of color spectrum (3000k+3500k+4000k).

The only real advantage I can see with my 8-bar lights over the Lumii is that the 8-bar light has UV & 730nm IR on it's own dimmer, however in my past 2 grows, my plants have shown foxtailing and I'm suspecting it's due to this.

 

My grow space has now gone from 2x 1.2m tents to a 3m x 3m grow room, in here I have placed the frames of the two grow tents (to hold the lights) and I will be growing 8 plants in this "2.4m x 1.2m" tent frame area, so I will be utilizing two lights at once.

 So here are my options and I would like your options please:

 A. Continue with existing 8-bar lights because Lumens isn't going to make a difference and you better off the 730nm + UV. Also it has pretty purple lights...

 B. Buy another lumii 720w LED fixture and run two of them (Feel the POWA).

 C. I wouldn't do either of those, If I had R25k - R35k to spend on grow lights, I would rather buy 2x ___________________________ lights.

 D. ooooooo Look at the pretty purple lights....
 

[SkunkPharm]

Aweh, seems like you should grow with what you have and invest your money in a back up system.

[DesignatedDave]

8 minutes ago, SkunkPharm said:

Aweh, seems like you should grow with what you have and invest your money in a back up system.

I already have a 3kw inverter and 4x deep cycle batteries, holds 1200w for about 2 hours.
 

In the new year I’m putting the whole house and the grow room onto solar. 
 

so… 

Edited September 19, 2022 by DesignatedDave

[Ill_Evan]

Feel the POWA 

[Prom]

720w on a 1.2x1.2 area is a lot ^^ I use 440-480w on the same area. Might want to put a dimmer on. 301h are great diodes... nothing wrong, would use a dimmer ^^

Would also keep using till the diodes fade and you need new lights anyhow. I run 288 Quantum Boards and if you order from Alibaba directly, you should get for 25k about 16 QBs with 8 240w drivers... so you can light up a 2.4x2.4 tent with 25k.

[DesignatedDave]

29 minutes ago, Prom said:

720w on a 1.2x1.2 area is a lot ^^ I use 440-480w on the same area. Might want to put a dimmer on. 301h are great diodes... nothing wrong, would use a dimmer ^^

Would also keep using till the diodes fade and you need new lights anyhow. I run 288 Quantum Boards and if you order from Alibaba directly, you should get for 25k about 16 QBs with 8 240w drivers... so you can light up a 2.4x2.4 tent with 25k.

They both come with dimmers.

The first one has a standard dimmer and a dimmer for "UV & 730nm IR" (To be honest, I have no idea why they bundled these ends of the spectrum together on 1 dimmer... The 730nm says "stretch" and the UV is like "nah bro... don't do that"), I guess the UV does have the benefit of increasing THC production.

The Lumii has a dimmer with set values (240w, 400w, 600w, 600w+boost (ie: 690w with 720w draw)

thanks for your feedback, much appreciated.

Edited September 19, 2022 by DesignatedDave

[ORGANinc.]

So the tent frames are in your bigger space, ahhh that’s exactly what you need man, clever thinking. 
 

you need to create a space within a space, that is a nice scrog frame too

 

[Prom]

51 minutes ago, DesignatedDave said:

They both come with dimmers.

The first one has a standard dimmer and a dimmer for "UV & 730nm IR" (To be honest, I have no idea why they bundled these ends of the spectrum together on 1 dimmer... The 730nm says "stretch" and the UV is like "nah bro... don't do that"), I guess the UV does have the benefit of increasing THC production.

The Lumii has a dimmer with set values (240w, 400w, 600w, 600w+boost (ie: 690w with 720w draw)

thanks for your feedback, much appreciated.

Is actually clever to have the IR and UV.. as long as it is UVA ^^.. on one switch or dimmer. Flower wants IR, so you can turn those off during veg and save some cash. Zero need for red light. I run blue light in my mother tent.

[DesignatedDave]

17 minutes ago, ORGANinc. said:

So the tent frames are in your bigger space, ahhh that’s exactly what you need man, clever thinking. 
 

you need to create a space within a space, that is a nice scrog frame too

 

So that's what I thought  - I've just finish doing all the walls in diamond mylar and I'm testing out using the tent frames as a structure to hold the lights, scrog nets, co2 bags, etc.

If it works well, then I will order 25mm camping polls and build my own frame that's more sterdy and perminant. Means I can reclaim my tent polls and sell my tents.

Also I dislike tent growing and not being about to get to every plant easily. Now I can literally walk around them.

 

 

Edited September 19, 2022 by DesignatedDave