How many watts of quality LED strip lighting in a 2x2 ideally?
- Thread starter kdt15
- Start date
Airwalker16
Well-Known Member
Just cause a strip is 50w nominal/maximum, doesn't mean it has to run at 50w. In fact, the lower the wattage, the more Lumens Per Watt produced.
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If your only option is the 50w strips run 150 it will be way better than 100 but make sure that's the actual power draw. As stated above led can be run at different current but 3 bars at 50w each sounds good for a 2x2
It's not oregano
Well-Known Member
Depends on your height as well.
I ran 4x strips at a total 120w in a 28” x 15” but only 32” high cabinet and ended up with small plants as i was putting down far too much light, too close. That works out about 30w each but 40w per square foot, so on the high end of recommended. Took my setup to @diyleduk and he measured my levels, and 90w 8-9” away is as high as i need to go, so only 22.5w per strip.
I ran 4x strips at a total 120w in a 28” x 15” but only 32” high cabinet and ended up with small plants as i was putting down far too much light, too close. That works out about 30w each but 40w per square foot, so on the high end of recommended. Took my setup to @diyleduk and he measured my levels, and 90w 8-9” away is as high as i need to go, so only 22.5w per strip.
coreywebster
Well-Known Member
Have you looked on ledgardeners site at his strip builds? He lists lots of strip options and gives the part numbers for each.
Once you know the proper part number or full name of the strip its much easier to source them.
Once you know the proper part number or full name of the strip its much easier to source them.
how did your yield change going from 120 to 90w? were you burning them?
can you explain this further? i thought more power gave more light unless you mean lm/w is sometihng i can control somehow?
i did actually! thanks. i just wasnt sure why he goes 120~W for a 2x2 and uses a certain strip in his F series build. i take it most F ones are just great and can be swapped?
It's not oregano
Well-Known Member
Hi @kdt15
I am still on my first grow since I was told to drop power levels, so don't know yet what the yield will be.
I was told, as one of the above posters has also said, that dropping wattage makes the strips perform better. A drop of 5-10w at such low power levels hardly makes a difference to output as the boards become fractionally more efficient. It also means the plants can get the same output as before as I can get them nearer.
The plants last time were small and compact but still gave a reasonable yield - 164g from 2 autos from 120w - so about 1.35g per watt. Plenty for my needs. They didn’t burn but stayed really, really compact with very few leaves. What leaves grew were small. It was as though the plants were trying to hide from the light and didn’t want to grow towards it. I was happy with how the plants were health wise, I just wanted them to grow a bit more.
Plants under 120w - ultra compact with hardly any leaves. This was at about 12 weeks from seed, chop time.
Last time I ran Dutch Passion Colorado Cookies autos. This time I am running Phoenix Seeds Super Kush Autos, so obviously not an ideal comparison using different plants. The plants this time have nearly filled the cabinet, and are only a couple of inches from the light. I can't move the lights further away and cant bent the plant down anymore. Top canopy has yellowed and I had a calcium deficiency, but leaves would certainly have burnt or been a lot worse than now with a higher wattage. Buds are dense but are still at the adding weight final couple of weeks at the moment.
Plants under 75w - I don't want to go any higher powered due to the closeness to the lights, so I am running at roughly 60% of the power compared to the last run. Pics taken around week 9 so roughly 3 more weeks fattening up to do yet. Buds aren't as long/tall as the previous run but there are a lot more of them.
I think it has only cost me just over £20 so far this run in eleccy costs, that is including using a 60w tube heater as I grow in an unheated concrete garage that is bloody freezing right now. If I get 4g dry I have covered all costs!
