I haven't looked deep into it figuring the Asian companies building them would be able to put them together at the most cost effective ratio. However, I repair laptops, desktops, TV's, PS3/PS4's, XBOX 360, ONE, tablets, cell phones, built my own custom 8 outlet 240 volt timer flip box with a 120 volt tripper plug, so I feel I am VERY capable of doing this and know by just making a few tweaks to Mars design flaws ( hydraulic bearing fans, different attachment setup making it way easier for people with any height tent or a permanent design, upward flowing heat dissipating louvers to make the heat expelled flow to the top of someone's grow tent / room where 99% of people have their exhaust. These were the few problems I ran into that I feel I could easily fix on a personal design.
You sound as if you speak from experience possibly? Have you built one? How hard was it getting your hands on the newer 5 point spectrum chips? I was told they have a pretty good grip on the overflow of these not wanting someone like us to come along and start building them out of a pole barn here in the USA for $75 less. Like I said, this is what I heard, the truth to any of it, I have not researched. But I am very, very curious now on looking into building a light. Taking the guts from a SUN BLAZE T5HO like mine which is just the four foot 8 bulb fluorescent and even cannibalizing the housing cutting the 8 tube shoots with a table saw / sled setup, then combining the 5 pc LED'S identical or similar to the sun series light (pictured) in between a T5HO 10,000K to 12,000K bulb in basic rows combining every spectrum of light possible all in one!
The very best medical grade cannabis I've ever grown lab tested out to 25.5% THC and those plants I used 8 small "facial tanner" bulbs rigged along the outside of two 1k MH/HPS lights in a 4ft sq x 2 enclosed area. This herb was not grown sea of green, but was very meticulously LST into circles clipping every other node trimming every 3 days taking me so many more hours than I care to admit but creating those awesome top bud only plants that we all strive for. No popcorn undergrowth energy wasted because it was all trimmed or trained away. Was it all the LST & trimming or that & the UV bulbs? Maybe it was just the spectrum of light from the UV bulbs. But it was the closest thing to outdoor diamond dust covered looking plants I've seen inside. So having the bulbs to switch out spectrums would be another amazing bonus. One of you guys would eventually figure out the best combination of what bulbs to create the super light.
If I could get my hands on even a broken donated Mars Sun light I would tear down my Sun Blaze T5 HO with no qualms and try to build the first one. All the Mars LED I tried out was missing was some supplemental light making it ok to leave at 36" and still be crazy bright like an HPS/MH light is. As most people, the only qualm I usually hear about LED's is how you have to keep them right on top the canopy and they don’t penetrate like sodium lamps. Well maybe adding the supplemental also energy efficient T5 HO's to the awesome 5 pc LED'S would be the ticket not to mention all the T5 HO bulbs to mix and match until one of us comes up with the perfect combo.
I grew outdoors for ten years before coming inside and know well how those outdoor plants that sparkle like they are drenched in diamond dust is basically impossible to re-create indoors without the uv light or its color of spectrum that maybe a 10,000 Kelvin or 12,000 Kelvin bulb closely mimics. I might hear why not just use both lights? Because taking both and creating one energy efficient grow lamp with all of the options we as growers want no matter it be in tents, rooms, closets, or attics is the end all goal. One energy efficient light that closely as possible re-creates the sun to grow perfect plants that doesn’t kill the power bill or need two 740 CFM blower fans just to operate is the goal for us all. I love my hps / mh lights, but if I could get something along the lines of what I'm talking about for an affordable price and was certain it6 would work and get the same if not better yields, I would switch in a second. But so far the only LED lights to even come close to be as good or better than hps / mh lights are so crazy priced normal everyday people like me can't afford them. So I'm just spit balling a solution.
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