New setup ideas

Okay guys, im planning on getting this new setup down and start pulling some real weight.

so before i get to ahead of myself....

The plan is to run a 4x4 tent growing perpetually having 9 plants per square foot in a 2x2 area totaling 36 plants for every 2 weeks. i'll be using the 2 liter bottle method of either coco DTW or perlite hempy or some combination of both to figure out which i prefer. the goal is to get 14g per plant with 10-12g being more realistic IMO.

anyways, getting to the point of this. with all that said im planning to run MarsHydro LED lights from start to finish and so on for the future...so the question is...

Would you get the 4 of the Mars 2 400w or would you get 1 of the Mars 2 1600

right now im leaning towards spending the few extra bucks and just getting 4 since it will be better coverage and will allow me to raise or lower the light over the 2x2 area for the plant height of the section.

anyways, let me know guys and gals...would love to hear your opinion or experiences.

Don't waste your money on the mars 2 it will yield no more than a cfl would look at gogreens led Plc a51 w90 or ball out and diy your own 3 hlg185c1400 12 cxb3590 3500k cd and for 600w draw I'd put that up against a thouie in a 4x4

have you used mars 2? i keep reading nothing but good things on them from long time growers.

i'd love to build my own but i have no experience with something like that.

I used to use one before I saw the bright white 80cri 3500k light and haven't looked back. Mars 2 is made using garbage bin epistar leds that are 15-25% efficient the light I'm talking about is 56%

but for the price they are leading the market.

they are by far the best bang for buck

Also wait till you have a driver failure because they aren't potted and have to TRY to get a warranty claim from china. All I can say is good luck and I hope you see the light as well sooner rather than later for you and your grows sake

$/par watt they are abysmal

you can go on the site https://www.mars-hydro.com/ and they have warehouses in the US. meaning they will be able to replace or refund you promptly. thy also have a 2 year warranty. and from what other people are talking about you can eamil them and they will give some sort of discount to switch over or something like that...do quote me on that

not trying to sound rude. just relaying what i've read.

Diy is the best bang for the buck.... The only banging mars 2 will do is your head against the wall when you get all larf and are like damn I wasted 1000$ when I should've listened to that botanist dude

haha from sure. i wish i knew how to put together one of those diy light but i have no idea about what cree and all that it is...its all code to me.

http://www.a51led.net/product/area-51-led-w90-pre-order
http://www.pacificlightconcepts.com
There's the tip of the dick of the prefab diys for you

I'm just trying to save you some time, frustration, and money bro

no worries. i appreciate that. if i had the skills and i wish i did. i would have built one a while ago.

simply_slide said:

Okay guys, im planning on getting this new setup down and start pulling some real weight.

so before i get to ahead of myself....

The plan is to run a 4x4 tent growing perpetually having 9 plants per square foot in a 2x2 area totaling 36 plants for every 2 weeks. i'll be using the 2 liter bottle method of either coco DTW or perlite hempy or some combination of both to figure out which i prefer. the goal is to get 14g per plant with 10-12g being more realistic IMO.

anyways, getting to the point of this. with all that said im planning to run MarsHydro LED lights from start to finish and so on for the future...so the question is...

Would you get the 4 of the Mars 2 400w or would you get 1 of the Mars 2 1600

right now im leaning towards spending the few extra bucks and just getting 4 since it will be better coverage and will allow me to raise or lower the light over the 2x2 area for the plant height of the section.

anyways, let me know guys and gals...would love to hear your opinion or experiences.

Click to expand...

Have you ever grown this style before? Do you have your strain/clone picked out? Have you ever seen a grow like the one you want to do using a Mars setup? If you can answer yes to all three questions then you're good to go and I would get the 4 Mars panels otherwise run away from Mars ASAP and save yourself the "I should of listened to those guys" moment. Especially if you're doing this strictly for money.

By the way DIY is brain dead easy, no drilling or soldering. Ask what's a good COB setup for your space and needs and people will set you up with a great setup. I've done work on my bed btw, you don't need a shop or garage. And if Mars was so good people around here would use them in a second because Mars panels are that cheap and in the world of LED you get what you pay for.

I sure as shit don't want to spend all my money on LEDs but you will spend more money in the long run on those things and you will lose money by overpaying for electricity and by losing yield and quality. You might as well go HPS than Mars. And if you do a little reading around here, you'll find the useless warranty, failed LED and driver problems and incomplete journals that are all Mars users. Listen to people and don't do the Mars thing.

there is not much skill needed to build a diy cob light.check out any of supra's threads.i built a few chinese ebay bought cob lights first and it was easy.then i built a vero 10 veg light.now i am building 4 cxb 3590 lights.if you are unsure buy cheap ebay cobs and be amazed how easy it is.if you fail you wont even have a couple hundred in it.after you see how easy it is you can replace the cheap cobs with the efficient cree cobs.best of luck either way.

simply_slide said:

but for the price they are leading the market.

they are by far the best bang for buck

Click to expand...

That's not true. For instance with the Mars 300, it name suggests 300 watts but the actual draw is 140. Of that 140 only about 120-125 is being input/output as light. Of that 120, being %20 efficient you end up with 24 watts of light and 96 watts of heat.

Compare that to the PAR watts of some cob lamps and you will see the price is similar. You get what you pay for. Beyond that, you end up paying a lot more over the long run in electrical costs.

You are getting good advice SS. I grew for a time with a Mars 900. It will grow some flowers but the tech is dated and wasteful.

If you take a little time and study up you can build a killer jawn for your space. The investment in learning is one you wont regret neither financially nor overall cannaskill.

I was in the same boat as you my braddah! About a month ago I started looking into LEDS and after only 3-4 days of research I said forget the cheap shit I'm making my own. The only experience I had with wiring was basic car audio lol. There are countless people here to help...

Mars was my first choice because of price and what looked like good reviews. But after a little more digging I got past the advertised greatness with too many reports of failures, and started to learn about the technology... Which led me to California Lightworks. Seemed to be higher quality with better chips. Little more research and I learn about cobs and Amare Tech. It was sitting in my cart until I learned wtf binning is. Then I looked up the cost of parts on the fixture I wanted and found out how these people are making so much money...

TL;DR - do some more research before you make the purchase! Mars is the easiest LED to come across...there are plenty other options that can benefit you exponentially more.

Lastly, you alone make your own decisions. If you're set on Mars, I still Love you. But if you want to diy and get more bang for your buck and that sense of badassedness... I will hold your hand from shopping for parts all the way to harvest... If I a total noob can do it...so can you!

I want to play devil's advocate for the sake of discussion.
- Anyone who knows anything about LED grow lights knows that the Mars "II" series is the most popular shittiest grow light on the market.
we have seen low yields, low performance, driver failure, diodes burn out completely, etc.

But with that said, Mars is offering other "series" lights with some interesting features at a higher price point. ( improved optics, cree XP-E chips, whiter spectrum, wireless control)./
I would hardly give their new product offerings a thumbs up, or stamp of approval (without testing them). BUT, they are attempting to step up their game..

@simply_slide Here are some products to consider as superior alternatives to the MarsII.

http://www.pacificlightconcepts.com/product/cx300/

you can see them in action here: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCkuwpcjAkAGLLqNJi6MOEOw
and read about it here: https://www.rollitup.org/t/greengenes-garden.839682/page-87





Also, the Area51 w90s : http://www.a51led.net/
you can see them in action on @GreenSanta thread: https://www.rollitup.org/t/a51-w90s-grow.885925/