How do I build an LED grow light bar?

Jenesa

Member
Mars is lowest quality you can get they have improved alot this year so its gone from a complete waste of money to a decent cheap first light.
Sheesh. The way I heard it being praised I thought the SP-250 was one of the best you can get for a 2 x 4. It's marketed as having a max yield rate of 2.5gs/watt. Is that a lower rate compared to better quality lights or did they hyperbolize in marketing? Because all the other lights I've seen at their price point didn't go beyond 1.5gs/watt.
 

Jenesa

Member
Yeah you are in a different setting 200 an oz would be like the best shit you have ever seen and it would still be over priced in California. If you only need 2.5oz to break even just build 1 good light an grow in 1 tent its better to have 4 oz of really nice bud vs trying to stretch the budget to far and getting a bunch of shitty bud
I hear you. I'm in New England btw so yeah. Very different prices over here it seems
 

Ryante55

Well-Known Member
Sheesh. The way I heard it being praised I thought the SP-250 was one of the best you can get for a 2 x 4. It's marketed as having a max yield rate of 2.5gs/watt. Is that a lower rate compared to better quality lights or did they hyperbolize in marketing? Because all the other lights I've seen at their price point didn't go beyond 1.5gs/watt.
Yeah marketing bs. g/watt is a hard metric to use there's lots of varaibles like veg time and training method on a first grow don't expect more than .5g/watt even the best growers wouldn't get 2g per watt with that Mars that's having a perfect environment with co2

Edit: I'm not saying you can't hit 1g/watt or more your first grow it's just best to be realistic
 

Jenesa

Member
Yeah marketing bs. g/watt is a hard metric to use there's lots of varaibles like veg time and training method on a first grow don't expect more than .5g/watt even the best growers wouldn't get 2g per watt with that Mars that's having a perfect environment with co2
Haha. I thought it sounded a little fishy. Thanks for insight
 

Renfro

Well-Known Member
If you are looking into a COB LED light like the Timber products, you should checkout COBKits.com

I got my COB LED there and I am very pleased with it.
 

coreywebster

Well-Known Member
Sheesh. The way I heard it being praised I thought the SP-250 was one of the best you can get for a 2 x 4. It's marketed as having a max yield rate of 2.5gs/watt. Is that a lower rate compared to better quality lights or did they hyperbolize in marketing? Because all the other lights I've seen at their price point didn't go beyond 1.5gs/watt.

You can look on amazon review which can be bought or in a lot of cases are left a week after the buyer hung the light.
You can look on youtube where many people earn a living my endorsing products they get gifted for positive reviews.
You can look on sites called "top led grow light 2019" which are literally just traffic generators for amazon.

All those are unreliable sources of information designed to pull the wool over your eyes.


When you want a proper review of a light use places like this and other forums and see what everyone uses.

Pay no attention to gram per watt claims. Anyone can say they grew a few pound and weigh wet weed.
You cant just hang an expensive light and expect to hit such high numbers, there are many factors.
Grower skill is the biggest factor in getting high yields.

2.5gpw is something I haven't seen personally or from other people, not saying its not possible but its certainly not a standard which mars would have you believe.
 

diggs99

Well-Known Member
Hi, welcome to RIU

Quality LEDs are not cheap, as you are finding out the more you search. You are also finding out that false advertising in the LED world is running rampant. Some of these compainies have no shame and will say anything to sell a light, even if they know its complete BS. 1212 gave you the list of Proper LEDs/companies, Now im not saying the old school blurples from amazon cant grow ganja, just saying they arent on the same level as those listed by 1212

even the DIY route isnt cheap once you start ordering what you need, but its def the cheapest way to get top quality LEDs in your garden.

I think at this stage you will be much better off buying a small mh/hps setup and saving up for the proper LEDs you want.
Mars sp250 is not considered top LED, you can build a much better light like Corey Webster told you about for cheaper than that Mars light, you will be much happier with the end product.

Best of luck, happy growing
 

Jenesa

Member
Hi, welcome to RIU

Quality LEDs are not cheap, as you are finding out the more you search. You are also finding out that false advertising in the LED world is running rampant. Some of these compainies have no shame and will say anything to sell a light, even if they know its complete BS. 1212 gave you the list of Proper LEDs/companies, Now im not saying the old school blurples from amazon cant grow ganja, just saying they arent on the same level as those listed by 1212

even the DIY route isnt cheap once you start ordering what you need, but its def the cheapest way to get top quality LEDs in your garden.

I think at this stage you will be much better off buying a small mh/hps setup and saving up for the proper LEDs you want.
Mars sp250 is not considered top LED, you can build a much better light like Corey Webster told you about for cheaper than that Mars light, you will be much happier with the end product.

Best of luck, happy growing
Yeah I think I'm going to attempt a DIY seeing as its usually the best option when trying to make the most out of your money and will seemingly give me better results in this case. But what's the deal with blurple LEDs anyways? I know someone already mentioned in this thread that colored LEDs will be out of my budget, but for future reference, are they better than full spectrum white/natural colored LEDs? I heard they could potentially do damage to plants in regards to bleaching, but Im still seeing a lot of growers use them.
 

Jenesa

Member
If you are looking into a COB LED light like the Timber products, you should checkout COBKits
I saw this build which is more like a ceiling light for a 2 x 4. I'm sure a similar design could be implemented with COBs. Do you find those to be more efficient than the traditional LED strips? I always assumed COBs = hotspots or uneven distribution since the light is all originating from same spot. I'm probably wrong about that but that's the first thing that came to mind
 

diggs99

Well-Known Member
Blurples are inferior lights to QBs,Strips or Cobs

They are they lowest form of Led grow lights i think?

The white light is all the rage these days, many are now starting to add in reds and far reds with the whites to offer a broader spectrum, but still white LED is dominating the market in quality leds.
 

Budzbuddha

Well-Known Member
Here .... you would be hard pressed to find a better price for a built rig.

Citizen / Cree available

$179 bucks .... and you’re done.

2F175A6F-D9B6-400C-BEB4-CC0CB7BCB818.jpeg
 
Top