LEDs, How far away really?

Grow from Home DIY Do It Yourself
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I have a 2x4 tent. I am growing 2 plants in it now. I have an Amnesia Haze and a Big Bud. The issue is these LEDs are confusing. How far above the plant should they be? I also have a VEG and BLOOM mode on the lights at 300w each. With both switcheson, I have 600w from each light and I’ve 2 in there. On past grows, I had them down close (6-10 inches) and the plants grew but had burnt tips. I’m guessing that is too close.

Since then, I reworked my lights and stuff so that I can change modes and raise and lower then with ease. (NO wires, ropes, cables or others stuff in the way. So, how far do they really need to be?

Should I use VEG and BLOOM all the time or just switch when I change the time to 12/12?
What is your preferred LED? Spider? Mars? Other?

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18 inches away

Amnesia Haze is a tough one to grow your first few times. So don’t beat yourself up if it goes a bit south.

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Veg and Bloom on at the same time?

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not sure what kind of lights you are using but VEG like a more Blue light and Flower like a more Red light.

600W of LED is ALOT for a 2x4 tent - I would go with just VEG at first.

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Yeah, our first Amnesia Haze (photo) was a nightmare. It grew in spurts and never got very tall. It was incredibly potent however. I’m not sure how that happened, but I’d rather have a lot more production with a touch less T. We got about half an oz after drying.

I thought 1200 was way too much, so I shut off the bloom side (ran both last time). I adjusted them down to 20 inches. I have a 15w UV Lizard bulb in there also.

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Biggest thing is make sure you are not overloading the circuit. If you have a 15 amp breaker make sure all your devices that run off that are 80% of that 15 amps.

be safe.

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It is on a separate 30 amp circuit I wired in specifically for this.

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18” is the average but if you want exact, purchase a quantum meter. You can determine exactly PPFD

Also, 600 true watts in a 2x4 will bleach your buds. Not good. You would probably need to raise to 30”. Again, quantum meter :+1:t2:

I am assuming these are “Blurples” with the veg/bloom switch. In that case, you are probably only running 180-200 true watts pulled from the wall.

I would check to see power draw, not advertised output :v:t2:

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Yep, they are blurples. I used to do electronics in the Army way back maybe 100 years ago I’ve done all those tests but it never occurred to me. LOL Thanx!

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Army. Cool! My step-father graduated from West Point. Went back and was a professor there :+1:t2: Loooong time ago. Post WWII

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This.

What brand and model are they?

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A friend of mine upgraded his to HPS and he gave me these. LOUAPP is the brand.
Grow Light

I love how its MAED in China. LOL Never really looked at it.

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It all depends.
Kyle M

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Doesn’t list power draw nor brand name of diodes. My guess is they say 10 watt diodes - 60 of them. If they are not driving max, it’s not a 600 watt fixture.

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I had or have somewhere around here a copy of the paperwork that came with it. I think what you said was pretty much the same thing. 60 * 10 w diodes.

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Yup… Misleading BS these companies do…

A good LED light using Osram or Samsung Top Bin diodes is going to produce better results.

Think of a light photon as a rain drop. The more efficient light will give you fat droplets. Inefficient lights are more like small droplets.

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I heard a rumor about some physics stuff once. Do you mean to say that the emission of light is not equal across all manufacturers? :scream:

I created a new topic that should hopefully handle this for me about the best LEDs.

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If it’s this one, they’re 120w each.

Screenshot_20201227-192657
Screenshot_20201227-1926571024×1433 245 KB
Screenshot_20201227-192731
Screenshot_20201227-1927311024×200 21.3 KB

So, a total of 240w between the two of them, with both switches on.

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That is the one. So… Both Veg & Bloom all the time on both lights?

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Probably. Blurples aren’t real efficient.

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