I have been looking at lights and wondered if anyone had any opinions on California Light Works line of lights. My 2 brain cells are out to lunch, as I tried to tag our resident light expert and cant seem to pull that off.
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Black Dog ,kind ,and California light works, are what blurple grow lights supposed to be. They’re what the Amazon want to bees mimic. But I have never purchased one so I leave the debate to @dbrn32
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@dbrn32, I ask your opinion on this, because my irradiated brain cannot understand it. I educated myself a little on lights but when a company builds their lights differently, I dont know if that is an advantage or not. Like COB (chip on board), and the cooling system that allows them to run their lights at a higher power without sacrificing longevity of the LED’s. I know growers house did a test of the best LED’s, and they only had 3 lights in it. 1 was a California light group light. The model I am interested in for my 2x2x4 tent is the solar extreme 250. Will be growing in soil. Thanks man, have a great weekend!
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Sorry about the delay, been pretty busy this weekend. California light works not bad lights, but they aren’t necessarily anything special either. One concern I would have is light being in too tight of a pattern in that short tent.
No problem man. I thought I had been blackmailed. I have asked growers house a question about that light. On the California Light Work “We want to sell you a bunch of lights” company video, there is a segment where they are running a test on the controller or the LED’s. They switched the lights from all blue, to all red, and to all white. I wondered if I will be able to do that too. I am betting you cant. I am not tech savvy enough to build a light and afford the different spectrum light strips and rest of the components. This light is stretching my budget to the max. Shit man, this blue berry has sent me to the twilight zone. I meant to tell you that I am going to get a 3’x3’x73" tent. My tent is just too small for one plant and everything else I need in there. I am going to get better at this. That extra height puts it in the high end of the window for growing. At least thats what Growers House says. They didcontinued the blurple light I bought from them 3 months ago. Guess I could use it for seed propagation or something. I figure this light has to be better than the one I have now (Prism Lighting Science stealth 158watt LED). I will let you know what growers says about the light question.
If you are moving into a 3x3 the 120 watt CLW solar extreme 250 will be way under powered to flower. You will be looking for another light mid-way through flower. I grow in a 3x3x7’ and really like the footprint size. 4 plants, 5 gallon pots as long as you manage the size. However, it also requires more light.
I started with a 320 watt Kind XL600. I added another 150+ (not blurple) watts.
This isn’t really necessary to be a good grow light. A good balance of necessary wavelengths from start to finish will grow great weed just fine. You should be more worried about getting the proper amount light energy into space than small differences in spectral distribution.
Growers house is always going to tell you a product they sell is the best. It may be, they sell a lot of stuff. But you will get the best experience looking through grow journals of people using equipment in question. I would look for a fixture with higher ppf than solar extreme 250 for a 3x3.
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I knew in the whole scheme of things that switching color spectrums does not a good light make. I just thought it might be a money saver and time saver, because you won’t a) have to switch lights to go from veg to flower, and b) won’t have to switch out led strips going from veg to flower. If i cannot find a decent light for around $250 then I will just keep what I have, as it worked the last time. Thank you for schoolin me on this light. I listened to an instructor at a Utah College who does research on lighting for growing cannabis. All those terms, PAR, and all. I cant remember them all and most companies don’t seem to share that info on their lights. Thanks man, I appreciate you taking time to try and help me. Keep that thing lit-
@dbrn32- any thoughts about the HLG 100 light kit for a 2x2x4 space? Growers says it is a good fit for a 2x2 flower or 3x3 veg. The 135 is probably better- growers says its overkill for a 2x2. And remember my current light is a cheap blurple from growers that I got 3 months ago, and it has already been discontinued (prism light science 156 watt led). Have a great sunday!
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You’re looking at under-powered lights to flower off a 3 X 3: HLG is the admitted leader in commercial lighting and is a one-time expense (although pricey).
In that sized tent you need 450 watts of lower quality LED’s and something like 30 watts per square foot for high end lights. I’m using an archaic means of determining light levels so you can do a rough cut on what you need.
In a mid price range you can run a CMH315 in a 3x3 as well. I am running two 3x3’s with CMH315’s and a 5x5 with a HLG650R.
The Mars Hydro ts1000w is currently the cheapest light I would consider for my indoor space which is currently roughly 2’x3.5’.
That’s based solely on my own personal “research” and looking at par maps for several lights around the same price range and claimed performance and today on either side in price and performance. For me I feel like this is the compromise between getting something that won’t break the bank, so I can get it sooner, and something that’s too small to be of any use when I upgrade my space.
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I will always recommend this one.
Great budget light for a 3x3 for sure!
https://www.amazon.com/LM301B-Samsung-MeanWell-Commercial-Spectrum/dp/B081ZT6BMC/?tag=greenrel-20
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You shouldn’t have to do this with a decent light.
Bugbee is way more to cannabis industry than just college professor, he is like THE college professor.
I’m not aware of any “good” lights to flower a 3x3 for $250. You can get qb 260 for around $350 if you don’t mind assembling yourself.
I would do qb 135 for 2x2 over hlg-100 if I could. But neither really big enough to flower a 3x3.
I really appreciate everybody’s input. The mighty dollar is going to prevent me from doing anything at this time, so I am just going to have to use what I have now. If I did have money I would probably get the HLG 135 for my 2x2 tent. I guess that will be my next step. Being on disability is no joke- you go from having enough money with your job to buy what you need. On disability you have 1/2 that money. Thanks again everyone! 1)Grow what you need, 2) use it all up while you grow some more. Repeat steps 1 and 2.
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Sorry @dbrn32, when you are a new as I am to growing, you don’t realize you are watching THE college professor. At least I found the right person to try and explain it to me!
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No worries, you aren’t much different than a lot of the members here. Do what you can with the resources available.
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The Mars Hydro TSW2000 is around $260. Claimed veg footprint 4x4, flower 3x3.
I don’t really consider Mars a good light, but to each their own.
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