Just quick question, if for arguments sake I have a 600w led with veg switch that’s drawing 300w from the wall, if ive got it switched to veg will that reduce my light watts further or will it still draw the 300w from the wall regardless of the veg switch, if thats the case, wouldn’t it be more beneficial to run veg and bloom together thru the entire grow with the theory that more light = more energy = more growth? I haven’t quite got my head around watts/actual draw etc. Thanks in advance
If that was the case, yes. Chances are your veg and bloom switches turn separate drivers on and off. So power consumption should be more with both on rather than one or the other off.
There’s not going to be a correct answer that applies to all lights. It will depend on how close to optimal photosynthetic energy you are, and there’s more to that than lights alone. But if you limit it to the lights, you’ll probably see a little faster growth with more light up til it’s about as fast as it’s going to get. You could also introduce some stretch to your plants. Which could be a good or bad thing, and will also depend on the light spectrum produced with both switches on.
Thanks @dbrn32 full throttle full time… I like it
That’s what I meant for the most part. But that part about which light you have really decides if that’s the best method. If your light is at 18” with both switches on, you can probably attain the same intensity by going just to the veg switch and lowering your light to 12”. Then you’re getting more light and saving money. On my cobs I like to dim and lower them for veg. I don’t really have the option of bringing in any other colors though.
My next light will be a mixture of a 4000k quantum board with 3000k 90 cri cxb 3590’s. Both from separate drivers that are dimmable from 10-100%. There will be enough that I could veg under qb alone and flower under the cree’s alone. Or run any mixture of intensity of the two that I want. So it’s very similar to having switches, but I have a more tunability. But I’m not sure the average person will spend $100+ per square foot to have it. If I feel like being lazy I can leave the light high and turn up intensity. If I want to save cash I can lower light and intensity.
Nice explanation @dbrn32 woohoo