looking at the ViparspecturaPAR 700 dimminable red.white,blue spectrums - space is 3.2x2.5 feet cost $299.00 know they are a cheap led but it does the job – what about Quaratum boards ? realy don’t want to spend to much — Kind Led, California Light Works, Black Dog, are a few expensive LED’s $800.00 ++++
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For that much money, spend it on the latest tech: Quantum Boards. @dbrn32 can better help. For that money you can get into something a whole lot better than the Vipar.
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I just got advice from DB and for me to build a quantum board setup for my 2.5x2.5 is $300 and pretty simple to build.
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Yeah if you have 300 I would definitely go with a quantum board led
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I have a PAR 450 and I love it but I don’t ever use it to flower anything out. It just straight doesn’t produce enough light for the money and neither does the 700.
I think they average about .6 umol per second and you can buy lights that are averaging 2.5umol per second. That’s five to six times the light the PAR series from viparspectra is putting out.
I use my PAR series light on seedlings and young plants where I can dial in a soft intensity of whatever color spectrum I choose to take it nice and easy on the young uns, but I don’t ever flower plants with it. They just don’t produce the weight or nug density of my better lights.
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@Not2SureYet started out with Vipars and has been replacing over time. His feeling about them mirror yours. I still have my old Meizhi 300’s and use them for starts and some veg duties.
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I’ve heard of them and many use them - will check them out - there is a site were you can order then and put them together ? right
??? Vis[ars are no good for flower ? heard the the Visparspectrua are very bright, thats’ why I looked at the dimminable (series) spectrums ???
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What you should know about the lights being shilled on Amazon is that they use very early LED’s that have been replaced with stuff that is not even in the same ball park. Like @TDubWilly pointed out; new QB’s will put out 5 times the light, with less power consumed!
I replaced 1,420 plug watts of blurple LED’s with DIY Samsung strips and my electrical bill went down $60 the first month. Plus; the custom lights draw 720 watts peak and I run em at 600 for peak flower. Yields better than 1.25 watts per gram. That all speaks for itself.
Lights are the single most important item and much overlooked by a lot of new growers. It’s an investment for sure but you recoup it in the first grow.
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thanks for all you info - name me some quality LED’s for me to consider - am/was very close to ordering one what do you use in flower ??
DIY Samaung strips please give me a good site. also I use 12by12 led panels for side lighting -
How big is your space again?
Edit:nevermind lol I remember. I will link you to my thread that dbrn just gave me a parts list @steve2
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have a 3by3 (this is the one I need a LED) and the a 6by6 and going to
add one more for breeding
Ok I tagged you in my thread. My tent is 2.5’x2.5’ but the footprint (coverage area) of the light is for a 3x3. Now for a 6x6 you would have to ask @dbrn32 because hes the man and I just defer to him for the parts list. He would be able to help you from here.
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For a 6x6 you’re looking for a total flux of probably 2100 umols per second minimum.
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that is a good n umber - isn’t 600 a average rule of them - more photron density the better
be ni8ce to find the ideal color spectrum for plants :15-20 blue, 12-20% green and 80% red - this is according to wavelenghts by nonometers Blue (400-475) Green (465-660), Yellow/Orange (555-625) and red )625-700)
glad I post this “post” I will not be getting a Vispar 700 I would like to find a adjustable spectrum (California Light Works an Lumigrow $1,000) that is at a reasonable price
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That’s not quite what you are getting. You have a blended spectrum in the ideal range for the plants to grow and flower. Higher spectrums like 4,000K do a bit better for veg and 2,700K for flower, but a 3,000K 80 CRI LED does a fine job all around. And the one I have is two years old now.
Here’s a graph:
And what they look like
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My first light was a Viparspecta 700 dimmable, it’s a good light, but it’s sitting in a closet now. I built a killer 4 panel QB light with @dbrn32 help. If I knew then what I know now, I would have put out for quantum boards up front. Check out Horticulture Lighting Group and DIY.
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Ya, ppfd average of 600 umols/s is generally what is recommended as minimum for flowering. Also, a lot of the lighting professionals will tell you spectral distribution is not as important as photon count. I don’t believe you need adjustable light spectrum as long as you’re close, so be mindful of what you’re spending money on.
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I had the two 300s, three 450s and a 600 vipar. I think the 450 is the better of the group. How ever. For what you have to spend. I would definitely go with a QB. I wished I would have known about them before buying 6 vipers. I could have almost paid for my 3 QB lights. Where I was using a 450 and 600, 460w for one plant. I have a 256w that will do 2 plants. And a way better job. The little extra you spend right now will just about pay for it self in electricity savings on your first grow.
Just my O2 here.
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