Getting the max out of the lights you have?

Here’s my ponderance this morning.

I have read at least a half dozen posts today about proper lighting. How many watts. How far away. How many lumens. Light burn. Stretch.

So you know all of the different thought processes going on here and the different experiments made me think…

Don’t worry it’s okay, I’ve had my first cup of coffee already, lol.

There has to be an easier way to know whether the lights I have; led CFL t5 hid whatever, how I can get the maximum benefit from them by adjusting distances or to tell me what I need to think about if I’m right on space.

I read a topic this morning where @rvf239 was running out of grow height when the plant grew quite a bit almost overnight and is now only inches away from his grow light.

So where I’m going here is you grow. You scrog your plant and not where is that sweet spot for your light to get max I’m available lumens to every possible part of your light hungry plant.

My mind is thinking light meter. So amazon holy cow Batman $350 plus… (Smartphone tapping against my head as I’m thinking…)

Light meter app dang hit the phone against my head before I saw the light…

Be back with more!

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Don’t need to go with the 350$ model, Dr. Meter offer one

http://www.amazon.com/Dr-meter-LX1010BS-display-Digital-Illuminance/dp/B004KP8RE2/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&qid=1485778300&sr=8-5&keywords=lumens+mete/?tag=greenrel-20

And to convert lux to lumens just use this calculator

Hope that’s helping @bob31

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That’s a good choice @Niala
And @bob31 they have light meter apps on your smartphone so stop using it for hitting yourself in the head lmao😝

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I must have wound up on the “amazon sucker page” Thanks @Niala added to the want list. I have to wait a few days to order it.

Once I get the meter I will do some testing to see where I am at. I only have a t5 and a 140 watt generic LED panel to test with but it will be interesting to see the results. I think we all pretty much agree that a t5 is going to be under 6 inches for the max.

The reason I am doing this is because currently my lights are set as they are due to having @Code420tv having a similar light. But mine’s a generic and his is a name brand. BUT are they really the same? My seller told me to set the lights between 6mm and 6m for maximum benefit. LOL clearly a re-seller with no clue.

I am going to install an app and get the light meter and do some experimenting! @Countryboyjvd1971

I had to make some room on my phone. Too many apps!

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Anyone want to recommend a decent light meter app for android? Or what’s on your iphone and I can check the play store

This is the one I have on my iPhone
I don’t have anything to compare it too but I think it works well @bob31

@Countryboyjvd1971 is this one of those how do you keep a bob31 in suspense? jokes??[quote=“Countryboyjvd1971, post:6, topic:8860”]
This is the one I have on my iPhone
[/quote]

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Hahahaha I forgot to load pic sorry bro

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@bob31 Lol :sweat_smile: dam apps :smiling_imp::japanese_ogre::heart::wink: I have a kind of hate/love relationship with them :innocent: :v:… I don’t know if you will find this useful, however I gone a share it anyway, here’s the recommand distance in my owner manuel :

120 W to 180W ~1.5 feet
180W to 300W ~2.0 feet
300W to 600W ~2.5 feet
600W to 1200W ~3.0 feet
1200W to 2000W ~3.5 feet

It’s just an average and give a general idea :wink::innocent:

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Those Heights must be for LEDs only right?

My HIDs are just 8 inches above my plants and I can move it closer if I want, and there is virtually no heat in the tent, if I want to heat the tents (winter) I slow the inline fan way down

I’m about to start LEDs for vegetation this spring, and if successful I can see myself using them for three seasons (but not winter) so I’m following along with great interest thank you and all for this info

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@bob31

I have some great info on lights if you would some for reference i would be more than happy to send it to ya. it’s large but very very informitive.

Will

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Most likely they are for leds I know @Niala uses led light @Paranorman

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Oh man so much to learn I still think they’re going to work out for me really well and they going to keep some of the heat down and Save Me Maybe a hundred and fifty Watts or so I don’t see any downside to that except for the initial expense so I really want to look into this I’ve got a few months to decide

I think you’ll be happy with leds brother
I’ve just started with the indoor growing but I’ve been able to bring them from seed to almost harvest with only leds
I use more lights at lower wattage for more coverage but I’m going to invest in a couple bigger ones for flower on my next grow thinking either 600 or 1000 still trying to decide myself
I own 6 leds already but I want separate veg and flower rooms next grow so I’ll need to purchase a few more @Paranorman

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Wow that’s way more than I’m looking for, I want just one light to put in the middle of a 4 by 4 veg tent

I’m trying to figure out what brand that one light is going to be, how powerful it needs to be excetera, so far I’m feeling ViperSpectra 600…?!

There was a big LED thread here which I’m going to find and read sometime but for now this is the one I was looking at:

http://www.amazon.com/VIPARSPECTRA-Reflector-Spectrum-Indoor-Plants/dp/B019ETLC7M/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1485789373&sr=8-2&keywords=Vipaspectra?tag=greenrel-20

@niala & all, so it said 276 total watts, if I use it only on veg then it makes sense that I’m using less than the total wattage, is this assumption correct?

Yes assumption is correct
That’s a nice light and I would think you’ll be fine in a 4x4 tent with that one
I only have the amount of lights I do because I wanted to make sure I had full coverage and I had to buy a couple extra this year to use on my wife’s 4 fig trees but I’m transplanting them in the spring and will get my lights back
I was looking at the par series viperspectras myself but they are pricey

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@Paranorman I think that it’s in the flower mode that is consuming less, I may be wrong @Matthew420 is using them he will be more accurate then me on this one, mine doesn’t have switch for veg and flower,. One thing I notice on the viparspectra lights that they using bridgelux/epiled led and it’s a medium standard that has less life expectansy, here’s a link that explain this :

That doesn’t mean that’s a bad light, just expect to change it earlier :wink::innocent::v:

Hoping that’s helping you Paranorman :innocent::v:

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It’s actually VEG that uses less.

VEG switch is always on. During flower you also turn on Bloom.

And probably true about LED quality, which is why the cost is reasonable. I believe it has a 3-year warranty though.

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Thanks for sharing your experience @Matthew420 :+1::v::innocent:

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ViperSpectra 1200 4x4 core coverage thats where im going

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