Anyone using any california light works lights? Looking at the solar extreme 500. Hoping to get honest reviews from others actually using it. Gotta upgrade from the shitty burples…
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If you go to the search bar on this site and type in “solar extreme 500” you’ll find several threads of people that use it. Not sure how many are active. I believe @Metallicide is still active.
Thank you!
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I can’t seem to find any data or efficiency stats. Looks like an older model light too.
Their website gives the data but im looking for people who have used it that arent on their website. Lol. Just dont wanna spend a chunk for something im not positive about. The newer line of their lights are pricey but can be hooked into a full monitoring and adjustment system. I have no need for that but need an effective light. I have all the components to monitor my room. What i have now just isnt cutting it. Especially for flowering. I was willing to test what i have with bag seed but am not risking a poor grow with seeds i spent $$ on.
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What is your budget for lights, how large is the space you intend to light etc.?
Good on you to do your research on decent lighting. Everything revolves around the lights.
I did a D.I.Y. build using Samsung EB strips and have never looked back. If you are handy that might be an option. Horticulture Lighting Group is the leader in state of the art but Spider Farmer, Pacific Ligthting Concepts and CHILled Logic are others to look at.
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Im running a 4 bucket dwc bubbler system so 4 plants at a time. Basically a 4x4 flower is my expectation. My room is 6x8 drywalled and mylar lined with a mounted wall fan for a breeze. Chains into parellel to joists for anything to hang and a soon to be made screen at 4x4. Had 4 growing and one has show male so im down to 3 currently. All bag seed. 2 lifter cbd and 1 unknown thc. Current grow is mostly to learn and anything i harvest is a plus. I havent trained them or topped them aside from very little lst to get some branches out of the shadows. Ive read several atricles that suggest its a good idea to grow once without training to understand the plant and how it grows. Seemed like a decent idea and again this was basically for me to dial in a hydrogrow and work out problems. My lights are a problem. Ive been using the grow with jane app to log everything and aside from high rh ive pretty much got the rest figured out. All that said…im handy but not when it comes to using a soldering iron. Not confident in building my own light at this point. Budget wise that 500 price point is where im at. Any recommendation is greatly appreciated. Wish i would’ve just done the extra research and ponied up the dough for a quality light to begin with.
Next is to add a hose spicket directly into the room for easy access. I have a floor drain to evacuate to and not carrying buckets of water from room to room is a plus! I run my light schedule so lights are on when i can be there to do maintenance and checks.
Heres where im at but minus the tallest one since it showed male. Hoping to verify i was seeing white pistols on 2 of the remaining 3 when i get home tonight. I have 20gscx autos and i got the auto mix with ww, blueberry and amnesia haze 10 of each waiting for these to finish to start those. Again using bag seed for first grow before starting anything i bought. So for 4 plants in dwc at a time with barely under 8’ vertical how many sq ft should i plan for doing scrog or sog? And what light at @ $500 cost will be super effective? Get me on my way to success here guys. Please!
@Myfriendis410 help me out here please. Hlg has literally nothing in stock. I am struggling to find what i feel will do the job. Info above on room. Im looking to finish my 2 cbd plants (maybe one if the other ever shows gender and one thc then im on to ilgm auto seeds. Prefer 4 at a time in dwc bubblers. Ive searched and read here for the last several days and am so far into the woods now! Lol. Help a fellow out if you could😁
$500 is a little light to get a good led light for a 4x4. Solar extreme 500 says up to 4x4, typically means ot would veg space on 18 hour schedule. But the DLI flowering on 12 hour schedule would be low.
I typically recommend two qb 260 xl kits for that space. If you want them assembled it’s something like $400 per fixture when available. Average grower could put one together in an hour or so though, and doesn’t require soldering. Videos on YouTube if you want… Assembling yourself would save something like $50 per fixture. And, you could always get one now and another later.
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I fully realize I’m short on budget atm. Wish i had 1k to drop as there’s several ive found in that range that get immense reviews. After digging more this evening I’m curious what your thoughts on the Mars hydro ts3000 are. Meanwell drivers and from the reviews with long enough leads to mount them outside the room. Less Temp jump.
Also next many grows will be autos. My understanding is they flourish from start to finish in 18/6. Wondering if i subsidize a little with my blurples if i could start one then a 2nd few weeks later a 3rd a few more weeks and a 4th a few weeks after that. Then harvest one and restart all in the same room. I know humidity levels differ but a clear bubble over seedlings should accommodate for the extra rh needed Ill look into the qb260 xl more as well. Obviusly any and all advice/guidance is welcome. I just want to learn to be efficient and get my methods down.
Light time doesn’t really matter if light is strong enough. The important metric to look at is daily light integral. Basically light intensity * time it’s on. If you run ppfd average of 900 for 12 hours should be about same results as ppfd average of 600 for 18 hours.
Staggering start time to stagger harvest time is fine.