I’m just getting started growing again- This time with a straight arrow wife, that’s never had a puff…
She was agreeable with me growing. But after I spent $250 on a 315 watt CMH, she thought I was done buying lights.
LOL
OK, I’ve got enough experience to know, it’s better to spend extra on the latest quality lighting- But could an extra 15 watts possibly be worth the extra $1,150?
how big of a space are you trying to light?
2x4 to start with-
Let me let you into my world. I have 2x optic 2 Gen 4’s in my tent. COBs tend to penetrate the canopy like the sun does, so the light intensity is strong at the lower nodes. These lights are so bright that I am getting a 4x4 tent and am confident it will light it no problem. All in was just over 900 Canadian for the lights. And Its nice to have 2 lights! I find you can veg the babies with just 1.
You could build a light for under half, maybe a third of the price, as good or better.
You want to go a little more expensive , lm301b based strips are pretty good, likely same LEDs as the light you linked.
If you’re going to spend that kind of money, I’d go with this unit:
It’s amazing. Can’t go wrong with hlg.
Use code DUDE for10% off code!
Good luck! 
Edit: I have 2 of these lights. Absolutely best purchase ever.
Although for a 2 x 4 too big, 4 x 4 is nice. This light flowers a 5 x 5 footprint and 7 x 7 veg.
Yeah, I live in the desert where Temps can reach 100 degrees at frigging midnight-
I’m trying to find something that won’t pull too many amps, and love the idea of a remote ballast. I am just trying to make a small space (2x4 tent) for a few plants to survive through the summer, but then produce something when the temperature cools a little.
I feel confident with some of the diy kits, but my knowledge is very thin, when it comes to diy led…
It says over 4,100 led per 330 watt fixture. Is that good?
Really, this is the one I have been considering…
https://chilledgrowlights.com/our-products-services/diy-led-grow-light-kits/2ft-x-4ft-coverage/growcraft-x3-330-watt-diy-led-grow-light-kit
Not the latest and greatest, but still pretty nice…
I think you want to shoot for 50 watts / sq ft so that would come out to 800 watts. This is with tradtional lighting so probably 1/2 that for LED, or 400 watts.
I use a 8 bulb T5 converted to LED bulbs to cover the same area and it works well. Something like this.
https://hydrobuilder.com/sun-blaze-t5-led-grow-light.html?opts=eyJhdHRyaWJ1dGU5MDEiOiIxNDMzMyJ9
The bulbs are 3-5000 lumen each depending on bulb so you can get 40000 lumens covering your space for a reasonable price.
Meh… I run 240w bridgelux in a 2x4for about 30w/sqft… First run, two plants, 14oz…
It’s all about what looks clean in your setup and works best within your price range, but can build a better 330w for literally 1100$ cheaper than they are trying to sell that for…
Light is a big decision, but phototoxity is a real thing sometimes lol
Yeah this is my build for $400 720w
Not sure why anyone would buy the unit you posted.
Im not smart and I built it
Its simply a matter of buying parts, drilling holes and running wire.
I paid $330 for 60 strips. $200 for the 5 ballasts. Around $180 for wire, connectors
Thats $700 for 1200w of lighting
For $1500 you can buy a small A/C unit, 2 x 315 CMH’s, and enough left over to cover the extra power bill from both for quite a while.
Vitaly’s gear is top notch performance wise.
If you have your heart set on it, I’d suggest holding off for April 20 sales, he had some deals last year.
Cheers
G
My only suggestion, again, would be to try and light it up with cobs and strips, not just strips. But that’s just my opinion because I’ve had explosive growth since switching to cobs
Should you decide to go DIY, lots of threads and people who can help.
Number of LEDs isnt that important, if you mostly look at wattage and LED maker/version you’ll be close to the mark.
Im having to add heat since LEDs dont warm the leaf surface as much, should be good for you in the desert.
I see the price changed from ~1600$ to ~600$, thats pretty ok for that light, a little overpriced, should be closer to 350-400.
But if thats what you like, why not, spiderfarm lights are a little more basic but so much cheaper.
For a 2’ x 4’ area you can build one for $200-400 that you can be proud of. That particular light won’t ship until June 21st, long time to wait?
Several good options have been listed, good luck!
If your not growing mainly indoors with it, don’t blow that type of money! LEDs only need 30-35w/sq.ft if it’s spread evenly. If you want the remote ballasts, just use longer wires from drivers to LEDs if you build yourself. If you’re not confident with diy (like myself), you could do something like I did with vanity light strips or keyless sockets and screw in led bulbs with domes removed.
If you make it air cooled you could get it to run only a couple degrees above ambient.
From a post over on ICmag, tap the title of the thread at the top to see the whole thing. It’s a rabbit hole!
https://www.icmag.com/ic/showpost.php?p=8534538&postcount=2806
The 15 watts is a world of difference .
Umol / par / cri are what you should look at.
As we know in flower that air gap between your light and plant will make or break some grows .
High heat can potentially ruin a flowering plant . Worst being imo Trichomes won’t form correctly under high heat conditions. You also run into fox tailing , burnt tip , bleached leaves aND yield loss.
So unless you need the heat and some of us do in some area led will allow you to keep the area above your plants at perfect Temps much easier while providing the the best ppfd output per watt , bUT there is more than just ppfd . Quality of spectrum matters too.
Cdm light is awesome too . I use it in flower in conjunction with led . It has the best color rendering index of all grown lights.
They are all tools in a tool box to get the best possible harvest.
I had to Google cdm-
I see it’s the same as cmh…
I’m going to take your advice, and try the growcraft x3 led AND my 315 watt cmh.
I ordered a 4x4 tent, and plan to flower with both lights while the weather here is still mild.
