Hey y’all! I see some of you build lights. I’d like to commission a light for my 4x4 tent. Right now I have two phlizon 1200w led’s and four led bulbs. I’m only on my second grow, so I hate to retire these lights so soon but I feel like I could exponentially increase my yield with better lights. I am also just looking upgrade my setup every chance I get. I never want to grow more than four plants at a time, this is for my personal medicinal use, so I want to get as much out of my tent as I can every single grow. So now I need opinions! Who’s the lighting genius at OG? This might turn into a competitive question 
aaaaand go!
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I’m not an expert but i’ve built a few led rigs and i’d say it depends on your budget and where you live. If your in the states i’d have to say check out Solstrips, especially if you can do a bit of diy or know someone who can do a bit of electrical work. You could also just buy a couple of solsheet X cos they would do nicely in a 4x4 space.
https://solstrip.com/en/home/16-311-solsheet-x.html#/45-cct-3500k/63-driver-no_driver
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I was just looking at a thread all about SolStrips… I am the most illiterate person when it comes to electronics of any sort. I am definitely interested in the SolStrips but I am not interested in putting together a kit myself. I think I might ask @Baudelaire about it!
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You can buy SolSheet X ready made just choose your driver but i’d go with the lower powered option. Send @Baudelaire a PM cos i’m sure he’ll be happy to help with the options etc 
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Yup thank u, I was just reading the articles on the s.s. website about how powerful of a light to get for my space and color options. I honestly am not sure which direction to go so I will definitely get advice… Wondering if I should even go with s.s. Or if there are better options… heard good things about s.s. in my limited research… I’m gonna keep reading and wait for more opinions since this is gonna be a comparitively expensive upgrade. I def want a light that will take me from seedling to harvest.
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Kinda off topic question but I figured this thread would be as good a place as any to ask it: I have veg and bloom buttons on the lights I am using right now, should I keep both of them on the whole grow, or have the veg lights on for the veg cycle and the bloom lights on for the bloom cycle?
I would probably use the veg setting in veg but run both in bloom but my limited experience of led panels didn’t encourage me much.
Best advice i can give is to use what you’ve got until you can afford a really worthwhile upgrade.
Your current 1200w panels draw around 250w each not accounting for driver losses so you probably have (roughly) 460w of led power between the pair of them which should in theory replace a 600w hps no prob. I think a pair of SolSheet X’s would probably cost the least of all the ready made options that will actually be a good upgrade on those panels you have but you will need 2 of them. Good luck
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There are a lot of options, the good thing about DIY is you can customize it to your environment. Some options to consider would be:
*Hack your current lights and upgrading to COBs
*SolStrip ladder system
*HLG Quantum Boards kits
*ChilLED logic PCBs
I would focus more on environment before upgrading lighting. Get a temperature and humidity controller, maybe supplemental CO2, AC, humidifier, dehumidifier etc. If that’s all on point, and you have good genetics, then upgrade lighting.
That being said, I would be happy to help you spend your money and build a bad ass light!
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Honestly in a 4x4 space using only led’s, it’s been really easy to control temp. Temp fluctuates, in the tent, anywhere from 70-80 but hasn’t gone out of those bounds… Humidity seems on the low side most of the time. It was at 53% this morning. Usually more in the 40’s…does that sound like a stable environment to u or should I shift my focus in your opinion?.. co2 sounds scary to mess with. I’m accident prone and co2 sounds either flammable or poisonous… I’ll google it lol… and u KNOW I have good genetics right now … the light is not something I’m going to do too soon, more like early next year coz I’m so adamant about researching things the best I can before purchasing. I’d LIKE to know how to DIY a light but it’s sssooooo out of my realm. Math n shit ain’t my bag baby lol. Im very hands on tho so I’m actually kinda willing to try to learn…
Ask away. Two SolSheet Xs will light up a 4x4 space with a 12.25 s.f. usable canopy (presuming a 3-inch utility space at the perimeter) with a very respectable +40 w/sf of high-efficiency LED and average PPF above +500 umols. A couple of SolStix X2 side-lights will boost that into the optimum 45-48 w/sf range (I like to mount the red-blue strips as side lights on a separate driver for sunrise/sunset and peak bloom cycling.) SolSheets are fully assembled, plug and grow lamps.
As for your current lights, you don’t know what you’ve got until you’ve measured the PPF yourself. At the very least, every indoor grower should have a cheapo lux meter, look for minimum 25,000 lux across their canopies, under full spectrum (white) LED. It’s a rough measure, but it is something. Blurple owners, well you can believe the specs offered by your light maker (ha), or buy a $300 PAR meter, lux meters don’t measure blurple spectrums well.
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The math isn’t that complicated. If you want to start to learn, I suggest starting with this video.
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Both on all the time. Period. End of story. 
Edit: Actually, I lied. For the first 4-6 days my seedlings only get the veg light. Then it is both switches on till harvest.
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