I take mine too a testing facility in an adjacent legal state
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I have no adjoining legal states.
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My experience re: terpene and trichome production is that LEDs tend to mature plants slightly faster than HPS, roughly 7-15% depending on strain. By “mature” I mean visual maturation, i.e., an ebbing of growth and trichome production, withering of pistils, and 15-25% trichome heads decayed to yellow. I’ve noticed no significant difference in potency over HPS.
As for terpene production, I have observed that plant odors are significantly reduced in LED grows vs HPS, while harvested and cured flower has significantly improved taste and bouquet. I believe this is due to the absence of excessive IR on the plant surfaces with HPS that acts to constantly evaporate terpenes into the air. LED leaves the terpenes on the flowers.
Of course, neither of these observations have been verified by lab testing. If anyone knows of any testing done in these areas, feel free to post here.
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That’s interesting. You’re suggesting that the increased ir of hps is perhaps boiling off some of the more volatile terpenes making the plant smell more during the grow, but with a lack of that phenomenon with LED those same terpenes are still intact in the plant making it more tasty and fragrant in the end product?
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Yes, that’s been my experience. Would love to see testing on it to confirm it.
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@Baudelaire Hey i have a picture for you. Discussion came up in chat where @Enstromentals was contemplating your Solstirps vs say Fluences prebuilt stuff. So just some stuff was being discussed about PPFD as a metric and how Fluence also seems to uses a 6" reference point vs say 12", but the discussion led to a “RUI” forum post about LM561C Diode lights, I only read the last part but saw a forum member over there “Aolelon” getting a little feisty for really no good reason which was kinda making me laugh.
Anyways he was commenting on diode voltages as an easy way to prove legit diodes and such, well i was curious and have 3 of your strips so took a measurement of some diodes most averaged out in my setup constantly in that 2.8-2.9v range that is associated with Samsung’s A1 binned chips as far as forward voltage goes.
So here a “3rd party independent backup to prove said chips and you being completely honest” which i know you were 
Anyways here’s a pic, feel free to repost this over on “RUI” so that there is no doubt from those just looking into your stuff.
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Thanks @Mr.Sparkle. I try not to engage the trolls at RIU or anywhere anymore. Most of those folks aren’t interested in learning or being convinced of anything.
I’ve got a box of Samsung LM561C chip packages I keep around that my fabricator sends with every shipment of SolStrips, to “prove” that they are using authentic chips. With every 2500-chip bag you can look up the holograph-embedded codes to verify production details down to the specific factory and fabrication date, in addition to binning and generation. It’s all explained in Samsung’s datasheet for the LM561C chip.
But haters will hate, no doubt the RIU trolls would just bleat “Photoshop” or “counterfeit packaging” or some nonsense. Same with your voltmeter reading, no doubt. But thanks for trying to help.
The mission behind the creation of SolStrips is that state-of-the-art LED technology can be used to design lighting systems specifically for indoor growers that are reasonable in cost, high in quality, and easy to acquire and deploy in their gardens. That threatens others in the business that want you to think LED is complicated, mysterious and expensive.
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@Baudelaire I appreciate your aptitude for and sharing of lighting knowledge. I think I’m almost to the convinced side and will more than likely need that invoice
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You could supplement the strips with citiled cluo38’s 445nm (royal blue cobs) to compensate for the “trich loss” although I’ve seen better trich production and more prominent terpenes under LED. And it’s all got me high af. Hope this helps. Ive seen hps rooms reach 44c this week in England and bad things happened. Mine and all my customers are fine though
That’s a pic that was what’sapped to me from someone who’s very disappointed with their poor preparation and risk management. Hope this helps
Edit…if that last pic doesn’t make this sale. Then I wish you the best of luck…that’s a 600w hps in a cool tube in a 4x4ft tent. So not exactly “pushing wattage”
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Let them question it. Tell them to borrow a par meter and let data speak. I’ve not had one bad strip yet and I’ve had a lot of strips. I’ve had some bad luck but that’s grower error. I’ve also got a lot of photos of what solstrips can actually do from various people. I’ve had long term growers thanking me endlessly.
(For those that read this. I usually over volt my driver’s to 24.7 running long and hard in humid and dank conditions with minimal heat and not had a strip blink)
Not being known for being reserved in my judgement I wish I could fault the product @Baudelaire sells. (And myself now) this man had his finger on the button at the right time. And yeah they seem expensive. But what’s peace of mind worth to you.
I also automate with sonoff stuff. Try do that with a hps and ballast and see what happens. Please don’t…I can’t stress that enough they’re rated for 10amps a channel
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Thanks Cola. Actually pulled the trigger on an Apogee SQ-520 last week to join a spectrometer I picked up last month. PAR and relative spectral distribution test results will follow shortly.
If anybody wants to bring their SPYDRx over to the Photon Solutions skunkworks for a head-to-head test, let me know. Early testing indicates our smallest lamp, the 150w SolSheet O, holds its own just fine against the comp:
PFFD at 12"
$900 SPYDRx 340w = 455 (published manufacturer data)
$249 SolSheet O 150w = 570
Not a perfect 1 to 1 comparison, as the Fluence lamp has a larger footprint than the O. The point is, top-end lighting performance doesn’t have to come in big packages with big prices. More testing, including PAR maps, coming soon.
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Excellent! Looking forward to the results.
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That’s whats needed to convince the spec chasers. The internet has turned us all into biological comparators. It’s obvious that for even growth and a decent yield you need a high PAR count and as close to a uniformly lit canopy as you can get. These strips get me closer to this goal than any other form of lighting.i have come across.
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@Baudelaire, I have a bit of a selfish question, but can you report tests for PFFD at 12" for a Six-strip X3 SolStix three-foot rack kit w/ appropriate drivers and an assortment of stix that produce a full spectrum of lighting?
This one factor has been my sticking point in choosing an LED lighting solution.
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@Sebring: Rack and SolSheet maps are coming, but single-strip testing indicates that the X3s consistently put out around 1650 umol/m2s over a 1 s.f. area at 12 inches, running at their maximum operating current of 36v and 2.4 amps. Based on those results, one could expect a 3-foot X3 SolStix rack with 3 strips running on a 240w driver to put out an average of +800 umol/m2s across a 48" x 18" foot print (6 s.f.)
Six strips at max current would double that output of course, all things being equal. As for spectrum, the X3s are “full spectrum” in that they have 96 diodes at 2700K and 48 diodes at 5700K, delivering a blended 3700K spectrum - perfect for dual use lighting (veg and bloom).
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@Baudelaire do you think the x3 mixed spectrum or 2700k only be better for a flowering only application?
@Baudelaire It sounds like I need an invoice for a 3-foot X3 SolStix rack with 4 strips running on the driver(s) that will maximize performance and efficiency.
Pulled this from another page because some people might need this info. I know I had to look it up.
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@Enstromentals I think it is largely a degree of personal preference and grow-space requirements.
For a dedicated flower space, I recommend either 2700K or 3500K X2s, or the dual-band X3s with 66% 2700K and 33% 5700K.
The X3s deliver a blended 3700K, not much different than the 3500K X2s, but some LED growers believe the deep red and blue spikes from the 2700K and 5700K diodes offer spectral benefits that their CCT “average” belies.
For folks who are moving from HPS, who love HPS, and want to replicate HPS spectrum or at keep their spectrum similar to more easily compare LED performance to HPS, I recommend 2700K.
I personally am more of a sativa hybrid fancier, and I need and appreciate more deep blue in my spectrum, both to hold down stretch and boost THCA/V production. I prefer average CCTs in the 3500-4500K range. The beauty of SolStrips is that you can design the spectrum you want by mixing strips.
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@Baudelaire for my purposes it would be a dedicated flowering so setup. I’m not in love with my hps, but I don’t want to downgrade from the eye hortilux lamps either. I subscribe to the mixed spectrum being better theory, but wanted to hear more of your opinion as well. 3700 k cct send like a nice place to be but I was curious, in a flowering situation, how you would compare and contrast that to 2700k exclusively, and also to the performance and temperature spectrum of an hps (more specifically the eye hortilux enhanced)?