CXB3590 versus Quantum Boards
- Thread starter newguy41410
- Start date
skoomd
Well-Known Member
Yep. Just want people to realize how substantial the difference is. It makes a big difference in growth from what i have seen. I mean think about this, greenhouses using diffuse light panels are 10-15% dimmer than with clear panels, yet yield 10-15% more crop than the clear panels. And overall crop health is greatly increased. right now in may here in colorado, the DLI is 50. My LED strips on full power at 12" is only 37 DLI. Yet people burn with 30-35DLI all the time. And plants outside dont. Hmm.. wonder why.... ding ding ding! It's because the sun moves acorss the sky (providing even light across the plant) and sunlight often gets diffused by dust and clouds.
There are literally growers that push 3000PPFD with HPS in flower, and dont burn/bleach. Because they use light movers.
Here's 2 pictures, one is a clear greenhouse, the other is diffused. Isn't that remarkable?
Ever notice how that in a walmart or other over-lit store with high bay lighting, there are no shadows? The only shadows you see are directly underneath the bottoms of the shelves really. Speaking of shelves, that's why they light the store like that. So you can see products that might be recessed in the shelves easily.
a mongo frog
Well-Known Member
You haven't even grown with cobs before have you?
skoomd
Well-Known Member
I don't need to in order to understand the difference. I have enough experience using other kinds of lights and have seen first hand how fucking much difference adding more lights is (while maintaining the same power output overall).
For instance, just take 1x 23w CFL and 2x 13w CFLs. Place them over a plant (spread the 2 out a bit). Observe the difference. Or raise your lights higher and see how the penetration goes up.
I mean....
That's 110 watts, 2 auto cobs. Look how much shade there is. My LED strips in a similar sized space dont cause nearly that much shade at 110 watts. The plants are literally facing the COBs because they are struggling to get photons to hit most of the plant.
I dont grow with COBs because I dont like COBs for this exact reason. So I am using a superior design with strips and am enjoying the benefits. Stay tuned to my grow thread in my sig and you'll see as the plant gets bigger the crazy good penetration and even growth that will happen. Ill maybe even take intensity readings in the canopy levels at various points and share the results
skoomd
Well-Known Member
No dude lol.
You made the right choice. Going HPS, unless you literally NEED the heat output they provide (which me personally living in a cold climate, find this to be bullshit but who knows), it is objectively the wrong choice when you can go QBs or other good LEDs. A proper 1000w HPS setup is $350-450. And it costs about $100 a month to run it in your grow (plus if you need to use AC, you can just double that number). So if you can replace it with say the HLG 550 or HLG 600H kit for $700-1000 (the 600h kit is less lol), and only spend $50 a month on electricty then in 1 year you will have saved $600+ in electricty and mostly paid for the light already.
if you went DIY with strips, you could replace a 1000w HPS for $500. So only $50-150 more than the HPS setup. And then in a year you will have $100 dollars in your pocket and have paid for the LEDs in full.
And then you factor in how HPS bulbs need a swap every 3-6 months, reflectors need a swap every 1-2 years, ballast die, and all the shit with HPS and you're saving so much money. Imagine how many hundreds to thousands of dollars you'd save PER 1000w replacement over 3-5 years time. Hell, 10 years is how long these LEDs/drivers are supposed to last.
And your quality will be better. I dont care what any HPS tard has to say. HPS has so much red+ir and almost no blue to balance it. So the plants will ALWAYS have longer internodal distance. Guess what longer internodal distance does? It means the buds (which form at the internodes) will not be as dense.
Not to mention the cooking effect an HPS bulb has on the colas. It just heats it inside out. The room temp might be 80f but the bud might be 90-100F. RIP TERPS
a mongo frog
Well-Known Member
Im feeling the same way. Ill know more in a month.
please let me no, good luck pal
a mongo frog
Well-Known Member
Thanks, and will do.
genuity
Well-Known Member
So many lies,my eyes bleed...
oh ffs
care to expand
skoomd
Well-Known Member
You're good dude. 600w HPS is close to a 1000w HPS in output. But read below...
A 600w HPS bulb puts out about 1000-1100 PPF or umol/s. The reflector will reduce that to more like 850-880PPF in practice. 400w of QBs is about 950PPF and you dont loose 15-20% of that to a reflective hood.
400w of quantum boards should put you at 900-1000PPFD in a 3x3 tent at 12-18" (im guessing thats what you are using) easily. You simply couldnt really make use of any more than that much light.
I am in a 3x3 tent and using 320w of samsung strips (equivilent to QBs) and my PPFD is on par or better than a 600w HPS. I cant find you a 3x3' PPFD map for a 600w HPS, but here are ones in a 4x4 tent.
So at 18" distance, it's 395.727 PPFD. 16sq feet/9 sq feet (4x4 to 3x3) = 1.77. That times the PPFD gives 702PPFD in a 3x3 area,
My 320w samsung led light is 695 PPFD at 18" and with the door closed it's easily 720-750PPFD.
So your 400w of QBs has 950PPF output vs. a 600w HPS that in practice only will output a usable 850-900PPF. And the HPS bulb/reflector will quickly decline in performance. And if my PPFD using 320w is nearly the same as a 600w HPS, you using 400w will easily exceed a 600w HPS.
And HPS is uneven as hell. Huge center hotspot unless you use magnum XXXL hoods and a light spreader.
skoomd
Well-Known Member
Lol what?
What are you talking about?
Are you going to address anything I said or just say it's "lies"?
I just clarified in the post above as well. Nothing ive said is wrong. Maybe some subjective opinion but I would love to see you change my mind.
genuity
Well-Known Member
Well I'm not going to show you my bill,but 5 1000watters is like $150 a month.
Bulb replacement (for me is more like 1yr)
Better buds(com on now)
Damn near that whole post is bullshit..
I know damn well led/cob/QB/ECT work,but to make like they are the first coming of Jesus Christ is crazy.
captainmorgan
Well-Known Member
You can't go wrong with 3590's or QB's, I use both and they kick ass. Between 30 to 40 watts a square foot depending on plant size and grow style. There is a learning curve when switching from HPS to LED because of the spectrum difference. It doesn't matter if you've grown for 30 years, there's a learning curve but it's worth the effort.
Hotwired
Well-Known Member
600 watt hps bulbs are EASILY cooled by air alone. It is not the wrong choice. This is your own opinion.
Your yearly savings are negligible. skoomd will have you believe you will be a millionaire just from savings alone.
WTF swaps hps bulbs every 3 to 6 months? 600 watt Hortilux bulbs last for over a year and still produce the same awesomely tasting buds after that. Reflectors get swapped every 1 to 2 years? WTF are you smoking and what reflectors are you buying? Ballasts die. YAY a true statement!! But they don't die in a year or 2. I have 1k watt ballasts that are 7 years old already. Digital too!
Better quality? Cooked buds? Who is growing this shit? I'll stick with my 600 watt hps any day. You want to know why? It works. Simple and easy.
I see you love your QB's but please refrain from the lies and bullshit about hps and I wont spout any bullshit about QB's. Cool?
skoomd
Well-Known Member
Ah okay. Yeah I see my mistake now. I for some reason doubled the running cost. A 1000w HPS ran on average 16 hours a day costs $56 a month @ $0.10 a kw/hour. For me I am 12 cents so $64 a month.
But still, you'll pay for the light in electrical savings in reasonable time. And a lot of HPS growers (mostly 1000w) need AC in the room or even going into the tent. An AC is several thousand watts for a smaller unit. Not sure about the portable ones.
As for the replacements. You CAN wait a year to do it, but depending on how much you yield it should pay for the cost of the bulb replacing earlier than how much yield you loose having increasing reduced output for another 6 months. REGARDLESS, you still replace the bulb quite often and at $50 for a 600w eye hortilux bulb that adds up quick. Replacing the reflector is less important, but after 2-3 years the reflectivity is quite reduced. That's why gavitas have interchangable reflectors because in a commerical grow where pennies add up fast, replacing them often is conductive to more profit.
Better bud yes.... Bud density directly correlates with internodal distance. Why do you think sativas are less dense than indicas? Duh. The internodes are further apart.... I wont claim more trichomes/potency but LEDs DO grow denser bud than HPS does, period. It's a biological symptom of not using enough blue (promotes compact internodes) to combat the red/ir (promotes elongation).