Lighting

hi guys,

Looks like the season is turning before my 5 Autos are ready.
Probably have to move them into the house for the last 2-4 weeks.

What’s the lowest wattage I can get away with? Trying to keep electric bill down. Is LED the best option here?

And it has to be affordable, as it is just a temp setup. Don’t need to worry about smell, got no neighbours.

Is it worthwhile buying second hand?

If it is just a temporary staging area, I would agree that a previously enjoyed LED(s) would best suit your needs. There will be a slight adjustment period when they go from the sun to artificial lights.

As for minimum wattage, what's the square footage of the intended grow area?

All depends on square footage of canopy space really. You might be better off getting a used LED like you mentioned, or even cheap chinese made LED's...they're not the best, I know, but for the short term they can get the job done.

Because you're looking for a temporary solution, I wouldn't recommend cheap leds. When I've grown autos in DWC buckets, it would be crowded getting 5 in a 4x4. HPS and cheap leds will need about 600w to get light levels good enough to flower that area. Both will create the same amount of heat so no gain and I know you can get a HID rig for much less than the same amount of wattage in blurple fixtures.
If I was in the same boat, I'd try and find a budget 315CMH fixture and call it done.

Where in hell do you live? Australia?

How big of a foot print are the autos covering?

StareCase said:

If it is just a temporary staging area, I would agree that a previously enjoyed LED(s) would best suit your needs. There will be a slight adjustment period when they go from the sun to artificial lights.

As for minimum wattage, what's the square footage of the intended grow area?

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Logan Burke said:

All depends on square footage of canopy space really. You might be better off getting a used LED like you mentioned, or even cheap chinese made LED's...they're not the best, I know, but for the short term they can get the job done.

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I have a 4x4 area

Rainbow Warrior said:

I have a 4x4 area

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Minimum wattage in a 4 x 4 = 650 true watts. Recommended wattage = 800 true watts.

So if you want to go the blurple route ... use mid-range models from companies like Viparspectra or Mars Hydro or Meizhi. I'm currently using the Viparspectra 600 W Reflector series LED's and they can produce some very frosty buds. You would need at least 3 of those 600 W Reflectors (780 true watts) hung at about 20". Not sure what those would go for used ...

30w/ft2 of top quality leds is the minimum , 50w/ft2 the upper end...Those are flowering numbers, for vegging a 4x4 space with leds you can get away with much less wattage.

thats according to randomblame,whytewidow,chief and all the other led gurus.

I think @Rocket Soul was using 240watt strip fixtures over his tables, they were a little smaller than 4x4 tho i think? cant recall tbh

That would probably be the absolute min you could get away with tho i think.

GBAUTO said:

Because you're looking for a temporary solution, I wouldn't recommend cheap leds. When I've grown autos in DWC buckets, it would be crowded getting 5 in a 4x4. HPS and cheap leds will need about 600w to get light levels good enough to flower that area. Both will create the same amount of heat so no gain and I know you can get a HID rig for much less than the same amount of wattage in blurple fixtures.
If I was in the same boat, I'd try and find a budget 315CMH fixture and call it done.

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I love my 315, but it dont come close to covering a 4x4 space. maybe 2.5x2.5 at best. thats even pushing it i think. Absolutely love the lights tho, they grow sticky dense nugs

GBAUTO said:

If I was in the same boat, I'd try and find a budget 315CMH fixture and call it done.

Click to expand...

I agree but also agree with Diggs your gonna need 2 and side lighting recommended. My extra electric from my 2 rooms witch is 1 4 bulb T5 (on 24hr), 1 6 bulb T5(both 4'), 2 CMH 315's (on 12-12), 3 fans and a portable AC unit is $220 a month.

diggs99 said:

I love my 315, but it dont come close to covering a 4x4 space. maybe 2.5x2.5 at best. thats even pushing it i think. Absolutely love the lights tho, they grow sticky dense nugs

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I agree on that for sure...my 6.5x6.5 has 2 315 cmh's and a 1kw HPS in the center, with a cmh on each end, and even then I feel like I could use a bit more light haha. As for the OP, you can get cheap CMH lights, but you may be better off getting a used Vivosun or Sun System. Should be 200$ or less for the bulb included on a used 315w.

If it were me with my lighting in a 4x4 I would run my two QBs which come in at 570w at the wall.
So really on a budget and for the quick and easy access you may as well just whack in a 600hps and get the job done.
My lights would put more light out but that's not really the point here.

Yes more light would be better, a 1000w hps or a 630cmh would be nice but if your trying to do it on as little as poss power without spending a heap then it will work fine. Quality LED would be awesome if you were planning on long term.