Mars Hydro UR45 UV&IR Led Grow Light bars

driver77

Well-Known Member
I recently purchased a fc8000 with the uv/ir add on bars. My questions are if anybody has any experience running them and if so how?? I see recommendations to run it with the light schedule and then I see only using it before and after lights on/off. And then there is the fact that even though there are switches to each uv or ir....only 1 plug makes this thing impossible to use as described by Mars???
 

driver77

Well-Known Member
So my plan is to rewire the switch so I can control both independently on timers......the plan is the ir/uv will both come on 15mins before light and stay on 15mins after lights out. The ir will also run during the day but I haven't figured out for how long yet. Anybody with any experience please chime in.
 

Jjgrow420

Well-Known Member
I use them.
I run them one hour on one off for the whole cycle, 2hrs on in the 'mid day time'. Only an hour or two during veg is fine.
Need to get them used to it before longer durations.
IMG_20230523_001558.jpg
(Before thinning)

You're right. It's impossible to use as they say unless you could manually do it everyday which is obviously not an option.
The interface is poor. Should have seperate lines/controls to each wavelength.
I just run the ir with the UV but only after week 3-4 of flower. It runs on its own seperate timer.
 
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secretmicrogrow420

Well-Known Member
Honestly anyone saying run the UV for only 1 hour or for only 6 hours a day is trippin lmfao i rock CMH and i rock UV all day long i also rock IR/NIR all day long lmfao why would you turn it off when using LEDS? This is why i switched from led to cmh a broader better spectrum who cares if CMH is only 100lumens a watt and led is 200 lumens a watt foreals B word B OG
 

Rocket Soul

Well-Known Member
So my plan is to rewire the switch so I can control both independently on timers......the plan is the ir/uv will both come on 15mins before light and stay on 15mins after lights out. The ir will also run during the day but I haven't figured out for how long yet. Anybody with any experience please chime in.
You do not need 15mins of it after lights out, just a few mins should be enough. If you figure out how to splitt it into 2 channels hit me up and i can help you figure out how long. It depends on how efficient the ir leds are and how much power you give them but 15 mins is too much usually. Its quoted around forums as this is usually the minimum on mechanical timers.
Day time: use both but in right proportion. How much is this: you need to figure out this by watching how the plant reacts.
Uv/ir before lights on: afaik this doesnt do anything. For a wake-up effect: use 660nm reds. Uv/ir shouldnt do anything as far as horticultural theory. Theres enough 660 in standard white to wake the plants up.

Uv morphological response: smaller leaves and shorter internodes; signals the plant that its in the top cannopy. It also opens the stomata: more transpiration and plant will drink more.
IR (or actually far reds, but most lightmakers call it IR): larger leaves and longer internodes. Shadow avoidance type response. It can also cause the plant to be more sensitive to light increasing risk of lightburn.
 

Jjgrow420

Well-Known Member
Honestly anyone saying run the UV for only 1 hour or for only 6 hours a day is trippin lmfao i rock CMH and i rock UV all day long i also rock IR/NIR all day long lmfao why would you turn it off when using LEDS? This is why i switched from led to cmh a broader better spectrum who cares if CMH is only 100lumens a watt and led is 200 lumens a watt foreals B word B OG
Ok.
Led panels have UV and ir chips too. Too much ir can make your plants stretch too much in early flower.
Too much UV can cause issues as well. The amount and type of UV from CMH and this led is a different wavelength. I think you're caught up in alot of words and not the actual science behind it.
Not to mention cmh is jacketed to reduce uv.
This led bar is 145w. That's ~70w uv and ~70w ir. 70w of a 315w CMH is not in the UV spectrum.
Any pics of your setup and plants?
 

driver77

Well-Known Member
Ok.
Led panels have UV and ir chips too. Too much ir can make your plants stretch too much in early flower.
Too much UV can cause issues as well. The amount and type of UV from CMH and this led is a different wavelength. I think you're caught up in alot of words and not the actual science behind it.
Not to mention cmh is jacketed to reduce uv.
This led bar is 145w. That's ~70w uv and ~70w ir. 70w of a 315w CMH is not in the UV spectrum.
Any pics of your setup and plants?
They are only rated at 45w....actual pull from wall is 40.7 all in.
 

Onextremebuzz

Well-Known Member
I was thinking 45w per bar...hell if only 40w all in I may just run them with the light.
What voltage are you running? It might only pull 40.7 at 120 but the full 45 at 240. Running the drivers on lower voltages actually produces more heat which why there is loss.
 

driver77

Well-Known Member
What voltage are you running? It might only pull 40.7 at 120 but the full 45 at 240. Running the drivers on lower voltages actually produces more heat which why there is loss.
What I ment was I thought each bar would be 45w for a total of 90....and yes 120v so it's fine.
My thinking now is 40ish w of ir/uv in with another 800w of light is a small percentage and should be fine to run right with lights schedule.
 

grotbags

Well-Known Member
these mars bars are 30watt of 385nm uva and 15 watt of 730nm far red for the pair, so not an extreme amount. when the main light is at 100% @ 800watt its approx 5% total. with large healthy plants in late veg or flower i would run the uva and far red for the full 12 hour lights on.

for cuttings and smaller plants in veg i would scale the uv to the output of the main light, so if your running the light at 25% @ 200 watt then run the uva for 25% of lights on time say 3 hours around mid day. once you see how they react you can increase it. in an ideal world you would run the uva for the full 12 hours just at a lower output but you cant so time limiting is the next best thing.

for the far red i would run it all the time veg and flower flat out as 15 watts isnt a great deal, but if you can rewire them so they can be timed independently i would leave the far red on for around 10 minutes at lights out for end of day effect.
(in the far red thread on here there is an equation so you can work out exactly how long after lights out you need to leave your far reds on for end of day effect, but without running the numbers i would think 10 min for around 15 watt of 730nm per 4x4 ish is more than enough...).

but the problem with these types of add ons as opposed to adding the uva and far red to the main pcb's is all the supplemental light is concentrated in two strips so obviously the plants directly under the strips are going to receive far more of the uva and far red than the rest of them. so depending on how far above the canopy you run your light this is going to increase or decrease this banding effect.
 

driver77

Well-Known Member
I ended up running them with the main lights schedule. I have an UPDAYDAY UA5000 that has uv and ir which I have been running with great results. The percentage of ir/uv is where it gets tricky I think.......I'm going with 75% on fc8000 giving me right around 800-850par at top of my flowering plant....I have another tent with a generic 800w bar light that also has the uv/ir bars and I'm going to run it at 60% which gives me around 650-700par at top of flowering plants. I have seedlings under both also....we shall see what happens
Also I just went full on with the ir/uv bars...no acclimation and see no signs of stress.
I should add that the reason I got these add on bars is because the plants I have under the UA5000 are the smelliest and frostiest compared to their sisters under a lamp without uv/ir.
Just my opinion so don't flame me please. :eyesmoke:
 

WeedIsMySpinach

Well-Known Member
these mars bars are 30watt of 385nm uva and 15 watt of 730nm far red for the pair, so not an extreme amount. when the main light is at 100% @ 800watt its approx 5% total. with large healthy plants in late veg or flower i would run the uva and far red for the full 12 hour lights on.

for cuttings and smaller plants in veg i would scale the uv to the output of the main light, so if your running the light at 25% @ 200 watt then run the uva for 25% of lights on time say 3 hours around mid day. once you see how they react you can increase it. in an ideal world you would run the uva for the full 12 hours just at a lower output but you cant so time limiting is the next best thing.

for the far red i would run it all the time veg and flower flat out as 15 watts isnt a great deal, but if you can rewire them so they can be timed independently i would leave the far red on for around 10 minutes at lights out for end of day effect.
(in the far red thread on here there is an equation so you can work out exactly how long after lights out you need to leave your far reds on for end of day effect, but without running the numbers i would think 10 min for around 15 watt of 730nm per 4x4 ish is more than enough...).

but the problem with these types of add ons as opposed to adding the uva and far red to the main pcb's is all the supplemental light is concentrated in two strips so obviously the plants directly under the strips are going to receive far more of the uva and far red than the rest of them. so depending on how far above the canopy you run your light this is going to increase or decrease this banding effect.
1686094765661.jpeg
these ones?
 
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