How to know how much light is enough

[Bullfrog]

nothin wrong with spiderfarmer lights. Ive smashed plenty of good harvests with em.

 

[Indy]

Seem to go alright for their price. Longevity, is about the only question remaining (for myself).

First grow I was pushing the limits, and over did it trying to run it above 80-85%. The driver* gets real hot and looks as if it may have slightly cooked the DC outlet cable near the base of the driver.

But what I'm finding about 60-70% is about optimum for my 1.35m² screen. And whilst operating in that range the driver puts out very little heat, warm to touch at best.

*1000W driver

 

[Bullfrog]

Seem to go alright for their price. Longevity, is about the only question remaining (for myself).

First grow I was pushing the limits, and over did it trying to run it above 80-85%. The driver* gets real hot and looks as if it may have slightly cooked the DC outlet cable near the base of the driver.

But what I'm finding about 60-70% is about optimum for my 1.35m² screen. And whilst operating in that range the driver puts out very little heat, warm to touch at best.

*1000W driver

you have a 1000W light for a 1.35m² grow area ??

 

[Indy]

you have a 1000W light for a 1.35m² grow area ??

Well.. 1.35m² screen, in a 1.5m² tent. The screen's needs to fit within the tent's upright support poles.

But yeah, 1000w light. Bit of a overkill, but they were designed for running them in CO2 environments which I'm not doing

 

[Bullfrog]

yeah overkill but on the upside you should get very even coverage.
how many runs have you done with it ?

 

[Indy]

yeah overkill but on the upside you should get very even coverage.
how many runs have you done with it ?

Yeah, that was my prime reasoning behind the idea of settling on that light at the time. It offered the best coverage for a 1.5m² tent.

Surprisingly though, there's still a considerable drop off on edges, by about a third of what you get in the centre.

But looking at some of the buds leaning on the side of the tent, there's little difference in the size/quality of them. Hardly noticeable.

EDIT: There was a better light to be had at the time. The Lumatek Zeus 1000w Pro. But at $3.3k, it had to stay on the Stores shelf.

2 runs so far.

 

[Terps]

I use photone for both android and Apple. plenty of videos online about its accuracy. It will get you in the ballpark then just read the plants for the next day or two and adjust.