Lighting Blackstar LEDs Question

[LiquidJunglist]

interesting been looking into Blackstar's. Now the question is... Is the Warranty better with the Chrome's then the "Black's"? On there Ebay they say "Bumper-to-Bumper" and the others just say 1 year. Whats the deal?

 

[vick]

Don't get blackstars on ebay! Just like some people have said, contact gotham by email and they will set you up with a nice discount. I did the same but I ended up going with hydroponics hut pro grow 180's because of the true watt factor and 14 band spectrum instead of 6 which the blackstar has. Also, ben really helped me out. Not trying to advertise them... Just sharing the word and the good vibes I got from hydro hut. A kill-a-watt reading shows that the 240w blackstars true watt output is 135 where the pro grow 180s are 150-160 actual draw which is even noted in bold on their website. The warranty is great too. 3 years. If one goes bust on it's own, contact them and they will send one out right away with a return shipping label by credit card cross shipping. They forgot to add in a series cable in my recent order, so I contacted them and ben is sending one out this week asap. He responded to my email within 10 minutes. Like I said, I'm not promoting them.. I did an immense amount of research and fried the fuck out of my brain until I saw the kill-a-watt readings, price difference and the advantage of 14 bands.

Here they are up and running: https://www.autoflower.org/f43/purp...w-led-cfl-pll-55-tek-t5-11893.html#post224096

 

[big_buddha]

What does "engineered in the USA" actually mean? As far as I can tell it just means they chose the spectrum in the USA and placed an order with Cidly like 75%+ of all LED companies do... FWIW after a couple of grows using my 10 spot LED with exact same spectrum as the chrome... I would suggest choosing a light with a different spectrum. The grow northern modular LEDs are exactly the same but have a spectrum which after seeing other peoples results I believe to be superior. Take that spectrum to cidly and order a light yourself direct and save yourself 50%+ on the cost.

0.02

 

[LiquidJunglist]

Don't get blackstars on ebay! Just like some people have said, contact gotham by email and they will set you up with a nice discount. I did the same but I ended up going with hydroponics hut pro grow 180's because of the true watt factor and 14 band spectrum instead of 6 which the blackstar has. Also, ben really helped me out. Not trying to advertise them... Just sharing the word and the good vibes I got from hydro hut. A kill-a-watt reading shows that the 240w blackstars true watt output is 135 where the pro grow 180s are 150-160 actual draw which is even noted in bold on their website. The warranty is great too. 3 years. If one goes bust on it's own, contact them and they will send one out right away with a return shipping label by credit card cross shipping. They forgot to add in a series cable in my recent order, so I contacted them and ben is sending one out this week asap. He responded to my email within 10 minutes. Like I said, I'm not promoting them.. I did an immense amount of research and fried the fuck out of my brain until I saw the kill-a-watt readings, price difference and the advantage of 14 bands.

Here they are up and running: https://www.autoflower.org/f43/purp...w-led-cfl-pll-55-tek-t5-11893.html#post224096

I like that 3 years, how long have you had them now?

getting it down to the...

-Hydro Grow LED - Penetrator
-Pro-Grow Series LED - Pro-Grow LED

Just noticed the Pro Grow's have a Selective Switch on them... mega nice.. and 3 years. Maybe a winner. Now i need more money.

 

[LiquidJunglist]

For sure liking that Grow-Pro, been watching the vids. You have convinced me going to get a 180w or 260w when the money starts coming back in.

 

[vick]

For sure liking that Grow-Pro, been watching the vids. You have convinced me going to get a 180w or 260w when the money starts coming back in.

I've had mine 3 days now and I've noticed a major increase in growth and bud production. Maybe it's just the extra light added but there is substantial improvement. I was going to go for a penetrator myself but didn't have the funds. They are highly efficient and offer a true watt as advertised output. Maybe when I have 1,000 to spend on 290w of led.... but for now, fuck that noise.. 2x 180 pro grows output 300w of led and only cost under 600. Planning on getting 2 more because that will spread coverage light more evenly as opposed to 1x high watt output unit (assuming you're not richie rich and want to save on some dough and use it efficiently). Also, please correct me if I'm wrong.. but, after doing a really good amount of research, I found that it has been proven that 1w led's are far more efficient as opposed to 3w led's that some units use.

Quoting from a different thread:
Always go w/ more 1W LED's then 3W or 6W, the math is simple. In terms of Measurable Usable light for the human Eye or Plant, a 3 watt LED will not produce more than 3 @ 1w, its something close like each 3W produces 285 of x (where x = a measurable unit) while a 1W will produce 100 of x. So you see, 3 @ 1W will produce 300 while a 3W only would produce 285. And you can always get smaller 1W LED's so coverage area would win out to 1W LED.

 

[agito]

you not factoring in penetration/inverse square law if that was the case they wouldn't use 3 w led what the lumens 1ft away for both leds

 

[vick]

you not factoring in penetration/inverse square law if that was the case they wouldn't use 3 w led what the lumens 1ft away for both leds

This is true, but you want to make sure that the manufacturer of the led pushes those 3w to a true watt value. If you want a true watt value using 3w LED's, you are going to be spending a lot of paper, like $1,000+ for the 290w penetrator. Many growers do not have that those kinds of funds, so cost to performance and efficiency would be the main factors to dial in according to your budget. If you are starting on LED's and are on a budget, the pro's of the pro grow 180's highly outweigh the cons over the blackstars for a mere 30-50 price difference between the 2 (pg 180 vs blackstar 240w) Here is the math, two pg180 units = 300w of TRUE led @ $578 shipped from hydro hut. Two blackstar 240w = 270w of TRUE led at $557.90 not including shipping and w/o discount from gotham. Now if you are richie rich.. The penetrator will blow both of those out of the water but you will be spending well over twice as much for ONE unit. For example.. One penetrator 198x-pro w/ 3w LED's installed, rated at 290w of TRUE led for a steep $1,299 shipped from hydrogrowled. Now, say you wanted to divide that penetrator unit into 2 lower powered units to help spread coverage... 2x penetrator 126x-pro's rated at a TRUE 200w led each are $899 shipped EACH. That's $1800 for 400w of led just because they use 3w led's. Is it really necessary to spend that much for 3w true led's? Will the final product really be THAT much better? I can spend less than $1000 shipped on 4x pro grow 180's which would be 600w TRUE led output with an even bigger coverage area over the advantage of penetration that the 3w would give me for a MUCH less price tag. More coverage = more plants in the mix will get even light, with more penetration (3w led's) you just get stickier, thicker buds.. Maybe 10-20% more as opposed to 4x pg 180's. Quality would be more than sufficient with the pg 180's. Hell, cfl's have given me dense ass nugs that look sugar dipped. Further proof in my samsara supersonic cristal storm photo album in my profile. You do NOT have to spend THAT much for quality buds. Just my 0.02 to help growers diving into led on a budget.

Here is an interesting read on the efficiency of 1w vs 3w straight from the penetrator manufacturer.
http://www.hydrogrowled.com//Compar...ency-1W-vs-2W-2Chip-vs-3W-3Chip-LEDs--W8.aspx

 

[rhapsodyrcks]

California Lightworks 800w 5 Watt LED Diode with built in T8 UVB owner here. I used to own a Blackstar. So far loving my LED. I also own there smaller Solarflare 200w model as well.

Whats interesting is mine pull a little over 4 watts per LED.

 

[vick]

California Lightworks 800w 5 Watt LED Diode with built in T8 UVB owner here. I used to own a Blackstar. So far loving my LED. I also own there smaller Solarflare 200w model as well.

Whats interesting is mine pull a little over 4 watts per LED.

Holy hell. $2k price tag on that 800 unit. Apparently, it puts out 660w true watts.
160 diode at 5w = 800w of diodes.
Max power draw 5.5A at 120v = 660w

Gonna sub to your log to see how it performs.