Indoor upgraded with a DR 240x240 (8"x8") with 2x 300w LED but need advice.

[automazarman]

Hi people, I upgraded my DR from 150 to 240 and switch my HPS 400w lights with 300w LED and wanne to know about the amount of plants I can put in that DR and under each LED too..

most important can I still use the same process I use with my normal HPS (20 hours light circle) oh and this time i just wanna grow ROYAL NORTHEN LIGHTS AUTOMATIC.

thx for your advices

 

[namvet]

What the hell is a dr 240 x240 anyway?

 

[lostboy]

What the hell is a dr 240 x240 anyway?

Dark room??
Yes that would be fine to use a 20/4 light cycle
good luck with da grow
peace, lostboy

oh you need to know what you LEDs light spread is really.
At a guess you could prob veg 8 plants under 2 300 watters.
But when flowering prob only 4 with decent results.
Hope this helps

 

[automazarman]

right now i do 8 in a DR 150 under 2 400w hps with no problem and see that a 300w led its equal to 1000w hps i was sure to put at least 10 under each one of them

 

[Muddy]

Do you know what the core penetration area of those LEDs is? LEDs work best when you grow within their core. While the mfg. may say that they will cover a 5' square area the core will be smaller, say around 3' square. I'm running two Blackstar 240s in one area and a GLH 240 in another. The Blackstars are in an area that is about 3' x 4' and doing a pretty good job. The GLH is in 2' x 2.5' area and does fantastic. How many plants you can grow will also depend on what size pots you are using. A good plant in a 3 gallon pot needs a minimum of about 15 sq. in., if not a little more. So you could probably fit 36 plants in there. No way two of those lights will cover that many plants. If you want to effectively light that whole area and grow that many you will probably need two or more of those LEDs.

 

[automazarman]

thx for your advice muddy i use a 11 liter thats close to 3 gallon i guess but you telling me that to cover all th DR i should use 4 of them instead of 2 cause they wont cover the all area right

 

[Muddy]

That's what I'm thinking based on the coverage I get from my 240s. I don't know what the core penetration is on those but I wouldn't expect it to be much over maybe 3 sq. ft. Those claims that they are equal to such and such an HPS are pretty bogus. Depending on the lense angles used they can cover large areas if raised high enough but then you lose penetration and will end up with fluffy buds and poor growth on the lower branches.

 

[automazarman]

So 2 300w and 2 240w should cover me 8'x8' right and i should be able to put 30 with no problem of space

 

[Muddy]

I would shoot for around 50 watts per square foot, so about 3,200 watts total to light that whole area. LEDs get expensive when trying to light large areas, which is why most growers with areas that big stick with HPS as they are a lot cheaper. If I were lighting an area that size I'd probably go with the Quantum Bad Boys. Four 16 bulb fixtures would be perfect as each one effectively lights a 4' x 4' area and would be a lot cheaper than LEDs.

 

[Nelson]

I light a big area. 32 sq. ft. I use 20 - 45 watt CFLs, 300 watts of LEDs and 80 watts of florescent. That is about 1400 watts maybe a little less. That turns out to be about 45 watts per sq. ft. I think it may be a little underlit. I am going to add another 150 watts of LED in the Fall for start up again.