Looking for a PPFD meter

[Rakkasan]

PhotoBio is around $150. I compared it for over a week next to an apogee mq500 and it's close enough to the apogee, for what we do.

 

[Vondetour]

The Photone app works well. It tends to read 10%-15% under actual compared to my apogee meter But it’s cheap and it works fairly well. I have been coaching 2 new growers. Both initially would not buy a meter or photone. Light is light they said. After either burning up their plants or having them out stretch their tent they both finally got the app and started managing their light level with much improvement in their plants.

Well I will start a second grow this September, electricity is cheaper in winter. OG kush and grand daddy purple photo, I keep notes from my first grow so I won't make the same mistakes again but having experts like you helping Im sure my next grow will provide a better yield. I failed to listen with the northern lights auto and did manage to get 80 grams but it's a bit weak so my plan is to record the grow like my last and do video. Now I have two ViparSpectra P1000 100W LED Grow Lights and wondering if there good for two maybe three plants or if I should look for better lights especially for the flowering stage.

 

[strain_hunter]

Go with the app Photone for now.
Unless you’ve maxed out all your other equipment, which I doubt as you said you were new.

It’s surprisingly close, but more so consistent in readings.
For your purposes consistency in measuring and being close to the real reading is what’s important.

You can get a little 25$ clip on attachment so you don’t have to mess with the paper diffuser.

I am happy with the photone app and wouldn’t buy something else.
You use it only several times and then you know exactly, how much light and distance you need.

 

[Vondetour]

I am happy with the photone app and wouldn’t buy something else.
You use it only several times and then you know exactly, how much light and distance you need.

Good point, I keep notes on my grow and I could look back on them and I do have the app but saw on YT I should use a phone diffuser.

 

[strain_hunter]

Good point, I keep notes on my grow and I could look back on them and I do have the app but saw on YT I should use a phone diffuser.

Paper is enough. 10% difference to a bought one is not that much.

 

[Vondetour]

Paper is enough. 10% difference to a bought one is not that much.

I see, thanks.

 

[synapse57]

I have a VABIRA UV/Far Red light meter, and a PAR meter. that little blue one pictured above.

PPFD Meter and Photone work pretty well too. Just gotta be able to measure & compare with the same tool. PPFD Meter is a free app.

I like being able to see my lights outside of the par range, as I have some UVB's, UVA's, and Reds/IR's.

CO2 meter has been really useful too. I never would've figured out what was wrong when it was around 200ppm co2. now it's riding around 600-700. that's one under-valued device.

 

[Vondetour]

I have a VABIRA UV/Far Red light meter, and a PAR meter. that little blue one pictured above.

PPFD Meter and Photone work pretty well too. Just gotta be able to measure & compare with the same tool. PPFD Meter is a free app.

I like being able to see my lights outside of the par range, as I have some UVB's, UVA's, and Reds/IR's.

CO2 meter has been really useful too. I never would've figured out what was wrong when it was around 200ppm co2. now it's riding around 600-700. that's one under-valued device.

With help from ll of you here I will have a great setup and the one thing I wish I had was more room.

 

[Serialgriller]

This app works really well

Do use a diffuser with it? I downloaded the app and it says to use a diffuser.

 

[Absorber]

Do use a diffuser with it? I downloaded the app and it says to use a diffuser.

Back when i was using it the version i had never made mention of it.

 

[Hiddenjems]

Go with the app Photone for now.
Unless you’ve maxed out all your other equipment, which I doubt as you said you were new.

It’s surprisingly close, but more so consistent in readings.
For your purposes consistency in measuring and being close to the real reading is what’s important.

You can get a little 25$ clip on attachment so you don’t have to mess with the paper diffuser.

Is use Photone on an iPhone in my grow room. It’s really consistent and the accuracy is usually under 5% different than the quantum meters at the large warehouse grow I work for/with from time to time.

I have an open grow room with multiple 1000 and 600w hps lights. I use the meter when I set up the light spacing.

A 1000w hps gets the best results for me over a 3x3 tray in a 4x4 tent if it’s the only light I’m using. In an open room with the lights set up by using a meter I can cover a 4x4 tray in a 5x5 area and get the same light intensity because of the surrounding lights and the overlap.

 

[Ca++]

I know hardly anything about light meters but I ordered one off of ali last night.
Goyojo PAR meter
View attachment 19024127
It cost me £73 and I saw the same light meter on fleabay for like £100+.
I should know in a couple of weeks how good or bad it is

A year later, and we are down to £63 now
There is one box solution for £65

Really not much use to me. It can't see 360 degrees around itself. Making it's precision mute.

They need to be £40 if a normal light meter is just £8

 

[Aristoned]

Yes my next purchase is a light meter so I can do a better grow, was looking at the Dr.meter LX1330B Digital Illuminance Light Meter and what do you experts think, is it good or should I look for something else ?. I should also mention I am a new grower and harvested one plant and about to harvest my second.

​

I’ve been using Photone and a diffuser on an iPhone to great effect. It may be 20% inaccurate, but that is enough to get a ballpark figure as well as see if the ppfd increases or decreases and where that happens when I am experimenting with new configurations.

If you want to spend money get an Apogee.

Cheers!

 

[Aristoned]

Im also in the camp of using a lux meter; par meters/ppfd was more important when leds where blurple and it was hard to measure, but with white based light a lux meter works well enough. We had a par meter, it broke fairly quickly and now use our trusty lux meter which have lasted for about 10 years

In any case neither lux or par meter, determines how much light your plant can take: even if you have accurate ppfd readings your plant may not be able to handle what you throw at it. Learn to recognize over lighting rather than measuring it.

yep, a par meter is not something that you use daily. i have a spectrum. it's about a $400 meter. it's in the same accuracy class as an apogee.

i use it initially when setting up a room or to check sometimes to see what the plants are getting under different areas of the lights. but not daily or even monthly.

nice to have but not essential. i would not recommend that a small scale hobbyist buy one. for the same money you can buy a co2 meter and a handheld infrared thermometer. much more useful tools.

Check out Photone, I’m using the app with the diffuser to great effect. It is not as accurate but it can be calibrated against a more accurate measuring device.

 

[Ca++]

Im also in the camp of using a lux meter; par meters/ppfd was more important when leds where blurple and it was hard to measure, but with white based light a lux meter works well enough. We had a par meter, it broke fairly quickly and now use our trusty lux meter which have lasted for about 10 years

In any case neither lux or par meter, determines how much light your plant can take: even if you have accurate ppfd readings your plant may not be able to handle what you throw at it. Learn to recognize over lighting rather than measuring it.

Couldn't agree more. It's not the meter saying what the plants like, it's the plants that tell us that. After which, we can measure what it is, in order to replicate that light level in the future. The units our meter talks, is of no consequence at all, if this is our goal. Likewise, if we are just looking at uniformity across the canopy, the units don't matter. With HID we used the back of our hand, with our eyes closed

I use an £8 meter, that's been beside my £30 meter, that's been beside a few ppfd meters in online reports. It's a little removed from the truth, and will get saturated at some level beyond my use of it. It will do though, and I can rapidly convert that lux read to ppfd, which oddly I do, because ppfd is what people talk now.

The ppfd meter can overcome limitations of lux meters. The lux meter I use, like most, is just for white light. It can deal with different colour temp, but can't test individual blues, then green, then reds, and get them right individually. It can't see UV, but then nor can most ppfd meters.
We have some great kit choices available to us, but it can be hard to recognise what we actually need. pH meters that give 5.824 never settle. Scales that weigh 0.01g when you weigh ounces are overkill. The $500 light meter, when a ppfd meter is under $100 now. While a lux meter is 10

We have to give this some thought. A free phone app might not be so terrible.

 

[Rocket Soul]

Its worth remembering that even a ppfd meter has a response curve; it will generally not even measure exactly over its whole range, deepest blues and reds will generally generate a lower rewponse.

 

[Aristoned]

Its worth remembering that even a ppfd meter has a response curve; it will generally not even measure exactly over its whole range, deepest blues and reds will generally generate a lower rewponse.

I don’t think any of us would benefit from an expensive meter, in my opinion. If it is enough to get a ballpark figure then we should be good, the plant will tell us if it is too much.. trust me.

 

[Rocket Soul]

I don’t think any of us would benefit from an expensive meter, in my opinion. If it is enough to get a ballpark figure then we should be good, the plant will tell us if it is too much.. trust me.

Yes, this is the exact point im making: even an expensive par meter wont include a full response from 400-700, just use a lux meter for 20 instead and use a conversion factor.

 

[Aristoned]

Yes, this is the exact point im making: even an expensive par meter wont include a full response from 400-700, just use a lux meter for 20 instead and use a conversion factor.

The Photone app is free, the diffuser was $20, check it out, very useful.

 

[Prs2xs]

I use the photone app with an iPhone and a diffuser, it gives what I hope is a fairly accurate measurement. But I agree that it really doesn't matter what you use, as long as you can read your plants, as to how much light they can use, then record that level from your meter and use that as your baseline. The numbers don't mean anything after that.