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Mars Hydro LED lights - WARNING

Matt8800

Member
I got some Mars Hydro II 1600w cheap Chinese lights almost 2 years ago. Not great but not terrible. A bunch of diodes finally burned out and I decided to replace them with more Mars Hydros.

When I got them, I noticed the spectrum was dramatically different. I hoped that they had improved it but they are terrible. I noticed a lot more green, which plants cannot use. All my plants were dwarfs and sickly. I wasted thousands of dollars on those pieces of shit.

If you are thinking of getting Mars Hydro, don't waste your money. If you do, you will see how terrible they are.

I finally decided to bite the bullet and replace the Mars with Kind LEDs.
 
B

bigganjabud

OK if you research you mols and spectrum colours and degree of...........


Wait ya never so I'd suggest talking to the Mars lot in the sponsorship section man they might sort ya out

Tbh if ya don't know what ya asking for then it's a minefield anyway

I got one customed for about £120 if I remember rightly and tbh it grows some fucking wicked weed


But I use em as supplemental and there full spectrum anyway so it's all good under my led hood

PS I ain't got mars
 

zamzia

Active member
Veteran
OK if you research you mols and spectrum colours and degree of...........


Wait ya never so I'd suggest talking to the Mars lot in the sponsorship section man they might sort ya out

Tbh if ya don't know what ya asking for then it's a minefield anyway

I got one customed for about £120 if I remember rightly and tbh it grows some fucking wicked weed


But I use em as supplemental and there full spectrum anyway so it's all good under my led hood

PS I ain't got mars

Talk to me bro....
 

Matt8800

Member
Before you waste more money on mars or 90% of the chinese crap, educate yourself

And what ignorant person told you green is a waste? This was disproven several years ago. But since you probably won't believe me, this link is from a highly reputable led company

https://www.heliospectra.com/blog/forgotten-spectrum-and-importance-green-light-crop-quality

That may be true regarding green light not being a complete waste but irrelevant to my post. I have the old Mars Hydro light right next to the new Mars Hydro light. The plants under the old light look great with lots of vigor. The plants under the new light look like shit and half the size. Same strain and exact same conditions in every other way. I don't know for sure it is the green light in the spectrum but I do know it is definitely the new Mars Hydro lights. The spectrum is significantly different.

Its not speculation....its empirical observation. Go buy one and you'll see.

Regarding green light in the spectrum, green light is only somewhat useful but is the least efficient wavelength for plants to utilize. The University of Michigan, Dept of Horticulture is a better source of reliable information than a biased LED company. Just sayin....

https://msue.anr.msu.edu/news/green_light_is_it_important_for_plant_growth
 
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Limeygreen

Well-known member
Veteran
Are you able to put the new light closer to the plants without burn compared to the old light? I am wondering if this could help a bit in the growth, not solving your problem likely but more for curiosities sake.
 

Phaeton

Speed of Dark
Veteran
https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1046/j.1365-3040.2000.00563.x/pdf

Hey, let's fill this thread with links, each supporting our own particular view.
My link is a breakdown of why the green anomaly exists. It is the most prevalent color out there. Most mammal eyes use green as the main receptor for just that reason, there is more of it.
Plants have their reasons, but the plant viewpoint is difficult for animals to grasp, hence the link. I do not have the words.
 
I love my mars - have 3 300w's the old models and they work great! I have had numerous fans and iodes go out on them and Mars fixed them and gave me three options: they send me the parts I fix them myself, They sent me to a technician and they will get the bill, or have me bring it to a technician and send them the bill. I have never once had a problem with dwarfs or anything - and they are always super helpful. They respond to all my inquiries almost instantly. What you said is complete bogus and almost slander. Also that link provided by PetFlora debunks everything you said about green lights. I have a bunch of extra iodes from them and will probably never run out. My plants love their lights - they aren't the best but they work great and I love the company. If you seriously have this much of a problem email them and send them pictures and explain what is happening and they will do everything they can to make it right. They always send me pictures too of how you should set it up - most helpful company I have ever worked with.
 

Phaeton

Speed of Dark
Veteran
I use Mar's four foot passive LED bar in Far Red. They made three of them for me and performance is per specifications.
I do not use any of their other products as I run a custom light set up and the specifications show a poor fit in my system, what they publish is what you get.

The lights do what they are advertised to do, the link I put in shows how the identical spectrum can cause either good or poor growth depending on duration and intensity.
Perfectly good LED spectrum making dense and powerful buds at 700 umol can give raggy airbud at 1050 umol. It goes the other way as well high intensity discharge lights producing magnificent buds at 1000 umol can drop to bad popcorn at 700 umol.

All the variables have to be stabilized before choosing the correct light to function in the garden. Swapping out the beam width, color ratio, and intensity without changing the rest of the setup is going to drastically change the results.
I spent years dialing in the conditions, it is ongoing as technology changes.
 

Matt8800

Member
Are you able to put the new light closer to the plants without burn compared to the old light? I am wondering if this could help a bit in the growth, not solving your problem likely but more for curiosities sake.

I probably could but I just decided to scrap them when I noticed that the new Mars were getting such poor results next to the old Mars that were at the same level.
 

rolandomota

Well-known member
Veteran
Small led bulbs will work just fine im thinking about buying some big ass 50 watt led bulbs from walmart. 4 pack for 25$. i think spending money on these super expensive lights is ridiculous
 
Small led bulbs will work just fine im thinking about buying some big ass 50 watt led bulbs from walmart. 4 pack for 25$. i think spending money on these super expensive lights is ridiculous
I suggest you get cfls if you want to go that route. I don't think those leds will do very good for growing (imho).
 

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