Flower Bars / Kind x80 Flower Bar - Worthwhile Upgrade?

[T_Dub]

Hello,
This may qualify as a dumb question, so I apologize in advance for what is a Noob question. Looking for anyone with real world experience adding red flowering lights to their grow.

I converted from HID to LED several years ago with very little knowledge about LED lighting. I ended up purchasing a couple of these Timber COB 3vl’s to replace my HID. I’m now using one of these in my 2x4 tent. They are 320 watts per fixture, so I’m achieving 40 watts per square foot of coverage. That should be decent coverage. This is the current setup….a 3 COB light fixture at 3500 light spectrum? ( if that spectrum makes sense). It seems to produce short plants though, and my flowers are nothing to brag about.



I recently put together a very small tent with an AC Infinity LED, and I see a lot of red bulbs intermixed in the array of that LED. That makes me question if the pure white COB LEDs are missing something for flowering….or are just the wrong spectrum altogether.



I really don’t want to spend any more money on my growing, but I’m questioning if adding a light bar to my COBs with more red bulbs would be a worthwhile investment. Do you think I’d see any SIGNIFICANT added benefits to adding this red light? It is 80 watts, so I would also be increasing my light coverage from 320 watts to 400 watts…..that’s 50 watts per square foot of tent. That alone counts for something…..but it could be overkill too.

Is this a Gimmick or a worthwhile investment? What would you expect more red lighting to offer?

Thanks in advance for your help.

 

[oldfogey8]

With LEDs, they don’t usually spec in wattage per sq unit of measure. They usually spec using PPFD. On your color temperature question, I have flowered using 2700 k HO T5’s mixed in with 10000 k HO T5’s. Straight 2700(redder) made for more stretch and the 10000(bluer) seemed to tone the stretch down. I looked up the spectral graph and 3500 k looks like it has similar red characteristics to 2700 k.

I couldn’t verify what the PPFD grid looks like but this was one picture that can up when I searched for ‘timber cob 3 vl PPFD’.

1500-1700 is the recommended PPFD for flowering. The problem with this pic is it doesn’t have fly height or even anything saying it is a 3 vl. The link goes to a page not found webpage. If that is accurate, you need more light especially as you move towards the corners.

 

[T_Dub]

With LEDs, they don’t usually spec in wattage per sq unit of measure. They usually spec using PPFD. On your color temperature question, I have flowered using 2700 k HO T5’s mixed in with 10000 k HO T5’s. Straight 2700(redder) made for more stretch and the 10000(bluer) seemed to tone the stretch down. I looked up the spectral graph and 3500 k looks like it has similar red characteristics to 2700 k.
View attachment 315858
I couldn’t verify what the PPFD grid looks like but this was one picture that can up when I searched for ‘timber cob 3 vl PPFD’. View attachment 315859
1500-1700 is the recommended PPFD for flowering. The problem with this pic is it doesn’t have fly height or even anything saying it is a 3 vl. The link goes to a page not found webpage. If that is accurate, you need more light especially as you move towards the corners.

Thanks OldFogey!! I haven’t found a map either, not that they mean a lot to me since I don’t understand lighting well. But this makes sense that I would lose light in the corners. Timber stopped producing COB fixtures and has closed shop/rebranded themselves as Hawthorne if I’m not mistaken. So, chances of finding a map are slim. I’m surprised that it’s showing insufficient light directly under the lights too.

If it’s simply a matter of more power, then I’m going to see if I can squeeze two of these fixtures into the 2x4 tent. It appears very underpowered based on your ppfd explanation. Perhaps you’ve identified the weak point in my setup. Thanks!

Thanks for taking the time to answer.

 

[oldfogey8]

1500-1700 is a recommended measurement. The actual measurement decreases as the distance from the light increases so that is why I said the map doesn’t say fly height. Some LED manufacturers have these maps available for varying heights. Some don’t. Adding another if it will fit should help. It’ll probably mess with your environmental controller a bit though. Hopefully the heat isn’t too bad.

 

[johnnyrr435]

With LEDs, they don’t usually spec in wattage per sq unit of measure. They usually spec using PPFD. On your color temperature question, I have flowered using 2700 k HO T5’s mixed in with 10000 k HO T5’s. Straight 2700(redder) made for more stretch and the 10000(bluer) seemed to tone the stretch down. I looked up the spectral graph and 3500 k looks like it has similar red characteristics to 2700 k.
View attachment 315858
I couldn’t verify what the PPFD grid looks like but this was one picture that can up when I searched for ‘timber cob 3 vl PPFD’. View attachment 315859
1500-1700 is the recommended PPFD for flowering. The problem with this pic is it doesn’t have fly height or even anything saying it is a 3 vl. The link goes to a page not found webpage. If that is accurate, you need more light especially as you move towards the corners.

 

[johnnyrr435]

I use a app to adjust light temps, PPFD and DLI.