Background information
My new cannabis grow setup is an expensive dream
by Martin Jud
Why I splurged on a sinfully expensive LED plant lamp
14.12.2023
Translation: Jessica Johnson-Ferguson
My love for Mary Jane is deep. That’s why I’ve got myself a new cannabis grow setup. I’ve dedicated this article to LED technology and why I’ve gone for a lamp that, at first glance, seems too powerful and just sinfully expensive.
While other people enjoy an after-work beer, I like to treat myself to vaporised cannabis, hash or half a space cookie. However, like mature wine, high-quality weed is expensive. That’s why I don’t buy it, but grow my own instead. It’s worth it – even if you opt for slightly more expensive gardening equipment. If you want to get an overview of my new CHF 2,627.40 setup, you can find the prequel to this article here:
Today, I’m talking all about why I bought the Lumatek Zeus 600W Pro 2.9 LED lamp that’s sinfully expensive and, frankly, too powerful. How do I make sure temperature distribution remains even and make weed thrive in a 120 cm tent? I’ll reveal all in a future article. In the final part of this series, I’ll show you what’s behind the tent, where the tube fan and activated charcoal filter are doing their jobs on upturned wooden crates.
My requirements for LEDs – why I spent 1,220 francs on a lamp
There’s been a lot of development with LEDs in recent years. In the early days of LED plant lamps, they were the ones giving grow tents that magical purple hue. This is because plants mainly need red and blue light for photosynthesis and the like.
Source: Martin Jud
Purple LED plant lamps are a thing of the past because of the switch made to so-called COB technology in lamp production. COB stands for Chip-on-Board. The technology involves several LED chips being mounted on a printed circuit board. As a result, LED lamps can generate larger luminous fluxes that shine equally bright no matter where they’re positioned. And as green and yellow light isn’t omitted from these lamps, they mostly shine white. COB technology also reduces production costs, requires less space and offers better heat dissipation. In concrete terms, better heat dissipation means you’ll only have to use passive cooling elements. In most cases, COB LED lamps no longer have fans.
Source: Martin Jud
I’m delighted with the white light plant lamps emit these days. But after spending hours on forums and video portals, I want more from them. It goes without saying that I need the lamp to cover the required light spectrum and shine brightly enough for my plants. Here’s what else my dream lamp should be able to do (and it does):
- Illuminate the tent as homogeneously as possible. This means the LEDs should be distributed as evenly over the entire surface.
- Be equipped with a a dimming feature. Preferably in precise percentage steps. If not, the dimming levels and height adjustement should allow me to illuminate the plants according to their growth stage.
- If possible, not only the dimming function, but also a ballast (used to limit the current and lamp ignition) should be built into the lamp. If I need to buy a ballast separately, I’d at least like to have space for it directly on the lamp.
- The lamp should be easy to install. I don’t fancy having a lamp I have to solder and screw together myself from lots of individual parts. I’d also prefer dealing with a single source in the event of a warranty claim.
Not only do the Zeus lamp’s specs state that it fulfils all the above-mentioned points, it also comes off well in grow reports. And finally, a review video (linked below) impressed me. In it, a lamp tester states he misses the uniformity of light intensity of the previous model. That’s because the lamp he reviewed is missing the addition «2.9» at the end of its description. Although it’s practically identical to the one I bought, it has a slightly lower but still very good efficacy of 2.7 µmol/J instead of 2.9 (PPF of 1620 µmol/s instead of 1770). Nine minutes into the video, you can watch the guy measure out a tent of 150 by 150 centimetres:
When I saw how well a 150 cm tent’s illuminated with the predecessor model of the Zeus 600W Pro 2.9, I was amazed. Then it dawned on me how brilliantly it would perform in a 120 cm one. So I took the result shown in MIGRO’s YouTube video and drew the smaller tent on it:
Source: YouTube screenshot: Martin Jud
The previous version of my luxury lamp already illuminated a 120 cm tent more homogeneously than any other alternative I could think of. And it, too, tends to emit too much light when it’s cranked up to 100 per cent. However, after watching the video, I really wanted this lamp or the 2.9 Zeus because of their even illumination. In the end, I got the newer one due to availability.
If you’d like to see the technical data of the lamp, you can download a spec sheet from the manufacturer’s website. When I ordered it, I could’ve got it for around 250 francs less (for 950 euros plus shipping costs) from a nearby country. However, looking at the current price at the time of publishing this article, it’s already 400 francs more. In the end, I ordered from Galaxus in Switzerland. Why? Because of shipping costs and customs on the one hand, and because I prefer to have a local contact for warranty claims.
Apart from that, it’s debatable whether the lamp’s price is justified. It’s probably a little overpriced. The Swiss price definitely is. At least it’s so far delivered on every single promise it’s made. Its life span is supposed to be over 60,000 hours. Assuming it takes 1,400 hours for a grow cycle, this means I’ll be able to grow cannabis once a year for 43 years. However, depending on the plant’s stage of growth, I use the lamp dimmed to different degrees. So we’re probably talking more like 70 years.
Will I even live that long? Is this the last lamp I’ll ever get? If all goes well and the police don’t come knocking on my door as commented on the the last article, this could actually be the case.
The finish of the Zeus is impeccable, and it has a built-in ballast and a dimmer that can reduce the light to 75, 50 or 25 per cent. The dimmer is wired, and I’ve placed it on the roof of my tent. If you prefer to regulate the light really precisely to a specific percentage or plan to automate your tent with more than just a timer, there’s also the following light control available:
The digital control panel should allow you to keep an eye on the temperatures and even control the room temperature smartly. Or you can simulate a sunrise and sunset for your plants. However, my cannabis females will have to do without that. For them, sunrises are instantaneous. Since growing with the Zeus lamp works perfectly in the 120 cm tent, even with the less elaborate dimmer, I’ve not made this purchase so far. Not least because I only have the one lamp. The control panel’s designed to control several or many Zeus lamps at the same time.
Honestly, who needs that? I must admit, dimming in per cent increments does sound tempting. However, I’m not convinced it really makes a difference to simulate a sunrise. It seems to be a similar logic as putting a radio in the tent and hoping that Rasta Reggae music will help grow particularly fat and hard buds. What I am sure of, however, is that a daily dose of love really does help in addition to the correct amount of light.
Watch this space for more on my new grow setup. I’ll link the two upcoming articles here as soon as they’ve been published. Until then, I bid you farewell with a hearty craving for sweets.
Header image: Martin Jud
Martin Jud
Senior Editor
martin.jud@digitecgalaxus.chI find my muse in everything. When I don’t, I draw inspiration from daydreaming. After all, if you dream, you don’t sleep through life.
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