Welcome to the first installment of our Grow Room Adventures series! We will be detailing every aspect of what makes a successful grow room.
We’re going to start this series off with a chapter on grow lights – perhaps the most important feature of a grow room – by looking at one of the most successful brands in the business: ViparSpectra.
ViparSpectra specializes in LED grow lights, a kind of energy-efficient light source with a high level of spectral quality.
Let’s jump right in!
Table of Contents:
- Why Should I Use LED Grow Lights?
- About ViparSpectra
- Product Overview
- Pro Series Overview
- Dimmable Series Overview
- Reflector-Series Overview
- PAR Series Overview
- Timer Control Series Overview
Why Should I Use LED Grow Lights?
LED lights may be the best single-source artificial light for plant growth.
Bold statement?
Perhaps, but let’s look at the evidence:
- LED lights are usually very small in size; the largest LED commercial units generally don’t exceed 20.67 x 2.37 x 8.5 inches in size.
- LED lights are remarkably durable, with the average lifespan being between 75,000 – 100,000 hours of use.
- LED lights provide a high degree of wavelength specificity; most LED grow lights are ‘full spectrum’ meaning they provide red, blue, and white light which are optimal for different stages of a plant’s growth cycle. More on this later.
- LED lights don’t emit as much heat as HPS grow lights.
A good full spectrum LED grow light panel will be loaded with hundreds, if not thousands of blue, red, and white LED chips.
Company Overview
ViparSpectra was founded in 2011, by 2020 they partnered with the multinational conglomerate Samsung, and the Taiwanese founded power supply company MEAN WELL.
A few of their milestones along the way include becoming a top seller on Ebay by 2014, expanding into a 20,000 square meter facility by 2015, and becoming a ‘best selling’ brand on Amazon by 2017.
The company currently has facilities in Oregon, California, Texas, Kentucky, and New Jersey. Oh, and we can’t forget about their warehouses in the United Kingdom and Australia as well.
It’s safe to say that ViparSpectra is a large and well-respected brand.
The company claims to have a 0.1% defect rate – which is the lowest in the industry – a team of over 180 experts, and over 20 million customers.
For better or worse, if you decide to buy a ViparSpectra LED grow light, you’re certainly not doing business with a mom-and-pop shop.
LED Grow Light Offerings
ViparSpectra currently offers 6 LED grow light series:
- The Pro Series
- The Dimmable Series
- The Reflector Series
- The PAR Series
- The Timer Control Series
- The XS Series
The following table lists the 6 ViparSpectra LED grow light series along with their lifespan, true power usage, and the number of offerings within each series:
Type: Pro Series Lifespan: 100,000 Hours Power: 95 watts – 250 watts Offerings: 6 Lights in this Series | |
Type: Dimmable Series Lifespan: 100,000 Hours Power: 132 watts – 395 watts Offerings: 4 Lights in this Series | |
Type: Reflector Series Lifespan: 100,000 Hours Power: 130 watts – 520 watts Offerings: 6 Lights in this Series | |
Type: Par Series Lifespan: ≥ 100,000 Hours Power: 213 watts – 545 watts Offerings: 5 Lights in this Series | |
Type: Timer Control Series Lifespan: 100,000 Hours Power: 135 watts – 260 watts Offerings: 4 Lights in this Series | |
Type: XS Series Lifespan: 100,000 Hours Power: 150 watts – 480 watts Offerings: 3 Lights in this Series |
Pro Series Overview
This is ViparSpectra’s standard, minimal LED grow light series comprised of lights with thin frames and full spectrum output.
Equipt with high functioning aluminum heat sinks and high-speed fans that emit very little noise, this lineup is optimal for mid-sized grow operations.
Dimmable Series Overview
This series specializes in adapting the brightness of the light to the plant’s flowering and fruiting cycle.
The ViparSpectra dimmer confers the light output level according to the plant’s needs, whether that be the flowering or fruiting stages of life.
This series seems to be the most popular among marijuana growers but can clearly be used for any number of herbs, vegetables, or flowers grown indoors.
Reflector-Series Overview
This series offers full-spectrum LEDs with reflectors for optimal light direction.
PAR Series Overview
Par (photosynthetic active radiation) is the wavelength of light within the 400 – 700-nanometer range; think of it as the kind of light that is essential for photosynthesis. This series is designed for optimal PAR.
Timer Control Series
As you’d expect, each light in this series comes with a built-in timer and remote control.
Iron casing on the outside for first-class durability, and aluminum on the inside for cooling – oh, and don’t forget about the advanced high-speed fans as well – these units are really impressive.
The Timer Control series is optimal at a distance of roughly 20″ above your burgeoning plants and should be left on for around 12 hours a day.