Mars Hydro - FC-E3000

The FC-E3000 is a 300 watt bar fixture producing 832 µmol/s, meant for a 90 × 90 cm growing area in flower. Bridgelux diodes, a built-in dimmer and passive cooling without a fan.

Work your grow out in kilowatt hours

Lighting is the largest consumer of electricity in most growing spaces, and it is still the part whose consumption people estimate worst. The arithmetic is fortunately simple enough for the back of an envelope.

Take the power in kilowatts, here 0.3, and multiply it by the running hours. In the vegetative stage a lamp usually runs eighteen hours a day, so 0.3 × 18 is 5.4 kilowatt hours per day. In flower you drop to twelve hours and land on 3.6. A twelve-week flowering period at twelve hours therefore means roughly 302 kilowatt hours for the lamp alone.

Two things make that sum useful. Dim to sixty percent and consumption falls roughly in proportion, so dimming through the early weeks is real money rather than a feeling. And do not forget your extraction: it often runs around the clock and counts for more in a small tent than growers expect. If you want to know your consumption properly, fit a plug-in meter and measure for a week, because estimated figures are usually wrong.

Technical Specifications:

• Model: FC-E3000
• Power: 300 W
• Light output: 832 µmol/s PPF
• Efficiency: 2.8 µmol/J for the complete fixture
• Diodes: Bridgelux
• Flowering coverage: 90 × 90 cm
• Current: around 1.3 A at 230 V
• Dimmer: built in
• Cooling: passive, wave-shaped heat sink without a fan
• Weight: 12 kg

Frequently asked questions

How much electricity does this lamp use per day?
At full power 5.4 kilowatt hours on eighteen hours of light, and 3.6 on twelve.

Does dimming really cut consumption?
Yes, roughly in proportion. At sixty percent you draw broadly sixty percent of the wattage.

Does my extraction fan count for much?
Often more than expected, because it runs day and night while the lamp is only on for part of it.

Is this lamp right for 100 × 100 cm?
In flower we hold to 90 × 90 cm. The FC-E4800 is the one meant for a full square metre.