Mars Hydro - TS-600

The TS-600 is the smallest lamp in Mars Hydro's TS range: 100 watts under an aluminium reflector hood, with a dimming knob on the supply unit. Mars Hydro themselves present it as a lamp for seedlings and cuttings.

Hours count as heavily as watts

A plant responds not to how bright things are at one moment, but to how much light arrives across a whole day. That total is the daily light integral, DLI for short, and you work it out like this: intensity at leaf height in µmol per square metre per second, times the hours the lamp runs, times 0.0036. The answer is in mol per square metre per day.

That sum explains why this lamp does far more in vegetative growth than its wattage suggests. Seedlings and cuttings want somewhere between 10 and 15 mol a day, a plant in vegetative growth 20 to 30. Run 18 hours of light and you need only around 350 µmol to land on 22 mol, which the TS-600 manages over a small area without effort.

Flowering turns that picture over, and not gently. You cut back to 12 hours, losing a third of the day at a stroke, while the target rises to 30 mol or more. That same 350 µmol now yields 15 mol: too little, however long you wait. Reaching flowering levels means roughly doubling the intensity, which is exactly why Mars Hydro quote a flowering area of 45 by 45 centimetres for this lamp and a vegetative area of 60 by 60.

Running a full crop from seed to harvest in a 60 by 60 tent, this lamp handles the first half and falls short in the second. Raising plants only, or hanging it over cuttings alongside a larger fixture, it is exactly enough.

Technical Specifications:

• Model: TS-600
• Power: 100 W ±5%
• Light output (PPF): 190 µmol/s
• Efficiency (PPE): 2.0 µmol/J
• Flowering area: 45 x 45 cm
• Light spectrum: 660 to 665 nm, 730 to 740 nm, 3000 to 3200 K, 6000 to 6500 K
• Dimmable: 0 to 100%, knob on the supply unit
• Cooling: passive, no fan
• Dimensions: 35.6 x 31 x 3.6 cm
• Weight: 0.9 kg
• Life expectancy: nominally 50,000 hours
• Warranty: 5 year manufacturer warranty

Frequently asked questions

Can I run a whole crop under this in a 60 by 60?
Through vegetative growth, yes. In flower you will not reach the light integral across that whole area, because the day drops to 12 hours.

How high do I hang it over seedlings?
Mars Hydro work to 60 centimetres, with the dimmer low. Seedlings scorch more easily than people expect.

Why is no diode count listed?
Because the count differs by mains voltage. The 230 volt build carries a different number from the American one, and it says nothing about how the lamp performs.

Does it have a fan?
No. The hood doubles as the heat sink, so there is nothing inside to make noise or fail.