December 14, 2022

MIGRO ARAY 2 Review

This review will be covering the MIGRO ARAY 2 LED Grow Light.

The ARAY 2 is part of the MIGRO ARAY series. This series was created by Shane over at MIGRO. Some of you might be familiar with him and his fixtures already.

The ARAY series is made up of the following lights:

The ARAY 2 makes up the base of the ARAY 4, 8, and 12. These lights are just different combinations of the ARAY 2. The ARAY 3 is the only light that is different since it is made to cover a 3'x3'.

Build

The ARAY 2 arrives in a discreet box, disassembled. The assembly is quite easy and there are some simple instructions included on how to put the light together. The light hangs directly from the thick cables using the included ratchet hangers. When setup, the light bar assembly is 18″x39″ and weighs only 5.7 lbs.

The fixture is connected via a long cord to a remote Mean Well driver. The MIGRO driver houses a dimmer and RJ ports for hooking up a controller and daisy-chaining multiple fixtures. The light is compatible with the popular Trolmaster Hydro-X and AC Infinity controllers, among other 0-10v controllers. The dimmer ranges from 100% to 10% and switches to off. An RJ cable is included with each fixture.

Specs

MIGRO reports a wattage draw of 125 watts on the ARAY 2. I measured the wattage and amperage at 115V and received a reading of 121 watts at an amperage of 1.06, which is on par with the claimed wattage. The light only includes a NEMA 5-15P 120V US plug. If you want to use the light or any fixture in the ARAY series on 240V, you will need to purchase a 120V to 240V plug adapter.

The total light output of the fixture is 337 umol/S (PPF) with an efficacy of 2.7 umol/J (PPE). Shane takes his calculations a a step further and reports the useable PPF and useable PPE. These came out to 298 PPF and 2.38 PPE.

The light will flower a 2'x2' area and veg a 3'x3' area and does quite well in a tent or area with reflective walls. Six to eight above the canopy is the optimal hanging height for this fixture during flowering. Consider hanging it at 8” at 50% to 75% intensity for veg in a 2'x2' foot area.

The ARAY series is IP65 rated and it comes with a 3-year manufacturer’s warranty. It also has these certifications: CE, RoHS2, UKCA EMC, EN 55015.

Diodes and Spectrum

The ARAY series contains Samsung LM281B 3000K and 5000K 90CRI diodes and OSRAM 660nm Deep Reds. There are not any UV or far red diodes in this fixture. The boards are conformally coated, making them water and dust resistant and easy to clean without damaging the diodes.

PAR

I didn’t test the PAR on this fixture since the light is meant for a 2'x2' area and I hung this up in a 4'x4' grow tent. Shane, over at MIGRO, does a lot of PAR testing on different light and I trust his readings, so I am going to use his chart.

Shane tested the light in a 2'x2' tent at three different heights and settings representing seedlings, veg, and flower. Note, the different heights also have different dimming settings, 30%, 75%, and 100%. The average PAR at 6” and 100% intensity was 800 PPFD, which is perfect for flowering in a small space.

Summary

So, what do I think about this fixture and the ARAY series? Let's start with the cons. Some of these are cons and others are more just things to consider:

The light bars are only supported by the cables so you need to let the cables relax for a day or two since they are a bit stiff. When first setting the bars up, they may be tilted a little bit forward or backwards.
Remote drivers are great if you want to remove a little bit of heat from the grow area and have less bulk over your grow, but they can create more cable to deal with in your grow space.
If you purchase the ARAY 8 or ARAY 12, you will have 4 to 6 cords coming up from the light bars and running to a single cord which attaches to the driver. Again, extra cable to deal with.
The lights comes disassembled. While quick and fun to put together, assembling, 10-20 of the larger fixtures would take some time to complete.
Lastly, the ARAY series uses LM281B diodes. These appear to be a slightly older generation of Samsung diode and are a little less efficient.

And now, the pros:

The fixture is sleek and the build is good quality. You can conclude that MIGRO focused on designing a product that is going to last a long time.
The system is modular. You can purchase a separate connector bracket to join multiple ARAY 2s or ARAY 4s together, allowing you to fill your grow space with uniform lighting.
The remote driver will remove some of the heat from your grow space when placed outside of the grow environment. It also makes for a less bulky setup over your plants.
Lastly, the price of the series is very fair. The ARAY 2 is $160, ranging up to only $750 for the ARAY 12, a 750W fixture putting out 2025 PPF.

Thanks for reading!

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