Why the NextLight Mini is your next LED grow light

The NextLight commercial series are some of the most efficient LED grow lights on the market. The NextLight Mini emits a full spectrum white light designed to seedling to harvest growth. Let’s check it out. 

Build

The Mini is only 22" x 18” and weighs 12 lbs. There is a diffuser over the Mini to diffuse the light and protect the diodes. The 120-277 VAC autosensing driver is encased in order to protect it. There are no cooling fans - the unit is passively cooled via the aluminum casing. Overall, there are minimal bells and whistles to help keep costs low. NextlLight put this fixture's cost into the high-quality diodes and the best drivers (Mean Well) on the market. The 120V version comes with a Nema 5-15 plug. The 240v models comes with a 6-15p plug.

Wattage

The NextLight Mini only draws 150 watts and will replace up to a 400W HID system. That’s 60% less electricity and 60% less heat! Its perfect for small spaces where heat or venting is an issue. 

When ran on 120v the Mini draws 1.3A, and when ran on 240v, it only draws 0.65A.

Image: NextLight Mini vs 400W HID

Spectrum

The Mini utilizes a full white light spectrum with near UV-A and IR light. The Red to Blue to ratio is about 1:1. This is a great spectrum for high yielding plants of good quality. A higher proportion of red drives yields, while a high proportion of blue enhances THC, CBD, and terpenes.

Image: NextLight Spectrum

The spectrum is ideal for seedling to harvest growth. The only thing you need to change is the distance as the plants grow up and are ready for flower. Spectrum changes can actually hinder plant growth from the veg to flower transition, so NextLight only uses a single spectrum.

There are some links at the end of this article if you would like to read up on the scientific literature regarding why white light might facilitate the best plant growth.

Overall, this spectrum has been proven to veg and flower with excellent results.

PAR

NextLight has provided PAR maps of the Mini:

Image: NextLight Mini PAR

The measurements were taken in a 2’ x 2.5” Gorilla Grow Tent. The PAR is fairly high at 8” and 12” within a 12” x 15” area. Based off of the size and intensity of the footprint, the PAR maps suggest that flowering one plant would be your best option for a quality harvest.

Coverage area and hanging height

Expect a 3'x 3' coverage area for Veg and 2'x 2' coverage area for flower. This light is perfect for a lot of seedlings, several clones, vegging a few plants or flowering one plant. The Mini is essentially a smaller version of the NextLight Mega, which is designed to flower 5' x 5' space.

It is recommended that this fixture is used 8"-12” above the plants during flower for the best results. Most growers hang the light at about 10” above the canopy. You can use it at 36” to 48” for Veg. NextLight recommends you start high and adjust the height as the plants acclimate. Keep in mind that the further you bring the fixture up, the less intense the light will be, but you will gain coverage area.

PPF

The light output of the Mini clocks in are 260 umol/s. This is not a huge amount of light, but it is a high amount given the size and coverage area of the fixture. 

The fixture does not come with dimming capabilities, but they can be installed for an additional fee.

PAR efficiency

The Mini comes in at 1.73 PPF/watt, which is considered very efficient. While it is not over 2.0 umol/j and not the MOST efficient light on the market, it is still puts out a lot of light considering its wattage draw.

Diodes

NextLight uses highly-efficient Samsung LM561B diodes which are rated for 100,000 hours at 77 degrees ambient temperature. That’s about 22 years on a 12/12 flower cycle and 15 years on an 18/6 Veg cycle. Higher temperatures will decrease the lifespan.

There are no secondary lenses on the unit so without these you get increased efficiency and a wider light spread.

Warranty

NextLight products are designed and manufactured in the United States with domestic and imported parts and they come with a manufacturer’s 5-year warranty.

Commercial listing

The entire Commercial Series is UL listed for damp and dry locations. They are also DLC premium listed and qualify for energy rebates with most energy providers.

Price

The NextLight Mini’s MSRP is $595.00, but is available for $535.50 at this link. You can also receive 15% off the NextLight Mini when you use code 'NEXT15' at checkout.

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Resources: 

Green Light Drives Leaf Photosynthesis More Efficiently than Red Light in Strong White Light: http://bit.ly/2tnydNc

Possible reasons of a decline in growth of Chinese cabbage under a combined narrowband red and blue light in comparison with illumination by high-pressure sodium lamp: http://bit.ly/2sqtT2c