if power consumption and heat are about the same issue as with HID, then what exactly is the advantage of LED?
When I started with LED, I thought the whole damn reason was to get an equivalent amount of usable light for way less power and heat or a much greater amount for the same power and heat?
I thought I was gonna be able to do a veg closet with no real cooling or venting on LED. I was wrong. I killed seedlings left and right in a small enclosed space with a small LED. It was blazin hot in winter in a cold house.
I'm guessing you were using an early generation of LED. They've improved a ton in the last several years.
Design also counts for a lot; if you drive the typical 100W COB LED chip at its full rated wattage, it is not likely to be much if any more efficient than HID. however, unlike HID lights, driving the chip well below its maximum not only doesn't change the spectrum much but it makes the chip operate much more efficiently.
Thus the 100W chip might pull 44% efficiency at full power, 55% at 50W, and over 60% efficiency at 25W. The difference is buying twice or four times as many chips up front, which is then justified in terms of power savings over time. Not that much time; often, the power savings amounts to the cost of the whole fixture in just the first year of use!
Cheap Chinese LED light makers generally run their chips at full blast to save money on parts. They aren't paying your power bill, so WTF do they care? Also, cheaper drivers are less efficient, another reason those lights draw more amps and get hot.
The smaller bespoke fixture makers advertising here on RIU such as HLG, Timber, Johnson Grow Lights, Tasty, Northern Grow Lights and a few others build their lights to get better efficiency numbers. The trade-off is higher up front cost but the benefits include much higher efficiency, lower heat output and much longer component life due to quality components running cooler and at lower current.
So you can save a few bucks up front and then fork out on the power bills or spend a little more up front and save money for the life of the fixture.
Hope that helps!
