Anyone interested in a group buy for LED grow lights?
- Thread starter CaptainPointless
- Start date
that would be about perfect.I will definitely let you know. I have to wait until I receive my tax return anyway before I can really afford to do anything. More than likely if this happens, it will happen around mid-February to to the beginning of March.
Is anyone else out there interested at all in the possibility of getting a sickeningly good deal on LED grow lights?
As far as the reason someone could be interested in Led is simple. Its more efficient for closet growers. I dont have to figure out a way to vent heaps of heat. These produce no heat and can even touch the plants. They last much much much longer as well. There are reasons. The future of plant growing (all plants) does not lie in the hands of MH and HPS, it rests in the hands of something much more efficient such as LED or Plasma lighting. If someone doesn't buy this stuff in the beginning, the next best thing will never be found.
CaptainPointless
Well-Known Member
Well, they have exactly a 120 degree beam angle for all the LEDs used, so by using some math, you can probably figure it out. I'll take a look at it here later tonight and see if I can come up with some rough numbers. EDIT: MORE THAN LIKELY, YOU'LL BE ABLE TO COVER JUST AS MUCH SURFACE AREA AS YOU WOULD WITH YOUR HID. As far as the power of them goes, two 600W panels ($750 ea. +sh) should more than equal the usable amount of light coming from the HID bulbs you currently have. Price is in the very first post.
Couldn't have said it better myself.sfl420 said:
CaptainPointless
Well-Known Member
Clearly, you are not reading some of the other posts.
And what prices are you talking about? There are none listed on the website I provided. The only prices for these that have been made known are the ones I included in my first post.
And heat is far from the only issue. For one, electrical usage. If you were to go from a 1000W HID to a 300W LED (approx. equivalent in usable light output) that is a savings of .7 kW per hour. Assuming the lights are on a 12/12 light schedule, that equates to 8.4 kWh per day. Multiplied by 30 days, and you have a savings of 252 kWh per month. I don't know about you, but that's about $25/mo where I live.
In addition, space is a notable benefit. The LED lights are a lot of usable light in a compact package. Where there would have to be large reflectors to utilize all of the output from HID bulbs, LEDs have a relatively small rectangular setup due to the beam angle they are manufactured with.
seasmoke
Active Member
https://www.rollitup.org/advanced-marijuana-cultivation/187131-spectra-unit-90watt-led-grow-8.html#post2704022
Its an old thread, but pretty good. Doc and treeth have done led grows....might be able to lend a hand....there was someone else too that was doing an evaluation with some company, there was supposedn to be a report on it.
You say i'll need two 600. I think i'll need four...$3000.00 for 4 lights is to expensive. They gotta do better than that. Lower the phukkin price and maybe they'll sell some and make nsome money. Everyone knows, the more nthey maqke, the cheaper they'll be. Make them affoardable.
I'll spend $2 grand on 4 600 wtt ultimate spectrum for MJ LED lights. Thats $500'00 per light, and a big chance i'll be wasting my money.
I remember when DTV first came out. I paid $700 SIX MONTHS IN ADVANCE FOR THE SYSTEM, now, they give them away with a subscription. Point? I should have waited an gotten it cheaperpm me with the details.
Its an old thread, but pretty good. Doc and treeth have done led grows....might be able to lend a hand....there was someone else too that was doing an evaluation with some company, there was supposedn to be a report on it.
You say i'll need two 600. I think i'll need four...$3000.00 for 4 lights is to expensive. They gotta do better than that. Lower the phukkin price and maybe they'll sell some and make nsome money. Everyone knows, the more nthey maqke, the cheaper they'll be. Make them affoardable.
I'll spend $2 grand on 4 600 wtt ultimate spectrum for MJ LED lights. Thats $500'00 per light, and a big chance i'll be wasting my money.
I remember when DTV first came out. I paid $700 SIX MONTHS IN ADVANCE FOR THE SYSTEM, now, they give them away with a subscription. Point? I should have waited an gotten it cheaperpm me with the details.
jawbrodt
Well-Known Member
Agreed. Maybe the 2 600 watt LEDS produce enough useable light to cover the 8 x 8 area, but their design doesn't allow the light to spead that far unless you placed them WAY above the plants, which would defeat the purpose because the light wouldn't be intense enough to get a good yield.
Maybe you would get better result if you bought 9 of the 150 watt panels, and placed them in 3 rows of 3? That would be a little under $2,000, and cover the area alot better. I still don't think they would be able to compete with four 600 watt HPS lights, unless you spent a bundle of cash. Try 9 of the 300 watters,(or 600's) and they were talking.LOL I'd like to see somebody try it though. Would be interesting.
Maybe you would get better result if you bought 9 of the 150 watt panels, and placed them in 3 rows of 3? That would be a little under $2,000, and cover the area alot better. I still don't think they would be able to compete with four 600 watt HPS lights, unless you spent a bundle of cash. Try 9 of the 300 watters,(or 600's) and they were talking.LOL I'd like to see somebody try it though. Would be interesting.
CaptainPointless
Well-Known Member
Here's a link to the dude on softsecrets forum that has done both 2x 300W setups and now is using a single 600W. Check it out to see what his results look like.Agreed. Maybe the 2 600 watt LEDS produce enough useable light to cover the 8 x 8 area, but their design doesn't allow the light to spead that far unless you placed them WAY above the plants, which would defeat the purpose because the light wouldn't be intense enough to get a good yield.
Maybe you would get better result if you bought 9 of the 150 watt panels, and placed them in 3 rows of 3? That would be a little under $2,000, and cover the area alot better. I still don't think they would be able to compete with four 600 watt HPS lights, unless you spent a bundle of cash. Try 9 of the 300 watters,(or 600's) and they were talking.LOL I'd like to see somebody try it though. Would be interesting.
Also quite interestingly, people should know that the LEDs in his experiments include the UV-A and IR varieties. I will go ahead and say those are wasted bulbs. UV-A radiation does nothing to help THC production, it's UV-B that matters. IR contributed to the bleaching of the leaves in some of his pictures. IR light seems to do funny things to plants the more intense it is (ie, the closer it is). All that is needed (if one wants to really balance the spectrum, but keep it plant-friendly) is this (ratio):
660nm (7)
630nm (1)
612nm (1)
450nm (1)
430nm (1)
and if you REALLY insist on having extra spectrum:
5000K color temp. (1)
On a 288W lamp (which is typically the actual size of the 300W avertised lamps), this equates to:
660nm ( 168 ) (flowering)
630nm ( 24 ) (flowering)
612nm ( 24 ) (carotenoid production)
450nm ( 24 ) (vegetative)
430nm ( 24 ) (vegetative)
5000K ( 24 ) (full-spectrum)
This combination has pretty much all the necessary numbers without using unusable spectra. Longer wavelengths like 680nm actually produce some IR, so these are unnecessary. And like I said before, UV-A is not a usable wavelength. UV-B is the one that affects THC production (so use reptile bulbs or tanning bed bulbs). Also, one last thing you should know. The two major wavelengths (660nm and 450nm) penetrate quite a bit through the canopy, making more of the light usable for the plants.
CaptainPointless
Well-Known Member
Thought this article was pretty interesting...take a look!
http://www.growlight.cn/grow/High-power20LEDs_for_plant_cultivation_study.pdf
http://www.growlight.cn/grow/High-power20LEDs_for_plant_cultivation_study.pdf
Hey Cap i like the led im in the middle of a grow right now with 1 90 watt ufo and 6 clfs and i have 2 plants in flowering and 3 more in veg. my one ufo is great for the 2 plants. I was a hps buff before i gave the led a chance but now im saving money with the electric and i dont have to worry about going away and my plants getting burned look me up when you decide to go for the leds from manuf. Id be interested in some 600 watt panels. Just got to get the room for that much. Go LEDs
CaptainPointless
Well-Known Member
Will do, JD. If you have pictures or can get some pictures of your grow, you are more than welcome to post them in this thread for everyone else to see. Thanks for responding!
CaptainPointless
Well-Known Member
I have to ask...why are you still responding to this topic? I mean, I know it's an open forum and all, but as I said before...this thread is for people who ALREADY KNOW that we want to use LEDs. Not for people who are "not convinced." If you really want to voice your opinion about whether you think LEDs work or not, this is not the thread to post in. There are plenty of other threads where people are specifically asking for others' opinions about LEDs, so use those ones.
CaptainPointless
Well-Known Member
The problem (and I'll be pretty much duplicating this post in a different thread about LEDs), is this: Luminous intensity is relative to the human eye. In fact, it's relative to the wavelength that the human eye is most sensitive to -- 555nm (what we would refer to as pure green).
Humans tend to want to equate the intensity we see to the intensity the plant "sees" -- but this is simply not the case. So a comparison dealing strictly in luminous intensity is faulted -- namely by the fact that the human eye is most evolved to sense a spectrum not emitted by any but the white broad-spectrum LEDs in these lamps. Interestingly enough, plants are the opposite. The light that appears the "brightest" to us (555nm pure green) appears the "dimmest" to them, and vice versa. The light that appears the "dimmest" to us (near-UV, 380nm and far red, ~700nm) appears the "brightest" to them. Well, ok, not exactly, but close. Since peak photosynthetic production occurs at around 660nm for Chlorophyll-A, and around 455nm for Chlorophyll-B, it follows that these are the wavelengths that plants are most sensitive to, or "see" as the "brightest." It is simply difficult for us to visually comprehend, as our human eyes are not tuned the same way.
A more accurate comparison would be to test the percentage of spectrum-specific output from the HID bulb, and then compare the percentage to the LEDs. This is more realistic, since only a small amount of the total luminous output is actually used by the plants (in the realm of 3-5%, at most 10%). So again, a 400W HPS light putting out 55,000 initial lumens is really only putting out around 5,500 lumens of USABLE light (~100% absorption), at a maximum. The rest of the light is just wasted energy. Compare this to the 3,360 lumens (~100% absorption) put out by the LED lamps referenced in this thread. Not bad when it is using half the energy, with no residual loss. This brings about the old adage, "Just because you can't see it, doesn't mean it's not there."
If you would like to take a look at the specs I have been provided with, there is a link to the supplier in post #15 of this topic.
One thing I would like to say (and some of you already know this, if you've been paying attention), is that I am not an expert on LEDs. I am simply a person who does a lot of research, to try and achieve the best results possible. If anyone has any doubts, I invite you to speak with either a color scientist, or a horticultural scientist. My research and theories are just that, research and theories. When at some point I have the ability to test all of them, rest assured you will all be privy to the results. Now to get me one of those OceanOptics Spectrometers...
CaptainPointless
Well-Known Member
Also something I just now noticed, that might be of interest. I looked at the PDFs on the website for the grow lights, and the "CREE" logo is at the bottom of each page...I am waiting for a response back to find out if the LEDs they use in these lamps are CREE LEDs, since these are known to be high output and reliable.
Dr.RR
Active Member
So the 150w model comes in a UFO shape?
CaptainPointless
Well-Known Member
Sorry, I should have been more clear on that. Their 60W and 90W lamps come in the familiar circular UFO shape. The 120W, 150W, 300W, and 600W lamps come in a box shape. If I remember what I looked at correctly, the 150W size is 19" x 10" x 3" if that answers your question. The UFO is about 11" diameter.
CaptainPointless
Well-Known Member
Let's see. Sizes of everything (except 60W, I don't think they're offering that anymore):
90W UFO - 10 5/8" DIA x 2 3/8" H
120W - 15 3/4" L x 8 3/8" W x 2 3/8" H
150W - 18 7/8" L x 9 7/8" W x 2 9/16 H
300W - 18 7/8" L x 12 1/4" W x 3 1/16" H
600W - 36 1/2" L x 12 1/4" W x 3 3/4" H
And another separate update for ya. I got an email back from the sales dept. and it turns out that the LEDs used are NOT the CREE LEDs, they just happen to have an affiliation with CREE for other various products they manufacture. The ones they use are manufactured in-house.
yellowsnowman
Member
dont waste your money on led's...hps is the way to go for now
there are lots of ppl trying to sell leds on ebay, craigslist, etc..even seen it on youtube
especially if they are products made in china...just means garbage trust me
there are lots of ppl trying to sell leds on ebay, craigslist, etc..even seen it on youtube
especially if they are products made in china...just means garbage trust me