Cheap but good LED for a 3'x1.5' tent?

Last time I priced LED's was a several years ago and they were pricey. I have CFL's now.

1. How many watts would I need and which LED lights would YOU buy on a tight budget for a small 3'x1.5 foot flower tent?
2. Where is the cheapest place to purchase them?

What do you consider a tight budget? $300 would get you a good light or better if you made your own.

Check out Atreum Lighting for a good deal on Quantum Boards. Under $200 into these lights with great performance. Haven't had the time to get to Home Depot to buy supplies for the frame but honestly if you want budget the hangers work just fine.

Wait! I just read LED's need to be 2' off the canopy. My tent is only 5 feet tall and I grow in 3 gallon pots. There isn't much height and I have a fan and filter at the top.

I think I will stay with the CFL's for my little personal needs.

Thanks.

I have less height than you with filters, lots of cob's and quantum boards. CFL's just don't cut it personally. I'll early veg with them but that's about it. Very inefficient compared to current led tech at the same wattage. If you want some really good quality flower and weight then changing your lights will directly affect your harvest. GL growing

$1 per Watt. How many do you need?

SwiSHa85 said:

I have less height than you with filters, lots of cob's and quantum boards. CFL's just don't cut it personally. I'll early veg with them but that's about it. Very inefficient compared to current led tech at the same wattage. If you want some really good quality flower and weight then changing your lights will directly affect your harvest. GL growing

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What's the minimum wattage you would run for a tent 3x1.5x5 and which lights specifically would you buy?

Minimum 35 watts a square foot. A few cobs or 2 boards turned down would fit the bill.

I have 2 of those tents and run a timber 2VL in one (299.00 USD but you get a rollitup discount) and a samsung strip light fixture (300 CDN or about 225USD). The strip lights are a cheaper alternative if you can find one. There is a local guy making them here.
The lights are 200 and 232 watts respectively but i dont think they can run full power in that space. I will see as we go on this run. Winter is cooler so it can take more heat.

Samsung board QB135 might do the space too

SwiSHa85 said:

Check out Atreum Lighting for a good deal on Quantum Boards. Under $200 into these lights with great performance. Haven't had the time to get to Home Depot to buy supplies for the frame but honestly if you want budget the hangers work just fine.

View attachment 4242165

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i got mine the other day off there ebay site cant wait to use em now..

Earlyriser76 said:

What's the minimum wattage you would run for a tent 3x1.5x5 and which lights specifically would you buy?

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30w per square foot for highly efficient LEDs , 45-50w per square foot for cheap amazon lights like vipar or mars.

A single Quantum board kit will do.
https://horticulturelightinggroup.com/products/135w-led-board-kit
That's the V1 kit, the v2 is about another $20 and a bit better.
Don't know if that's in your budget though.

5 square feet means 150 to 200 watts of quantum, boards or strips or cobs will light it right. The advantage to strips and boards is the even spread of the wattage. The cobs have better penetration of canopy. They all work GREAT

The QB135 I have can be ran at 150 watts. It would do ok too.

5 square foot tent should produce 5 to 10 oz so 150 to 300 grams. All are viable options and they are no regrets lights. So later you can throw 1 or 2 in a bigger space if you need to. Or have a mars in a tote like the rest of us.

I have 4 lights now and each has 2 x 100w cfl's. Mix of 2700k and 6500k. Would I really be gaining THAT much by going LED over what I already have?

For years I used T5 florescent lights and got reasonable results.
Then on a whim I bought some 1000w Chinese led lights at a very low price.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/1000W-100pcs-Watt-LED-Grow-Light-Lamp-Plants-Flower-Oganic-Growing-Full-Spectrum/263951454016?epid=26018563108&hash=item3d74bb8f40:rk:1:pf:0se all spectrum led lights.

I honestly didn't think they would work all that well. It seem fashionable to bash everything form China these days.

The fact is that these led lights have made all of the difference in the world. My yield has tripled. I don't expect these lights are well thought of but I would be crazy to stop using them.

They hardly produce any heat so I use lots of watts in flowering, at least 2000w.

Until I see evidence that another lighting system works better, I am sticking with the cheap Chinese all spectrum leds.

Earlyriser76 said:

What's the minimum wattage you would run for a tent 3x1.5x5 and which lights specifically would you buy?

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That depends your budget. Screw-in would be the cheapest since you already have sockets.

These options aren't cheap, but they are very good! You'll crush cfl with 30w/square foot of good boards, strips, or COBs.
Can you DIY? I'd make a strip light with the 11" Samsung F-series (Or Bridgelux EB Gen-3) strips. They can be run as close as 4-6 inches.
http://ledgardener.com/diy-led-strip-build-designs-samsung-bridgelux/

Or two of these, https://atreumlighting.com/products/atreum-144-2-led-board-horticulture-full-spectrum-grow-light-panel-samsung-lm301b

Or post #11

Earlyriser76 said:

I have 4 lights now and each has 2 x 100w cfl's. Mix of 2700k and 6500k. Would I really be gaining THAT much by going LED over what I already have?

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800 watts? That has to the "equivalent" wattage, what is the actual wattage? For LED, go with 3000k or 3500k. LED is much more efficient, so you get more light, a lower electric bill or both.

See if you can find the lumens of your cfl. The LED I mentioned are around 175 lm/watt.
The numbers might be an eye opener.

Earlyriser76 said:

I have 4 lights now and each has 2 x 100w cfl's. Mix of 2700k and 6500k. Would I really be gaining THAT much by going LED over what I already have?

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you should at least get a T5 fixture

bartow said:

They hardly produce any heat so I use lots of watts in flowering, at least 2000w.
.

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How many of those lights are you using to think your using 2000w? 20?

Earlyriser76 said:

I have 4 lights now and each has 2 x 100w cfl's. Mix of 2700k and 6500k. Would I really be gaining THAT much by going LED over what I already have?

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They look like 12w cfls to me. The equiverant it compared to incadescent bulbs, its just a sales tactic.

If funds are tight then just keep an eye open in dollar stores for plug and play screw in LED bulbs, like 1212 suggested. I heard of folks pickeing them up for a dollar on sale. Just swapping them out for the same wattage each bulb will greatly improve the amount of light your plants are getting, plus the spectrum is much fuller.

bartow said:

For years I used T5 florescent lights and got reasonable results.
Then on a whim I bought some 1000w Chinese led lights at a very low price.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/1000W-100pcs-Watt-LED-Grow-Light-Lamp-Plants-Flower-Oganic-Growing-Full-Spectrum/263951454016?epid=26018563108&hash=item3d74bb8f40:rk:1:pf:0se all spectrum led lights.

I honestly didn't think they would work all that well. It seem fashionable to bash everything form China these days.

The fact is that these led lights have made all of the difference in the world. My yield has tripled. I don't expect these lights are well thought of but I would be crazy to stop using them.

They hardly produce any heat so I use lots of watts in flowering, at least 2000w.

Until I see evidence that another lighting system works better, I am sticking with the cheap Chinese all spectrum leds.

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I'm not trying to eek out every gram. I just need an upgrade from my cfls.

How close can you get these lights to the top of your canopy without risk?

Is this 1000w too much for 4.5 square feet?