Good cheap LED lights for 2x2 grow room?

Rodercol11

New Member
I'm looking to upgrade to LEDs from CFLs. I want a LED that I can use for Veg and Flowering and for a good price. I'm thinking around 300 Watts. I want just one lights also I don't want to have to buy one light for veg then another for flowering.

Any recommendations for a LED?
Also is it better to run a full spectrum during veg or just the veg spectrum?
Also for flowering, is it better to run full spectrum, or just the flower spectrum?
I was thinking of this onehttp://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B00V80UQR8/ref=psd_mlt_nbc_B00V64PMFW_rb
Anything wrong with it?
 
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grouch

Well-Known Member
Look into the led household bulbs if you are already setup for cfls. You can buy some decent 9w 2700k for a buck a piece on sale or 6 packs for 10 dollars. If you remove the domes the lights are very directional and won't need reflectors. The larger 16-22w bulbs are more expensive but also more effective at getting photons on the canopy.

If you ever get the "diy itch" you can seperate the led from the bulb housing to mount them on a heatsink and remote the driver.

I would stay away from the red/blue panels right now. Too much cheap stuff being dumped as it gets outdated. Our plants like white light. More specifically, they like some green light to go with their reds and blues and white light is cheap and easy now.
 

medicinehuman

Well-Known Member
Thinking about buying this one, and mabey adding some extra 2700k CFLs in during flowering. Or mabey getting the 600W one. This YouTube Caligreen used it and got good results. Anything bad about this one?
http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B00V80UQR8/ref=psd_mlt_nbc_B00V64PMFW_rb
$109.00 You will most likely get what you pay for, and that's not much. The Hans has a switch for flower and vegging and would do a lot better plus he will honor warranties. Good luck on whatever you get:peace: The Area 51 is good too.
 
My last grow was a 2x2 space with a total of 180w CFLs (9310 lumens) in 125.8 square feet (about 4x5.7). You've got 23 square feet. You don't have to get too fancy. Look for lumens, not watts.
 

Rodercol11

New Member
My last grow was a 2x2 space with a total of 180w CFLs (9310 lumens) in 125.8 square feet (about 4x5.7). You've got 23 square feet. You don't have to get too fancy. Look for lumens, not watts.
Did that do well? I was told you need at least 3000 lumens/ft2 minimum or 6000 for optimal
 
Did that do well? I was told you need at least 3000 lumens/ft2 minimum or 6000 for optimal
It did all right. It was my first grow, so it wasn't very optimized. I managed to get half an ounce off a badly stress-hermed female (hooray, new england winters). I had to harvest early because it started pollinating, so I can't really say for sure how it would've worked if everything went right. The plant itself was very healthy and the leaves and stems gave me a nice batch of cannabutter. It's true that more lighting is generally better, but for a space your size you'll do just fine with a moderate setup like mine was.

But again, that's CFLs and I needed reflectors (the heat was also essential for New England winters). LED is a different animal but the lumen count should work about the same.
 

grouch

Well-Known Member
It did all right. It was my first grow, so it wasn't very optimized. I managed to get half an ounce off a badly stress-hermed female (hooray, new england winters). I had to harvest early because it started pollinating, so I can't really say for sure how it would've worked if everything went right. The plant itself was very healthy and the leaves and stems gave me a nice batch of cannabutter. It's true that more lighting is generally better, but for a space your size you'll do just fine with a moderate setup like mine was.

But again, that's CFLs and I needed reflectors (the heat was also essential for New England winters). LED is a different animal but the lumen count should work about the same.
Lumens are measured in a sphere to collect the light from all angles. They use domes on household leds to acheive good lumen numbers but when you remove the dome you get very intense directional light compared to cfls. This allows led bulbs with lower output to actually put more light on the plant (two to three times the light when comparing to cfl lumen claims imo)
 

Bachomp

Well-Known Member
Well then just what's the difference between a cheap $150 300W LED, and a expensive $300-400 300W LED?
Alot of contributing factors, the first would be the actual wattage from the wall, spectrum, quantity/quality of LED used.
I almost bought a cheap LED, then I spent about an hour researching the LED forum here and changed my mind.
 
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