LED Concerns

Let me start of by saying I recently purchased some LED lights. I bought two Kessil h150's and a Hydro Grow 21x pro.
I bought these for spot lighting, seed sprouting and small grows. I don't expect wonders from these lights but I do think they will work for what I am planning.

The concern I have is everyone is saying how long LED lights will run trouble free. These claims appear to be based on speculation and not on hard data since there isn't a lot of hard data available.
The two Kessils I own have a one year warranty I would speculate I will get two years of trouble free use.
The Hydro Grow has a 3 year warranty and I may get 3 or 4 years out of it.
I do not see any of these lights working for the 50 thousand hour claim.
Until the prices come down a bit I don't plan on buying any more LED lamps. I am more than comfortable using HID lighting for the heavy lifting, which if handled right can get 50 thousand hours out of the ballast.

Another concern of mine is because of the high prices manufactures are giving you the idea that if a light is this expensive it must work wonders.

And to follow that line of reasoning the high end LED lights have become a status symbol among growers who are trying to one up each other with how much they are spending on their lights.
Just a thought

johnny5fingers said:

And to follow that line of reasoning the high end LED lights have become a status symbol among growers who are trying to one up each other with how much they are spending on their lights.

Click to expand...

or maybe people are just interested in expanding the technology..?

Well as a poor and lonesome Diyer ,allow me to share some of my thoughts about leds ...
Seriously ....
Well ,it goes like this ....
I've started building my first led prototypes ,using 'cheap' and 'crappy' materials ...
Leds,drivers ,blah,blah,blah ...
I knew it from start ,that ..well ,that was not going to be a 'more efficient than a HPS ' story ...
At least ,that was the 'expected ' .
So I've used cheap and easy to 'build' / 'connect' /'solder 'together parts ....

Well...Those lights did work pretty good actually ....
With approx 135-140 Watts at plug the yield is averaging at 140-160 gr ...
Pretty awesome for the cheap one-watters ...

Then I've jumped to the 'high quality and price led ' boat ....
Along came ,other 'arts' (and more money spend ),like reflow soldering ,mcpcb prototyping and etching ,blah,blah,blah...


You know what ?

I prefer the cheapos ,I think .....

Cheap,easy to replace ,easy to use ,easy to find .....
Not much care/attention given ,cause ain't high-priced equipment ...
And guess what ...
They do the ' job ',just fine ....


Leds ,have long way to go still....
Expanding the technology ( & knowledge ),needs money ,time,dedication,blah,blah,blah ....
And is good,of course ...
( For those who have plenty of 'cheese' ...)

For me ...
A poor and lonesome grower-ex DIYer- ....
Cheapos will do fine ...
Way better than HPS ...
Watt for Watt at plug ....
And they last for at least two years (tested and proved ) without a heatsink ...
Working on a bare metal core pcb ...
Donkeys ?
WORK-donkeys ....
Ow! Hey-wow-ahhh ...
A Fried led ?
A Burned one ?
Who cares ....
It takes only $ .5 ,to replace .

My* ¢50 ....

*(Me ,myshelf and I ....)

johnny5fingers said:

The concern I have is everyone is saying how long LED lights will run trouble free. These claims appear to be based on speculation and not on hard data since there isn't a lot of hard data available.
The two Kessils I own have a one year warranty I would speculate I will get two years of trouble free use.
The Hydro Grow has a 3 year warranty and I may get 3 or 4 years out of it.
I do not see any of these lights working for the 50 thousand hour claim.
Until the prices come down a bit I don't plan on buying any more LED lamps. I am more than comfortable using HID lighting for the heavy lifting, which if handled right can get 50 thousand hours out of the ballast.

Click to expand...

I'm not really sure where you are getting your info and why you think that these fixtures won't last. My experience with Kessil - over a year - is that they are very reliable and are the best quality build that I have seen in an LED fixture. I do spray some canned air in the unit in between grows to clean the insides/fan so that the cooling stays good....and the lights last...takes less than a minute to clean all four...and I just do it in between grows. These are definitely not blackstars which I expect to die within a year...

I use LED lights because of heat during summer and cost of electric...and they work well. Now for winter, I'm having to add heat to my grow room...but that's an issue that I'll live with.

I recently finished my first harvest using a $150 el cheapo 200w LED. I pulled 97g dry weight of airy popcorn buds off 2 indicas in a 24"w 16"d 36"h cab using DWC.
Nice smoke!

I'm looking to step up to 1g/watt but simply to many options.
126x hydro grow led and pro grow 260x look very promising.

I spent a lot of money on my leds because I wanted the warranty. I also wanted a light that was proven... and..... wait for it...


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