Need info on BLACKSTAR 900W LED PANEL +rep for first hand exprience. no lying! ;)

shawn705

Well-Known Member
So im thinking of buying a blackstar 900W LED panel but i have never grown with led's or let alone flowered with them. What i need to know is how energy efficient are they, how many plants could i possibly grow with it in a sog method, does it produce dense buds, is the yield affected? i can also add a 400w hps for added spectrum if needed.
 

kushhound187

Active Member
I emailed you a large email on lighting earlier tonight. i have heard alot about leds, and they are getting better. but check that emal. its alot more cost effective, and i can garentee personaly that it works. i sent you my personal light details. interesting coincedence you post a thread aboy lights right after i sent that stuff lol. for how much you save on electimriciy, is led worth it? i recomended a plama as well, rundms at 300 w and produces light equivelabt to hid 600 w. and they are full spectrum all thru.

plus you cant change led bulbs. wgen they are toast, so is the system. ouch, expensive. hid systems last ong, as do plasma. they last much longer than thier bulbs. so in the end, yer always paying for something. leds arent perfect yet. hids and plasmas are as good as they will get. but they have been on the market much longer. leds produce no heat, and in my grow, i actually use my exess light heat to heat my room. i save on gas bill. you have to find ways to win with erry system.

check that email tho, its long, but i hope you look in that direction for lighting needs. btw, in veg, in my local, for 24-7 lighting, is about 40 bucks a month, per 1000 watter running. i have dimms, so it cots me less per light. i used to think leds are amazing, the concept of them, and the marketing makes em look perfect.i just havent seen enough evidence to make em worth it.

and a 900 w led will run ya like 2500 buck probably. i dont really know, as the small ones are so expensive, and i lack the interest to look at the big ones. i dont gamble, especially with 1000+ buck plus. i could probably build you a sick 3 light amazing organic garden for the price it would cost for one of those lights.

if anyone outthere is rock steady sure that these things work, tell us tho. i might go but a small ufo and try it on a plant. But if they are wrong, i will not hesitate to stand up and tell everyone what happend. that said, if they are worth a pinch, i woild be more than happy to inform erryone of a new miracle. but im wary, if they were a true miracle, they would take hids place as the standard grow light. thats not happened, so to me i think leds arent ready yet. im sure one day they will probably be the shit. if someone scaled up thosetiny bulbs, they would probably work better. remember, they produce light by conducting electricity across gas, and exciting the gas, simalar to how hids work, just different parts, and methods of opperation. lights with metal coils inside then are ineffecient and dont produce light spectrums biy simply changing gases and stuff.

no matter what you choose, look at all aspect, cost, reusability(resale value if you upgrade?) theres so many things i could write a whole page on lights, and points to consider. its something you have to look at your situation and what works the best.
 

Slipon

Well-Known Member
well I cant help you much on the specific LEDs or how effective they are or power use :D

but I just made the switch from a 600W HPS to 288W LEDs and was in a similar situation, and what I found out so fare (after one week use) is that the LEDs is as effective as the HID light it seems, just as they claim :D but the space they cover don't come near HID lights

here is my light

DSC01346.jpg

120x3W costum made to replace my HPS so spectrum is mixed with a 12-3 Red/blue (look in my pictures for more info on spectrum)

DSC01349.jpg

and it actually provide as many foot candles at 2 ft as my 600W HPS did at 1ft. (+5,000)

DSC01376.jpgDSC01377.jpg

and 7K at close, the penetration actually impress me 3 ft away it still read +3K foot candles..

but as I said, the space it cover dont come close to the 4x4 ft my HPS could cover, a few inch`s out to the side of the LED fixture and the light drop fast, I guess I have great cover at 2,5 X 1,5 Ft but after that it dont cover much, so Im considering a light mover ..
 

Chronikool

Well-Known Member
So im thinking of buying a blackstar 900W LED panel but i have never grown with led's or let alone flowered with them. What i need to know is how energy efficient are they, how many plants could i possibly grow with it in a sog method, does it produce dense buds, is the yield affected? i can also add a 400w hps for added spectrum if needed.
Havent used this panel....but it uses 525 actual watts....just something to consider.
 

kushhound187

Active Member
Please dont talk of something you know nothing about....Thanks :)
Last time i was in the hysdro store, that is what the guy who sells them told me. Maybe we just arent up to date, but thats what i was told. why would he try to stop me from buying the more expensive light? beacause he knows they have problems, and if he hides them, and i find out the hard way, im coming back and telling him whats up. or i might never shop there again.

fwi, i know for a fact the guys who run that hydro store have several grow(as i have been in a few) and they know their shit. he had tiger lilys growing under a led right on the store counter by the till. they looked ragged as shit.

im not trying to be oppinionated on sumting i no know, i just go wit da reliable guy is telling me. thats how i roll. i follow advice from trusted and reliable sources.
 

Slipon

Well-Known Member
Please dont talk of something you know nothing about....Thanks :)

agree :D you can switch a LED, no problem, the place I bought mine have a costumers service that will send you a single LED or a full cluster if sumthing should happen with in the 3-5 years warranty, so I don't have to send it back and wait for it wile my plants suffer,its even made to it, so its a easy switch with a click on/off module and if needed they will guide you over the phone/chat, and future more the fixture is made so if one LED or one cluster fail I can continue to use the fixture with no problem until I receive my parts, so do your research and get a quality fixture from a trust worthy place, the place I ordered from help me customize it over a online chat and have great service, so its not allways the best buy to safe 50$ Etc. and order it from china or similar
 

shawn705

Well-Known Member
I emailed you a large email on lighting earlier tonight. i have heard alot about leds, and they are getting better. but check that emal. its alot more cost effective, and i can garentee personaly that it works. i sent you my personal light details. interesting coincedence you post a thread aboy lights right after i sent that stuff lol. for how much you save on electimriciy, is led worth it? i recomended a plama as well, rundms at 300 w and produces light equivelabt to hid 600 w. and they are full spectrum all thru.

plus you cant change led bulbs. wgen they are toast, so is the system. ouch, expensive. hid systems last ong, as do plasma. they last much longer than thier bulbs. so in the end, yer always paying for something. leds arent perfect yet. hids and plasmas are as good as they will get. but they have been on the market much longer. leds produce no heat, and in my grow, i actually use my exess light heat to heat my room. i save on gas bill. you have to find ways to win with erry system.

check that email tho, its long, but i hope you look in that direction for lighting needs. btw, in veg, in my local, for 24-7 lighting, is about 40 bucks a month, per 1000 watter running. i have dimms, so it cots me less per light. i used to think leds are amazing, the concept of them, and the marketing makes em look perfect.i just havent seen enough evidence to make em worth it.

and a 900 w led will run ya like 2500 buck probably. i dont really know, as the small ones are so expensive, and i lack the interest to look at the big ones. i dont gamble, especially with 1000+ buck plus. i could probably build you a sick 3 light amazing organic garden for the price it would cost for one of those lights.

if anyone outthere is rock steady sure that these things work, tell us tho. i might go but a small ufo and try it on a plant. But if they are wrong, i will not hesitate to stand up and tell everyone what happend. that said, if they are worth a pinch, i woild be more than happy to inform erryone of a new miracle. but im wary, if they were a true miracle, they would take hids place as the standard grow light. thats not happened, so to me i think leds arent ready yet. im sure one day they will probably be the shit. if someone scaled up thosetiny bulbs, they would probably work better. remember, they produce light by conducting electricity across gas, and exciting the gas, simalar to how hids work, just different parts, and methods of opperation. lights with metal coils inside then are ineffecient and dont produce light spectrums biy simply changing gases and stuff.

no matter what you choose, look at all aspect, cost, reusability(resale value if you upgrade?) theres so many things i could write a whole page on lights, and points to consider. its something you have to look at your situation and what works the best.
luckily i got hook ups and im trading one of my 42 inch lcd tv's for my buddys 900w panel ;) lol thanks for the quick reply bro il go check my email as well lol
 

Chronikool

Well-Known Member
Last time i was in the hysdro store, that is what the guy who sells them told me. Maybe we just arent up to date, but thats what i was told. why would he try to stop me from buying the more expensive light? beacause he knows they have problems, and if he hides them, and i find out the hard way, im coming back and telling him whats up. or i might never shop there again.

fwi, i know for a fact the guys who run that hydro store have several grow(as i have been in a few) and they know their shit. he had tiger lilys growing under a led right on the store counter by the till. they looked ragged as shit.

im not trying to be oppinionated on sumting i no know, i just go wit da reliable guy is telling me. thats how i roll. i follow advice from trusted and reliable sources.
'The guy at the hydro store' maybe stocking crap LEDs..of which there are plenty (dont get me wrong)...But the sources to buy your LED's are plentiful, so there are alwayz a cheaper option to get the same or similar panel. (for the cheaper ones) It would be hard for him to compete in price. He also would probably make more on selling replacement bulbs and ballasts for HID systems every month.

Also the fact he said that: 'you cant change LED's'.....tells me he isnt a reliable or trusted source...or he he simply doesnt know his guff on LEDs. So maybe you can hang out on this LED part of the forum some more and soak up some info. :)
 

kushhound187

Active Member
And also, why would you want a system where you need a meter to read its light output? another delightful hidden cost? or did you not trust leds? orrrr Is that just a delightful add for leds?

i would need to see a side by side comparison, plus the fectsheet from the whole grow(temps, feeding,errything). and gor me to see that, and trust it without doubt, ill probably have to put this to yhe test. but im not sold. leds look promising, and i cant discount thier potential, but like i said, if they WERE a miracle, erryonewould know. new miracles never stay secret long. Erryone blabs their moth cause they want to tell erryone how smart they are for thier discovery(and smart anyone is for making a bemreakthrough). all im saying is, if they were 100 percent proven, we would all be using em.

here is a prime example. There are 2 types of tatto machines.
one uses coils and electromagnetics(no moter, just power and magnets to operate). these machines are tge standard. reason is, we can do things with them the other style dosent do as well. however, many coil machines can opperant as a lineing or shading machine its because thier design is more flexible. but these machines are louder. they are the ones that make a loud buzzz. erryone whose been in a shop knows tge sound.

the second type is called a rotary. it works off a little electric motor. because of this, they are quieter. but most cannot line and shade. Some of the new ones can, but those machines cost 5 times what i paid for my lous(a cool ass piece of hardware). they may be silent, or close to it, but thier engines burn out, they arent as consistant as a coil, they dont pack coloras nice. i know about this shit, bucause i do many of my own tattos. i dont do ones in really hard to rach places, but i do my own because its like 10+ a hour in the shop.

i tried going against the standard, or normal in tattoing to see if it was worth it. it wasnt because the only major selling point for the rotary for me was the quietness. and as i dont care if my machine buzzes, the rotary isnt best for my situation.
 

kushhound187

Active Member
luckily i got hook ups and im trading one of my 42 inch lcd tv's for my buddys 900w panel ;) lol thanks for the quick reply bro il go check my email as well lol
If yer TRADING. a spare tv for a super expensive light, thab its worth the gamble. you gotta mention that part to me. that changes errything. That one piece of info changes my stance on this situation. make the trade. if it sucks put it on ebay. you cant loose.
 

BigEasy1

Well-Known Member
I use a Blackstar 240 and it works good enough to keep me in personal stash and impress my buddies. I always get the "hey man can you get me some of this" so I'm assuming the LED is doing alright.
 

Slipon

Well-Known Member
I may add that the LEDs produce next to no heat :D will be great this summer, was fighting a loosing battle last summer with my 600W HPS even tho I had a cool hood and a 6" vent on it, at the end, so guess I also could down scale the ventilation now as I really only need it for air/co2 exchanges/odor control, so more power to safe here, and as you said, perfect for a closed grow, one more thing I like about em is safety/stealth

p.s.
if its me your referring to ? I already had the light meter, a freebee from my local hydro store last time I used a bunch of money in there, not top of the art, or that accurate, but can show you the different between distances and different lights, so was just curious, and I bet many are so why not post it up, have some post of both my 600W HPS and my T5HOs just to show Ppl. without a light meter how effective they are at different distances
 

kushhound187

Active Member
Just remember this, the led users are telling you you dont get same coverage. its worth getting em in a trade, but i couldnt justify the price tag. But thats just me.
 

Slipon

Well-Known Member
agree, guess its not as much if they can compare, but more if they deliver what you need to reach your goal, guess its a little like comparing apples and pears, want a small scale stealth/closed grow to provide you with a personal stash and power use and space/stealth is important for you, LEDs could be the way to go, if you want to grow a bigger amount of plants and have space and don't worry to much about heat/safety/stealth or power use I bet you will get most for your bucks with HID lights, all come down to your goal, and yes price tag is hugh compared but with 5-10 years of running at half power or less I see it justify it and more, just need to have the money to start with ..
 

kushhound187

Active Member
And one last mention, i use my heat from my hids to my advantage. they heat my room, and in doing so, evaporate wager in my topsoil and makes my plants transpire more(raising my relative humidity, i live in a dry ass muthafucka). You really have to choose what best for you. if the leds are as good as some say, and they fot the profile of what you need(no heat, lower power bill, and some other beniefits, than they are worth it. you have to really look at your individual situation and see.

ill say this for led. if i wasnt using my excess heat for what i was, lets say i was in a hot climate, and needed to grow stealth indoors, than the led would fot my profile. i would cough up the extra cash if the no heat factor was critical. but if i lived in such a climate, i would just grow out door. when i buy a product, i buy it based on if it fits my needs.
 

Slipon

Well-Known Member
agin agree ;)

I live in Denmark (also cold climate) but I have the grow room in my apartment so I keep it at 75-78F anyway and I do have heaters in every room, what I don't have is a AC for summer time or anyway to fit one, so agin, you need to think of your needs and what suit you
 
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