The truth ?

Triple S

Triple S

Active Member
Good evening.

I´ve seen alot of LED growers stiking 3-4 LED panels in a small grow room for only 3-4 plants
Why That ?

The manufacturers say that you can grow with a 300W LED like you would grow with 2x600W HPS
I know that with 2x600W HPS i can grow around 3 square meters of weed ...

"The LED PANEL 300W grow lights are the most revolutionary plant lighting product since the inception of High Pressure Sodium lamp. Consuming only 300 watts of power and producing virtually no heat, these LED grow lights boast light intensity and growth rates exceeding that of a 3x400W HPS or 2x600W HPS. "

http://www.hydroponics.eu/lighting-c-24/lamps-led-s-298/original-led-panel-grow-light-300w-5102.html

I would buy this LED panel only if i would know for sure that i can grow 2 square meters.

For me is not a problem the price of the LED , I´m concerned only by the electric consumption.
Is not posible for me to use 2x600W HPS, only a 400W HPS and for that i would like to buy some LEDs (or build my own)

Thanks in advance
 
Matchbox

Matchbox

Well-Known Member
One thing I will say about LED companies is that they tend to hype up their product... in terms of PAR then possibly a 300w LED will = 2x600w hps' but as far as penetration lumens and possibly yield the maths don't add up.

Though 1x 300w LED should comfortably light 2 square meters for veg (a note about this, when you buy LED's you can get different sets of angles i.e 90 degree spread that puts all light directly down, and 120 degree spread that sacrifices intensity for better spread, personally my 90w LED is set at 120 degrees for the best coverage and keeping them close keeps the intensity too)

You might wanna up the dosage of LED's for flower to compensate for the lack of penetration, if I had the £ then that's what I'd do. So say if you have 3 x 250w LED's or something, your not going way over your energy consumption and heat etc is less than a HID say 600w of LED will still draw less power than 600w of HPS because of the amperage (or something to that effect)
 
Phaeton

Phaeton

Active Member
It seems from the specs that most LED panels are lensed at 120 degrees. In the real world this is about a 6" range, lots of panels are necessary to get adequate light over the entire plant.

Better brands have 90 or even 60 degree lens, this puts them closer to HID output. I use 60 degree (HGL) and the PAR (750) levels at 24" surpass the 12" PAR (559) for CMH. 450 watts LED versus 400 watts CMH. The light is focussed on the plants.
 
Matchbox

Matchbox

Well-Known Member
'sup to you, if cost isn't an issue I'd go for LED's... but then there's the situation of do I wait for the technology to improve, as LED's are constantly evolving :)
 
Triple S

Triple S

Active Member
Matchbox said:
'sup to you, if cost isn't an issue I'd go for LED's... but then there's the situation of do I wait for the technology to improve, as LED's are constantly evolving :)
Click to expand...
i can buy LED but i can´t pay a huge electric bill
Where is my gain if i´m using 600W or more LED light into one square meter ? I do that with 400W HPS - The known way

The manufacturing companies are full of s***

Thank you all for fast answer
 
Matchbox

Matchbox

Well-Known Member
I haven't done a high watt LED grow so I can't say anything about what gain in yield etc you'll have except (I think) 600w of LED will run at the same electric cost if not less than your 400w hps because they require less energy to burn as bright as I said before, something to do with the amperage... correct me if I'm wrong though :)

My Experience in growing with LED's is that they produce nice green plants and tight node spacing in veg, while I can't comment on yield from higher wattage LED, I flowered for about 4 weeks using only a 90w LED and it really helps trich development my gals were frosty as! The LED went on later that grow to being a supplemental light for a 400w HPS and one plant vegged for 5 weeks (and a tiny clone) yielded a touch over 3oz.
 
puffenuff

puffenuff

Well-Known Member
Matchbox said:
'sup to you, if cost isn't an issue I'd go for LED's... but then there's the situation of do I wait for the technology to improve, as LED's are constantly evolving :)
Click to expand...
Since technology is always improving, if you wait until the next best thing comes out you will never have anything at all. The idea is to buy something you are and will be happy with until the investment has given you your money's worth. You can always upgrade to the better stuff later if you need to have the latest and greatest. But new tehnology coming out in the future shouldnt be a reason to not buy something if you want it now, unless the release date is so clise it only makes sense to wait. Unfortunately, most of us arent at the forefront of led technology so it's extra hard to predict when the new stuff will be widely available to the public at a reasonable price.
 
Triple S

Triple S

Active Member
hy puff

the thing is that i would use the led technology if it were beter than HPS , but as i,m seeing is not
ive seen a pal who´s having 2x90W UFO LED and ona 300W LED in a 50/90cm for only 3-4 plants , that´s not ok since with 480W of HPS you coult grow in a romm with 1/1 meters an 2 tall...

To make myself more clear: I want to grow indoor on a biger surface with less wattage.
this is whi i´m asking if i can grow 2 sq meters with 300W LED since the manufacturer says that is making the same job as 3X400W / 2X600W HPS.
 
puffenuff

puffenuff

Well-Known Member
Triple S said:
hy puff

the thing is that i would use the led technology if it were beter than HPS , but as i,m seeing is not
ive seen a pal who´s having 2x90W UFO LED and ona 300W LED in a 50/90cm for only 3-4 plants , that´s not ok since with 480W of HPS you coult grow in a romm with 1/1 meters an 2 tall...

To make myself more clear: I want to grow indoor on a biger surface with less wattage.
this is whi i´m asking if i can grow 2 sq meters with 300W LED since the manufacturer says that is making the same job as 3X400W / 2X600W HPS.
Click to expand...
Well the light you linked to isnt one I would buy personally and would not expect it to live up to the manufacturer's claims. i think it's also safe to assume your buddy is actually only pulling about half of those watts as most 90w ufos pull more like 45-60w and I would guess the 300 is less too. And did I see in the link they are 1w leds? I would recommend no less than 3w. make sure the watts are actual powrr consumption and not just a naming convention.
 
Phaeton

Phaeton

Active Member
I converted from HID to LED. The growing circle remained 7' diameter.

I had 4000 watts of HID in 23" enamelled low bay fixtures. The light fanned out in a 140 degree beams.
I replaced this with 2500 watts of LED with 60 degree beams.

I am getting about the same growth rate, but maturation is slower with the LED. That is approximately 30% less money for electricity.
 
ChronicObsession

ChronicObsession

Well-Known Member
LEDs come in many design goals. The majority of LED that plays right out of the box sucks ass period. The real treasure in LED is what can be built with the write specs for growing plants like an HID. Someone contact me for a lucrative business partnership . Weed world needs GOOD led lamps, not the shit that has been hyped, blackstarr and UFOs from ebay
 
BenRound

BenRound

Member
Truth is, you can find a way to do what you are wanting to do with LED, but navigating all the BS, the liars, the confusion etc will take a lot of research on your part. As example most all LED sellers overstate the wattage draw of their product. A 500 watt Black Star will draw 300 something watts for example. Also, a lot of them sell a product that isnt even very good for growing plants. And some say the light they sell is great for veg and flower, but isnt much good for one of those etc etc etc

It will really take a lot of wading thru BS to make a good choice.
If price werent an issue, I think I would go with Lumigrow.
 
R

richinweed

Active Member
dood . dont buy that light its old led tech....all the quality stuff now is 3 watt led's...running at two thirds capacity...also a wat is a wat...a 600 watt led burns the same as a 600 watt hps....dont listen to ppl whone make beleive...thats like sayin a ton of lead is heavier than a ton of feathers....anyway ....after much hum and haw i sprung for 2 blackstar 240 led's...im gonna give it one good chance ...
 
BenRound

BenRound

Member
richinweed said:
dood . dont buy that light its old led tech....all the quality stuff now is 3 watt led's...running at two thirds capacity...also a wat is a wat...a 600 watt led burns the same as a 600 watt hps....dont listen to ppl whone make beleive...thats like sayin a ton of lead is heavier than a ton of feathers....anyway ....after much hum and haw i sprung for 2 blackstar 240 led's...im gonna give it one good chance ...
Click to expand...
See? Again, confusion. In large part because of the marketing of these LED hawkers. Richinweed is perhaps right if I understand what he means when he says that 600 watts is 600 watts. Im no eletrician, but thats the point of watt measurements, as I understand it, to give a truer reading of draw ie: 100,000 volts means very little if you dont have the amps to back that ass up.

All that being said, a "240 watt" Black Star will have 80 3 watt LED lights running at 2 watts each for a total of 160 watts + whatever the fans are drawing. Its not drawing 240 watts whatever it is. Most LED sellers do this. A 1 watt LED runs at .8 watts etc.
You can see how it gets confusing.

At least I can say Black Star will grow some plants. I have an HTG LED with 3 watt LEDs, which in my opinion, is a Black Star knockoff BTW.
 
jubiare

jubiare

Active Member
Triple S said:
i guess that i will stick to the 125W CFL for veg and 400W HPS to bloom
Click to expand...
in vegging, Leds outperform ANYTHING else.. even using only blue and red spectrum only. I is documented and tested, am not fooling you here. Regarding flowering the debate is still open and everyone have different opinion/experience
 
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