True LED Light Wattage??

doctirderp

doctirderp

Member
I did all this research just to find out recently that the wattage stated on these vendor's products aren't the true wattage of the lights at all many times being an entire 1/6th or lower. This really confuses me now. Can more experienced growers please give me insight into this? How is this so widespread when it looks like something a scam company would do?

I always heard an experienced grower can get around a gram a watt, but now I have no idea what to even aim for with a grow because the reported wattage for all of these lights seem to be totally deceiving! I wanted a 4x4 with 1200 watt LEDs but now I am starting to realize that is impossible with the budget I gave myself as the previous 2 lights that added up to 1200 were only 80 dollars for both, now for "true" wattage would be over 1,000 dollars! This seems criminal.

If any experienced growers can recommended me a reasonably priced LED grow light setup for 4 plants in a 4x4 I would really appreciate it, because I'm very lost now.
 
doctirderp

doctirderp

Member
Mattcheck said:
They should list actually power draw example I got marshydro tsw2000 it's actually 300 watt max
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is the power draw and the output different if so how does it output more than it draws? it doesnt right it seems like that would be impossible. im an amateur in both of these fields, growing AND electrical so i feel like this practice of advertising inflated numbers is genuinely just to trick people like me into buying a subpar product!
 
turbobuzz

turbobuzz

Well-Known Member
I’m not a pro at led lighting either, but I’ve been looking in to it also, and my understanding is if you want real led lighting you need to look at lights like HLG and Gavita as two examples of quality lights, and they ain’t cheap, but they’re the real deal. Blurples are out.
 
doctirderp

doctirderp

Member
turbobuzz said:
I’m not a pro at led lighting either, but I’ve been looking in to it also, and my understanding is if you want real led lighting you need to look at lights like HLG and Gavita as two examples of quality lights, and they ain’t cheap, but they’re the real deal. Blurples are out.
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and here i thought LED was the cheaper alternative to grow lights but it seems if you want the real wattage you are paying just as much
 
turbobuzz

turbobuzz

Well-Known Member
doctirderp said:
and here i thought LED was the cheaper alternative to grow lights but it seems if you want the real wattage you are paying just as much
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No, they’re the most expensive route if you get the real ones like I mentioned, but I guess the results are amazing. I’d love to try one, but my wife told me where to go on spending that much for a light. I’m using a CMH 315 right now, which does ok I guess.
 
ilovereggae

ilovereggae

Well-Known Member
Sorry to hear that you discovered this after your purchase. It is common for companies targeting new home growers to use deceptive marketing tactics to sell their lights. A little bit of research before hand helps a lot. And I don't mean watching YouTube videos or Amazon reviews. Those are all fake and if not 100% fake, heavily influenced by sales commissions so that products that make "influencers" the most $ are what gets promoted over what is the actual best tech for your money.

read, ask questions from experienced home growers or people that do this professionally.

there are a bunch of great options for pre-made fixtures from brands like HLG, Timber, Fluence etc, or you could DIY something for 1/2 the cost.
 
doctirderp

doctirderp

Member
ilovereggae said:
Sorry to hear that you discovered this after your purchase. It is common for companies targeting new home growers to use deceptive marketing tactics to sell their lights. A little bit of research before hand helps a lot. And I don't mean watching YouTube videos or Amazon reviews. Those are all fake and if not 100% fake, heavily influenced by sales commissions so that products that make "influencers" the most $ are what gets promoted over what is the actual best tech for your money.

read, ask questions from experienced home growers or people that do this professionally.

there are a bunch of great options for pre-made fixtures from brands like HLG, Timber, Fluence etc, or you could DIY something for 1/2 the cost.
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thanks for the insight. i was lucky however i was able to refund the purchase while it was still in transit, other new growers im sure have not been so lucky!
 
doctirderp

doctirderp

Member
Leeski said:
you need 40-45w per sqft and in the other thread you opened early your kiting a 4x4 out it’s naughty that companies try to deceive peeps but that’s the deal plenty of great info on here research research good luck op ☮
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45w per square foot. thank you i will remember this figure.
 
ilovereggae

ilovereggae

Well-Known Member
doctirderp said:
and here i thought LED was the cheaper alternative to grow lights but it seems if you want the real wattage you are paying just as much
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insomnia65 said:
Over a while, you do save money, but I hear ya.
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don't look at initial cost. look at long term cost to operate. LEDs win by a mile every time.

they operate @ 10 degrees warmer ambient temps. for me this means a tent that is 81-84 degrees instead of low 70s w HPS. this means I'm only running AC 2 mons out of the year instead of 8.

less heat generated by the fixture itself also means less heat needs to be extracted so my exhaust doesn't have to run as hard.

bulbs need to be replaced every 2-3 cycles. quality led fixtures will give you 5-8 years of continuous operation. add up the price of all those bulbs.
 
doctirderp

doctirderp

Member
ilovereggae said:
don't look at initial cost. look at long term cost to operate. LEDs win by a mile every time.

they operate @ 10 degrees warmer ambient temps. for me this means a tent that is 81-84 degrees instead of low 70s w HPS. this means I'm only running AC 2 mons out of the year instead of 8.

less heat generated by the fixture itself also means less heat needs to be extracted so my exhaust doesn't have to run as hard.

bulbs need to be replaced every 2-3 cycles. quality led fixtures will give you 5-8 years of continuous operation. add up the price of all those bulbs.
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yes i think your right about all this given the information provided

ilovereggae said:
that's not accurate for LED. if you get something with latest gen Samsung LM301B or LM301H, or any of the Bridgelux EB3 diodes, then you are fine with 30w per sf, 35 if you want to push it. 480W should be plenty for a 4x4 especially for a new grower.
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i will check the markets for this specification of wattage. thank you.
 
Alctrz8849

Alctrz8849

Well-Known Member
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