L.E.D's vs MH or HPS

[Loki7]

Not that my place on politics matters here or anything, but I understand how fucked this country is regardless of who cons their way into presidency.

If over the next year or so they produce LED systems that can compete with HPS system production, not only will I change my opinion, I will change the way I grow... but based on how everything has gone with the two lighting options, I don't think that's going to happen

I wish I had more room to grow, so I could be the one who changes your mind. LED lighting is only going to get better, HID will always be the same. There is only one option...

-Loki

 

[smokeh]

lol this is a great thread

leave him to make grams rather thank ounces and pounds.

seriously though loki, i would do ur research on them. check out the very few led grows on here. i can tell u that they are extremely streched and havnt produced anywhere near as much as CFL and HID grows.

are u doing a journal? id like to check it out

 

[Loki7]

lol this is a great thread

leave him to make grams rather thank ounces and pounds.

seriously though loki, i would do ur research on them. check out the very few led grows on here. i can tell u that they are extremely streched and havnt produced anywhere near as much as CFL and HID grows.

are u doing a journal? id like to check it out

I have done my research and have grown with them. I've got a 400 watt HPS packed away in a box, been nearly 4 years now. I can setup 6 LED totes in the space the 400 would use. I think 2 plants @ 4oz each was about as good as the HPS ever did for me. I'll get 2oz out of each tote. And I can stager harvests and have multiple strains going... And for half the energy the 400 watt HPS would have... And its a lot quiter since I don't have heat ventilation issues...

This is my grow log... Jack in the Box or Loki's LED Hydro totes... - Cannabis Culture Forums

-Loki

 

[la9]

You are going to spend $3600 on lighting that would do the same as one 400 watt HPS light ? Why ?


SUNSHINE SYSTEMS SELLS THE MOST UNRELIABLE LED JUNK AROUND
imo

 

[Loki7]

You are going to spend $3600 on lighting that would do the same as one 400 watt HPS light ? Why ?


SUNSHINE SYSTEMS SELLS THE MOST UNRELIABLE LED JUNK AROUND
imo

wtf are you talking about? I've got about $20 in LEDs in each tote... That's $120.

-Loki

 

[la9]

My mistake I thought you were talking about buying 6 UFO lights.

What kind of LED's do you have ?

 

[Loki7]

My mistake I thought you were talking about buying 6 UFO lights.

What kind of LED's do you have ?

Yeah, 6 UFOs would be fucked up... That shit has set LEDs back at least 2 years. I use .4 watt LEDs and build them myself. Its not rocket science... There's a link to my log a few posts up. I go into quite a bit of detail...

-Loki

 

[la9]

I'll take a look at it, still don't know why people aren't using the really high powered LED's except for the availability might be a problem. If made a grow light I'd be going for the 25 watt LED's myself.

 

[smokeh]

I have done my research and have grown with them. I've got a 400 watt HPS packed away in a box, been nearly 4 years now. I can setup 6 LED totes in the space the 400 would use. I think 2 plants @ 4oz each was about as good as the HPS ever did for me. I'll get 2oz out of each tote. And I can stager harvests and have multiple strains going... And for half the energy the 400 watt HPS would have... And its a lot quiter since I don't have heat ventilation issues...

This is my grow log... Jack in the Box or Loki's LED Hydro totes... - Cannabis Culture Forums

-Loki

well i have to say. i am quite impressed. the software u used was a good feature. i seen the pic u posted on page 5, i think.. of the 6 inch plant. it looked rubbish. i seen the last pic u posted of ur final bud,

i have to say, im impressed of what u got from leds. im sayin it can compare to a cfl grow... if u had used a HPS then u wouldnt even see those stems from that much bud.

nice grow. u impressed me.

 

[SpruceZeus]

Can anyone show me ONE picture of solid nugs grown from leds??? i didnt think so.

 

[Loki7]

I'll take a look at it, still don't know why people aren't using the really high powered LED's except for the availability might be a problem. If made a grow light I'd be going for the 25 watt LED's myself.

I use the .4 watt LEDs because its the same lumen/watt as a 5 watt and
greater LEDs and I can spread the light out without having to move the
LEDs away from my plants.

The best part about LEDs is they run so cold, you can have them right up
against your plants... if you used 5 watt or greater LEDs, that's way over
kill. And if you have them 3 feet from your plants, you'll need so many
that you might as well be using HIDs...

That's why so many LED grows are stretchy. They put 50 watts of LED
into one spot light... And then move it far away from the plant to try and
get some coverage... then they bitch that the plants are stretching.
Wtf do they expect?

-Loki

 

[la9]

An LED grow column sounds interesting, thought about trying it with flourescents but never got around to it. Then the plant would have equal light on all four sides, might be good to try to get thru the seedling stage then you wouldn't have to make it too tall.

 

[[email protected]]

how many leds do you have per plant ?are all leds the same? iesame wattage etc im interested cos i gro outdoors in autumn but use a hybrid system at moment i2v cfls on a solar system to keep the 18 hr cycle going til the plants are big enough to flower would like to try LEDS Let me no More fire !

 

[Loki7]

I have a grow log here with all that info...

Jack in the Box or Loki's LED Hydro totes... - Cannabis Culture Forums

-Loki

 

[Multan]

i'm doing an led grow as well...however i'm using a lightblaze 400.

so far so good. good luck with your grow loki...but i'd be really surprised if you got 2 oz a plant...

i myself am expecting maybe a .5-1 oz yield...if i'm lucky.

 

[ThatGuyOverThere]

Note: if your lazy and dont want to read alot of boring and nerdy stuff skip to the summary towards the end, its in red.

Sorry Loki but LEDs are nowhere near being a replacement for HPS/MH.

LEDs dont give off nearly enough light to efficiently grow light demanding plants. Do not forget that LEDs also only produce usable light in a very narrow angle... What I mean is that most "high power" (10k+ MCD) LEDs have at best a 15 degree angle of actual light. There are LEDs with a much wider light angle, however they are very poor at producing usable light.

anticipated response:
"10K+ MCD is shit" (the average MCD of your typical LED is about 2-5k)

Your right. The other alternative would be to use the (usually) star shaped LEDs that give off (last time I checked) up to 5W of power, however the whole lighting angle from above still applies. Another problem with these is that they create an insane amount of heat! Heat will lower an LEDs light output and shorten its life span.

anticipated response:
"thats bs LEDs dont get hot to the touch"

OHRLY? Then explain why they use massive (2-3x bigger then the led) heatsinks to keep them from cooking themselves?

Another point about LEDs. White/Blue (5000-6000K) leds produce very low output. Red/Yellow leds by far produce the most light. If you could cool them properly (and lets face it a bunch of 5W leds in an enclosed housing with a bunch of heat sinks isnt going to be adequate cooling) then sure its possible that you could have a viable flowering light.

anticipated response:
"okay so whats the problem? you just proved me right!"

Sort of. The amount of leds you would require to produce enough light would be in the hundreds, and thats for one plant only!

Dont even get me started on the whole issue of powering the leds. You cant simply plug them into the wall and expect them to work. You would need a AC-DC power supply, which in turn makes more heat, uses more power and raises cost even further.

Correct me if I'm wrong but isnt the whole purpose of leds to reduce overall cost? Having to buy a shitload of wire, fabricate some sort of custom housing, a power supply that can deliver the proper voltage and amperage, and hundreds (if not thousands) of leds is not what I'd call cheap.

Last time I checked a 3W led sold for a whopping 25 dollars! Say you need 100 of them (300W), thats already $250, plus say $25 for wire, $50 for some ghetto ass housing, $50 for some pos no name pc psu and lets say another $50 for a good soldering iron/solder/flux/etc. your already looking at $425. I haven't even touched on shipping & handling (or cooling for that matter)

For that much money I'd rather buy a 600W+ HPS. If your looking for a small amount of plants then go CFL.

WARNING! (oh shi run for the hills)
It's been a while since ive done anything serious with leds so theres a possibilty some of my numbers are off however everything stated above still applies.

Anyways, thats just my 2 cents.

Summary for the lazy:
Yes, it is possible to grow plants using LEDS. Is it a viable solution? Not really. CFL would be cheaper and more effective for small grows and not even a possibilty for a bigger number of plants.

WARNING! (oh shi keep running mang)
I might be new to the forums but I know my way around electricity.

 

[Loki7]

the average MCD of your typical LED is about 2-5k

anticipated response:
"thats bs LEDs dont get hot to the touch"

OHRLY? Then explain why they use massive (2-3x bigger then the led) heatsinks to keep them from cooking themselves?

You cant simply plug them into the wall and expect them to work.

Correct me if I'm wrong but isnt the whole purpose of leds to reduce overall cost? Having to buy a shitload of wire, fabricate some sort of custom housing, a power supply that can deliver the proper voltage and amperage, and hundreds (if not thousands) of leds is not what I'd call cheap.

.

You don't have a clue what you're talking about. Its ok, I hear it on every forum. You're not the first person who has no idea or rather the wrong idea about LEDs.

You say the avg LED is 2-5k MCD... Mine are 140k MCD, each.

You think they're hot? They produce a tiny amount of heat, but barely. My leaves grow right up to and around them, and there's no damage; however, leaves that grow smooshed up against LEDs will develop oddly... some parts grow real fast and distort the leaf. But they all end up normal...

Can't just plug LEDs into the wall. No shit? Really? That has got to be the weakest thing I've heard in a while... God forbid you might actually have to do something or learn something... Don't worry, because stupid and lazy people can still use HIDs after all the rest of us are using LEDs...

ThatGuyOverThere- Are you a republican? Because you say "Correct me if I'm wrong but isnt the whole purpose of leds to reduce overall cost?" But then just look at the initial cost. If you consider how long LEDs last, compare to MH/HPS bulbs... plus the operating costs... over time, LEDs blow HIDs out of the water.

The LEDs I'm using initially cost me $.70/watt ($.90/watt if you include the power supply) and running my 25watt tote cost me $2/month in electricity running 24/7.... Flowering is only $1/month.... If I spend the time and fully train the plant, I'll get 2oz out of it. I'll spend 4 months and $5 growing my tiny little 2oz/tote... For you mega growers, that may be peanuts, but for me, a 2oz harvest every month is perfect.

You are right about the 5watt star LEDs being hot, they are. And they also aren't what I'd use to grow with....

This is how I grow...
Cannabis TV :: Video :: Smoke from all around!

-Loki

 

[GrowGreenGreen]

Why can't all the photons just get along? When will photons be judged not by the color they emit, but by the taste of the smoke they make?!

 

[Titan4jah]

Why can't all the photons just get along? When will photons be judged not by the color they emit, but by the taste of the smoke they make?!

You guys wanna talk cost????????????????????????????
hahahahahahahahahaha

lets see you plant one plant get two oz from it right?

k

well lets say you do this three times and end up with 6ozs

this taking you 6 months assuming the one plant at a time thing

me (useing a dual arc HPS/mh super blue 1000 watt) grow one plant

100%organic and get 4oz a plant, i do it three times and get 12 zips..


then i sell 4 of them to a friend for a super low deal of 200$ a pop getting 800 bucks and still having the same amount of weed as you but twice the density..

I then subtract the extra cost .......... and bam! your a dumb ass