Are these LEDs any good?

rledge

New Member
Hi, I am hoping to start my first grow pretty soon, and I've been wondering which LEDs to get...

I was thinking about getting these 2:

A 90w - 70pcs red 20pcs blue
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/90W-NEW-UFO-Hydroponic-Lamp-Red-Blue-LED-plant-Grow-Light-/300941465176

And I've heard blue is better for veg, so this 14w all blue panel as well. (maybe x2)
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/225-LED-14W-Grow-Panel-Blue-Hydroponic-Light-Board-/200622631990

I'm on a pretty tight budget so unfortunately I can't get any of the big name brands. Also, I'm trying to keep the power consumption pretty low.

I need some advice on whether or not these lights will be sufficient for what I want to grow:

I'm going to grow in a cupboard, approx 4ft long, 2ft wide, 4ft high, though I don't think I'll need all that space.
The strain is autoflowering AK49, so it shouldn't get too big.
I'm hoping to grow 2 or 3 plants with these lights - or could I grow more?

I might also add a low wattage HPS during flowering, and take out the blue LED panels.

Also, would a DWC system work for this grow?
 

rledge

New Member
I would think that if you spent that amount of money on CFLs you would be much better off and then save up for a quality led unit.
would the power consumption be much higher with cfls for the same light intensity? (im trying to stay below 150w, at least in Veg)
also, roughly how much would you very talking for a high quality 90w led?
 

SNEAKYp

Well-Known Member
Way better off building you own man. What those are going for £65 and £44 (x2 for the £22) totals £109. You can easily get more watts than the 118 that those will get you. You can get 100 w of white cobs and 30w of red for the same price if not cheaper. Just check out some of the threads Supra has put up. Look at these Cree 2530's for £15.62. Pair them up with up with these Meanwell Lpc 60-1400 for £13.22 at one per led. Order a couple of these holders while you're at it to make soldering a nonfactor, they cost just £1.93 a piece. Get some of these screws for £.6, to mount your led to these heatsinks for £5.11 a piece. Finally get yourself a cord, and some type of 12v power for your fans. There you go 60w per led, at ~£37. 120w of 4000k for ~£75, that leaves you £34 for shipping and room to get 10 of these for £11.11 all hooked up to this driver for £7.21.

Just my .2. The best part about this is that you don't have to get everything at once. You can order one light at a time and build up wattage as necessary.
 

hyroot

Well-Known Member
No. Read the sticky threads or every other thread on this section. Then you will get feel for what led panels are best
 

UVRay

Well-Known Member
That UFO light is a 90w with 90 pieces, so you're dealing with 1w leds and that's really not strong enough for adequate penetration down into the canopy. Pretty much 3w lamps are the standard and it won't be long before the std. will be the 5w leds and on..

I've got a UFO 135w w/ 3w LEDs over 8 bands including UV and IR and I am quite pleased with it.

I'm looking at those affordable 300w units on ebay w/ 100-3w leds for under $130.00 shipped w/ 3yr warranty.
I have no problem with the "cheaper" LEDs aka Chinese considering cost vs quality. I'm counting on that 300w LED to replace my 400hps and then I'll have 435w of LED total and will likely still supplement with side lighting cfl with reflectors. I've got a couple of 68w cfls from Home Depot that work really well with reflectors and clamps, but they do get fairly warm for a cfl but it's not a problem for me to cool the room. I look forward to thee day that I have 100% LED top and side lighting that run nice and cool. I'm so ready to retire the hps and all that wasted heat and energy.

I've been using 400w HPS with cfl and T5 for side and spot lighting. My main top of some Afghani Critical Mass auto is actually right under my 400w hps and my 135w ufo is mounted vertically and the leaves on the main bud are actually leaning over toward the led light instead of growing straight up since I moved it ufo led to side light my buds on one side and a rack of 4x2' T5 lamps light the other side and no leaves are leaning towards it like they are to the led.
 

canadian1969

Well-Known Member
Try 60-70 ACTUAL watts of LED... PER plant. Stay away from UFOs and any models older than a 1-2 years.
You will get HPS equiv results this way and will only use 1/2-3/4 the power of floro/hid. Don't even bother with the low end, there is no cheap way to do LED properly, but rest assured, cooling, air flow, respiration and yield will all be better than with any other lighting solution (IMHO)
 

PetFlora

Well-Known Member
I would think that if you spent that amount of money on CFLs you would be much better off and then save up for a quality led unit.

I get where you're coming from- white light as opposed to R/B.

However, household replacement led bulbs from HD/Lowes are a much better option. They too are available in day light (~ 5000K) and soft white (~3000k)- much better color rendition, intensity and life expectancy


The fact is I, among others, have proven with finished grow threads on RIU, that individual spectrums focusing on chlorophyll A & B is a bad joke played on mj growers. It's fine for greens but not mj.

The combination of 5000 + 3000 will blow away ANY multispectrum chines crap light.

How do I know? I bought one. hen it didn't do shit, I began to research and study hat spectrums mj needs- all of them, not just select R/Bs
 

Mohican

Well-Known Member
Any light will work. Just like CFLs, when you use small wattages you will need 20 lights, and then the heat becomes a factor. Do what Hyroot said and read the threads on here and you will see what is what.

Stardust Sailor is building some amazing DIY LEDs and others are also working with DIY, Home Depot, and LED manufacturers.

I am using a brand called Kessil myself.

LEDs are the future :)

Cheers,
Mo
 

tightpockt

Well-Known Member
Petflora was right...just get 10 or so 10w screw in led bulbs and be done with it. They're like $10 a piece.
Seems like a DIY cob setup would get you most bang for your buck but I have a feeling you're not going to go down that route.
 
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