Do L.E.D. lights really work, or work better?

I

itsalways420

Active Member
Hello everyone, this my first thread, I am very new to growing, since my wife is now finally convinced and allowing me to grow. I have been doing a lot of reading and research before I really get into it. I have a couple of mothers growing, and was ready to get a grow tent and go that way, start with just 6-8 plants for my first grow, but the lighting was one of my main concerns. I am reading a lot about the L.E.D. lighting and was wondering if anyone is using these, or knows about these. Are they better? It would seem that from the info I have read about them(if true), would make them far superior to the standard, HPS, MH, T5, etc lights.

Lower energy consumption, way less heat generated and color specific lighting to name a few of the benefits. So... anyone have any thoughts or info on these?

Thanks in advance...
 
Top 44

Top 44

Well-Known Member
Welcome to RIU. You'll find there are a shit load of posts here about LED lighting. The debate gets pretty heated sometimes. From what I've read, it seems that LEDs do indeed work, but don't have the penetration of HPS and will result in much smaller yields. The panel type ones found on eBay are complete shit, the Procyon 100s seem to be the best, but are seriously expensive. I have a small 10w 6500k LED light which I bought just to experiment with. The beam angle is quite narrow, so I can use it only on one plant. It is bright as hell and puts off very little heat, it seemed to work well for veg on the one seedling I tried it on. Personally, I'm sticking with HPS till LED technology gets cheaper and more advanced.
 
M Blaze

M Blaze

Well-Known Member
LEDs still have a way to go to be compareable to HPS. One day I think LEDs will be good but it will be a long time before you can compare them to HPS they would be a lot more expensive.
 
Hairy Bob

Hairy Bob

Well-Known Member
This thread https://www.rollitup.org/advanced-marijuana-cultivation/187131-spectra-unit-90watt-led-grow.html shows what can be done with leds, but the setup cost a bloody fortune in my book.
I tried a ropelight type setup which was basically 600 leds on a christmas tree like string, with them dangling all round the plants. It worked about as well as a 110w fluoro (not brilliantly iow) and I got rid and went for 250w mh
All the claims made about leds are true to some degree, but the people selling you the lights will exaggerate them to make a sale.
The link I posted is the only led setup I have seen that even comes close to a respectable yield, but the manufacturer claims each light is equivelant to over 1000w of hps, which it just isn't. You can't justify the $1200 price tag imo, but people will buy them and they'll keep getting better, and cheaper. Give it a couple of years and led growers will be able to look down their noses at those using inneficient hids, but for now, stay clear unless money burns holes in your pocket!
 
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