LED "retrofit" bulbs

ltecato

Well-Known Member
OK guys sorry if this is an old question but I tried searching and could not get an answer. I just noticed you can buy these LED bulbs that are supposed to be strong enough to replace HID lamps... but I'm not sure if they'd work in a grow setting. Just Google "LED retrofit bulbs" and you'll get an idea of what I mean. For now I'm using cfls.
 

Bumping Spheda

Well-Known Member
How many Watts are these bulbs you're looking at? I'd say you'll need about .6W of LED for every 1W of HPS that you'd like to replace. Also, one of the really cool things about LED's are their directional behavior. They emit light in pretty narrow cones, whereas HID bulbs emit light in virtually 360 degrees. Unless you're growing vertically you'll need a hood/reflector which will kill the efficiency of the bulb a considerable amount. Idk why you'd want to do this with LED's.

Hope I answered your question, and happy growing. :-P
 

ltecato

Well-Known Member
How many Watts are these bulbs you're looking at? I'd say you'll need about .6W of LED for every 1W of HPS that you'd like to replace. Also, one of the really cool things about LED's are their directional behavior. They emit light in pretty narrow cones, whereas HID bulbs emit light in virtually 360 degrees. Unless you're growing vertically you'll need a hood/reflector which will kill the efficiency of the bulb a considerable amount. Idk why you'd want to do this with LED's.

Hope I answered your question, and happy growing. :-P
I found one that takes 30W and supposedly throws out 2900 lumens, sells for $220. As for why I ask, really idle curiosity but also I want to make sure I'm not missing out on something that would make sense for me. I think I'll stick to cfls.
 

Bumping Spheda

Well-Known Member
30W at $220 is $7.33 per Watt. That's insane. You could do much, much better.

May I suggest LED flood lamps? Within your budget, much higher lumen output per dollar and easy to hook up. Or stick with CFL, I mean, hey, if it ain't broke...
 

ltecato

Well-Known Member
I've looked at those LED flood lights. Based on what the packages say, I'm not sure they'd give me enough lumens. But then some LED advocates say lumens are not necessarily a good indicator of how plants will respond to the light, and then it gets into photosynthetically available radiation and that's where I throw my hands up and run back to my hidden Unabomber cabin at Big Bear. :clap:
 

Bumping Spheda

Well-Known Member
Well, you're absolutely right, lumens don't have the last word. That said, these LED flood lamps aren't the most efficient use of your money, imo, but they are a really nice way to get your feet wet if you're interested in the technology. Again, though, keep in mind that in order to fully supplant your CFL's with LED you'll want to just about match Watt for Watt. Perhaps this is why the lumen output looks so low to you? And try looking for a manufacturer that specifically states 42-45mil chips. If they state 35mil (or don't mention chip size) I'd say look elsewhere. Larger chips produce more light with the same power (less heat, longer life). If in doubt you could try emailing the eBay vendor. I think the larger chip size is definitely worth the extra $5-$10.
[HR][/HR]
On PAR, it's similar to the CCT values you're used to seeing with your CFL's. If you already know this stuff, no harm done, I guess, just skip it.

Warm White, ~2700k-3500K
These will have a good amount of Blue light in order to keep the plants from stretching too badly, as well as a very nice amount of Yellow, Orange and Red. They even have some FR in there fwiw. Best suited for flower, but can handily veg all by itself as well. The lower the CCT the better it will most likely perform in flower.

Neutral White (aka Daylight), ~4000k-5000k
More Blue light than Warm White, most likely a different Blue peak as well (shorter wavelength), less Orange, Red and FR, more Green and Yellow. If you bought a 20-30W flood light with this CCT for your veg room it might just hook you. Compact node spacing and overall just very healthy, happy looking plants.

[HR][/HR]
If you are at all DIY oriented/interested perhaps read on. If not, sorry for the madman ramblings.

100W LED drivers can be had for ~$40
100W multichip LED's (same light source as what's in the flood lamps) are $10-$20.
A heat sink shouldn't be too expensive, or hard to find. You could buy a generously sized extruded Aluminum heat sink from
http://heatsinkusa.com/
or an active CPU cooler such as
http://www.provantage.com/enermax-ets-t40-tb~7EMAX043.htm?source=googleps
or
http://www.ebay.com/itm/120W-Multichip-LED-Cooler-/271053717315?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item3f1c0f7f43
These fans usually run 12VDC x 150mA, or similar. Little wallwarts can be found with these specs for $10, or better, ime. Hell, you might even have an old charger lying around in this range.
These are kind of expensive, but are literally a snap to wire everything up (ask the LED vendor to solder wires to the chip and you don't even need a soldering iron for this project)
http://www.amazon.com/Wago-222-412-LEVER-NUTS-Conductor-Connectors/dp/B003T0PUH6/ref=pd_sbs_indust_6

After everything is said and done I would try to aim for $1 per Watt or better, and if you hit that you're in really good shape. Might be hard to achieve first time around, but if you ever wanted to make a second light you might have supplies left over.
 
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