Money no object LED

m4s73r

Well-Known Member
So I skimmed this thread and you may skim this one as im stoned and long winded. Im not gonna tell you what to do. Ill tell you what i did and why You can be the judge.

I come from the duel 1k vertical barbulb world. I just bought 2 x5s DIY and a Mono Veg fixture from ChilLed Growcraft. Mainly 2 things sold me over the rest of what I researched. Ability to repair, and long term ownership.

Having done a fair bit if internet reading it seems that LEDs have come quite the way. All of the designs are similar. The A8s from China are just unbranded Growers Choice lights. Good lights. Save a bit if your willing to wait. You can get a 650R knock off as well. Look up gb648. About the same cost after import costs. Same stuff as everyone else. Even Chilled. Theyre all useing Samsung diodes, a led board and a meanwell/invotronics driver. Its all about the same. All with a 3ish year warrenty and various reviews around the net. Once you eliminate the similarities you can start to see the differences.

First, assembly. This is where US companies seem to stand apart. The ones that order parts and assemble here in the US have better quality control. HLG, ChilLed, Timber ect. Now dont let that fool you however. If you spend enough time on Alibaba you can learn about quality companies there as well. Longevity is the first thing to look for. They been on there for 5+ years chances are they are legit. Mieju, spiderfarmer, kingbrite mars hydro are examples of this. I mean Spend 2 sec with a google search "top 10 led grow lights 2021" and buy whatever strikes your fancy on that list as long as nothing on that list leads back to amazon. LOL. (However dont sleep on the RA1000, that light is a hidden gem on amazon).

That being said only one of these offered a website that I could order parts from should something happen to my light. +1 for ChilLed. Driver 300ish, New led board 80. Or, new led diodes drop with better umol/j. I can order a set of boards and upgrade my ChilLed Frame. That was very important to me. I am not a rich person. So if a LED diode goes out, or a driver stops working...much cheaper to buy a part over a new light. I can also upgrade my x5s to x6s should I desire. I am currently undecided. But I might.

Cost was another factor for me. As i said, I'm not a rich person. But I got 2 of the x5s and the mono rail for under 2k.

And finally the parts. Its a aluminum frame with white led strips mounted to it. It has a remote driver with dimmer. I doubt the aluminum frame ever needs replaced. I like simple and effective. I put it together. Took me a hour for the first one and 45 min for the second. The wiring is good. has plenty of parts. Good directions to put together. And the packaging/shipping is top form. Should last for years. LIke I said long term ownership was also important to me.

And the back and forth with Austin from ChilLed was great. I enjoyed my experience so much that 2 weeks later I bought a mono rail with a Veg board in it.

So with that in mind Id say for a 5x5 space Id go with a DIY x6 from Chilled if your in a tent. If your in a more open room id go for the full 1k. Im stoned and been typing this and forgot what your space was like.
20210308_175753_mfnr.jpg 20210308_175720_mfnr.jpg20210308_175712_mfnr.jpg 20210308_143947_mfnr.jpg20210308_143849_mfnr.jpg


This is a 4x4 Bed in a 5x5 tent. I think it would light up the whole thing just fine.

1618026867181.png
 

Nutty sKunK

Well-Known Member
So I skimmed this thread and you may skim this one as im stoned and long winded. Im not gonna tell you what to do. Ill tell you what i did and why You can be the judge.

I come from the duel 1k vertical barbulb world. I just bought 2 x5s DIY and a Mono Veg fixture from ChilLed Growcraft. Mainly 2 things sold me over the rest of what I researched. Ability to repair, and long term ownership.

Having done a fair bit if internet reading it seems that LEDs have come quite the way. All of the designs are similar. The A8s from China are just unbranded Growers Choice lights. Good lights. Save a bit if your willing to wait. You can get a 650R knock off as well. Look up gb648. About the same cost after import costs. Same stuff as everyone else. Even Chilled. Theyre all useing Samsung diodes, a led board and a meanwell/invotronics driver. Its all about the same. All with a 3ish year warrenty and various reviews around the net. Once you eliminate the similarities you can start to see the differences.

First, assembly. This is where US companies seem to stand apart. The ones that order parts and assemble here in the US have better quality control. HLG, ChilLed, Timber ect. Now dont let that fool you however. If you spend enough time on Alibaba you can learn about quality companies there as well. Longevity is the first thing to look for. They been on there for 5+ years chances are they are legit. Mieju, spiderfarmer, kingbrite mars hydro are examples of this. I mean Spend 2 sec with a google search "top 10 led grow lights 2021" and buy whatever strikes your fancy on that list as long as nothing on that list leads back to amazon. LOL. (However dont sleep on the RA1000, that light is a hidden gem on amazon).

That being said only one of these offered a website that I could order parts from should something happen to my light. +1 for ChilLed. Driver 300ish, New led board 80. Or, new led diodes drop with better umol/j. I can order a set of boards and upgrade my ChilLed Frame. That was very important to me. I am not a rich person. So if a LED diode goes out, or a driver stops working...much cheaper to buy a part over a new light. I can also upgrade my x5s to x6s should I desire. I am currently undecided. But I might.

Cost was another factor for me. As i said, I'm not a rich person. But I got 2 of the x5s and the mono rail for under 2k.

And finally the parts. Its a aluminum frame with white led strips mounted to it. It has a remote driver with dimmer. I doubt the aluminum frame ever needs replaced. I like simple and effective. I put it together. Took me a hour for the first one and 45 min for the second. The wiring is good. has plenty of parts. Good directions to put together. And the packaging/shipping is top form. Should last for years. LIke I said long term ownership was also important to me.

And the back and forth with Austin from ChilLed was great. I enjoyed my experience so much that 2 weeks later I bought a mono rail with a Veg board in it.

So with that in mind Id say for a 5x5 space Id go with a DIY x6 from Chilled if your in a tent. If your in a more open room id go for the full 1k. Im stoned and been typing this and forgot what your space was like.
View attachment 4875201 View attachment 4875202View attachment 4875203 View attachment 4875204View attachment 4875206


This is a 4x4 Bed in a 5x5 tent. I think it would light up the whole thing just fine.

View attachment 4875207
Thanks for the detailed response!

Im not really a fan of building stuff I have no idea about - especially something pricey and potentially dangerous (fire hazard) in my home so I’m tempted to buy and forget kinda thing. Even though I’m sure it’s fine I don’t wanna take the risk.

Still warming to that gavita 1700e. Can get a dimming mode which keeps the efficiency all the way down to 50% which I thought was pretty neat.
 

m4s73r

Well-Known Member
Thanks for the detailed response!

Im not really a fan of building stuff I have no idea about - especially something pricey and potentially dangerous (fire hazard) in my home so I’m tempted to buy and forget kinda thing. Even though I’m sure it’s fine I don’t wanna take the risk.

Still warming to that gavita 1700e. Can get a dimming mode which keeps the efficiency all the way down to 50% which I thought was pretty neat.
I mean they have ones that are already put together as well. Gavitas are good, but they wont do a 5x5. 4x4 is their limit.
 

Nutty sKunK

Well-Known Member
I mean they have ones that are already put together as well. Gavitas are good, but they wont do a 5x5. 4x4 is their limit.
I’ll have a wee look. Hopefully can get them in the UK.

Yeah I was thinking that - says it can veg a 5x5 but only flower a 4x4. But it’s got to have a better footprint than my 600w air cooled HPS/MH

Cheers man
 

TimBar

Well-Known Member
I shut down my HPS - it worked well, but I hated the heat, buying expensive bulbs.

Look at that chart - Holy wasted money batman. These companies are screwing us bad. Should not need to pay over $1/watt
 

Nutty sKunK

Well-Known Member
I shut down my HPS - it worked well, but I hated the heat, buying expensive bulbs.

Look at that chart - Holy wasted money batman. These companies are screwing us bad. Should not need to pay over $1/watt
Lucky for me that heat provided warmth for the tent. Just how warm do these LEDs run? Do they produce enough ambient heat to make a difference in the room?

Kinda seems counter intuitive to switch to LED then spend extra warming the room up.
 

Nutty sKunK

Well-Known Member
Anyone mentioned meijiu strip lights yet?

so far they have been the best producers from pics posted in this thread :shrug:
Trouble is finding one in UK. Only from states and if anything goes wrong it’s gonna cost a bomb to post.

Seems like it’s more catered to the US?
 
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