Store bought LED for veg? 2015

hi people.

I want to ask the pros in this section; is there any store bought led bulbs out that are worth buying for small scale?

Running 400 MH in my veg room.

142W CFL for mother and clones

600w hps & 600mh in flower room.

I want to ditch my 400w mh and 142w mother/clone lights in favour of something cheaper with less wattage. Are there any store bought LEDs from Home Depot or something that are up to the task?

Thanks.

You can find plenty of led options at almost any store if you want to spend extra money up front, but yeah you could rig up a socket arrangement to run them or just buy a few T-5 LED shop lights.

Most of the guys on here are building their own lights using Cree COB leds which at the moment this may save you a few dollars on hardware, but you will have to assemble them which can take considerable amounts of time. LED lights are generally more expensive at purchase but they pay you back through efficiency.

I'm still using my lights from 3 years ago and they look just as bright as they ever were, instead of changing bulbs each cycle I open them and clean the interior and the diodes with rubbing alcohol. If you are only planning on using it for veg you can get away with using older leds that are now quite cheap. I advise running them on a longer schedule if you choose to go this route though. I run my old LED's 21/3 when I use them in Veg, which is 3 hours longer than I did with MH, but I ran 300w of LED vs 400w of MH and my veg time was ~3-7 days shorter depending on strain. It also allowed me to move out a fan further reducing energy costs. Unless you want to be disappointed don't drop below 75% of your previous light wattage. Along with the reductions from using less fans, and less AC in the summer, the lights do save quite a bit in electricity. It takes a little time learning the sweet spots between your plants and the lights, but once you are dialed in it is worth the effort. I hope this helps you out. If you look around this section of the forum you can find some really useful threads because a lot of guys on here have been in a position similar to you. I just don't have time to look up threads for you but they are there. Someone else will probably chime in too to help.

Sincerely,
IlovePlants

more or less interested in the short answer. Im not at the point where I want to build my own set up. Just a quick option for replacing the 400w MH. Or more to the point if it can be done with store bought. Answer I was hoping for was for example:

No, no store bought lighting is worth it yet

or

Yes, the Philips/cree/ (insert a bulb brand and model here) 3000K 11w are up to snuff if you take the exterior glass off and run them in series to reach x watts..

if it aint worth yet then thats what it is.

How may sq ft are you trying to cover?

LED flood light bulbs generally run about 100-110 LPW, so not as efficient as HID yet. If you want to "replace" the 400w HID with bulbs it will cost more up front and more down the road. Replacing the CFL is worth looking at though.

I run the same type of older Chinese LED's (Mars Reflector Series they're called now) LED's for vegging, clones and seedlings. I've had them 2-3 years without a single diode burning out or fan failure. For vegging they work well, much the same as @IlovePlants described above. WOULD NOT RECOMMEND THEM FOR FLOWERING (sorry for yelling but they suck, wanted to make that point - lol).

OneHitDone said:

How may sq ft are you trying to cover?

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8sf.

packed a little tight, but they get more room when they hit the flower room.

I dont want to get a panel or ufo right now. Just curious if there are any store bought that are up to par. Plug and play essentially. Socket bulbs. Make / Model. Yes / No.

Just trying to Keep it Simple.

I don't think it would be worth it to use the store bought Cree LEDs.. Pretty expensive still. It has been done on this forum, with good results, but the cost outweighs the benefit.

I have one 100w equivalent LED from Costco. I like the bulb, but it still gets pretty hot. It's the base that gets hot. Not the bulb.

Its the Cree PAR 38 floods that people have used.
http://www.homedepot.com/p/Cree-90W-Equivalent-Bright-White-3000K-PAR38-47-Flood-Dimmable-LED-Light-Bulb-BPAR38-1503047T-12DE26-1U100/205184900

sunny747 said:

I don't think it would be worth it to use the store bought Cree LEDs.. Pretty expensive still. It has been done on this forum, with good results, but the cost outweighs the benefit.

I have one 100w equivalent LED from Costco. I like the bulb, but it still gets pretty hot. It's the base that gets hot. Not the bulb.

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Probably best sticking with your MH unless you wanna drop some serious $$
If you want lower temp and half the wattage I can tell you for a fact that two of these would provide results that would amaze you in a 2x4 space
http://www.inda-gro.com/IndaGroShop/energy-savings-lighting-and-controls/pro-100-par.html

http://www.homedepot.com/p/Definity-Digital-90W-Equivalent-Bright-White-PAR38-Broad-Spectrum-Grow-Lamp-Flood-LED-Light-Bulb-VGRO-38-WFL-120/204719972

The GrowAdvantage PAR38 LED Grow lamp is energy efficient and spectrally optimized lighting solution for a variety of horticultural lighting applications including homeowner/hobbyist, greenhouse, and growth chamber. The lamp optimizes delivered photo synthetically active radiation (PAR) to maximize plant growth and PAR efficacy while providing white light suitable for the human visual system and excellent color saturation. The spectrum contains 12% blue (400-500 mm) to support strong stems and compact growth. It provides excellent color saturation of plants under My Nature Grow broad spectrum all while generating much less heat and providing dramatic energy savings over traditional grow lights.

• Brightness: 22.4 mol per second
• Estimated yearly energy cost: $1.57
• Life: 45.6 years (based on 3 hours/day)
• Light appearance: broad spectrum - bright white
• Energy used: 13-Watt (equivalent to a 90-Watt standard incandescent light bulb)
• Lumens per Watt: 1.72 mol/joule delivered
• Uses 85% less energy compared to a standard incandescent light bulb
• Suitable for interior or exterior use
• Stays cool
• Contains mercury: no

Just sayin' that's all.

FranJan said:

http://www.homedepot.com/p/Definity-Digital-90W-Equivalent-Bright-White-PAR38-Broad-Spectrum-Grow-Lamp-Flood-LED-Light-Bulb-VGRO-38-WFL-120/204719972

The GrowAdvantage PAR38 LED Grow lamp is energy efficient and spectrally optimized lighting solution for a variety of horticultural lighting applications including homeowner/hobbyist, greenhouse, and growth chamber. The lamp optimizes delivered photo synthetically active radiation (PAR) to maximize plant growth and PAR efficacy while providing white light suitable for the human visual system and excellent color saturation. The spectrum contains 12% blue (400-500 mm) to support strong stems and compact growth. It provides excellent color saturation of plants under My Nature Grow broad spectrum all while generating much less heat and providing dramatic energy savings over traditional grow lights.

• Brightness: 22.4 mol per second
• Estimated yearly energy cost: $1.57
• Life: 45.6 years (based on 3 hours/day)
• Light appearance: broad spectrum - bright white
• Energy used: 13-Watt (equivalent to a 90-Watt standard incandescent light bulb)
• Lumens per Watt: 1.72 mol/joule delivered
• Uses 85% less energy compared to a standard incandescent light bulb
• Suitable for interior or exterior use
• Stays cool
• Contains mercury: no

Just sayin' that's all.

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Probably need at least 8 of those?

Here is something I can't figure out. All of the LED's say 90 Watt Equivalent. Did they ever make a 90w incandescent? I remember 60, 75 and 100 being the standard.

Rahz said:

LED flood light bulbs generally run about 100-110 LPW, so not as efficient as HID yet. If you want to "replace" the 400w HID with bulbs it will cost more up front and more down the road. Replacing the CFL is worth looking at though.

Click to expand...

HID with ~30% reflector losses, an led floodlight of at least 100 lpw is pretty darn close.

I would definitely get rid of the cfls in favor of the led floods or better. Search online can probably get better pricing.

sunny747 said:

Here is something I can't figure out. All of the LED's say 90 Watt Equivalent. Did they ever make a 90w incandescent? I remember 60, 75 and 100 being the standard.

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Forget about equivalents, you need about 25-30 actual watts per square foot for efficient vegging with these purple LED's. Find out the actual output at the wall (if they can't or won't answer that question don't buy them)