best leds for your dollar

Growboy · Sep 24, 2013

I would rather deal with an American company selling Chinese products Than a Chinese company selling Chinese products. That's how I look at it

Funkadelic · Sep 24, 2013

The other thing that makes me skeptical is stonergrowtech has always been full of "next greatest thing" that actually is a waste of money and breaks down even though it doesn't sufficently work in the first place.

My concern with LEDs is even when they *DO* function as advertised, a $2000 LED rig gets blown away by a $200 simple magnetic ballast and EYE Hortilux bulb.

$1800 buys a lot of mini split Mitsubishi A/C cooling, which you probably want/need anyway, AND the bulbs are cheap and easy to replace.

I'm just not seeing the math on LEDs working out yet.

As far as vape pens go, PAX is the absolute best. Incredible. Borrowed a buddy's for Coachella and it quit taking charges. Bloom (the maker of the Pax) sent him a new charger. When that didn't work, they sent him a new pen.

To me, its worth paying a retailer who will replace ballasts or bulbs if theres a problem. They usually take broken gear back and immediately hand you a new one.

If I was buying LEDs, I'd go through a store. Way, way, way too much at stake to skimp and buy from a cheap Chinese factory which doesn't back its badly made stonertech. Cheap, failing technology isn't worth the savings.
Not in this business.

Just my logic and concerns. I very much want to see LEDs be the better alternative to HPS or MH. Near as I can tell, LEDs are only for veg and even then I'd go for a 400w MH or T5 strip instead.
Again, just my opinion, and I want to hear that LEDs are finally mature enough....

619ster · Sep 24, 2013

LED buds grown by ME, using growevolution panels:

But who the hell wants a light that lasts forever and can only grow larfy popcorn buds :rolleyes:

Funkadelic · Sep 24, 2013

NICE results. A lot depends on expected results, scale, strain, temp, etc.

I most certainly didn't question the (potential, depending on wiring) eternal bulbs nor dense results. Clearly your crystals and nugs are in order 619ster.

Can I ask what sq ft room size, strain, and lighting you use (units/watts/price for LED array)?

My personal goal is giant trees, so vert hps stacks are what I'm planning for my newest arrangement. I'd be super stoked to augment results with LEDs if there are reliable and good cost-benefit units nowadays. Last time I asked at a local shop, the employee gave a thumbs down to the units they were just starting to carry.

Again, everything is dependent on limiting factors and expectations. Awesome pics 619; thanks for sharing. More info plz...

619ster · Sep 24, 2013

Funkadelic said:
NICE results. A lot depends on expected results, scale, strain, temp, etc.

I most certainly didn't question the (potential, depending on wiring) eternal bulbs nor dense results. Clearly your crystals and nugs are in order 619ster.

Can I ask what sq ft room size, strain, and lighting you use (units/watts/price for LED array)?

My personal goal is giant trees, so vert hps stacks are what I'm planning for my newest arrangement. I'd be super stoked to augment results with LEDs if there are reliable and good cost-benefit units nowadays. Last time I asked at a local shop, the employee gave a thumbs down to the units they were just starting to carry.

Again, everything is dependent on limiting factors and expectations. Awesome pics 619; thanks for sharing. More info plz...

Thanks! I normally grow with HPS and LED supplementation as myself. My previous room consisted of a 1000w HPS in the middle, and on the sides I had 2 x 300w LEDs to not only add spectrum, but also to get a larger footprint. This was just a small test grow as I was testing these lights.

As for the pics I posted, that is 4 plants in a ~2x4x4 space with two panels which draw ~125w each. So total of 250w on 4 plants. Strain is my Alien Rock Candy keeper pheno x 3 and an Arctic Fallout x 1. As I mentioned the panels used were from growevolution.com and was my first try with that brand and I can honestly say my expectations were exceeded. And I have high standards when it comes to LEDs because I've had some damn good LEDs from the get go when I first got into them 3 years ago. I've grown a pound with the same two lights (2 x 3oow LEDs) I had on side of my HPS before that setup came about. Pretty similar to results from a 600w HPS on average. If you want trees, definitely a wise move to have 1000w (or 600's) HPS vertically, and have LEDs lighting from above. Plants will LOVE it!!!! I'm no LED fanboy, but I certainly use them to my advantage and will speak my piece of mind anyday about them. THEY WORK!!! But not all are created equal. I couldn't see LEDs being applied in commercial grow setups without being rediculously expensive, but I've been using those same two 300w panels since 3 years ago when I first got them, and I can honestly say that the $1500 I spent to get them has been well paid for with the lights over that time (after first grow actually, but hey).

Funkadelic · Sep 24, 2013

Excellent information 619.
My friend who has run them as supplements vows by improved results, but he does a main hps like you do (or did).

The low power draw and temp make them very appealing to mount to walls and run directly above trees using hps verts too.

I'm certain the (current) $400 price tag makes them ultimately cost effective at some point on a $ per watt(kwh)/bulb replacement cost/etc.

As they come down in price and money becomes less of a concern, I see myself adding them at some point later, too. The density is nice to reach for. I bet they'd be quite useful on sour diesel or another stretchy sativa-heavy strain.

Definitely see use in small rooms where heat is concern.

Growboy · Sep 25, 2013

Yea I just had some week 5-6 buds that fell off early bc of the weight. I will let you know how much shrinkage there is starting weight was 3.7g last night. I will take a size comparison pictures today later with weight update. If you are looking for a good LED should try kush innovations leds work for me and a great price.

Growboy · Sep 27, 2013

Here is a weight update 2.8 will take another pic today that was two days ago started off as 3.7

Wyckoff · Dec 26, 2013

I've done a lot of reading on LEDs and the best bang for the buck are the new 190 watt units from Area 51 IMO. They are made with top bin LEDs, have moved to a mostly white spectrum and are around $500 a unit. Also american made with good customer support. I doubt they are suited for growing trees but in terms of grams/watt they will beat vertical grow.

zhuminous · Apr 22, 2014

Any idea what going DIY would cost compared to something like the Area 51?

SupraSPL · Jun 3, 2014

I think the best value on the market is the Onyx Bloom by RapidLED. Uses Cree XML2 3000K T4 bin. Should be just as efficient as A51 or Apache but it is cheaper. Dissipates 210W for $450 = $2.15/W

A DIY COB rig can be as cheap as $70 in parts for 52W dissipation = $1.34/W.
Cree CXA3070 3000K $45
92mm heatsink/fan $10
1.4A Driver $13

Or you can make a big one and use the heatsink to spread the COBs. This dissipates 208W and a 140mm 1.6W fan is enough to keep the heatsink just a few degrees above ambient.

zhuminous · Jun 5, 2014

Nice, simple, and clean :snaphappy:

evertking · Jun 13, 2014

I was looking for a replacement for my small set up.. I was using a 400 lumatek in a jardan. I was on the led hate train. But got to watching some vids and logs I finally took the plunge but spent some time looking around and for me it came down to Area 51 or Growblu and I chose GB 120x3 think it was the best light at that price point

Gamrstwin36 · Jun 13, 2014

SupraSPL said:
I think the best value on the market is the Onyx Bloom by RapidLED. Uses Cree XML2 3000K T4 bin. Should be just as efficient as A51 or Apache but it is cheaper. Dissipates 210W for $450 = $2.15/W

A DIY COB rig can be as cheap as $70 in parts for 52W dissipation = $1.34/W.
Cree CXA3070 3000K $45
92mm heatsink/fan $10
1.4A Driver $13

Or you can make a big one and use the heatsink to spread the COBs. This dissipates 208W and a 140mm 1.6W fan is enough to keep the heatsink just a few degrees above ambient.
View attachment 411177

could you build those ona large scale? or is that just a hobby joint you made? looks righteous.
respect

seaslug · Jun 13, 2014

An interesting Utah State lighting study pdf is being hosted by growershouse:

Edit* see link in post #41.

BeenBurned · Jun 15, 2014

seaslug said:
An interesting Utah State lighting study pdf is being hosted by growershouse:

/quote]

^^NICE^^ The light fixture cost calculator is zakly what I needed!! AND the article Is interesting !
Thank you SS

seaslug · Jun 15, 2014

D'oh, I'm legal in WA but please use this link to the growershouse summary of the study instead of the one with my email ID, LOL.

http://growershouse.com/blog/what-i...e-most-economical-a-look-at-the-bugbee-model/

BeenBurned · Jun 17, 2014

Gg520 said:
It seems that the led lights you grow with is not that good as you said . View attachment 404076 View attachment 404077 View attachment 404078 View attachment 404079

Gg520 is that u growing poppies with those things?

SupraSPL · Jun 19, 2014

Gamrstwin36 said:
could you build those ona large scale? or is that just a hobby joint you made? looks righteous.
respect

Yessir it can be done. You can scale it up as large as you like although you can bump into electrical limitations on 120V. 1250W power draw is about as far as I would recommend on a 15A circuit. It draws about 10.5 amps

Timmyahcomeon · Jul 1, 2014

Looks like junk to me!

danielm90 said:
Something New LED

best leds for your dollar

best leds for your dollar

Growboy

Funkadelic

619ster

Funkadelic

619ster

Funkadelic

Growboy

Growboy

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Wyckoff

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