LED Lighting?

[gerardbutler79]

Its been a few years since LED's came onto the scene and since it's introduction its been said they would be the future of indoor growing etc. Does anyone here happen to keep up with whats going on in this field? I would think by now the newest LED systems would have surpassed HPS/Metal Halide in terms of performance.

 

[LexLuthor]

No, I don't believe LED's have surpassed HPS/MH in performance. Maybe if you get the cheapest, low quality HID system compared to the most expensive, highest quality LED then yes, it probably would do better. Now they have the Adjust-A-Wings and when you combine that with a high quality bulb and a highly reflective grow tent, IMO nothing can beat that setup in terms of performance.

 

[Dr.X]

I've never grown with LED light's myself but a friend of mine did and I was so impressed with the overall quality (smell, taste, density) that I started making a research before making any decisions.
What I found was that the best LED's were achieving amazing results (over 1g/watt) but there where others that sucked badly. What makes the difference?
Well, just having the right spectrum and the right angle lenses. You can choose between 60, 90, 120 degree. Being 60 the ones with better penetration (intensity) but less coverage area and 120 the ones with less intensity with the greatest coverage are.
When you have a well tuned LED light you will achieve incredible results.

HPS and MH also achieve good results and they are very cheap compared to LED but.. when you have HPS you waste lots of energy in parts of the spectrum that plants don't need and also you have to take into account the ballast efficiency and the extra ventilation you will need due to the excessive heat these lamps deliver.

I tried CFL, MH/HPS, and now I will see what LED have to offer. At the moment I don't have a place to start growing again but I already bought a LED light with customize spectrum for a very affordable price. I'm a guy who always like to try new ways to improve and being a mechanical engineer, LED light's make a lot of sens..I'll see how it goes...

 

[gerardbutler79]

when you have HPS you waste lots of energy in parts of the spectrum that plants don't need and also you have to take into account the ballast efficiency and the extra ventilation you will need due to the excessive heat these lamps deliver.

Thanks for the input. However, this is what I don't get. If the LED systems are set to use only the spectrums that plants utilize, and cost about ten times as much, than they should definitely be outperforming the HPS systems by a landslide. After a little research you can see that the best 700 watt LED can match an ordinary 1000 watt HPS in yield production. For the price, it should be a 300 watt LED doing that. My conclusion is that LED will be the future for indoor growing but not anytime soon.

 

[Dr.X]

Thanks for the input. However, this is what I don't get. If the LED systems are set to use only the spectrums that plants utilize, and cost about ten times as much, than they should definitely be outperforming the HPS systems by a landslide. After a little research you can see that the best 700 watt LED can match an ordinary 1000 watt HPS in yield production. For the price, it should be a 300 watt LED doing that. My conclusion is that LED will be the future for indoor growing but not anytime soon.

In every decision you make you have to take into account the initial cost of the investment and the variable cost of operating the system. The 700w LED won't need as much ventilation as the 1000w HPS so there is some extra watt you have to add, and the 1000w HPS will draw 1100w (ballast efficiency), LED will last longer than a HPS. Moreover if you want to compare results by efficiency of the spectrum you have to compare a 700w LED with a 700w (actual power draw) HPS, and I'm sure the 700w LED will outperform the 700w HPS.

The price of LED light's are high but if you buy the LED light from China, you will jump the midle guy and it will cost you half the price you see in the US. I'm pretty sure every LED light sold in the US comes from China, at least most of them.

Well, it's true that even if you buy the LED from China, it is still more expensive than a HPS light. So if you want a fast return of your investment, go HPS. If you want less maintenance of you grow and more bud for your watt (after return of investment), go LED.

As you say, LED will be the future but the prices are still to high, but I'm more optimistic and I believe LED technology is advancing pretty fast, I hope in a near future we will see more affordable LED lights.

Here is an example of the bigest grow op I've seen under LED. I know the guy is a rep of the LED but still those are nice looking plants

 

[LexLuthor]

Those buds look small compared to what I've seen and done with a 600w HID, not only that but look at how many LED's there are, thats alot of overlapping light and for the same amount of money it cost for those LED's you could yield twice as much with HID's. Cooling is not a big deal, an a/c is not expensive to run. My electric bill rises $15 a month for 1 5000btu window unit that runs 24/7, thats not alot of money. Even if I needed more a/c then I would obviously have more lights which increases yield even more. All I know is HID's work great and with the new Adjust-a-Wings the LED's don't have a big advantage over HID's when it comes to cooling, because the Adjust-a-Wings spreads light and heat evenly throughout the grow area alot better then conventional hoods. So maybe LED technology is advancing and one day it might be the future of indoor cultivation, but as of now the HID technology is good enough to be the most practical and high yielding units on the market today, for the cost.

 

[Dr.X]

Those buds look small compared to what I've seen and done with a 600w HID, not only that but look at how many LED's there are, thats alot of overlapping light and for the same amount of money it cost for those LED's you could yield twice as much with HID's. Cooling is not a big deal, an a/c is not expensive to run. My electric bill rises $15 a month for 1 5000btu window unit that runs 24/7, thats not alot of money. Even if I needed more a/c then I would obviously have more lights which increases yield even more. All I know is HID's work great and with the new Adjust-a-Wings the LED's don't have a big advantage over HID's when it comes to cooling, because the Adjust-a-Wings spreads light and heat evenly throughout the grow area alot better then conventional hoods. So maybe LED technology is advancing and one day it might be the future of indoor cultivation, but as of now the HID technology is good enough to be the most practical and high yielding units on the market today, for the cost.

As you, I was skeptical about LED light's.. but that was until I saw my friend's grow. She was a complete newbie, this was her first grow so I help her and I started seeing for myself how this expensive lights do a excellent job.

First, comparing bud size don't have anything to do here, cause you don't know what strain he is running. I'm talking about grow light performance, and you measure that in grams/watt.
I understand what you are saying, but still achieving 1g/w is not easily achieved by a HPS and the new LEDs are achieving this kind of yield..I'm not saying is cheaper, but talking about being energy efficient LED wins for sure. It IS cheaper to go HPS and you achieve good yield. But you are in the states and you are lucky to have so cheap electricity... In my case, I'm from Chile and every watt counts. Here, for having a small 150w HPS (190w actual draw) I spend like 40 bucks per month, so having an air conditioner is not in my budget, and also the cost of the investment is double that the cost in the US... yeah that sucks... everything is more expensive here than in the US, except for Coke drinks :confused:

 

[gerardbutler79]

I gotta lookin into this Adjust-A-Wings but I believe once LED's go into mass production the price will go down. One of the top brand LED systems I've looked into are made by blackdog, and their 700 watt system. The manufacturer of their bulbs are epistar and supposedly each individual bulb can cost them up to ten dollars. I'd assume those being the 5 watt chips. As far as mass production goes, I really wish I knew what will jump start it. Here's a link to check out for anyone interested http://www.reportlinker.com/report/...n=Automotive&gclid=CKH60P797LACFcXe4AodF173vQ

 

[LexLuthor]

I really wanna get the Adjust-a-Wing with a 1000k bulb and a 4'x4' or 5'x5' grow tent, you could hit close to 1 GPW or even more if you had overlapping light from a couple 1000's. Of course you have to use them correcly and either grow hydro or coco, I don't think with soil grows you could get as close to the yields.

I would run LED's, but right now they are too expensive and the only plus side is the little electrical usage and the little heat they produce compared to HID's. You pay $40 a month for 1 250w!! That is expensive bro, my bill went up $50 because of my 600w HPS and 5000btu a/c unit. Maybe when the LED technology advances so they can get them in mass production for cheaper I would try one out, but for now I'll stick with HID's.

 

[Dr.X]

I really wanna get the Adjust-a-Wing with a 1000k bulb and a 4'x4' or 5'x5' grow tent, you could hit close to 1 GPW or even more if you had overlapping light from a couple 1000's. Of course you have to use them correcly and either grow hydro or coco, I don't think with soil grows you could get as close to the yields.

I would run LED's, but right now they are too expensive and the only plus side is the little electrical usage and the little heat they produce compared to HID's. You pay $40 a month for 1 250w!! That is expensive bro, my bill went up $50 because of my 600w HPS and 5000btu a/c unit. Maybe when the LED technology advances so they can get them in mass production for cheaper I would try one out, but for now I'll stick with HID's.

I envy you my brotha! haha 50 bucks for 600w? shit you are sooo lucky hahaha I pay 40 bucks for a 150w HPS, not for a 250w HPS so yeah! Electricity price here are damn high...

 

[LexLuthor]

I envy you my brotha! haha 50 bucks for 600w? shit you are sooo lucky hahaha I pay 40 bucks for a 150w HPS, not for a 250w HPS so yeah! Electricity price here are damn high...

Damn, thats ridiculous, LED's are something you should keep looking into ;) I could only imagine what a 1kw would do to that bill...I wouldn't wanna know:)

 

[gerardbutler79]

I would run LED's, but right now they are too expensive and the only plus side is the little electrical usage and the little heat they produce compared to HID's. You pay $40 a month for 1 250w!! That is expensive bro, my bill went up $50 because of my 600w HPS and 5000btu a/c unit. Maybe when the LED technology advances so they can get them in mass production for cheaper I would try one out, but for now I'll stick with HID's.

Running an a/c unit is crazy! lol screw that I just stick to growin outdoors in the summer time. If the air runnin through my 600 watt light from the carbon filter aint enough to cool down.. than it aint worth it thats just too much electricity. Wouldn't even consider running a 1000 watt unless its December through February.

 

[LexLuthor]

Running an a/c unit is crazy! lol screw that I just stick to growin outdoors in the summer time. If the air runnin through my 600 watt light from the carbon filter aint enough to cool down.. than it aint worth it thats just too much electricity. Wouldn't even consider running a 1000 watt unless its December through February.

I'm not using an air cooled hood or a carbon filter, so without an A/C my grow closet would be above 95F. Anyways, the yield I get from a 600w and 1 A/C unit is more then enough to cover electrical usage ;) I also have a couple girls outdoor as well.

Oh yeah, I'm upgrading to a 1kw with an Adjust-A-Wing in a 4'x4' tent next year and I'm not worried about the electric cost because I only pay about 8 cents per KwH.

 

[skuzz99]

hid is still better imo from what ive seen of ppl usin leds. never tried led lights yet but i dont think they look very good. i get good results with hids so stick 2 them