Midas
- 12
- 3
So I was planning on running a 6kw Undercurrent system in a 100% sealed room and I just got turned onto the rise of the LED light a couple days ago.
Now I am tired of reading a lot of nothing and about people defending their lights. Being prideful about someone else's ideas is just silly. SO that being said, I talked to my grow shop last week and for about $500/each(give or take a bit) they were going to hook me up with 1kw lumatek ballasts, 130k lumens bulb, and 8" raptor hoods. Then I would also have to buy a couple fans to air cool the lights on a closed loop out of the room...+ducting...add another 6-$800. On top of that if I were to run HPS I would be rolling a pretty hefty water chiler to run my setup...2hp at least.(Because I was going to water cool my room) so $3700 initial start up in just the lights and vents to air cool the hoods. And from then on out I would likely be running 200% larger electric bills(due to running lights, fans and more heat through my water chiller) and buying new $120 bulbs every 6 months.
Now I have been browsing THCfarmer and a couple other boards looking for answers but I cannot find results larger than A lamp or two. On top of that everyone who is posting these grow diaries always seems to have a problem whether it be spider mites, no co2, Life issues, or just plain no understanding of the "right" way to grow.(not meant to offend)
I want to get down to this once and for all. There is a strange mentality on the boards that there is no "better way to go". But there most likely is. I get everyone has their own "style" but when it comes down to it some techniques and equipment are just 100% better (ex, water chill vs AC)and I am pretty sure lighting is the same. I don't want people on this thread to start a war over uneducated, mocked up research due to these spineless companies but we should be pooling knowledge.
Is there anyone out there running any of those lights in the place of a 1kw hps in a closed room, with good nutes, proper co2, dehumidifier, an efficient hydro setup, RO, chilled water?....the list goes on. Once I get my room going and my first harvest comes in I would like to do a legit diary with hps flower vs LED flower in a controlled grow but I just don't have the funds nor the time to be messing with both until then. So now I would like to band all the LED heads and hps fans and come up with real answers.
I'm running the UCXL13 8 site in flower http://cch2o.com/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=48
Now those are going to have 28 inch plant centers but Im making my own so I can very the distance. They recommend 2-1kw lights per 8 site...If you do the math I am running 3 sites overall.
Now for the lights;there are some youtube videos which are just plain shady and very uninformative but a couple videos did happen to spark my interest.
Now mind you this guys is really a team player for SG but he does display all info to be seen. Supposedly he used the SG602 to harvest 8oz on one plant (w/o Co2)and supposedly there is coverage in the light for 4 of them...Which would equate to about a 1kw HPS.
This video is informative but in the comments selection below he claims to be able to pull 2g/w in the perfect situation. Which actually sounds feasible because I was planning to harvest nearly 2lbs per light 3-4wk veg, 9-10 wk flower, with my HPS. 896g/1kw= .89g/w
So therefore 869g/375w=2.4g/w...Now I dont think the average grower in a sealed room with great nutes and co2 could execute 2+g/w all the time but with electrical savings, heating issues resolved and proven to be buds denser in thc if you could roll 1.5g/w and still make it very worth your while by increasing number of lights and plants which shouldnt be too bad considering that the LEDs are 60% cheaper to run. 375x1.5=563 x 10 lights on 4 sites = 5830g per harvest with still only 3750w of lighting. Compared to 896g x 6 lights on 3 sites =5376g per harvest with over 35% increase in electricity,other expenses, and lower avg. THC count.. On top of the fact I have to put holes in the walls...
Not that those are all fact but with the what is presumed to be facts on the table I need to figure out where that median is. Obviously if this is 100% fake and there is no way to beat 1.5g/w with the SG602s or a similar light then at some point this lighting just isnt efficient at all. I don't want to be running 6kw in LEDs to get the same as 6kw HPS yield. I think even in the example above...3750w is a lot to be running for lights which are supposed to be inconspicuous. but even if I had to scale up to nearly 4kw, after a couple harvests ,The LEDs would be worth it; it would be worth it in the long run because they would all pay for themselves in around 2 years...probably less.
So is there anyone out there running larger, more efficient and standardized grows who could confirm how much lighting you would truly need to equate to your standard 1kw hps? I havent done any of the math for the Blackstar lights because I don't know their true draw but this model applies to the magnums and Sg602s pretty accurately.
Now I am tired of reading a lot of nothing and about people defending their lights. Being prideful about someone else's ideas is just silly. SO that being said, I talked to my grow shop last week and for about $500/each(give or take a bit) they were going to hook me up with 1kw lumatek ballasts, 130k lumens bulb, and 8" raptor hoods. Then I would also have to buy a couple fans to air cool the lights on a closed loop out of the room...+ducting...add another 6-$800. On top of that if I were to run HPS I would be rolling a pretty hefty water chiler to run my setup...2hp at least.(Because I was going to water cool my room) so $3700 initial start up in just the lights and vents to air cool the hoods. And from then on out I would likely be running 200% larger electric bills(due to running lights, fans and more heat through my water chiller) and buying new $120 bulbs every 6 months.
Now I have been browsing THCfarmer and a couple other boards looking for answers but I cannot find results larger than A lamp or two. On top of that everyone who is posting these grow diaries always seems to have a problem whether it be spider mites, no co2, Life issues, or just plain no understanding of the "right" way to grow.(not meant to offend)
I want to get down to this once and for all. There is a strange mentality on the boards that there is no "better way to go". But there most likely is. I get everyone has their own "style" but when it comes down to it some techniques and equipment are just 100% better (ex, water chill vs AC)and I am pretty sure lighting is the same. I don't want people on this thread to start a war over uneducated, mocked up research due to these spineless companies but we should be pooling knowledge.
Is there anyone out there running any of those lights in the place of a 1kw hps in a closed room, with good nutes, proper co2, dehumidifier, an efficient hydro setup, RO, chilled water?....the list goes on. Once I get my room going and my first harvest comes in I would like to do a legit diary with hps flower vs LED flower in a controlled grow but I just don't have the funds nor the time to be messing with both until then. So now I would like to band all the LED heads and hps fans and come up with real answers.
I'm running the UCXL13 8 site in flower http://cch2o.com/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=48
Now those are going to have 28 inch plant centers but Im making my own so I can very the distance. They recommend 2-1kw lights per 8 site...If you do the math I am running 3 sites overall.
Now for the lights;there are some youtube videos which are just plain shady and very uninformative but a couple videos did happen to spark my interest.
So therefore 869g/375w=2.4g/w...Now I dont think the average grower in a sealed room with great nutes and co2 could execute 2+g/w all the time but with electrical savings, heating issues resolved and proven to be buds denser in thc if you could roll 1.5g/w and still make it very worth your while by increasing number of lights and plants which shouldnt be too bad considering that the LEDs are 60% cheaper to run. 375x1.5=563 x 10 lights on 4 sites = 5830g per harvest with still only 3750w of lighting. Compared to 896g x 6 lights on 3 sites =5376g per harvest with over 35% increase in electricity,other expenses, and lower avg. THC count.. On top of the fact I have to put holes in the walls...
Not that those are all fact but with the what is presumed to be facts on the table I need to figure out where that median is. Obviously if this is 100% fake and there is no way to beat 1.5g/w with the SG602s or a similar light then at some point this lighting just isnt efficient at all. I don't want to be running 6kw in LEDs to get the same as 6kw HPS yield. I think even in the example above...3750w is a lot to be running for lights which are supposed to be inconspicuous. but even if I had to scale up to nearly 4kw, after a couple harvests ,The LEDs would be worth it; it would be worth it in the long run because they would all pay for themselves in around 2 years...probably less.
So is there anyone out there running larger, more efficient and standardized grows who could confirm how much lighting you would truly need to equate to your standard 1kw hps? I havent done any of the math for the Blackstar lights because I don't know their true draw but this model applies to the magnums and Sg602s pretty accurately.
