Any benefits running a LED alongside a HPS light

[bluter]

I've had the mover for along time I matiantence the wheels and trac and you gotta be careful where the cord hangs

the cords were always the fail point. they cook and get frail over time, then either short internally or break and short against the track.

but other than that I use it to keep the hotspots down and perimeter shadows down as for my light's the core is 5 years old and my sunsystems are 3 same as my Gavitas I run controllers on both as far as led goes like I said it's less inexpensive this way for me because it's cheaper to replace a ballast and bulbs than it is a LED unit say a strip fails or one of the drivers.

i built sold and serviced led rigs for a few years. some things are non repairable, some earlier rigs and quantuums were notorious for it. these days most are built in a manner that makes them easy to fix now, older cob rigs are stupid easy to work on, and the new gen strip rigs are almost the same.


some of the rigs i built are going on 10+ yrs now. as far as repair i've replaced a couple drivers for folk with no loss of efficiency, i've never had a driver go down that was less than a decade old.

I'm a caregiver

we need more folk like you.

do you finish everything outdoor ?

 

[bluter]

Ok I won't tie up this thread any with my rambling

don't worry. it's an old thread, that's what it's for.

 

[seaofgreen18]

This is why I stick with HID many that size on 4 different strains on a living soil bed they are drying as we speak. Green Kush, Blueberry OG, Strawberry Banana,and Bubba Kush

 

[bluter]

you'll get the same or better out of a decent led. led has a lot of throw, so you get great penetration through the canopy.

the problem most guys have when switching is the first couple grows don't go so well. there is a learning curve. it often frustrates the grower who then goes back to hid.

the other thing we see a lot of on the board is under investing with led. a cheap light is not gonna cut it if you're gonna compare.

edit : a lot of cheesy led mfgrs keep making claims they can't fulfil. for a new person it's hard to separate the decent ones from the junk.

 

[Wastei]

The problem with most LED lights is that they have to be run a lot closer to the canopy than an HPS. So if you have an HPS up around 36" away and you then install an LED array under it, you have just created a huge shadow in the HPS light, trying to replace it with what is coming out of the LED. You will end up with less light on the plants and a whole lot of unused HPS light being blocked and creating heat while doing very little for the grow.

HPS is great light... and 600w of it in a 3x3 is better than a lot of LED arrays can accomplish. The only reasons I got away from HPS and MH was the cost as compared to LED, and the heat. If it wasn't for more than 2x the cost to operate, I would still run HID.

You have to run LED's closer to the canopy than HID's? I strongly disagree to the point of saying it's a plain false statement. You can run HID closer to the canopy with a hood because a 600w HPS puts out less usable light than a comparable 600w LED panel.

Less usable light equals less light intensity, a HPS loose much of the usable light through IR radiation. You can use that to your advantage when running lanes and letting HID's hang freely between the lanes of LED's.

Low ceilings were not as big of a problem before the high intensity LED wave. Meaning you have to run LED's farther away from the canopy than comparable HID.

Cheers!

 

[bluter]

Low ceilings were not as big of a problem before the high intensity LED wave. Meaning you have to run LED's farther away from the canopy than comparable HID.

oh boy wish i could have convinced my old hid crawl space grows of that myth

 

[Emilya Green]

You have to run LED's closer to the canopy than HID's? I strongly disagree to the point of saying it's a plain false statement. You can run HID closer to the canopy with a hood because a 600w HPS puts out less usable light than a comparable 600w LED panel.

Less usable light equals less light intensity, a HPS loose much of the usable light through IR radiation. You can use that to your advantage when running lanes and letting HID's hang freely between the lanes of LED's.

Low ceilings were not as big of a problem before the high intensity LED wave. Meaning you have to run LED's farther away from the canopy than comparable HID.

Cheers!

You do have a good point actually. At first I laughed at your comment, but then went back to check the distance/lux charts of old and compare that with the modern LED lights. I have failed to keep current it appears, because when I first got into LED it was common knowledge that the rated wattage on most LEDs was sometimes 10x the actual wattage seen in light. This seems to be reversed nowadays, and the manufacturers are putting real world ratings on their lights...
Comparing some of these ratings and suggested distances from the plants, today's LEDs are indeed much more powerful than the old fashioned HID lights.
I stand corrected. Thank you @Wastei for keeping this real.

 

[seaofgreen18]

How do they compare to double ended sodium lights ?

 

[Emilya Green]

How do they compare to double ended sodium lights ?

depending on the wattage, probably about the same as a regular HPS. They are just a more efficient HPS, right?

 

[seaofgreen18]

Yes they are more efficient I have 3. I like them but I'm interested into learning the newer technology without losing much quality or yeild before I invest and the learn the curve I'm on the fence because to run 3 DE sodium lights on 450w each is only $180.00 and with my living soil that's about all the overhead I incure for a run ,but my quality yeild is well worth that well to me anyways but it more than pays for itself and if I do it in the spring I'm good well into fall harvest if not even winter

 

[seaofgreen18]

It averages about 1 light a plant I do 4 plants At a time

 

[seaofgreen18]

I just wanted to throw in that I run LEC 2/630 sun systems until I see good flower set then I switch to the sodium's about the last half of the run it seems to be cost effective,and they grow good and healthy I basically use the sodiums to get thicker cola's with that far red spectrum they produce good oils to but that's just my style for now until I learn something better both light set ups run on the controller a couple of the different options that were well worth the cost of the controllers the sun systems control have pretty much the same functions

 

[seaofgreen18]

I do know some LED lines have the same type of control

 

[bluter]

I do know some LED lines have the same type of control

i'd stick with what you are running unless there becomes a compelling financial or other reason to switch it up. it takes time to get used to led, and the first couple grows aren't always the best.

we ran both side by side and slowly moved away from hid. it wasn't all at once. i don't think we'd have done it otherwise.

 

[seaofgreen18]

I think I'll wait Then for my ballasts to maybe by then the technology will be even better Thank you MUCH!