Jon705's First Attempt at Organic SuperSoil Featuring TopLED's New COB LED Panel

[sbudgazer]

Jon, thanks for the quick replies.

Wanting to order a LED light but still trying to determine what size to get. I looked back at your first journal because I remember you posted the specs on your 600 watt LEDs but it seems I either can't find the page or that post was deleted. So, another quick question. Your 600's, is that the actual power draw? I am looking at the Mars 180x5 which equals 900watt LED but the actual draw is 440 watts. Just need to know how you are rating your LED's. Hope this makes sense.

 

[LED Acolyte]

Jon, thanks for the quick replies.

Wanting to order a LED light but still trying to determine what size to get. I looked back at your first journal because I remember you posted the specs on your 600 watt LEDs but it seems I either can't find the page or that post was deleted. So, another quick question. Your 600's, is that the actual power draw? I am looking at the Mars 180x5 which equals 900watt LED but the actual draw is 440 watts. Just need to know how you are rating your LED's. Hope this makes sense.

The panels Jon is using are from a company call Area 51 Lighting but they are discontinued. I was interested in these panels after seeing how well Jon has done with them so I contacted the manufacturer. He told me that two of his current model (the SGS-160) is comparable to one of the the 600w units seen here. The power draw on the SGS-160 is 175w in flower mode so if I had to guess the 600w figure is the total of all the 5w LEDs but seeing as they are not actually driven at 5w the draw from the wall is going to be lower.

Also worth noting (because I too am in the market for LEDs) when I contacted area 51 the dude told me he has even better units coming around the end of this year. So if you wait a little bit you can get an led panel that's two generations newer than what you're seeing here.

 

[jon705]

nice worklooks very skunky sub'd

Thank you and welcome trichromes

Jon, thanks for the quick replies.

Wanting to order a LED light but still trying to determine what size to get. I looked back at your first journal because I remember you posted the specs on your 600 watt LEDs but it seems I either can't find the page or that post was deleted. So, another quick question. Your 600's, is that the actual power draw? I am looking at the Mars 180x5 which equals 900watt LED but the actual draw is 440 watts. Just need to know how you are rating your LED's. Hope this makes sense.

actual draw on my big panels is 595w with all switches running, each switch is 150w. Im not sure what you mean by how I rate them? I go by actual draw if thats what you mean, if you tried to do a gpw with that 900w light you mentioned and ended up with .2 gpw you would think its a piece of sh*t lol..if a manufacturer wont give you the actual draw then dont buy it bro, that marsII is a 440w light not a 900w light.Curso is now using that exact light in his 4 x 4 tent and is loving it, you should check out his journal if you have some time, he knows what hes talking about and will be honest about how he feels about the light

The panels Jon is using are from a company call Area 51 Lighting but they are discontinued. I was interested in these panels after seeing how well Jon has done with them so I contacted the manufacturer. He told me that two of his current model (the SGS-160) is comparable to one of the the 600w units seen here. The power draw on the SGS-160 is 175w in flower mode so if I had to guess the 600w figure is the total of all the 5w LEDs but seeing as they are not actually driven at 5w the draw from the wall is going to be lower.

Also worth noting (because I too am in the market for LEDs) when I contacted area 51 the dude told me he has even better units coming around the end of this year. So if you wait a little bit you can get an led panel that's two generations newer than what you're seeing here.

Welcome LED Acolyte, Im assuming you talked to Jeff over at Area 51, from what I understand it would take 1.5 SGS 160's to equal 1 of my lights , I cant see how a 175w actual draw panel can replace a 595w actual draw panel no matter what diodes they have, according to the Area 51 website the core footprint on the SGS 160 is 2 x 3 so I think you misunderstood, the core footprint with one of my lights is 4 x 4.Im eagerly awaiting the release of they're new lights, im not saying I will buy them because they will be very expensive compared to TopLed prices but ya never know, they imho make some of the best panels on the market

 

[shottafire]

Im eagerly awaiting the drop of the new panels from A51.

I should have money for at least one of them. I really need to get my feet wet with the led's soon as this is the future in growing and i am not stopping now.

Thanks for giving solid advice where it counts jon.

 

[LED Acolyte]

Yeah I talked to Jeff. He said two of the units were "comparable" so that's an actual draw of 350w. So your 600w panels actually draw 600w? How many 5w LEDs do they have?

As for why they may be better, according to Jeff the SGS-160 only has to be 18" above canopy instead of 30" like with your unit. "A lot of light is lost there" according to him. The new units are supposed to be even better in that regard I guess. Another aspect to consider is the efficiency of the LED. The power they draw mostly goes to generating heat and not light. If the LEDs are more efficient you can get comparable light using fewer watts. For example lumigrow had a unit with 27% efficiency and their next generation was 43% so even though the wattage draw was the same the new units put out much more light because the energy is actually going to producing light instead of heat.

 

[LED Acolyte]

Im eagerly awaiting the drop of the new panels from A51.

I should have money for at least one of them. I really need to get my feet wet with the led's soon as this is the future in growing and i am not stopping now.

You and me both! I plan to buy 2 or 3 units depends on how much they are. Hopefully I will only need two though. I want enough light to really kill a 4x4 tent. Actually I'm going to use two 4x4 tents and swap the panels every 12 hours to double my lighting space.

 

[sbudgazer]

Thank you Jon, That is exactly the info I was looking for. Wanting to keep results equal to a 600 w HPS. I will take a look at Curso's Journal

 

[jon705]

Im eagerly awaiting the drop of the new panels from A51.

I should have money for at least one of them. I really need to get my feet wet with the led's soon as this is the future in growing and i am not stopping now.

Thanks for giving solid advice where it counts jon.

you wont go wrong with those lights bro, Jeff really knows his shit imo, if he says they are way better than my lights then im definetly interested in them lol..ive been holding off on going all led waiting for these lights

Yeah I talked to Jeff. He said two of the units were "comparable" so that's an actual draw of 350w. So your 600w panels actually draw 600w? How many 5w LEDs do they have?

As for why they may be better, according to Jeff the SGS-160 only has to be 18" above canopy instead of 30" like with your unit. "A lot of light is lost there" according to him. The new units are supposed to be even better in that regard I guess. Another aspect to consider is the efficiency of the LED. The power they draw mostly goes to generating heat and not light. If the LEDs are more efficient you can get comparable light using the same watts. For example lumigrow had a unit with 27% efficiency and their next generation was 43% so even though the wattage draw was the same the new units put out much more light because the energy is actually going to producing light instead of heat.

My panels are 3w chips bro, i ll have to go count the chips, honestly I forget how many there are lol...man 18 inches from the canopy would be freaking awesome!!! I keep mine 24 inches from the canopy so thats 6 inches bigger, doesnt sound like much but 6 inches at the top of the plant could easily up the final yield by a third

You and me both! I plan to buy 2 or 3 units depends on how much they are. Hopefully I will only need two though. I want enough light to really kill a 4x4 tent. Actually I'm going to use two 4x4 tents and swap the panels every 12 hours to double my lighting space.

Thats a killer idea bro, a bit of a pain because you would have to be there every morning and every night to swap the lights but if that isnt an issue for you then it would be a great way to save money on panels. Keep in mind that in most countries theres a peak and a low for hydro usage, around here its half as cheap to run my rooms from 8 pm to 8 am so that when my lights are on, when I do veg with the big room like im doing now the led's are only drawing 300w each so half of what they use in flower but the difference on my bill is staggering! Thats another reason why im trying to dial in a perpetual grow, the flower room would never be on during the day, getting the timing down on 6 zones 3 in the flower room and 3 in the veg room isnt as easy as it sounds with multipal strains though but I ll figure it out eventually

Thank you Jon, That is exactly the info I was looking for. Wanting to keep results equal to a 600 w HPS. I will take a look at Curso's Journal

im comfortable saying that the light will blow a 600w hps right out of the water bro,a 600 has a 3 x 3 core footprint and that panel has a 4 x 4 core footprint and the penetration isnt even comparable, you should easily get a pd per light depending on the strain with it,probably more once you really dial your rooms in and figure out what your strains like

 

[LED Acolyte]

Thats a killer idea bro, a bit of a pain because you would have to be there every morning and every night to swap the lights but if that isnt an issue for you then it would be a great way to save money on panels. Keep in mind that in most countries theres a peak and a low for hydro usage, around here its half as cheap to run my rooms from 8 pm to 8 am so that when my lights are on, when I do veg with the big room like im doing now the led's are only drawing 300w each so half of what they use in flower but the difference on my bill is staggering! Thats another reason why im trying to dial in a perpetual grow, the flower room would never be on during the day, getting the timing down on 6 zones 3 in the flower room and 3 in the veg room isnt as easy as it sounds with multipal strains though but I ll figure it out eventually

Well my hope is that going LED should basically eliminate the need for AC in my setup and that should just about half my power bill. Right now I'm running a 5x5 hps with a mini AC. I think I can run two 4x4's for less money and nearly double my yield while also increasing stealth \ security because I wont need blower fans exhausting out my window. As for having to be there I'm already in there opening and closing veg \ flower tents so everything gets a chance to breath while not bleeding light on the flower tents.

 

[Curso]

im comfortable saying that the light will blow a 600w hps right out of the water bro,a 600 has a 3 x 3 core footprint and that panel has a 4 x 4 core footprint and the penetration isnt even comparable, you should easily get a pd per light depending on the strain with it,probably more once you really dial your rooms in and figure out what your strains like

I replaced a 600w hps with top led's 240x5w marsII. It really finished my last plants very well and the plants I just put under it yesterday love it. It's' @24" right now but I had plants as close as 8" to the light with little ill effect.

I had all intentions of going with area 51's new panels, but 2-3 panels for a 4x4 area is just shitty coverage imho. I'm more than sure they are fantastic lights, but for the money and coverage top led was an easy choice for me.

 

[LED Acolyte]

So what's the deal with Top led? Are these lights for real?
They have a 240x5w model for $658. It looks pretty much identical to Black Dog(supposedly high quality) Platinum XL-U. Now the XL-U is 1500w of LEDS compared to 1200w Top LED model but then it's also $658 vs $1890. I want to believe but this seems too good to be true.

 

[shottafire]

So what's the deal with Top led? Are these lights for real?
They have a 240x5w model for $658. It looks pretty much identical to Black Dog(supposedly high quality) Platinum XL-U. Now the XL-U is 1500w of LEDS compared to 1200w Top LED model but then it's also $658 vs $1890. I want to believe but this seems too good to be true.

You got the journals right in front of you to show you how they perform. clearly if you got two of the top leds for 1400 they would obviously blow blackdogs sphincter right out of the water.

 

[LED Acolyte]

You got the journals right in front of you to show you how they perform.

Are there any good ones using these brand of lights in particular? Has anyone had them long enough to do a full cycle yet?

 

[shottafire]

we are watching closely. I dont think anyone has ran a full cycle yet. but everyone has good things to say about footprint and coverage as well as penetration.

I am in the market as well.

 

[LED Acolyte]

It's a seriously compelling price. 240 5w Epistar LEDs costs about 600 bucks just in materials. I think I might just buy one of these.

This opens up a lot of possibilities. Like...I can order two of these things and not flip flop my light like I planned. I could also ditch my t5 and get some of those 3w units for veg.

oh man...

 

[Curso]

It's a seriously compelling price. 240 5w Epistar LEDs costs about 600 bucks just in materials. I think I might just buy one of these.

This opens up a lot of possibilities. Like...I can order two of these things and not flip flop my light like I planned. I could also ditch my t5 and get some of those 3w units for veg.

oh man...

Funny I was just pricing out a veg light ...Honestly I am impressed with my 240x5w....my plants acted as if they were under 2x the amount of light. I am confident it will flower well.

 

[LED Acolyte]

What is the benefit of the COB light vs 5w panels?

 

[donpaul.p]

from what i can tell cob leds direct the light much better, so instead of having regular leds that put the light out at all angles which means your actually wasting a lot of the light, cob sort of makes the light direct to where you want it, so if its pointing at the plants then the light is going on the plants so your not wasting light,

its basically directing the light a whole lot better to where you need it to, so this makes the light much brighter as its all going in the same direction instead of been spread out over a wider angle.

it makes the light a lot more efficient meaning your getting more light for your money.

here is some basic info on the light and what it does, not that exact light but this is about the technology in general, hope it helps, if not just do an internet search for cob vs regular led and you will find lots of info, but basically if the correct lense is used with cob leds then you will have a much more efficient light and this means more light to the plants, means more growth and more penetration so this clearly helps buds get much bigger as the light is penetrating into the plant a lot further

Why COB? --Background
LED(light emitting diode) is new technology with advantage of saving energy and very long lifespan. But all LED lightsource can not be faultless especially SMD, HP, flux LED etc. Compare to traditional lighting such as fluorescent lamp, as it is super bright in a small size, it cause uncomfortable glare. In case of no diffused optical lens used, such LEDs usually cause glare and zebra strips . But when optical lens or cover used, it will cause light loss when LED beam pass through this lens or cover.


How COB LED Light source works
COB LED is multi chips packaged, it can 10 times more increase lighting area, so it avoid uncomfortable glare by the maximum extent.
Lightspot use small size of chips to make COB LED package.
By now, for small size chip, ?some famous LED chip manufacturer can reach 249lm/watt @ 20mA. But big size LED chip can only reach 161lm/watt @350mA. The light efficacy decrease when chip size is bigger. Also when LED driver increase current to LED, the light efficacy per watt is even low.

The COB with small size chips will be a trend of LED light source package.

Lightspot holds the patent for invention for COB LED and lamp.

hope thats some help my friend,

also welcome to 420 magazine, have you got a grow up and running or are you planning on setting a grow up, if you do get a journal going and give us a shout and we can follow along.

peace

 

[Governmentchz]

Good info. Thanks for that.

 

[LED Acolyte]

So are COB lights all made by this company Lightspot?