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

Maybe lower the COB light? It looks way up there to me.

I agree with this... I am looking at the light on the walls and if I was you I would want that really bright part right on those plants!!
 
U say no thermal footprint jon but from what i understand the room needs to operate around 85f? i currently run between 75-80f? so although lights give off less heat, u must have to increase temps in grow room???

Also u just said an LED panel per plant? At $1000 a plant? thats a huge some of money and if that is true its surely not worth the investment? If i run 4 plants dwc per 1000w hps and average 32-38oz per light with 2 weeks veg and that hps/hood/ballast sets me back £250 ($400ish)


I ve got my best results to date running my room at 75 degrees daytime 68 nightime bro, that info about running the rooms warmer is just wrong imo. yep its definelty more expensive to buy led initially....but how much do you spend a year on bulbs alone? with led's 50 000 hrs before you have to start thinking about changing diodes, thats 10 years growing if my math is right, how much would you spend on bulbs alone in 10 years? Factor that in with better quality and denser nugs(much better trych production imho) the hydro savings, the safety for you and your family of no thermal footprint, the fact that you dont have any ductwork, running a sealed room is much easier with led's, theres much less chance of electrical fires are overloading a circuit, fuck bro I could go on and on lol...if longevity is your goal then its a nobrainer. Yea I really like 1 panel per plant but I ll be going back to 12 plants next round because my veg room isnt big enough to spread them out, so until my new space is built it will be 4 rows of 3. Dont forget I grow my plants alot bigger than yours, its just my personal preference, its easier to work with 8 plants then 30 and who doesnt like great big monsters indoors:)Honestly, you get the best gpw ratio ive ever seen anywhere, you obviously have your shit just about as dialed in as it can get, you could do the same with led's I have no doubt of this and make your money back in one round no matter how many panels you buy, I had the same confidence in myself and have no regrets about switching, I have some renos to do on my house before winter that cant wait but as soon as thats done I ll be in the market for more lights, I cant wait to get rid of these hydro suckers and be totally invisible from the sky. I guess im also looking at led's differently than most growers, im not trying to get the same amount of weight with less watts, im trying to get 20-30% more weight with the same amount of watts, the room pays for itself now no problem so why not go all led have the same hydro bill you do now and get 20-30% more weight? I originally had 6 1000w hps in my flower room, imagine 6000w of led in there bro, it will be pretty much a solid panel across the whole canopy and still be cooler than 6 1000's:)
 
I agree with this... I am looking at the light on the walls and if I was you I would want that really bright part right on those plants!!
you guys might be right, with my big panels the tecnique I use works great, nice thick bushy plants with tight node spacing, the 2 plants under the cob have nice node spacing but they arent as beefy as the others, I didnt get any recomendations with it, it was a test light for TopLed too, so for this round im going to keep it where it is and use this test as my control, next round I ll probably try it again and play with the height and see if I get better results:)
 
My question is why wouldn't we want to take advantage of the lower temps of the LEDs and as long as it works within our footprint have the lights as close to the plants as is healthy?

missing the point, led may give off lower temp but u still need a temp range of 85f at canopy for optimal growth using leds. thats what im reading and seeing everywhere.

Now im not saying that as gospel because i havent used them. but i am starting to think they arent the saviour of hid lighting, atleast not right now. the cost per panel is high for small return per/w is what im understanding unless ive read jons response wrong?

HID lighting is very very easily controlled. Now im absolutely not saying HID is better or LED. im just trying to figure out where the pros and cons really lie. Theres usually always a give on the positive. its like comparing soil to hydro, pros and cons of both. But do the pros of LED really out weigh the cons of HID? I cant say yes or no till ive tried it but im thinking at the moment HID is a better choice for value and that u know it works everytime. not worrying about diff led's, lenses, reflectors then panels per plant?

Tell me im wrong or missing point? Its not cheaper to run if u are drawing the same wattage. Maybe in time the wider light spectrum may be better?

Jon with absolute respect u are a great grower bro. Do u really rate the LED's over the HPS. If u didnt have to worry about heat of HPS. A 1000w hps gives awesome results, have u matched it with LED's or bettered it yet without any issues?
 
i just wrote my reply as u wrote urs jon. so u answer some questions there. i respect ur views over many on here mate, u know i do.

Why do u think u can get 20-30% better yields?


I am interested just not sure about this yet. Clearly u are making it work, i just dont want to fuck my shit up hahaha.
 
you guys might be right, with my big panels the tecnique I use works great, nice thick bushy plants with tight node spacing, the 2 plants under the cob have nice node spacing but they arent as beefy as the others, I didnt get any recomendations with it, it was a test light for TopLed too, so for this round im going to keep it where it is and use this test as my control, next round I ll probably try it again and play with the height and see if I get better results:)

Wouldn't it make sense that a 3w COB reflector light is going to have a different sweet spot than the 3w didoes with optics?

I gotta say I'm not liking the COB either. I can see where the tech makes a lot of sense like a street light or a headlight where space is an issue. They have taken the LEDs and made them more compact. However if space isn't an issue, like on a grow light, what's the point? You could pack tons more LEDs into the same space but that's not what they are doing so what's the point?
 
missing the point, led may give off lower temp but u still need a temp range of 85f at canopy for optimal growth using leds. thats what im reading and seeing everywhere.

Now im not saying that as gospel because i havent used them. but i am starting to think they arent the saviour of hid lighting, atleast not right now. the cost per panel is high for small return per/w is what im understanding unless ive read jons response wrong?

HID lighting is very very easily controlled. Now im absolutely not saying HID is better or LED. im just trying to figure out where the pros and cons really lie. Theres usually always a give on the positive. its like comparing soil to hydro, pros and cons of both. But do the pros of LED really out weigh the cons of HID? I cant say yes or no till ive tried it but im thinking at the moment HID is a better choice for value and that u know it works everytime. not worrying about diff led's, lenses, reflectors then panels per plant?

Tell me im wrong or missing point? Its not cheaper to run if u are drawing the same wattage. Maybe in time the wider light spectrum may be better?

Jon with absolute respect u are a great grower bro. Do u really rate the LED's over the HPS. If u didnt have to worry about heat of HPS. A 1000w hps gives awesome results, have u matched it with LED's or bettered it yet without any issues?
Manufacturers claim that they re 600w panels replace a 1000 hid, Jeff from area 51 told me my lights are replacements for 600w hids, I agree with him.If you compare a quality 600w panel to a 600w hid I would say they are the same or better, and for me even if its a bit less weight per light its still worth it because of the situation im in and the fact that i dont want to ever stop growing, safety for my family was the deciding factor in buying these lights, and like I said I have no regrets. Our situations are different, you dont grow where you live so the thermal footprint things isnt as appealing to you, I guess all the other pros I mentioned in my last post are what you have to concider.
 
i just wrote my reply as u wrote urs jon. so u answer some questions there. i respect ur views over many on here mate, u know i do.

Why do u think u can get 20-30% better yields?


I am interested just not sure about this yet. Clearly u are making it work, i just dont want to fuck my shit up hahaha.
simply going on the same weight less watt thing that all led companies claim, I think they're claims are right once you get the hang of them you can get the same amount of weight with less watts, im still learning but every round im getting better and better at reading the plants but i still have a long way to go lol...so my theory is, if I can get the same amount of weight with less watts using led's why cant I get more weight with the same amount of watts using led's?
 
Actually all I was referring to was the distance away from the plant. There is plenty of data for HID distance and almost none for LED. My manufacture doesn't give distance recommendations and even if they did it probably wouldn't be for our plant of choice.
 
I'm still learning with my leds too. this round i got aggressive with the cal/mag and the plants are doing better. Led technology is getting better all the time. when you break down maintenance costs of Hid to leds you can see how they are cheaper for the long run. Safer is a big pro when you grow you live.

sooner or later as the technology progresses , there wont be any question on which is better. :)


:Namaste:
 
sooner or later as the technology progresses , there wont be any question on which is better. :)

Well that sure is the writing on the wall. I started looking into LEDs again after reading that NASA has used LED grow lights to, for the first time ever, grow food off planet.

HPS is as good as HPS is ever going to get and that has been true for a long time but LEDs will continue to rapidly advance year after year for many years into the future. We will see fewer and fewer HPS growers until one day there will be none.
 
Good weed jon, I believe we will have a better idea what's going on when you finish a run or two!
Im losing faith in this COB light already, the plants under the hps were only there for 2 weeks, before that they were in the tray under the COB, the plants were all pretty much identical. In the 2 weeks they were under the hps they double the size of the COB plants....not a good sign, my led's are still 40 inches away from the plants, at least 10 inches further away than the hps and they are neck and neck with the hps plants only running at 300watts on veg spectrum and just as thick with tight nodes, its still early but I dont think blue and red is enough to call this a complete veg and flower light. I ll do a week by week side by side comparison throughout flowering, im still hopeful but I have a feeling the hps plants will finish at least twice the size of the COB plant if not more.I ll do another test with it closer to the plants next round and see what happens but I really dont think that is the issue, when your actually standing in that small space with the COB light its so bright in there I have to wear shades or I get a headache. Actually im going to figure out a way to put one of the timewrecks off to the side or right in the middle of my panels tonight, one of them already is but im not sure if its a fem yet. Then I can compare all 3 of them side by side once a week, and do a final weight on each one after a 2 week cure, should be interesting.
 
i absolutely agree with that. technology will improve but i may just wait til it does! lol i dont know i need to have a good look and try to understand light spectrum more. i just have green fingers im no scientist hahaha

As with anything early adopters pay more for inferior products. If you wait until next year they will be better and cheaper. If you wait for the year after that they will be better and cheaper and so on and so forth until we reach the limits of what this tech can do. First they had to become viable and I don't think they have been for very long. Now they have to become affordable. It's all about when the price to performance ratio makes sense to you. My personal buying strategy for stuff like this is to buy the good shit and then leap frog multiple generations. Like I just spent thousands of dollars on a new pc but by the time I need to buy another one, around 2018, pc shit will be crazy compared to what I have now. You can apply this to any tech really. Ipods, phones, tvs, whatever.

You sound like you are doing very well with HPS so honestly I would just stick with that. For some people LEDs make a lot of sense and for others maybe not so much. For me they make a lot of sense because I can either cut my AC and get the same amount for half the price or I can double my light and get twice as much for the same price.
 
I wonder about LEDs being driven at the highest watt per diode being the most effective at growing big plants. In simple terms a 100 watt light bulb puts out more light than a 60 watt light bulb. Doesn't it stand to reason a 5W diode would put out more light than a 3 Watt diode? Lets not forget spectrums. To get the best plants you are going to need the best panels. For the hobbyist the Top LEDS with their cheap pricing will work. For the professional I would think only the very best panels would be acceptable. Maybe the Chinese panels are not there yet ( Just my opinion ). Maybe you could get house bomber to chime in. Once all three LEDs from TOP LED have been tested we will have a better idea of their lights and how they perform. Until we have a grow of all the leading manufactures lights competing at once it will be one persons opinion verses another. Think about it the testing being done will show you can grow with LEDs. Will they show which is the best? I think not. As consumers we can dictate what goes into a panel by buying only those panels that work the best. But wait we don't know what panel works the "best". We are waiting for someone to tell us rater than seeking out the knowledge for ourselves. Think about what you want out of the light you will buy and make an informed decision. Sorry for the rant Jon you are doing a great job keep up the good work. May peace and prosperity go with you.
 
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