LED Grow Test

re: LED GROW TEST. 126W hydro grow led VS. 180W

Don't really vote in the contests, not a big fan but when I think somebody really deserves it I break down and give my vote, and this is one of those times. Great journal, and I think you are going to save a lot of people there money and a lot of headache with this journal. Great job.
 
re: LED GROW TEST. 126W hydro grow led VS. 180W

Don't really vote in the contests, not a big fan but when I think somebody really deserves it I break down and give my vote, and this is one of those times. Great journal, and I think you are going to save a lot of people there money and a lot of headache with this journal. Great job.

thanks for the vote buddy.
 
re: LED GROW TEST. 126W hydro grow led VS. 180W

Mine had that white sticker too I think scoob. With the specs on it/ What they put in it? etc?

In like Chinese or something

It wasn't on my first box, not sure about the second. The third had the sticker though. I would hope the people taking the order in China could read Chinese. No translation issues than either. :ganjamon:

We should do that, as soon as we find one that works really well. :smokin:

All joking aside. I honestly feel like between about 15-20 people on this site we could easily come up with our own "secret formula" that beats all other LED's by miles and doesn't cross that line of stealing. I think we've now tested these units in more varied situations than the manufacturers and possibly more testing period. Not to mention there are 50x as many LED grows going now than 6 months ago. Not like we have a lot to pick from. We would need R(2 diff nm), blue(2 diff nm), white and ir.

If we do that and call it the "Killer 420 LED" do we have to give kickbacks to this site?

We could also do it as an open source project, give away our formula for free. Want to see LED prices drop real quick. Everyone here would order their own lights from China. US "manufacturers" would actually need to have their lights made ahead of time instead of on a as needed basis, need to stock them in the US and not drop ship them from China and possibly even test them on more than a grow or two. They'd also have to order in bulk to beat our direct price. LOL.

I think a modular LED system would rock. Wouldn't have to worry about different wattage models. Just snap together as many small panels as you want to get the wattage you need. Want to add more later. Snap them on. When a unit breaks you'd only need to replace that small part, not the entire light. Could swap out red for blue panels depending on flowering or veg. Ok, so I've given it a little thought. lol
 
re: LED GROW TEST. 126W hydro grow led VS. 180W

We could also do it as an open source project, give away our formula for free.
^^^THAT!!!^^^
It would also stimulate innovation. Peeps would be working hard to find all the correct spectrums and all of the other things that would make for a better, more efficient light that they could sell... until their formula got out. Reverse-engineering will change the game in favor of the consumers.

I think a modular LED system would rock. Wouldn't have to worry about different wattage models. Just snap together as many small panels as you want to get the wattage you need. Want to add more later. Snap them on. When a unit breaks you'd only need to replace that small part, not the entire light. Could swap out red for blue panels depending on flowering or veg. Ok, so I've given it a little thought. lol

This is exactly right but unless some enterprising person bites the bullet, there's more $$$ in making you buy a whole new unit. LET'S JUST DO IT ALREADY!!! Also, a reverse-engineer could also make quite a nice living by charging less mark-up for a designer clone light system, like say, $50-$100 above cost. Hmmm. :cheer:
 
re: LED GROW TEST. 126W hydro grow led VS. 180W

you guys are crazy. but i like the way you think! i wouldn't use white, that shit didn't seem to help the 126w at all. ya its cool to see ur plants better but i rather turn off my lights to see then then waist leds that my plants needs.
i would just use a little blue and a shit load of red and IR. you should star with the cheaper smaller panels and make differnt ones and test them on a singal plant and see what one works best, then go from their.
 
re: LED GROW TEST. 126W hydro grow led VS. 180W

^^^THAT!!!^^^
LET'S JUST DO IT ALREADY!!!

The biggest thing I'm missing is time. I honestly shouldn't be on here most of the time I am. lol

you guys are crazy. but i like the way you think! i wouldn't use white, that shit didn't seem to help the 126w at all. ya its cool to see ur plants better but i rather turn off my lights to see then then waist leds that my plants needs.

I'd disagree about the white. I've seen too many successful grows with with LED's in them to discount it. I honestly couldn't care less if I can see my plants in normal light. I'm not saying you need a lot, but I think you need some.

i would just use a little blue and a shit load of red and IR. you should star with the cheaper smaller panels and make differnt ones and test them on a singal plant and see what one works best, then go from their.
I was more thinking 1 color per board. Not so bad cost wise when you do it that way. Kinda have an idea of the spectrums needed. Just get panels of each and play with how many of each you add.
 
re: LED GROW TEST. 126W hydro grow led VS. 180W

we already know cheaper led's will veg a plant well so why not just develop a kick ass 'flowering' led light, i agree with irish boy , some blue and plenty red!!! a bit like m.h and h.p.s, i dont know half as much as you guys but thats my opinion.
 
re: LED GROW TEST. 126W hydro grow led VS. 180W

Nice job irishboy, and great journal! We're in the homestretch, not too long now!

And for those who contacted the above companies and posted their feedback here, thank you for your efforts. This is a great community here!

So where do you think the drop shippers on here operating these so called "companies" get their lights from?
The reality is 95% of LED grow lights on the market are made in the Shenzhen district in China.

The only difference between you placing the order and a drop shipper doing it for you is the final price you will pay.

Infact, bsled is probably the exact factory where the HGL lights come from,they are the only company ive seen with the identical mould,
they also offer OEM (your own spectrums)...(might call mine a Detonator...)

I take it you got my PM too, eh tbrad? :)

Maybe you should call yours the Instigator, or maybe the Perpetrator--! (jk) :) Cat's out of the bag now for some folks, I suppose...good!

I've been looking at those too over the past few months. The better companies (like the two you listed) have sales reps fluent in different languages, a large % of their business comes from overseas; for some of the others you have to deal with broken/poorly written English on their websites or know Mandarin pretty well to get much traction. Many will do them to spec, and don't necessarily list all the options on their site, as you mentioned.

Bridgelux, Lumileds, most of the US-based LEDs are available in bins for made-to-order jobs, many lenses (30/60/90/120) are pretty common, just tell them what you want and they'll give you a quote. Then the only question is whether you're ordering just one, or 100/month. Drop shipping can be fairly lucrative if you know what you're doing...

Nothing wrong with the better Chinese manufacturers. Sure, you get what you pay for, but that doesn't mean good also has to be expensive. If you can save a few hundred $$$ by not having them assembled by US-based Union Rep laborers, then why not? More money for groceries and utility bills...or even new strains... :)

I contacted BSLED and about the RS-43 and was quoted $700-$850 depending on the ratio of lights I chose...

BSLED builds lights to your specs so I can get whatever works best...

I would appreciate an input from you guys before I drop the cash, but it seems $800ish for a 600w LED is a killer deal.

Hi Cap'n CaveMan! Welcome to the forums. If you can save some money, go for it! I have a fair idea what spectrums I'd probably use, but every garden is different...I don't think there is such a thing as an 'exact' ratio in any case. Even using 'Chinese' products, Mr. X on that Spanish forum got ~2.1+ g/w a few weeks back using 200W LEDs. I still think the 2-1 wattage equivalency rule applies pretty well from what I've seen (1W LED =~ 2W HPS, when used correctly.)

I've looked at those boards you mentioned, and prefer that (Bai Sheng's) profile over the offset Chevys for larger lights (though the Chevys appear built like a tank), though both have their uses. Personally I think 600W of LED is way overkill in that kind of space and inefficient, better to spread them out a bit than try cramming all those lights so close together, as I reflected on a few weeks back in the TL's LED Swipe File I put together as a scratch pad for ideas (couple paragraphs to either side of the 'Current LED Grow Light Designs' header). Think a T5-HO PL-L profile but more evenly distributed and you've got the right idea, IMO.

If I went for a custom unit, I'd want something to fit over a 2x4 Ebb and Flow system for a nice tight SOG or ScroG, and in lieu of a larger, more expensive custom light board; the BS-43 using 90 degree lenses at 7-8" over the canopy would fit quite nicely. A checkerboard pattern (~288W) using every other PCB spot would be plenty in that case (the board is 12 x 48), run cooler, and still give you fairly even lighting. Though you'll still have some diminishing returns with that setup over a two row plant system from the light, but much less than using all 576 spaces in close proximity. The inverse square law still applies - better to spread that light out a bit!

And, part of me thinks it'd be even better to run four rows (at, say, the 1, 4, 9, and 12 positions) of mostly blue/red (various) with a smattering of IR and white, etc. interspersed throughout the board, and get results almost as good, using less wattage. Call it 210W minimum (196W of mostly blue/far-blue and red/far-red rows with 10 white and 8 IR), up to ~250W if you want to fill the board out a bit. Put a little mylar around the edges of your garden, and you're golden. :slide:

(With a 400W HPS over 2x4 (round lighting pattern), you still have areas not well covered (unless you have a light mover), there's a 2ft distance from the point source light at the ends, and your distribution suffers. A 600W makes up for some of that (and improves your yields), but you still have the pattern problem. Give me several hundred LED light sources evenly distributed, and that becomes much less of an issue - and you can use fewer watts to do so.)

And you should be able to get two of those style units for not much more $$ than one 600W LED panel, giving you much greater coverage in a larger garden. Biggest costs are for the LEDs/drivers.

(And the smaller you get with a board, the higher your $$/watt cost, since some of the components (inverter, casing, power supply, cords, etc.) are obviously fixed vs. being variable costs, which is why making small wattage strip lights for these (as supplemental lighting, for example) becomes cost prohibitive for most distributors. You can make them, but people won't necessarily want to pay for 'em. Less so if you go direct, (and can get qty discounts). Might still be better to use a couple of T5's for side lighting, though...for now.)

But if you just want to blast a smaller area with that much light and have the $$, that's as good an option as any. Depends on how you'll be using these. Anyway, my $0.01...

If you do, let us know - and put up a journal over here so we can track your progress! Good luck! :smokin:

Regards,

-TL
 
re: LED GROW TEST. 126W hydro grow led VS. 180W

The biggest thing I'm missing is time. I honestly shouldn't be on here most of the time I am. lol



I'd disagree about the white. I've seen too many successful grows with with LED's in them to discount it. I honestly couldn't care less if I can see my plants in normal light. I'm not saying you need a lot, but I think you need some.


I was more thinking 1 color per board. Not so bad cost wise when you do it that way. Kinda have an idea of the spectrums needed. Just get panels of each and play with how many of each you add.


you need the warm white if any. their are different way to make white leds some better then others. you need warm neutral white. i have a book that breaks down the color specs for what MJ uses. not in NM though. when i find it ill post it sometime. i would just use some of those 12w bulbs and try different ratios and nm until u get something.
 
re: LED GROW TEST. 126W hydro grow led VS. 180W

I honestly feel like between about 15-20 people on this site we could easily come up with our own "secret formula" that beats all other LED's by miles and doesn't cross that line of stealing...

The 420Mag R&D Consortium...I like it! :)

you guys are crazy. but i like the way you think! i wouldn't use white, that shit didn't seem to help the 126w at all. ya its cool to see ur plants better but i rather turn off my lights to see then then waist leds that my plants needs.
i would just use a little blue and a shit load of red and IR...

In the biology annals and journals there is some mention of secondary and regulatory plant functions governed by different spectrums, e.g. Anthocyanins et. al. I don't believe you'd need a large % of light in other spectrums, but something in the ~5-10% range would probably be a good idea. The white LEDs (blue phosphor coated ones) could still serve that purpose, and if they were cool white they'd be more efficient and lose less intensity due to conversion. I'd probably keep a few in there myself - and for CRI purposes, as well.

(Or, throw a couple of CFLs in there...cheap!)
--------------------

Of course, why stop there? While I'm generally rather practical by nature, the Dr. FrankenBud in me loves experiments! How about making some supplementary panels to manipulate the stretching of plants from Phytochrome FIR response? Phytochrome actually changes between two forms based on the spectrum of light it receives. Studies have shown that dosing the garden with one type of light or the other right at the end of the 12hr cycle (before lights out) can either cause expression, or inhibition, of plant stretching, in turn. Nice if you want to help fill up a ScrOG - or keep your plants short (especially with Sativa-dominant strains!)


What about the dark period itself? There's also a common misconception that green light doesn't cause photosynthesis. Actually, it does, in a rather reduced capacity - just not as efficiently as blue and red. What it doesn't seem to do, however, is interrupt flowering.

We know that even momentary interruption of the dark cycle by (white) light puts flowering plants back into vegetative growth, unless they're true auto flowering ones.

Look at the photosynthesis PAR wavelength response (chart) curves out there. Plants can indeed convert many other spectrums for their own use (outside of blue/red) - just at reduced capacity. Yes, even orange.

Well - are there any others, outside of green, also able to produce photosynthesis, and not interrupt the dark cycle, also? How about if we do this:

1) Get several small LED spots/panels, each of a single spectrum, from UV-A to IR/F-IR
2) Set up separate rooms with identical (CFL) light sources and clones of a known, stable phenotype
3) Once they're into flowering, interrupt the middle of the dark period for 1hr with the the single spectrum LEDs
4) See if any others (outside of green) allow the plant to continue flowering as well - ones which produce photosynthesis at higher rates than green, perhaps?

Based on the results from #4, create a second panel (or supplementals) using those spectrum LEDs to be used specifically for the dark period. Have it go on when the main panel is 'lights out', and vice versa.

If you can get the equivalent of ~3-4 hours of full photosynthesis from a 'dark period LED' light every night:

1) Does that increase yield?
2) Will it reduce flowering time?

Do we now have another tool, like CO2, to help improve yield (or yield/time), and/or provide total control over the garden? :)

We've seen autoflower strains go from start to finish in 60-75 days (including Veg) at 20/4 light cycles and the like. Is it possible to do that with non-autoflower strains, using targeted LED spectrums?

And, once you've maxed out your (day cycle) lighting with additional panels - can you take your (total) yield even further?

Cost effective? Probably not right now, but maybe down the road. If you're building them yourself, maybe. Practical? Who knows?

But it's SCIENCE, man, and it'd be pretty cool, too!
---------------------------

Once I get back in town and settled with something stashed away, I may very well be doing a few experiments in the garden--! ;)

What do y'all think?

Regards,

-TL
 
re: LED GROW TEST. 126W hydro grow led VS. 180W

are there any others, outside of green, also able to produce photosynthesis, and not interrupt the dark cycle,
Yes all spectrums above 530nm will not interrupt the dark cycle. But it's not as easy as just putting those spectrums on durring the dark time. It takes a little math. Each spectrum has what's called a time factor assoated with it. So for example a 1/2 hour of 660nm on in the dark time will NOT be the same as a 1/2 hour of standard indoor darkness. Great post Lurker. This method is excatly how led will not only dust HID in an indoor grow but it will make HID a thing of the past..
 
re: LED GROW TEST. 126W hydro grow led VS. 180W

good information. I am looking at getting an LED set up for flowering.
 
re: LED GROW TEST. 126W hydro grow led VS. 180W

I will be supplementing my LED lights with CFLs to provide the white,
6500k for veg stage,
and 2700k for flower stage.
Easy enough to install and very cheap, and more LED space for 660s.

For my grow light, my spectrums will be around 85% 660 red, 10% 430/450 blue, 3% 630 and 2% 410.
And then just supplement with CFLs as required.
 
re: LED GROW TEST. 126W hydro grow led VS. 180W

^^^Good Luck, pal!^^^ Are you gonna have a custom piece built? If so, this will be one for the history books!!!
 
re: LED GROW TEST. 126W hydro grow led VS. 180W

Yo Irish let me know if you wanna use one of my lights on your next grow.

do you think you lights can do better then what my 180w is doing? i am down as long as i am going to get good results. shit even if i could match watt for watt with HID. i keep my growers as real as it gets and i will not BS others on these forums. i am on a mission to find the best led lights out their so i and other fourm members will know who has the real deal. ill give ur lights a chance, so the members can see what they can do.
 
re: LED GROW TEST. 126W hydro grow led VS. 180W

I think you guys are on the right track with making our own open source “secret formula” it would make the “one man, no testing, drop shipping companies” have to change their formulas and drastically drop their prices to stay in business.

I am a systems engineer by trade and by no means a scientist but this does not seem that hard. About 1/3 down THIS page it breaks down what light wavelength is used by a plant and for what. If someone knows if it is the same for MJ we can model a light to hit the just those points.

Maybe the repeat the following ratio throughout the light: (5x 660nm) : (1x 630nm) : (1x 580nm) : (1x 450nm) : (1x 410nm) or something to that effect.

Maybe we should start a new thread on the subject so we don’t continue to hijack Irish’s. No offence Irish as this whole thing started because of your bad a$$ test.
 
re: LED GROW TEST. 126W hydro grow led VS. 180W

I think you guys are on the right track with making our own open source "secret formula" it would make the "one man, no testing, drop shipping companies" have to change their formulas and drastically drop their prices to stay in business.

I am a systems engineer by trade and by no means a scientist but this does not seem that hard. About 1/3 down THIS page it breaks down what light wavelength is used by a plant and for what. If someone knows if it is the same for MJ we can model a light to hit the just those points.

Maybe the repeat the follow ratio throughout the light: (5x 660nm) : (1x 630nm) : (1x 580nm) : (1x 450nm) : (1x 410nm) or something to that effect.

Maybe we should start a new thread on the subject so we don't continue to hijack Irish's. No offence Irish as this whole thing started because of your bad a$$ test.

no worry guys have at it on my thread i don't care, gives me some fun stuff to read. i have nothing to talk about my plants right now anyways. i think you guys could make this happen, theirs allot of smart people on here, and the more heads working together the better.
 
re: LED GROW TEST. 126W hydro grow led VS. 180W

^^^THAT!!!^^^
It would also stimulate innovation. Peeps would be working hard to find all the correct spectrums and all of the other things that would make for a better, more efficient light that they could sell... until their formula got out. Reverse-engineering will change the game in favor of the consumers.

This is exactly right but unless some enterprising person bites the bullet, there's more $$$ in making you buy a whole new unit. LET'S JUST DO IT ALREADY!!! Also, a reverse-engineer could also make quite a nice living by charging less mark-up for a designer clone light system, like say, $50-$100 above cost. Hmmm. :cheer:

Compare the sites LEDGrowLightsOutlet vs. BSLED, I believe those ARE the BSLED lights just with a sticker for the drop shipper. That would still be paying double retail to go through that company. When I contacted BSLED I inquired about price for both their 300w and 600w lights and to go with The Lurker’s idea and have multiple lights spread out, the 300w are still very cost effective at $350-$450 depending on the light ratio.
 
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