LED Grower wanna begginer

Well thanks for the chat, I don't plan to use yellow "we have tested it too" however its nice to see other spectrum designs with some reasoning behind it..
 
DormGrow.com and GrowGSL, thank you for actively participating on 420 Magazine - and for doing it in an intelligent & civilized manner. +REPs to you both!

Also for showing that there is more than one way to skin a dead cat, lol.
 
Depending on the size of you area. But two 90 watt L E D grow lights will be very good for up to 6 plants. Make sure you use red orange and blue. Tri band it is call sometimes. White is a waste of your money on a led grow light. You will be amazed at you plants growth. The only draw back to useing led is the flowering stage. I have notice about a extra two week mature stage before you can begin harvesting. But your power usage is dropped dramatically. No cooling units will be needed. A simple box fan can be used for circulation. No bulb will need to be replaced. I am a firm believer in LED grow lights. DO NOT BUY A PANEL. MAKE SURE YOU GET AT LEAST A LED LIGHT WITH 1 WATT DIODES OR STRONGER.
THE LED PANEL IS A WASTE OF MONEY. IT WOULD TAKE SO MANY PANELS TO REPLACE ONE 90 WATT UFO IT IS REDICULOUS.
So there you go and good luck with your first grow project.
 
"DO NOT BUY A PANEL. MAKE SURE YOU GET AT LEAST A LED LIGHT WITH 1 WATT DIODES OR STRONGER.
THE LED PANEL IS A WASTE OF MONEY. IT WOULD TAKE SO MANY PANELS TO REPLACE ONE 90 WATT UFO IT IS REDICULOUS. "

To clarify about LED panels. The forum member cautions against using LED panels. LED panel is such a general term so we want to be careful that we do not paint all panels with the same brush. I agree that the 225 LED panels will not do much as far as plant growth is concerned. The reason is that these LED panels' power is only 13.8 watts. They have 225 LEDs or diodes, but each diode is less than 1/10 of 1 Watt. Hence, they are pretty useless for growing anything indoors. The confusion is because they are referred to 225 LED panels, the 225 is the number of diodes (each less than 1/10 watt), it is not 225 Watt panel.

These panels should not be confused with larger panels such as 120 Watt, 240 Watt, 300 Watt, 450 Watt, 600 Watt, 740 Watt, 800 Watt, 900 Watt panels. These lights all come in panel configuration (as opposed to circular boards) and are great for indoor growing. There are many good companies out there selling variations of these LED grow lights. I would be happy to answer any LED related questions.
Cheers!
 
Hey Steve,

I'm going to be putting up a closet in my maintenence room. It's going to be about 4 ft wide x 32"deep x 60" tall. I was going to use a 400W HPS, but thinking maybe bout doing LED now.

I plan to have 3-4 plants in there if possible.

thx for your advice
 
CoronaLH said:
Hey Steve,

I'm going to be putting up a closet in my maintenence room. It's going to be about 4 ft wide x 32"deep x 60" tall. I was going to use a 400W HPS, but thinking maybe bout doing LED now.

I plan to have 3-4 plants in there if possible.

thx for your advice
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You can definitely go with an LED unit in that space, stick with at least 400 watts for that footprint, I would even consider a pair of 300s. I know that is more watts than the HPS, but it would give a very even coverage.
 
I'm using 2 panels (ea 250 Watt output equivalent) in a 2'x5' space. each panel is advertised to cover 5'x5'. I'm using the third panel for my wife's basil & cilantro. Using bubble buckets for both setups.
 
28 watts is the consumption. They are advertised 250W equivalent output panels. Each panel (supposedly) replaces a 250W MH or HPS HID light. They are ungodly bright and have received mostly good reviews. The key is using two panels and being able to get them close to the plant without burning them like I would with my older HID lights. My garden is in a 5 gal bubbler so the entire surface area is barely 2 sq ft. That small area with the lights only inches above the plants should give me the light intensity I need without heat buildup.
 
I understand fully that they claim to replace a 250 watt HPS. However, if you look at the research and some of the grow journals from members here on the forums as well as my personal research, the high end of what LED's can replace is around 2/3rd the power. That meaning that to replace a 250 watt HPS with LED's you would need around 165 watts of LED lighting. At lower power levels (below 200 watts) I have been able to get similar (but somewhat lesser) results at 1/2 the wattage using LED's. For your 2 sq ft area I would use at least 75 watts of LEDs, or simply use CFL's.
 
Hosebomber said:
I understand fully that they claim to replace a 250 watt HPS. However, if you look at the research and some of the grow journals from members here on the forums as well as my personal research, the high end of what LED's can replace is around 2/3rd the power. That meaning that to replace a 250 watt HPS with LED's you would need around 165 watts of LED lighting. At lower power levels (below 200 watts) I have been able to get similar (but somewhat lesser) results at 1/2 the wattage using LED's. For your 2 sq ft area I would use at least 75 watts of LEDs, or simply use CFL's.
Click to expand...

Not a lover of the CFL's. Been growing for 10 years and have used them for seed germination & cloning but for real vegging & flowering, I've always used MH & HPS HID's respectively. Wanted to be rid of the heat and the ballasts. Not as easy to expand the CFL's into a more powerful solution like it is with the panels by adding to the daisy chain.

I'm aware of the ratings on the LED's and understand that all manufacturers pad their "equivalency" ratings to sell lights. That's why I bought multiple lights to use in my small garden and with the sale, they end up costing $100 per panel. Even at a 2/3 equivalence factor, it's still substantial light. I was using a dual ballast 250W each MH & HPS fixture. The lower LED power consumption is very attractive since I can add many, many lights to achieve the levels I want without spinning the meter or creating massive heat load. And like CFL's I can bring them down close to the plants without burning to focus all of the lighting on a small area. Thanks for your input though.

I only grow for myself so I have no need for massive yields, just stealth and good quality. I'm an old toker and have partaken of the herb for 44 years now. But I'm also a techie who immerses himself in most things electronic. LED's are the perfect solution for my preferences.:peace:
 
I'm leaning towards using 2x 240W 7 band LED panel from HTG supply. Pricing is a factor here. 3w LED's used so that should be good. I'd love to support the sponsers but after emailing one today, and recieving a reply that didn't really answer my main question, I wonder if the extra $200 I'd have to spend to support them would be justified. I also question whether Dorm grow is using 3w LED's as the lady who answered my question either was plain wrong about the # of LED's on the panel, or they are not 3w.

I was thinking about adding 2 of the T5 FL lights too, 2ft x 2 of the PL T55 bulbs and says it puts out 10k lumens. So if I added 2 of these fixtures it would supposidly add another 20k in lumens to that room. Beings that the T5's and LED's should run cool, I thought I could run them about 8-12" above the plants and ratchet them up as the grow happens.

I'm so confused and back and forth I'm giving myself major headaches.

I've already spent a few hundred just in wood, doors, other small lights, some good soil etc... Now I have a "cart" full of better lights and other supplies and that is working up towards $1400+ :O.

I don't want to have to buy twice, so I figure I might as well take the plunge on this, but I'm also scared with the investment too.
 
I'll start with the HTG and it may ansewr some of your other questions. First and foremost, it is not possible to actually pull 3 watts off a 3 watt diode. Normal power displacement is around 2.2 watts on a 3 watt LED. That being said, the actual power draw of that unit is closer to 170 watts with about 25 watts in burn off from the conversion to DC current from the power supply (this depends on the actual content current driver they use and the efficiency). Secondly, 850nm IR led's will not give the Emerson (the vigor they are referring... this requires 720-730nm FAR red, not IR) effect and have nearly zero value in helping the plant grow. The UV will help with some molds.

I'm not sure what Dorm Grow told you about his lights but he does visit the forums here and shares information about his lights freely.

You didn't state the size of your grow area but a good rough figure to go off of is 50 watts of light per sq foot.

Hope that helps.
 
yeah I knew that on a 240w unit u don't actually drive the 3w lights at the full 3w.

the footprint of the room will be 56" x 31", and hopefully 6ft tall, but at least 5ft. Still building the cabinent.


so I think from a perspective of real watts the HTG and dorm grow are similar, but you mention that some of the light range they use is "unusable". Well I don't want to buy something that sux, that's for sure, I'm just already stretching the budget if I go LED
 
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