Lets talk seriously about LED's and end the bull that retailers are getting away with

Re: Lets talk seriously about LED's and end the bull that retailers are getting away

If you are wanting to get into LED lights check out Welcome to Grow LED Hydro - LED Grow Lights - Hydroponics - Plant Lighting . Mikes lights use 12 different wave lengths and 3watt led's. There are many grow journals around the web comparing his LED lights to other sub-par LED lights. I have links to IrishBoy's and PitVipers LED grows at the bottom of this post.

There is one other company that has started using 6watt diodes meant for automotive purposes but I'm not sure if they manufacture the 6watt LED's in the optimal wave lengths nor do I know how their life span compares to lower watt units.

Also don't think you can just run to radioshack and buy a bunch of white/blue/red LEDs and start growing. The Blue and Red leds require specific wavelengths and they just started to really mass produce the leds. The price per unit is still high even on large orders and that is why you will find a $199 120watt LED panel and a $399 120watt LED panel. Its all in the diodes. LED light companies would love to bring the prices down on LED lights and start attracting more growers but its still a young industry.

Within the next year or so I do plan on purchasing around 300watts of LED power and trying a grow in a 4"x4"x6.3" tent.

Some useful links

1080w LED Inferno

600W LED Grow

LED in the VipersNest
 
Re: Lets talk seriously about LED's and end the bull that retailers are getting away

Jocko said:
Hanshisan

Its good to hear that you got good results from this light. Could you elaborate and tell us what you think worked or didn't work for your grow? It's just me, but I'm one of those propeller heads that just need to know WHY something works! [QUOTE/]

Well I am not a techie so bare with me here.... just opinions here. What do I feel made it work for my grow?

[QUOTES=Jocko;1109919]
The Haight products seem very compelling. Does your light seem to run cool enough to not need the cooling fans? If so that would be a good thing.[QUOTE/]

*Heat was very minimal... BUT it does put off some heat. The light unit itself... nah, it doesn't need fans for cooling. Seems to be well made and although it gets warm there was no heat issues with the unit itself.
Now for the grow room my closet was only 2 1/2 x 2 1/2 and would get up to 91-92 without intake & exhaust. I am set up for intake and exhaust so I had one 4" exhaust fan worked fine. I also, as everyone else practically, had a couple small fans blowing around in there for circulation..... so with that said it was usually around 84-86 in there and about 75-76 at night.


Jocko said:
The other issue with these lights is the 180 deg lens that theoretically will direct a lot of light to the walls potentially unused. Do you find that you can correct for this by positioning the light closer to the top of your crop? On their site I came across something that discouraged you from getting the light too close as it either stunted growth (how can you have too much light?) Again light directed to a wall does your crop no good. They never explained why this is the case. It certainly isn't heat.

Just like an HID it seems that the issue really is how much "measured" light hits a certain radius at any given distance. (the intensity and penetration go hand in hand) A smaller more focused light just might achieve the same good results at any given distance. As far as I know no manufacturer shares that info if they even have it themselves. That is exactly how a user of an HID determines the wattage of their light and the distance from the top of their crop. [QUOTE/]

I had my lights about 6-8" from the tops and that was a sweet point for my plant and space. Also my space had Sun Film (fancy mylar) on the walls from top to bottom. Now keep in mind it was also my VERY FIRST grow... but the buds were coming along nicely. Unfortunately I was never able to finish that particular grow.
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At the time I was making the decision I went by what I was seeing on the other LED grow journals... I think it was Setting Sun and Irishboy that had HSS lights. Some of the other lights were not documented yet in journals at the time, which if they were I would be have gone with GLH, not to be confused with HGL.
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Re: Lets talk seriously about LED's and end the bull that retailers are getting away

It's definitely encouraging to see more grows testing and reporting back on LED grows. I also love how short the plants seem to stay when they are being given the exact light they want. Low Heat and Fat buds on short plants sounds like a winner to me. I would bet in 2 or so generations of LED lights we will start seeing the needed intensity to produce the dense nugs that HPS lights produce at this moment.

LEDs + Bubbles = WIN for all personal grows
 
Re: Lets talk seriously about LED's and end the bull that retailers are getting away

dirwin85 said:
I just purchased a Pro-Grow 250 Watt LED (Selective Switch), my plants seem to love it. Check out my grow im using a 55 watt led panel as side lighting to assist in lower level penetration.

Link is in my signature
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WoW! That LED light is actually affordable and now I really want that 250watt panel to supplement with the 600watt HID.

Do a journal with that LED panel and let us see the results. $410 for a 250watt panel is a sweet deal if it will flower a plant to the finish line.
 
Re: Lets talk seriously about LED's and end the bull that retailers are getting away

dirwin85 said:
I just purchased a Pro-Grow 250 Watt LED (Selective Switch), my plants seem to love it. Check out my grow im using a 55 watt led panel as side lighting to assist in lower level penetration.

Link is in my signature
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I just checked out the ad you linked. I read this:

Hydroponics Hut said:
Since 2006 Hydroponics Hut has brought you indoor grow technology which borders on the cusp of perfection. These lamps have been featured in <another forum> forums, 420 Magazine online, <another forum> and many other industry publications. We stand behind our products and the Pro-Grow line is simply second to none in quality.
This panel unit has gone through an exhaustive trial and error process to develop just the right combination of wavelengths, emitted by the highest quality chip-sets, to create a indoor grow lighting series which is unrivaled.
This 250 Watt Pro-Grow model panel is simply fantastic for flowering. This unit has been tested head to head with a 600w HID (High Pressure Sodium) system and this is the first unit to produce 100% equal results.

We believe in honest representation of our products capabilities. The results we claim with all of our technology are accurate and the HID equivalents displayed are 100% true.
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Are they stating that that light specifically has been... featured on 420Magazine? Because I do not recall seeing it used in a grow journal here. (But the memory isn't what it used to be.)

Or are they just using that statement as a somewhat misleading inference?

[Note to staff: I am not in the habit of quoting businesses that are non-sponsors here, but as they mentioned this site, I thought that I should quote the relevant portion of their ad in an attempt for clarification. I did take the step of removing the names of the other two sites that were mentioned and ask that my quote be left - or, if it must be edited to meet with guidelines, that the information quoted be left in this post in some form or other, in the pursuit of truth.]

I noted that they also state in that ad that the LED panel will give up to a 30 square foot coverage area - and that it uses 90° LEDS. That leads me to believe that they are inferring that this LED has a penetrative quality which is... somewhat astounding.

And they also state "ZERO thermal image produced." (Emphasis mine, wording is theirs.) That is interesting, because for an object to produce zero thermal image (in the context of an indoor garden), I would think that it would have to not get warmer than anything else in that garden over the general temperature range that such a garden might reasonably be expected to be. AfaIK, the majority of indoor gardens are somewhere in the range of 60°F-90°F (I consider a garden that is unheated in the Winter during lights-off and those such as IrishBoy's "Inferno" grow to be out of range, lol.) So... Does this light not show up as a heat-producing object on a thermal-imaging camera at any point of that temperature range, or...?

Again, I ask for clarification - both because they mentioned THIS web forum in that ad and because of that last bit that I quoted about honest representation, accurate results, and 100% truth.

I also find it somewhat curious that, after mentioning three different cannabis-related web sites/forums in their ad and then having a live banner link to a cannabis grow guide at still another cannabis-related web site, that they would fail to include a link to the actual comparison-grow where they - or someone - found this LED to produce 100% identical results in comparison to a 600-watt HPS. Such a link would seem to be an excellent selling-tool for them where this light is concerned. Unless, that is, the grow was thought to be flawed in some way such as not having adequate controls in place (or being ripped to threads by peers, if it happens to be posted at a web-forum?).

One wonders.
 
Re: Lets talk seriously about LED's and end the bull that retailers are getting away

TorturedSoul, I had the same concerns after reading the page and thats why I limited myself to saying "supplemental" lightening for a HID and why I asked dirwin85 to start a journal.

Anyone want to volunteer to purchase and do a journal with one :) LoL
 
Re: Lets talk seriously about LED's and end the bull that retailers are getting away

We shall see... what we shall see.

I have nothing against that light. Having not used one and only being aware of it from this thread, I do not have the knowledge to make any statements about it. As at least one member here has purchased it, I hope that it works and works well.

But their site claims a great deal. And when I saw that our site was mentioned - and knowing that such kinds of mentioning have been known to make sales - I read their ad/information. And started to wonder.
 
Re: Lets talk seriously about LED's and end the bull that retailers are getting away

I know it will not do what they say but $409 for a 250 watt LED is a good price, and it does pen deeper than my 90 watt did. For the thermal issue i will back them up because with using it my grow room is only 4-8 degrees hotter than the rest of my house thus producing no real thermal signature
 
Re: Lets talk seriously about LED's and end the bull that retailers are getting away

I purchased the PG250 and the girls are on day 21 so follow along and lets see if the results are true!!!!
 
Re: Lets talk seriously about LED's and end the bull that retailers are getting away

I think another part of trying to have a sucessful grow, even with "legit" LEDs is the trial and error learning curve; aside from finding and using the proper specturms at the proper time, the most interesting think I've noted is dialing in the correct distance from canopy to the lamp. It took me roughly 5 or 6 tries and was kind of like: bleach - burn - dead - stretch - bleach - got it!

HID's you can, for the most part, use your tactile senses to determine the ideal distance from the light source. CFLs too, you can definately feel when you are too close. Also the difference between the two (of the more respectable) 90W UFOs I have and thus had to figure out that I couldn't keep both light sources at the same distance in veg.
 
Re: Lets talk seriously about LED's and end the bull that retailers are getting away

Alot of the LED grow lights that are being hugely overpriced and sold here in the US come from china. I have ordered LED grow lights from china at a much cheaper price, and they work just fine. Some people just need to pay a ton of money and have someone tell them that they are getting something special for them to feel ok about using LED. The good thing about ordering direct, while you have to order more than just one light, is that they will build your light to your exact specifications. Im talking wavelength (nm), viewing angle, whatever watt chip you want, and they will also put IR in there too. Just do your research and have some lights (like 4-6) built to your exact specifications and you will get exactly what you want at about 1/4 of the cost. Hell we can even start doing group buys and totally cutting these overpriced fools out.
 
Re: Lets talk seriously about LED's and end the bull that retailers are getting away

StraightDope said:
Alot of the LED grow lights that are being hugely overpriced and sold here in the US come from china. I have ordered LED grow lights from china at a much cheaper price, and they work just fine. Some people just need to pay a ton of money and have someone tell them that they are getting something special for them to feel ok about using LED. The good thing about ordering direct, while you have to order more than just one light, is that they will build your light to your exact specifications. Im talking wavelength (nm), viewing angle, whatever watt chip you want, and they will also put IR in there too. Just do your research and have some lights (like 4-6) built to your exact specifications and you will get exactly what you want at about 1/4 of the cost. Hell we can even start doing group buys and totally cutting these overpriced fools out.
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I would love to see a grow from one of your lights :) Pics of buds not just veg. would be nice too. I think alot of people would also.
I just paid almost $700 for my new LED from a company thats been proven on more than a few grows on here.
But it would be nice to save some cash :) Help us :)
 
Re: Lets talk seriously about LED's and end the bull that retailers are getting away

Yes, tell us more because I still see this technology as being for only a certain few who grow in small tight areas as opposed to those in bigger or whole rooms.
And I will admit that I myself am tired of buying things based on hype and finding out that it doesn't come close to my needs.
I love the thought of LED just because its heat signature and electricity usage would make any grow invisible and we all know how important that is.
I'll continue to wait and read and keep my fingers crossed.:reading420magazine:
 
Re: Lets talk seriously about LED's and end the bull that retailers are getting away

I'm not bying LED's until the price is the same as the LED's for Christmas lights (maybe not that cheap). I've seen that they can work, but I'm not spending that kind of money. Maybe another year or 2 and we'll have better technology to work with for cheaper. Like having a TV phone in my pocket was not really a good option a few years ago, and now all these phones run 720p HD on batteries.
 
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