Stevehman's LED Buyer's Guide

[Bassman59]

Hey ledbudz.

I will know the answer to this sometime this weekend. I currently have 2 of the DS200's over an aeroflo 30 I will say they cover the tubes perfectly!

I also have two of the DS400's that will FedEx says they are going to deliver tomorrow. I bought them to cover a 4x4 flood table. I'm confident I will get more than adequate coverage out of two of the DS400's over the table, but I will be able to verify once I get them hung up this weekend.

4 of the DS200's will more than cover your 4x5 no problems.

In terms of cost efficiency I wouldnt suggest 4 x 200's for 4x5.

20 more watts per hour vs 4 x 200's
$2200 pice tag for four (just using retail price tag for comparison) or basically $210 more than 2 x 400's

based on website, 2 x 400's can be hung to perfectly cover 4x5 with probably very nice third off effect too.

 

[ledbudz]

Althought the 4 DS200's would have "too much" core coverage I would save power with 2 DS400's and have perfect Core coverage

Ratattooey, please let me know how those 400's work out for you

Bassman, you seem to lean way from 4 DS200's in your first post and towards them in your second, and in terms of cost efficiency, I think the 2 DS400's would be better, they cost less up front, and would give a much more even light distribution on my canopy(Scrog btw), with also using very slightly less watts.

Thanks for the input guys, i hope it doesn't seem like I answered my own question, I look forward to seeing how ratattooeys DS400's cover the 4 foot length!

 

[ratatattooey]

yes. I really wanted 4 more of the 200's. However; budget concerns were becoming a major concern. (do you feel sorry for me? lol) sad when $200 is a problem.!!

with 4 of the 200's you also have the ability to be more modular and creative in your space as time goes on and your grow.. grows.

 

[Bassman59]

Althought the 4 DS200's would have "too much" core coverage I would save power with 2 DS400's and have perfect Core coverage

Ratattooey, please let me know how those 400's work out for you

Bassman, you seem to lean way from 4 DS200's in your first post and towards them in your second, and in terms of cost efficiency, I think the 2 DS400's would be better, they cost less up front, and would give a much more even light distribution on my canopy(Scrog btw), with also using very slightly less watts.

Thanks for the input guys, i hope it doesn't seem like I answered my own question, I look forward to seeing how ratattooeys DS400's cover the 4 foot length!

my mistake, I typed it wrong. I do lean towards 400's much more. (fixed that post too)

That being said, I think you should get 2 x GS 600w pro-bloom

But I believe you'll have great results with either.

 

[ratatattooey]

ledbudz...

I'll try to get some pictures for you. I'll get the lights up, and put some pots in the table, then I'll measure out 20" distance from pots to light, then take pics of the light coverage for you. I doubt there would be much need for the lights to ever be lower than that.

Once I get the lights up, I will start a journal for that grow as well. I'll have 3 different first time grows going at once. (I think I'm in over my head..)

 

[ledbudz]

Thanks to both of you.
Bassman although those lights are appealing, I'm tring to see what I can do with under 1000 watts. I'm all for advances in technology and would love to see how 800 watts of LED, compares to the 1500 watts of bulb, ballast and ventilation of an HID setup.

I'm sure I will still need to run my AC because of course LEDs still produce heat, I'm just hoping its very little
Btw I was running CGE in my HID days

EDIT** and I'll be tuned in over the next few days ratattooey!

 

[ratatattooey]

hey ledbudz, we had a huge problem with FedEx. They were scheduled to deliver the lights to my office on Saturday. We opened at 9am and were there until 4. At 4 the lights still hadn't arrived. I called, and the driver did not deliver them because there was no one to accept the package at 10:45 when he came by. Well.. that's a big fat lie. Obviously the driver is a lazy a$$, no good, worthless sumuvabeetch. And.. the FedEx hub closed at 4 on Saturday, and... they were not open on Mondays (what?? ) apparently FedEx home isn't open on Monday's or some bs.

So.. long story longer... The lights will get here today, and I really need to get them up and get my plants under them. But I should be able to get you some pics tonight as well. .. I'm charging up the batteries right now.

 

[ratatattooey]

finally got the lights up last night. These pics were taken with the lights at 20" above the top of the pots. there is a slight drop off of light at the corners. At 24" the coverage was a lot better, with no "holes" or weak spots on the edges/corners. They are just up temporarily for now, but it does get the idea across. These two seem perfect for a 4x4 area.

 

[Bassman59]

Looks great Rat. I think I would actually move both slightly more towards center. It looks to me like you are getting less 3rd off effect than you could and wasting a small amount outside the area of the tray.

Edit: if you look at the center "box" of planters, looke at rows 1 & 5 and how bright they are. Then look at center row (which appears to be slightly off center of tray). I would move both lites towards center until rows 2 & 4 were as bright as 1 & 5 are now. I think this gives best intensity and 3rd off effect w/o wasting outer light range in non growing area.

 

[ratatattooey]

Thanks Bassman59. I was in a huge hurry last night to just get them up. Had some other issues to deal with. I'm going to have to raise them up a little, and also move them around. You are correct the middle was not quite getting the coverage we wanted, so we moved the plants around for now and left a hole in the middle. Also.. it's hard to see in the photo probably, but in order to keep the lights from swinging, I sort of wired them together in a mcgyver kinda way. In doing so, the lights are actually not level, but instead are angled just a bit, throwing the 1/3 off effect "off".

I think that on Thursday night I will be able to re-hang them correctly, get everything situated better, and I'll get some more (and better) photos for ledbudz, and everyone else interested.

 

[TorturedSoul]

finally got the lights up last night. These pics were taken with the lights at 20" above the top of the pots. there is a slight drop off of light at the corners.

A slight drop-off - or one that is noticeable to your eyes? Often, our perception of light/illumination is such that by the time we notice that there is a little less of it, it can be a fairly significant amount.

Or were you testing with some kind of light meter (in which case, disregard the above, lol)?

 

[ratatattooey]

Hey TS. Well, I was using a pair of those extremely high-tech homo sapien ocular devices equipped with the Rod & Cone cells in the retina to allow conscious light perception and vision including color differentiation and......

oh.. wait.. I mean, yeah.. just my macular degenerative eyeballs!

BTW-- please understand that English is my second language. Sarcasm is my first!!

 

[ledbudz]

looking good rat, I understand you were in a rush, just wondering if you believe the "core coverage" is really 4x2.5 or more like 4x2? my space is 5 x 4 so the difference is big to me

 

[Bassman59]

but in order to keep the lights from swinging, I sort of wired them together in a mcgyver kinda way.

swinging?? Are you growing on a boat or in a wind tunnel?

 

[ratatattooey]

swinging?? Are you growing on a boat or in a wind tunnel?

Well, there is usually a slight breeze of 15-20 mph with gusts up to 40. lol

No, mostly because of the way I hung them. 4 corners, up to a single point.. they like to twist & spin. slowly... but it's annoying.

 

[astroastro]

Nice thread so far SteveH- hope you don't mind me lurking around checking it out as it unwinds. Good luck on the grow.

astro

 

[SteveHman]

Nice thread so far SteveH- hope you don't mind me lurking around checking it out as it unwinds. Good luck on the grow.

astro

Astro,
Thanks for checking in. I try to keep all of my grow information on my grow journals (see signature block). I want to keep this as much about LEDs as possible, so I don't post my grows here.

 

[MitchConnor]

I currently have a 100w Diamond Series and a few CFLs covering my 3x3 space. I plan to get a 200w here soon.

Will that cover my area well?

I live these lights so much. My one auto is starting to fill out very nice.and getting covered in crystals.

 

[Bassman59]

I currently have a 100w Diamond Series and a few CFLs covering my 3x3 space. I plan to get a 200w here soon.

Will that cover my area well?

I live these lights so much. My one auto is starting to fill out very nice.and getting covered in crystals.

For 1 plant you're probably ok. I use Grow Stealth (a site sponsor) so I can't speak from experience with advanced. But looking at their site and based on what I do know, I would say you'll need to add that 200w if you add more plants to your 3x3 space. Imho, we dont want to push to the precise coverage area given by a led manufacturer. Instead, we want to have a little wiggle room to make sure we have coverage and in fact hopefully get some reflection off the walls of our grow tent/area down below.

 

[MitchConnor]

Well I have 2 more that popped out today.

I was thinking I can get that 200w in the next 2 weeks when I get paid. They should be almost ready to flower by then and thats even if they both are ladies.

I want to have about 6 autos at all times once I get more seeds. 300w LED should be good since they will be at different stages