Supplemental LEDs

mr.tortoise

mr.tortoise

New Member
Looking on advice for supplemental LEDs. Seen a lot of info and journals on just LEDs, but I want to A) try an LED and B) if I like them slowly transition my garden over to LED lights (especially if they keep improving at the rapid rate they are going). I have a 11 x 11 area growing nice bushy plants (9 plants fill the room) and currently have 4 x 600 watt HPS and 1 x 600 MH in a x configuration with the MH in the middle. Right now yields are good but as I am medical quality is everything. With summer approaching too, if I can reduce the heat that I have to deal with that would definitely be a great added bonus. I was thinking of adding 4 LED lights in an + pattern and then maybe as temps start to go up just removing the MH. Any thoughts or suggestions? I know growing big plants is not conducive as of yet to LEDs but really hoping to keep my HID usage to a minimum.

Cheers,

MT
 
Hey curly
Nice to see another led experimenter lol, I have a mag + and a 600 lumatek, the led started off good but as the plants got bigger I found their lower 48s dying off and out the lumatek was necessary but the led sales guy said the theirs would do a 4x4 no problem. Not so much. I find their a little over priced personally but from what I heard from other testers the black or big dog unit 600 is pretty good. My unit was 1100 I expect more for that price. And it draws 350 watts, where as the other unit mentioned draws 600 that might be the way I should have tried. Are your units actually drawing 300 and how much were they.
I would love to switch to LEDs but I don't think they there yet, I like to hear from growers and not sellers.
U should post a journal
 
Hey I appreciated the feedback I prob will Craigslist the mag and try a unit with more output,at best I can say the mags are ok but not great. I mite go with yours or the BD next time.
 
Maybe I'll rephrase the question: what LEDs would you recommend I get that I could then supplement with HPS? In winter I need the heat from the hid lights so I don't want to go all LED yet. But in the summer I would like to run LEDs as my primary light source. I am a big fan of multiple light source than one high powdered light. I was going to put in six 600w HPS this winter but only got 4. Think instead of getting to more 600s and spending a lot on ventilation and buying AC, I would will start seeing what LEDs can do.
 
Okay putting more thought into it I figure I have little over 9 m2 of growing area. With strains being able to hit 500g/m2 that means I would need 4500 watts to achieve the goal of 1g per w. I have 3000w now so I would be looking at adding at least an additional 1500w. I am not growing high yielding strains, actually growing mainly sativa's that are light hogs. So I am thinking that my goal for lighting should be around 4500w. Does that sound about right? Any LED companies think their LEDs can help me keep my sativa's under control and produce top quality medicine? Okay any feed back greatly appreciated!

Cheers,

MT
 
Thanks Tweaktion I had just started to read Stevehman's journals. I was looking at diamond series and think I'm going to go with the 800w. Just going to have to buy them as money permits. I think with sativa's I'm going to need all the intensity I can get. I think having 9 lights give every plant tons of light from all different directions.
 
mr.tortoise said:
Thanks Tweaktion I had just started to read Stevehman's journals. I was looking at diamond series and think I'm going to go with the 800w. Just going to have to buy them as money permits. I think with sativa's I'm going to need all the intensity I can get. I think having 9 lights give every plant tons of light from all different directions.
Click to expand...

could always add a sun circle?
 
Hey Tweaktion: I have never used light movers before. I really think that I am just not using enough light for the area I want to cover and moving the lights around would still leave short. I think I either need to cut down on the area Im trying to light up or get more light. I think if I was doing a 8x8 with just the five hids a light mover would absolutely rock. Again my original plan was to have 9 x 600w. But I keep hearing that LEDs just make really high quality buds and I like not having to worry as much about heat. Really I am just after top quality meds. Right now I am good with no A/C. If I get more HIDs Im going to have to drop major cash to install an a/c unit that will do the job, plus there is just a lot of other hassles I would have to deal with.

Here is a pic of the lighting layout I am thinking of doing with my room.

Lighting Layout

Orange Circles = 600w HPS

Blue Circle = 600w MH

Purple rectangles = LED panel

Untitled1.gif


Basically each plant will get a light over it. I think there will be a lot of third effect going on too. I know in other forums reputable growers say ever plant should be getting light hitting it from three sources and I totally agree. My yields just running the 5 HIDs was good and buds right under the lights were frosty and very aromatic. But there was a lot of dark spots and very fluffy buds as well.
 
First, let me start off by saying that something isn't adding up. If your growing area is 11x11 then you need AT LEAST 6000 watts of HID lighting. 50 watts per sq foot is the min you want to have. If you was running 3k watts that explains the lower quality as you got away from the core of your lights and the "dark spots".

Secondly, the 357 mag that pookie is referring to is actually a 180 watt led panel. That is enough to cover roughly a 2x2 area at best.

Your illustration looks like a good setup but I would recommend that those LED panels be at least 400 watts from a quality supplier each.
 
Hello Hosebomber: The room is 11x11 but I think the growing area is probably closer to 10 x 10. I was planning on getting either the advanced lightings diamond series 600w or 800w lights. Leaning towards the 800w. A buddy of mine used the 357 mags and said they weren't bad but he had them surrounded by 600w hps. For this large an area and for growing sativa's the more light the better. Thanks for your input.
 
I would thing anything being supplemented with HIDs would benefit pretty good, however did u consider setting up a light mover. Might be cheaper overall. I know i said i have my reservations about LEDs but still willing to take chances just nit with mag or mag plus, but i heard good things about black dog so that might be my next choice. If you need more than 4 LEDs i would recommend each be a different light so u can the differences.
 
lol no light mover till I get my wattage per square foot up. Just heard to much positive feed back for Advanced that if I get LEDs their going to be the ones I order from. Only thing I would say to Advanced is get your lights CSA approved! (just been told they aren't and with everything getting legalized and people wanting the rooms up to code I think that will really make an LED company stand out). I saw an LED grow online with a light mover and it had some beautiful plants in it so that will be on the list of things to check out.

I'm just trying to find the lighting source that will give me the best medicine possible and everyone that uses good quality LEDs say it really boosts trichome production.

Peace,

MT
 
The CSA isn't there for a reason and until they get that stamp I don't think they're worth the inflated prices. The odd thing that's noticed from my local grow shops is that they don't want to carry them LEDs because they too much of a wild card. I wonder what they don't have to not get CSA approval ?
 
To get the most from LED panels you need to tilt them. Think about all the light that is lost pointing them straight down. I have a new panel on the way that will radically change the way my 8x8 room is lit. I will post pics when it is in place... most likely next weekend or 15 minutes after it arrives :)
 
for supplimental I think you'll be happy with Blackstar or Area51 LED's. I do like Advanced, but IMO they are higher price and the Area51's are equal or better quality.

If you were going to do the Area 51's I'd say 4 of the 100x3 lights in the pattern you describe.

Or IMO the better test would be to seperate your garden into halves. Then add 1 or 2 LED's to that side and see how the two sides differ at the end of grow. Plus it would be cheaper to add 1-2 lights/LED panels vs 4 upfront.

LED panels, esp the higher watt ones do put off heat, trust me on this. Not as much as HPS/HID from what I'm told, but I've battled some heat issues in my space. Read my LED review in the lighting section for my experiences.

I'm super happy with the Area51's and hopefully they become sponsors at some point so they get a bit more recognition and I don't feel like such a douche mentioning them vs other sponsors lights, but in the end I'm going to say what I think is right, even though I'm a noob at this hobby. Could I be wrong? Certainly, but I think I'm on the right track here.

Anyway, give them a look and talk to Jeff, he'll be a good resource even if you don't decide to go with his lights, he'll tell u the good/bad of many of the lights out there. That's what helped sell me on them as the didn't try to put his lights up there as unbeatable and the rest as junk. I think he tells it like it is, and I appreciated that.

Blackstars are IMO good too, but for the $ I'd go Area51 as they are about the same cost per watt esp if you buy a couple lights you might get a small discount.

hope that helps
 

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