The Basics Of Plant Lighting

As far as I know plants adsorb special wavelength of light,led lamp is a good option then.It mix a range from 390nm to 850nm all necessary wavelength for plant growing.And led lamps is output with a very good Umol data,which is an important factor.
I do suggest 400w znet9 led lamp to replace 600w HPS,with less heat and much more spectrum.
 
Hi hosebomber, i tried to pm you but i don't have permissions yet to do that, so i'll post it here instead.

i've read your basics on lighting, i enjoyed it.

You say you are a led guy, why do you call yourself that? I feel one can say that this or that light is the best (at this or that point in time), if you do so within the context of marijuana cultivation. I mean, the light that gives the plant what it needs to attain highest quality and quantity is best, next you can consider efficiency, build quality, and then price.
I take it you want the best lights out there, regardless of the type of lighting. So then are you a led guy because they are the best, or, because they have the best potential theoretically?

Anyway, what in your experience is the best light available? Why is it best? What would you recommend me to get in my situation, a room of 3m2 x 4m2 in a top floor appartment, first grow, i need to keep my electricity consumption low so i wont alarm anyone.

thanks for sharing your thoughts on this forum, it's appreciated.

rudi
 
When I started working with LED lights they were potentially the best lighting. The efficiency at that time was not higher than HPS (and barely better than CFL's), but there was the potential to remove less productive spectra and have an overall more efficient light. Currently, they the ability to be the best by a very wide margin. Nearly any LED panel you buy off the shelf right now can grow with good results. Every company out there knows that 1 band of red and 1 band of blue only works for limited low level plant species and have corrected most of the marketing error and ridiculous claims they where making 3-5 years ago.

As for the best light, I don't really back any single light or company. TopLED is a very good panel for the price you pay. Advance LED puts some research into their light. Area 51 and Apache Tech are good lights, but very expensive. People are having pretty good results with Lush and we'll have the results of some side by sides soon. Lighting is a personal choice. I make my own panels. There are new panels and ideas showing up all the time, so it's really hard to give a good answer of what would be best for you in your situation.
 
topled, is that the mars2? i've seen so many different mars 2's whats up with that? So what are your favorites then? I know new stuff comes out all the time but those have not been tried and tested by the people, so i don't want to take a chance there, i prefer tried and tested favorites. Come on man, gimme more direction, i fully undrstand and acknowledge that ultimately what i choose is my responsability.
 
rudibartelink said:
topled, is that the mars2? i've seen so many different mars 2's whats up with that? So what are your favorites then? I know new stuff comes out all the time but those have not been tried and tested by the people, so i don't want to take a chance there, i prefer tried and tested favorites. Come on man, gimme more direction, i fully undrstand and acknowledge that ultimately what i choose is my responsability.
Click to expand...

I'm not really sure what the question is here. Yes, TopLED is the maker of the Mars II and the Reflector series that you see a lot of here on this site. They also have a nearly 400 page thread of people asking Sara questions, buying and showing grows with their products as well as a large number of grow journals. There are some really great things about TopLED, their price point is hard to beat, they have great customer service, they ship from multiple locations around the world, etc. There are some things not to like as well. As I said in the previous post, there are a lot of good companies out there and some really shitty ones. I would hate to make a suggestion and then 2 months later that company be out of business and this sticky post is pointing people to them. I suggest understanding what you want out of your area and look for the panel that fits your needs the best. If price is the main motivator, then there is a pretty good chance the TopLED is the company you will be going with. If it is quality, then Apache Tech is probably the company. If you want good quality with a decent price there are literally hundreds to chose from.
 
WOw, the amount of info my brain just swam through is boggling. Thanks to all esp HB with the LED knowledge for posting...

I have a small stealth pc grow 1 plant at a time. I bought a cheap led bulb from eBay that had what looked like the correct range of red and blue plus a few white to supposedly fill in any gaps. This thing is so small there are only 38 diodes(?), is it at all effective and if not, are any of the bulb type led's worth anything and if not what would be best for a super tiny pc grow. Much appreciation.
 
It's really hard to give exact information on a generic ebay light because there are so many companies putting items up for sell there. In general, nearly all led panels made in the past few years have at least 1 watt diodes. If it has a couple wavelengths of red and blue and some white it should grow fine. However, that doesn't mean that you will get top quality results. For small pc grows and such, a plant will never reach it's full potential because it's limited on the amount it can grow due to the space. I personally suggest custom panels for micro grows. No company is going to make a panel that fills and covers your area exactly in these very small areas of varying shapes and sizes.
 
Aku420: yes, there are effective bulb/spotlight LED grow lights available... i am currently testing a Par30 grow spot that uses 16 x 3 watt LED's... actual power consumption is 29 to 35 watts depending on the light configuration... using just 1 of these lights, i started 2 'plants' and finished the grow using 3 lights... advantages that these Par30 lights have is that you can use them in any irregular space OR you can employ them as directional lighting to create a symmetrical photon box; ie, arrange them so that each unit targets an individual specimen; converges on a central point; and overlaps to mitigate shadows... you can see some early pics of tomato plants at SuperFunker's deviantART Gallery
 
Awesome Thread Hosebomer ,

I've been growing with LED panels for 3 years now and doing alot of research , this Thread has the most useful information on Led panels that I've ever seen in one place. You cut out many hours of research time for the members of our community. :)

:goodjob::bravo::thanks: +Reps brother.
 
Could those in the know compare/contrast the two LED's in the pics to follow.

please see pics in next post. One is a stand alone "lamp" that is plugged in and looks like the light would be waaay more productive while the other is a bulb type that you put in a light socket. I own the latter and have ordered the former. Neither was very expensive and my grow is pc size (tiny) so I think the 10w and 20w I bought should suffice?
 
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The light of the lamp style plug ins look so much better (in photos) I can answer better when they arrive but they were reasonably priced. I think $39USD for a 10w and a 20w shipped free. And if you read the auction it talks about wattage and wavelengths and lumens. They HAVE to be better than that bulb, it puts out next to nothing in terms of light.
 
The screw in bulb uses whats called T4 of 1/4 inch diodes. These run at ~ 15mA. For plant growth, we generally try to use at least 1 watt diodes. The second is what is called a COB or chips on board. It is multiple diodes on a single board. While some COB's are the best diodes on the market, others have had a really problems managing the heat from the chip and burn out rather fast. These are low power, so there shouldn't be that much risk of overheating, but that is what you will want to look for. If you have ha circulation fan in your grow area I would suggest letting it blow over the COB version to assist in cooling it.
 
looking for information on the DE style HID bulbs. I know this thread is geared more towards LEDs but hoping I can be directed towards info on Gavita and the new Hydrofarm DE light kits. Not ready to leap into LEDs just yet.
 
WOW, can't believe I didn't find this thread earlier. I almost went crazy looking around the internet for the information that is presented in here.

Thank you very much Hosebomber!

Just a couple of questions... You said to use 35W in bloom for leds. I presume that is actual power consumed, or is it the power of the diodes? I am just a bit too confused with all these different wattages when it comes to leds.

And seconldy, I read that IR and UV diodes made today are not very reliable and break quite often. Do you think it is better to buy a panel that has IR, UV diodes in them, or is better a panel that uses those places for more advantageous diodes and use IR, UV lamps seperately?

Thanks
 
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