The Battle - Indica vs Sativa


High All,
IMHO....Efficiency is where todays LEDs have a clear advantage over HID bulbs.
In a DIY COB setup you could easily cover your 4x4 tent with 12 cobs using 600w from the wall and easily exceed the output a 600w hps.
800w of Cree cobs properly spaced can equal and exceed the PAR output of a 1k HID.
From what I have read HPS lights at 1000w provide around 400 PAR watts. The remaining 600 plus watts is heat.
Using Cree CXB3590's with a high quality driver like Meanwell, you can achieve the same level of PAR watts using less wattage from the wall.

Try buying incandescent bulbs! They are harder to find and that is on purpose.
Look at your flat screen PC monitor or your TV.
Some states here in the US offer tax incentives to convert from HID.
I believe Colorado is an example.
HID is very effective at what it does but is tech that is on the decline.

Mono said:
I've always wondered how a 1kw grow light can use more or less electricity than the other. I mean, from my university course years ago - 1kw of electricity over the course of an hour is the same amount whether it comes from a tv, radio, light etc.

I'm sure the LED must draw less power than the HPS for them to be cheaper to run, and they will certainly be cooler than the HPS, although I have noticed LED users seem to hang their lights REALLY high above the plants so they might not be well suited to anyone with height limitations.
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:nomo:
 
Decent LED panels is better yes in some aspects, but for me in South Africa a 600w LED panel is R13050.00 and that is still the basic one, not Cree, while a 600w HPS setup with big tent and two lights cost R14500.00, a bit more perhaps but then again it is two spaces and has everything the tent already needs. I would definitely say go LED if you have the money to spend on it, but for me I would stick to HPS purely because of the initial setup cost :Namaste:
 
Stage said:

High All,
IMHO....Efficiency is where todays LEDs have a clear advantage over HID bulbs.
In a DIY COB setup you could easily cover your 4x4 tent with 12 cobs using 600w from the wall and easily exceed the output a 600w hps.
800w of Cree cobs properly spaced can equal and exceed the PAR output of a 1k HID.
From what I have read HPS lights at 1000w provide around 400 PAR watts. The remaining 600 plus watts is heat.
Using Cree CXB3590's with a high quality driver like Meanwell, you can achieve the same level of PAR watts using less wattage from the wall.

Try buying incandescent bulbs! They are harder to find and that is on purpose.
Look at your flat screen PC monitor or your TV.
Some states here in the US offer tax incentives to convert from HID.
I believe Colorado is an example.
HID is very effective at what it does but is tech that is on the decline.

:nomo:
Click to expand...

Hey stage! Thanks for sharing that info - has cleared up a few questions I had regarding LED and HID systems. I really am contemplating switching over to LED although I do like the heat output that comes from the HPS - it sure gets cold here in the winter time and running the HPS at night keeps temps pretty stable at around 26 degrees C.

:hmmmm:

On the other hand, I'm not going to discount the idea of more useable light reaching the plants at the same or less cost ;)
 
Pat999 said:
Decent LED panels is better yes in some aspects, but for me in South Africa a 600w LED panel is R13050.00 and that is still the basic one, not Cree, while a 600w HPS setup with big tent and two lights cost R14500.00, a bit more perhaps but then again it is two spaces and has everything the tent already needs. I would definitely say go LED if you have the money to spend on it, but for me I would stick to HPS purely because of the initial setup cost :Namaste:
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In your situation I can see what you mean - especially if you are new to growing cannabis the initial start up costs can be overwhelming. HID lights are great, they grow cannabis very well if you can manage the temps... But like stage said, if growing cannabis is something that you may do for a while (which is true in my case) then there is no more research being done in HID systems and they seem to be slowly phased out in favour of LED.
 
:icon_cool:icon_cool:icon_cool

According to the courier company my coco will not be delivered until Monday of next week - Looks like our photoperiod plants will have to wait until after the weekend for a transplant.

None the less, I will get some pics up at lights on. Oh... I took a clone of OG Kush and Delicious Candy just before lights off ;)
 
Update

Got them just before lights on - 6400k CFL for when I need to be in the garden at lights off. They look like they are still asleep ;)

Auto Tutankhamon

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OG Kush

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Delicious Candy

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The Clones ;)

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Auto Anubis Seedling (soil)

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Hey Mono, I'd just like to input a little on HPS v LED too if I may as I have used both plus CFL. The temps were easier to maintain using a Mars II 1600w than with my 600w LED even though it pulls 768w from the wall, I would say a difference of a couple of degrees cooler. But although I was growing and got some good nugs the plants didn't yield as much as with HPS, plus my HPS grow almost died (1st ever grow in my sig). I've done numerous grows and one was near perfect from start to finish, yet the yield was nowhere near the HPS grow.

I've recently upgraded to some newer cree lights made in Canada which use a 3500k spectrum instead of reds and blues etc and the difference is startling, I hold out a lot of hope for yield per plant with these. The best part about it is...I'm running 4 cree lights (soon to be 5 as I've just ordered one more) and each one only pulls 60w from the wall lol, so a total of 240w wall pull (soon to be 300w), temps are much better still and reading lumen outputs at certain points they are in between my old Mars II 1600w and a 1000w HPS, even beating the 1000w HPS at certain distances. I'm very impressed, if you would like a look at them they're in my latest Bulldog journal in my sig. Hope this helps :thumb:

Oh yeah, and although I'm not affiliated with the company that produces these lights, as I was the first person they shipped to in the UK you can get a 5% discount if you mention my name, you might want to see whether you consider them worthy though first. Considering how shabby my grows have been though I really do know that these are doing the trick much better than the older style LED's, hopefully I'll be seeing HPS type figures again ;)
 
Kriaze said:
Hey Mono, I'd just like to input a little on HPS v LED too if I may as I have used both plus CFL. The temps were easier to maintain using a Mars II 1600w than with my 600w LED even though it pulls 768w from the wall, I would say a difference of a couple of degrees cooler. But although I was growing and got some good nugs the plants didn't yield as much as with HPS, plus my HPS grow almost died (1st ever grow in my sig). I've done numerous grows and one was near perfect from start to finish, yet the yield was nowhere near the HPS grow.

I've recently upgraded to some newer cree lights made in Canada which use a 3500k spectrum instead of reds and blues etc and the difference is startling, I hold out a lot of hope for yield per plant with these. The best part about it is...I'm running 4 cree lights (soon to be 5 as I've just ordered one more) and each one only pulls 60w from the wall lol, so a total of 240w wall pull (soon to be 300w), temps are much better still and reading lumen outputs at certain points they are in between my old Mars II 1600w and a 1000w HPS, even beating the 1000w HPS at certain distances. I'm very impressed, if you would like a look at them they're in my latest Bulldog journal in my sig. Hope this helps :thumb:

Oh yeah, and although I'm not affiliated with the company that produces these lights, as I was the first person they shipped to in the UK you can get a 5% discount if you mention my name, you might want to see whether you consider them worthy though first. Considering how shabby my grows have been though I really do know that these are doing the trick much better than the older style LED's, hopefully I'll be seeing HPS type figures again ;)
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Thanks Bud! Very interesting thoughts - Especially since you found HPS to be similar or better than earler LED. I'm going to pop over and have a look at your journal and at the light. You really have perked my curiosity :)
 
Finally the fresh Coco arrived so I was able to transplant the two photo period girls into their 20 litre tubs now. I'm beginning to have a funny (sinking) feeling that I may have reused the coco one too many times which could be a contributing factor to the relatively slow growth on the auto's.

I'm pretty sure it's too late to do anything about it now though - as much as I would love to pot them into some fresher medium it would involve removing quite a lot of the old coco which I am pretty sure would kill the plants.

The Gang as a whole

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OG Kush

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Delicious Candy

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The Young Auto Anubis. They seem to be doing much better in soil

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Hello Mono & 420 friends....Blighty Buds here. Long time reader first time making a account and posting. After years of reading grow journals from this forum and putting that information learned into my grows, it made me want to be part of this community ( I want to give back when i can get growing again by starting a journal ). Yourself, Atrain, Sorenna, Pigeons, Doc Bud and MANY MANY more have really helped me. Not that you know me yet but i feel like i know a few people on here & i actually don't know anyone. keep up the good work. Thank you all.

BB
 
Blighty Buds said:
Hello Mono & 420 friends....Blighty Buds here. Long time reader first time making a account and posting. After years of reading grow journals from this forum and putting that information learned into my grows, it made me want to be part of this community ( I want to give back when i can get growing again by starting a journal ). Yourself, Atrain, Sorenna, Pigeons, Doc Bud and MANY MANY more have really helped me. Not that you know me yet but i feel like i know a few people on here & i actually don't know anyone. keep up the good work. Thank you all.

BB
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Thanks Bud! You have come to the right place if you are looking for a friendly, helpful community of like minded people ;) 420 magazine is certainly the best cannabis forum on the internet ;)
 
On the light front - I have ordered a new 600 watt HPS kit. This time with a digital (dimmable) ballast and an air cooled hood. This should be delivered at some point before next week.

I found LED to be a little confusing when it came to trying to find one that would be a suitable replacement for the HPS, plus if it ain't broke don't fix it ;)

The garden is picking up speed and it's finally time to get the supporting screen onto the photoperiod plants. Auto's have another four or five weeks left :)
 
Looking good bud.

If you can afford it, why not get an LED as well and throw that in the mix with the new HPS.
 
TheBlaze said:
Looking good bud.

If you can afford it, why not get an LED as well and throw that in the mix with the new HPS.
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Thanks Matey! Unfortunately the budget stretched as far as the new HPS, carbon filter and some other pieces like second flood tray and more coco.

Looks like I will be waiting another couple of years for a LED fixture lol
 
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