Are LEDs Misunderstood?

[yosun]

to me its not about price,of course its cheaper to buy an hps..or 2,but some ppl can not have hps..in a cab or a dresser grow would a 90 watt sunshine system ufo yeild more then 252 watts of cfl? thats the answer i'm looking for,i don't want a 1,000 electric bill,or the fire department driving buy seeing a 1,000 watt sun flareing thru my wall,whatever price i have to pay for safety i'll gladly over pay,shit good stuff is $20 a g, i could buy 2 ufo's for the price of a zip of kush bought a g at a time(i'm not an idiot..i don't do that) just saying..ppl arguing about hps's being better,i agree,but i'm NEVER going to be able to own a hps,less heat,less electric..less fans,thats what has me leaning towards LED,i just wanna find the best 1,where's that section? i used to read how cfl
s don't work until i set my cab up and pulled 3 ounces out of it 10 weeks latter...

 

[PetFlora]

Just in case this thread is still active...

I saw a color graph of light spectrums overlayed with spectrums mj needs, nothing new there, however, it also showed chlorophyl a & b. It seems mj needs b, which is in the 'green' range.

So I'm wondering why no ones LEDs has green bulbs.

 

[sm0k4]

Just in case this thread is still active...

I saw a color graph of light spectrums overlayed with spectrums mj needs, nothing new there, however, it also showed chlorophyl a & b. It seems mj needs b, which is in the 'green' range.

So I'm wondering why no ones LEDs has green bulbs.

Some are now incorporating green into their panels. I just use whites and figure that will give me enough green for the plant. The plant uses green, just not as much as red or blue. With high radiance of red and blue, green has more of a benefit also. If using LEDs as supplement to HID, you probably can skip the green altogether. I'm going to play around with adding blue and white LED panels to my 250 HPS for comparison.

 

[#1cheesebuds]

I have a question on weather or not to get an led grow light panel or just keep my cfl lights.

my curent setup is 138 watts of cfl's + 2-25 watt led bulbs.
and the heat is 90 to 96 with lights on. I have 3 fans trying to keep it cool in d cab but thats not enought.
The size of space I have is around 3 1/2 feet wide & 4 feet tall.
the plants are around a week or so of flowering and doing ok for now.
SO I was thinking of getting an led grow light panel to maybe replace the cfl lights. If it wasn't so damm hot outside then there'd be not much problem with the cfl's.

So if yall had my curnet setup then would u just keep the cfl lights or switch to an led panel?
me plants just started bloom cycle.

I was thinking with the led grow light I might get better trich coverage and a lot less heat.

 

[sm0k4]

More circulation isn't going to do much without proper air exchange. You need to get the hot air out of the room the cabinet is in and refresh that with normal cool air.

You will still have heat issues with LEDs if there is poor air exchange, it will just take longer to heat up.

 

[spunion]

Is it true a 90w led ufo can cover 12 sq ft?

Honestly kinda thinking about using one in a 3x3 tent.

edit: Was looking on the lighthouse blackstar manufacturer's site and they said the UFOs cover 2-4 square feet. Funny cause I saw the Sunshine systems UFO being advertised as cover 12 sq ft.

 

[spunion]

to me its not about price,of course its cheaper to buy an hps..or 2,but some ppl can not have hps..in a cab or a dresser grow would a 90 watt sunshine system ufo yeild more then 252 watts of cfl? thats the answer i'm looking for,i don't want a 1,000 electric bill,or the fire department driving buy seeing a 1,000 watt sun flareing thru my wall,whatever price i have to pay for safety i'll gladly over pay,shit good stuff is $20 a g, i could buy 2 ufo's for the price of a zip of kush bought a g at a time(i'm not an idiot..i don't do that) just saying..ppl arguing about hps's being better,i agree,but i'm NEVER going to be able to own a hps,less heat,less electric..less fans,thats what has me leaning towards LED,i just wanna find the best 1,where's that section? i used to read how cfl
s don't work until i set my cab up and pulled 3 ounces out of it 10 weeks latter...

Or let your house stay cold in the winter and not worry about heat with HPS and just use LED during the summer when its too hot.

 

[Sgt.Stedenko]

There's too much of a technology curve with LED's. It's like buying a smartphone. Six month from now, you shit is outdated. Unless your LED light is using CREE XP-G or XM-L emitters, you're behind the curve. UFOs are using emitters from 2006-2007. LOL
Can't say the same is true for HIDs. My 2004 mag ballast will compete with today's latest and greatest digis on output. Can your LED say the same?

 

[PetFlora]

Spunion: My Sunshine S UFO 90 covers roughly 2 X 2. Sunshine sells a big light that might cover 12 sft. HIDHut was selling a Satellite fixture some years ago that fit over the UFO (~$50), providing a good bit of supplemental light capability, which would cover maybe a 3 X 3 ft print. Thinking to order one, I emailed them yesterday as it is not in their current catalog; also checked Ebay but could not find. Please let me know if you have a source.

Sgt S: UFOs have advanced too. Some are now 3 watt, but I do not know whether that is a 3 watt diode or 3 watt chip set set. hth

 

[spunion]

I got a 2' 8 bulb t5 ho last month, should have just bought a UFO

Would have been less electricity and probably equal or better results. I'm only using it for veg though. If I do get a UFO later this year I'll try to do a side by side. Will try to look for the XP-G and XM-L lights. Is anyone currently manufacturing those as assembled units?

 

[PetFlora]

2 ft is probably on the small side. Should be excellent for veg, clones, and/or cola type strains, so you should get plenty of use from it.

 

[rives]

2 ft is probably on the small side. Should be excellent for veg, clones, and/or cola type strains, so you should get plenty of use from it.

If Spunion runs a scrog, this should work fine. I've used a 330 watt pl-l fixture with good results over a 30" x 30" scrog, and 55 watt pl-l's are 22"
long. My fixture dimensions are 22" x 24", and while I would have liked a little more light around the edges, it worked pretty well.

 

[spunion]

I wouldn't be using it to flower most likely but given the nature of a indoor perpetual I'll probably end up vegging a lot of plants for 2 months or more while waiting for space to open up in the flower room so I'm thinking avoiding HID for veg won't be an issue with yields at all. If I do flower with leds it'd be in a little 2x2 tent in the bedroom to mess with exotic breeds and personal stash

 

[PetFlora]

Amazing how quickly things can change due to curiosity and experimentation.

I came across a thread on another site stared by a guy experimenting with T 5 HO using aquarium bulbs. These offer several potential advantages over the typical 2700/6500 bulbs.

First they are significantly more lumen output. Secondly, they are available in spectrums similar to LEDs allowing the user to mix and match specific spectrums. His grow looks fantastic.

I ordered several bulbs to mix into my T 5 but have not received them as of yet. You might find a link to him by googling LED Without LEDS My T 5 Grow
hth

 

[budlover123]

does anyone know where to find 1 watt far-red LEDs pre-soldered on little boards? IMO LEDs are supplemental, not primary grow light material

 

[PetFlora]

A good cheap find for LEDs, but are they good for our needs?
http://www.americandj.com/ProductDetails.aspx?ItemNumber=2063&Category=L.E.D.&txtSearch=

 

[Weezard]

Sorry to say.

Sorry to say.

A good cheap find for LEDs, but are they good for our needs?
http://www.americandj.com/ProductDetails.aspx?ItemNumber=2063&Category=L.E.D.&txtSearch=

Um, no!

10 mm. LEDs
18 Watts all together.
More than a third of that is green and the red and blue are at unspecified wavelengths.

Fun for parties.
Not gonna grow rutabagas.

Aloha,
Weeze

 

[PetFlora]

Hey Weez. Good to see you dropping in. They do have a Mega model that is ~ 38 watts (R/B/G). I have grown wheat grass with 14 watts of B/R, so I'm thinking you could grow small colas or veg with the Mega (~$250). Keep in mind there are lots of small personal use growers with small budgets. I have grown some really good dope with a UFO 90, just not much at one time

 

[alkalien]

38W at 250$ seems expensive to me anyways. I'd rather spend that cash on T5s or anything like that.

If you wanna do LEDs you won't be getting anywhere without a panel build for growing plants. For vegging you can be quite successful with very low wattage.

Here is a report with 9W/plant using 5mm standard LEDs: https://www.icmag.com/ic/showthread.php?t=201626

 

[PetFlora]

The more I learn about lighting, the more I understand the purpose behind old timers using HID for veg and HPS for flower. They do not use them together!

So, shouldn't LEDs be similarly configured? I mean, if you have one fixture, shouldn't it have 2 o/o switches; one for Grow: blues/greens/or whites) and one for Flower: reds/greens or whites?