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Anyone growing with LED lamp ???

mriko

mriko

Green Mujaheed
Veteran
Greetings people !

My regular growshop has recently listed LED lamps. The price is insanely high (699€ for a 90W veg/flo lamp !), so I think it will take a few years for it to go down and me to be able to use them eheh...

Still, is there anyone who's been experimenting with these ? If memory serves me, British Empire was setting up some test grow, do I remember well ? BH ?

Irie !
 
Weedninja

Weedninja

Member
I have a little knowledge of LEDs, but it is "book" knowledge and not from experience.
You can definitely find them much cheaper, even if you have to ship them from another country.
 
G

growlife

Member
i also have been wanting to find out more on LED mainly just for vegin clones

i was wanting to no how the electic use is compared to T-5 s
 
alphacat

alphacat

Member
There's a shitload of LED threads here - it's probably harder to use the search function because the word "led" is so common in English though.

http://www.icmag.com/ic/showthread.php?p=1090890
http://www.icmag.com/ic/showthread.php?p=1828346
http://www.icmag.com/ic/showthread.php?p=594934
http://www.icmag.com/ic/showthread.php?p=595497
http://www.icmag.com/ic/showthread.php?t=37935
http://www.icmag.com/ic/showthread.php?t=61400
http://www.icmag.com/ic/showthread.php?t=63754
http://www.icmag.com/ic/showthread.php?t=65690
http://www.icmag.com/ic/showthread.php?t=67108
http://www.icmag.com/ic/showthread.php?t=75653
http://www.icmag.com/ic/showthread.php?t=80162
http://www.icmag.com/ic/showthread.php?t=80483
http://www.icmag.com/ic/showthread.php?t=84458
http://www.icmag.com/ic/showthread.php?t=98157

Without going into too much detail, not all LED units are created equal. You might get more helpful details if you let us know what product it is they're selling. The technology is getting better and cheaper all the time, but not like CFL's are currently. LED's should (I think) use a lot less juice than even T5's, but they also are lacking penetrative power - or at least that seems to be the consensus. I haven't used 'em myself... yet. Probably only a matter of time though.
 
O

ourcee

Active member
alphacat said:
but they also are lacking penetrative power - or at least that seems to be the consensus.
Click to expand...

yeah they definitely dont penetrate through the canopy as much as even a CFL would, however something I've been thinking about is what if you had panels of lights, then had "strings" hanging down with... I dont know something like an LED every half inch or so going down the string, just let them dangle down through the canopy while the board sits practically on top of the plant almost.
 
L

leap270

Member
i heard from many people on multiple boards talk down on leds because the price for led and performance is just not up to par yet. a HID is a much cheaper rout and also produce much better results. you would have to buy a lot of led lights to match wattage and light of an HID.
 
M

mrred

no doubt leds will replace everything we currently use now. they are super efficient
 
mriko

mriko

Green Mujaheed
Veteran
LED's should (I think) use a lot less juice than even T5's, but they also are lacking penetrative power - or at least that seems to be the consensus.
Click to expand...

Sure they use less juice, it's a twinkling light and as a matter of fact, it spends more time OFF than ON while functionning.
I'm rather surprised as the lack of penetrative power as some are really powerfull. But maybe those used for growing are not the most potent?

Thanks for the links !

Irie !
 
G

GreenThumbBumb

Member
mriko said:
Sure they use less juice, it's a twinkling light and as a matter of fact, it spends more time OFF than ON while functionning.
I'm rather surprised as the lack of penetrative power as some are really powerfull. But maybe those used for growing are not the most potent?

Thanks for the links !

Irie !
Click to expand...

Twinkling? Can you explain this, if the lights were off more wouldnt you notice a blinking? Did i read this wrong?
 
mriko

mriko

Green Mujaheed
Veteran
hmm, my mistake, should have written "flickering" instead. But it's not noticeable as it happens at too faster speed for the eye to catch it. Well, that's an over-simplification, eheh... And the ratio on/off is probably 50/50, don't know why I wrote that, err, another consequence from the lack of THC in my brain !

Anyway, about light penetration, they surely are not that bad as most recent ones produce more than 100 lumen per watt !

Irie !
 
stinkyattic

stinkyattic

her dankness
Veteran
Check out SnStealth's threads over at cannabis . com in the grow log section- there is an EXTENSIVE discussion of the Procyon and a test grow. Results were mixed- good growth but increased flower times due to absence of far-red light and a problem with 'night' cycle triggering, that they ended up remedying with a cheap 'party light' in the room with the plants.

Personally I would be delighted to use LEDs for veg but stick to traditional HIDs for flower until the technology improves somewhat.
 
S

Smallthyme

Member
I'm using a cheap LED from Ebay for clones and a small mom and it is working great. Have to keep the lamp close to the plants, but that isn't a problem because it is cool to the touch. I scrog 2 at time, so I don't need any level of growth, just need to keep mom happy and root some clones. I think I paid less the $30 for the panel.
 
S

Smallthyme

Member
It is built fairly cheap, but functions great. I will try to take a picture today and post it up. I wouldn't try and do a full grow with it, but like I said earlier, for stasis veg and rooting clones it is great. I used to use CFL for this and find the LED to be way better.
 
Weedninja

Weedninja

Member
stinkyattic said:
Personally I would be delighted to use LEDs for veg but stick to traditional HIDs for flower until the technology improves somewhat.
Click to expand...
I agree. I think we're about 5 years out. Right now, LEDs are ok for micro grows, but if you want any kind of yield, stick with HIDs. It's not about lumens per watt, it's about total lumens, period.

LEDs have enormous potential. They are MUCH cooler and efficient because most of their energy is given off as light, not heat. The "bulbs" last much longer than HIDs.
But my personal favorite is that their light spectrum is completely customizable. If you want more red spectrum, buy more red diodes. You can buy any color diode you want, including UV.
 
L

leap270

Member
theres no way anybody should be parting ways with there HID. HID still give denser buds. if it were me i id keep the HID's and just add couple LEDs. LED lights still have a ways to go till they can out perform HID. HID just doesn't kick out enough juice to make dense and full buds, may be in the future but for now the technology just isn't there yet.
 
S

Smallthyme

Member
Finally Took a Picture

Finally Took a Picture

Here is a pic of my LED panel



It was actually on when I took the shot, but you can't really tell. It is all blue.
 
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