LED questions

[foaf]

I don't know if its quite time to jump in or not, like a lot of people I was waiting till the price came down, but my last batch of CFLs are fading so I need to get something.

I now see some 2 watt chip LED assemblies that about $1.40 a watt and some 3 watt chip LED that are less then $2 per watt. I'm sure that they are the so called "cheap chinese" models. But at half the price of the not so cheap american version....

Im looking at buying multiple smaller watt units, like 90 or 120 watt panels or UFOs.

any reason not to give them a try as supplimental lighting for a vertical grow? When I read about them, people always say that the cheap ones are shitty, but those people have expensive ones, so I have to discount their assessment.

and when people grow with leds now, do they just use the so called "flowering lights" throughout the grow, or mix them, or veg with something else??

 

[VerdantGreen]

you'll get a lot of conflicting answers on this subject, many from people who dont use LED's

i have had good success with good quality led units. i like that the ones you link to have UV - thats pretty cool. but they dont seem to have any far red, which i believe is important to speed up flowering response. others may be able to better expand on that.

im pretty sure the LED's would p*ss all over your cfl's for both veg and flowering though - but you really need to use a similar wattage in LED's to what you are using already. you cant just use half the wattage and expect the same results.

the other thing is that you kind of get what you pay for with LED. cheep ones tend to be crap.

VG

 

[foaf]

thanks VG .....

 

[stoney917]

leds work if they fit ur situtation

leds work if they fit ur situtation

i couldnt of put it better vg main prob with leds are how they were advertised when they came out they made it seem like every watt was equal to 4 which was complete bs. a watt is a watt no matter what for the most part. that being said i fell for the bs and bought a few ufos after a horrible run i downsized the grow to fit 90w lights instead of treatinem like a 400 as they are advertized and did great. now they are my veg lights and kill it. i lovem in veg and they did good inflower i went back to 1000w'ers but if i was still in a tight space would be using them to flower. if ya cant go hps/hid gettem.
my trees from led ufos.

see they will grow dank and this comin from a hid user, no hate please lol peace good luck whatevre u do

 

[foaf]

thanks stoney... I have a friend who owns a hydro shop that doesnt sell LEDs, but he was able to get an almost wholesale deal for me if I bought 15 of the 100 watters, looking at just a bit over $1 a watt, 2 Watt chips, 3 specta. Im gonna pair it with a 1K hortilux MH/HPS dual arc bulb overhead on my one tree vertical grow and I'm going back to hydroton/dwc hybrid as my recent aero attempt was fun but failed, Ive determined that aero just wont grow a huge tree. stay tuned, thanks for the insight.

 

[smokefrogg]

hope it works out well man! i have a few of the cheap sunshine systems panels, they are supplementing hps lamps, i've been very happy so far...looking to try one of the kessil units real soon i hope

 

[Sleepy]

you'll get a lot of conflicting answers on this subject, many from people who dont use LED's

i have had good success with good quality led units. i like that the ones you link to have UV - thats pretty cool. but they dont seem to have any far red, which i believe is important to speed up flowering response. others may be able to better expand on that.

im pretty sure the LED's would p*ss all over your cfl's for both veg and flowering though - but you really need to use a similar wattage in LED's to what you are using already. you cant just use half the wattage and expect the same results.

the other thing is that you kind of get what you pay for with LED. cheep ones tend to be crap.

VG

that about sums it up.