Led vs t5

[WonderWoman]

Due to high electricity costs of my 600w hps i am forced to leave hid lights for a while.

Ive the possibility of buying 2 x 120w led panels, one of them high red and the second blue-red spectrum. The high red is 55x 3w epistar cree bridgelux as leds and the second has 120x 1w leds from the same manufacturers.

Second option is 8 slot 54w = 432w lightwave t5 light. 2 of these aswell.

My room is 1.20 x 1.20 x 2.00 and im planning on scrogging 2 plants.
I want to get the most out of my lights as i cant afford ridiculously big drop in yields from 600w hps.

Which lights would you choose and why?

 

[liagro]

Due to high electricity costs of my 600w hps i am forced to leave hid lights for a while.

Ive the possibility of buying 2 x 120w led panels, one of them high red and the second blue-red spectrum. The high red is 55x 3w epistar cree bridgelux as leds and the second has 120x 1w leds from the same manufacturers.

Second option is 8 slot 54w = 432w lightwave t5 light. 2 of these aswell.

My room is 1.20 x 1.20 x 2.00 and im planning on scrogging 2 plants.
I want to get the most out of my lights as i cant afford ridiculously big drop in yields from 600w hps.

Which lights would you choose and why?

why would you choose 2 x 432W with t5 over one HPS 600W?

2 x 432 = 864W
one time HPS = max 670W

so no energy saving.

with 2 x 120W LED you would end up with a lot less µmol/s PAR compared to T5 of HPS

 

[WonderWoman]

why would you choose 2 x 432W with t5 over one HPS 600W?

2 x 432 = 864W
one time HPS = max 670W

so no energy saving.

with 2 x 120W LED you would end up with a lot less µmol/s PAR compared to T5 of HPS

hello and thanks for chiming in.

i am not familiar with the energy usage of t5 lights so guess that solves it up.

So then i'm left with 2x 120w led panels.

i have the opportunity of buying 460nm+630nm+660nm (11%+27%+62%) blue/red 120w panel with 55x 3w leds

or

5-band 430nm+460nm+610nm+630nm+660nm (5,5%+7%+12,5%+12,5%+62,5%) high red 120w panel with 120x 1w leds.


I'm going to support veg and flowering with few cfl lights of proper spectrum for the on-going growth stage.

Would you pick one of each or leave one completely off and go with 2x red-blue for example?

 

[Redbuddz]

I would not recommend LED lights. IMO they're too expensive and repair is almost not an option. Yes they do give you many more life hours then traditional bulbs but they don't last forever and fixture replacement will not be cheap. Another drawback with LED lighting is the fact that the light is very directional thus making it hard to properly light the growth canopy, especially the lower portion of the plants. It almost sounds like the 600 watts you are currently using is too much for your described area? maybe you should drop down to 400?

 

[Coconutz]

How much do the leds cost?
Id rather spend that money on running a HPS!

 

[CARE giver]

Idk about leds but my t5s are powerfulll.. I could prolly flower with them. But obviously I wouldnt get optimal results.

T5s are great for small plants or a scrog.

 

[WonderWoman]

thanks for everyones feedback.

Due to my ridiculously high electricity bill I can't run a hps at the moment.

I have 600€ for new lightning and I've seen people growing great plants with leds, hence interest in them.

I'm planning on growing 2 plants in 10 liter hempy buckets and scrogging them using likely whole 1.20x1.20 space. Wouldn't led be the choice for this? The penetration shouldn't be a problem when talking of a scrog.

I just have no idea of what to pick as I've head rather mixed stories on different leds so im confused

Check my new thread on led forum for more information on new led choices.

 

[PetFlora]

Hi WW, nice to see you here. I have 2 threads going you might be interested in.

FYI, the last 2 generations of all white leds (NW/WW: Neutral White Warm White) are at minimum equally as capable as colored leds: better in my opinion as it contains the green-yellow- orange, like hps

Area 51 and Apache Tech have excellent white panels (RIU has premo grow threads).

I love my 8 bulb hot5 but bulbs only last ~ one year at a average cost of $25= ~ $200/year. When I bought it I was coming off a very bad old style led experience, and it was the most reasonably priced option (v led).

Today you can buy 190w from A51 for $575 and it comfortably covers 2 x 3

 

[WonderWoman]

thank you petflora. appreciate your tip on HOT5's. I've watched your grows. Apparently I think I've made the choice of going with LED.

I would order from A51 but it's in US so it would be expensive + time consuming as I live in EU.

After reading about Hanspanel, I'm most likely having two of them ordered tomorrow and check how they perform and see if I will order more.

Anyone who has experience with Hanspanel or has any comments to leave regarding his leds is more than welcome.

 

[PetFlora]

Since you are EU, check out www.astirgrow.com panels designed by mj fanatics

thank you petflora. appreciate your tip on HOT5's. I've watched your grows. Apparently I think I've made the choice of going with LED.

I would order from A51 but it's in US so it would be expensive + time consuming as I live in EU.

After reading about Hanspanel, I'm most likely having two of them ordered tomorrow and check how they perform and see if I will order more.

Anyone who has experience with Hanspanel or has any comments to leave regarding his leds is more than welcome.

 

[Redbuddz]

I'm confused. You're trying to save money on your electric costs but yet you are currently using a 600watt hps that IMO is too high of a wattage for the space you have specified. Why not go down to a 400w? some other negatives of LED lighting is you can not change the color of the light like you can with traditional bulbs also LED lights typically have an average life of say 30k to 50k life hours. Yes that's much more then traditional bulbs but when you have reached the end of the LED life's span you're again buying an expensive fixture where as I will get a new 400/600w bulb for like 40 bucks. just my 2 cents

 

[PetFlora]

Let's do some reality math:

On the low end of the useful life spectrum, 30,000 hours divided by 15 hours per day (average between veg and flower) = 2000 days, divided by 330 days (taking a month off)= ~ 6 years. You can buy quality 190w panels today that covers 2 x 3 for < $600 = $100 per year amortized. I spend $200 annually on hot5 bulb replacement

6 years from now leds will give even more bang for less buck

I am confident that future led panels will be modular to where end user can swap diodes out. FYI, this tech already exists and is utilized in a few panels

I'm confused. You're trying to save money on your electric costs but yet you are currently using a 600watt hps that IMO is too high of a wattage for the space you have specified. Why not go down to a 400w? some other negatives of LED lighting is you can not change the color of the light like you can with traditional bulbs also LED lights typically have an average life of say 30k to 50k life hours. Yes that's much more then traditional bulbs but when you have reached the end of the LED life's span you're again buying an expensive fixture where as I will get a new 400/600w bulb for like 40 bucks. just my 2 cents

 

[Redbuddz]

I'm not looking for a pissing match here but like I said if she is so concerned about her electric usage then why not just go down to 400 watt hps. Pflora, I'm not sure where you are buying your HOt5 bulbs but 25$per bulb is an out of this universe price. I get mine for around 5-10 bucks each depending on color and manufacturer and if you're buying t5's in bulk you can get them for even less then 5$ a piece

 

[WonderWoman]

I'm not looking for a pissing match here but like I said if she is so concerned about her electric usage then why not just go down to 400 watt hps. Pflora, I'm not sure where you are buying your HOt5 bulbs but 25$per bulb is an out of this universe price. I get mine for around 5-10 bucks each depending on color and manufacturer and if you're buying t5's in bulk you can get them for even less then 5$ a piece

I don't personally think that going down from 600w to 400w would reduce the elecricity cost that much tbh. Especially when talking about max 240 wats of leds.

 

[PetFlora]

Come on, that's like saying all cars are equal, so why spend the money on a high performance car?

Well, if it's a grocery getter then yes, but when you want to up your grow game, you gotta go high performance. And HP comes at a much higher price

I'm not looking for a pissing match here but like I said if she is so concerned about her electric usage then why not just go down to 400 watt hps. Pflora, I'm not sure where you are buying your HOt5 bulbs but 25$per bulb is an out of this universe price. I get mine for around 5-10 bucks each depending on color and manufacturer and if you're buying t5's in bulk you can get them for even less then 5$ a piece

 

[WonderWoman]

I'm still unsure which one to pick of these two:

2x of these - http://www.grownorthern.co.uk/index.php/online-store/ms-0004

or

2x of these - http://www.bonsaihero.com/ledgrow-led-panel-80-watt.html

 

[Redbuddz]

After looking at your two choices I would recommend that you keep looking. Seems they both have some nice features that are different from each other and it would be nice to have the best of both. The wattages are far apart and personally I would go with more. Too little light and your not saving anything? Considering the expense of your purchase I would certainly want a lengthy warranty and I would want too buy from a reputable company as well. I did like the switching feature that the bonsai model has and I think that's a great feature for higher wattage fixtures. I am an electrician and I deal with lighting all the time and what I do know about LED manufacturers is that Cree is one of and possibly the best manufacturer of the diode's. Cree has been around Since the inception of the LED so I would certainly trust their name. Considering the expense I would invest some more time into your search before pulling the trigger.

 

[WonderWoman]

After looking at your two choices I would recommend that you keep looking. Seems they both have some nice features that are different from each other and it would be nice to have the best of both. The wattages are far apart and personally I would go with more. Too little light and your not saving anything? Considering the expense of your purchase I would certainly want a lengthy warranty and I would want too buy from a reputable company as well. I did like the switching feature that the bonsai model has and I think that's a great feature for higher wattage fixtures. I am an electrician and I deal with lighting all the time and what I do know about LED manufacturers is that Cree is one of and possibly the best manufacturer of the diode's. Cree has been around Since the inception of the LED so I would certainly trust their name. Considering the expense I would invest some more time into your search before pulling the trigger.

If you have any tips regarding what led to choose, please enlighten me.

I'm in a hurry of getting one and I should have the light ordered by monday.

The place I buy it from should be in EU for fast/cheap delivery.

 

[CARE giver]

Id go with t5s dude. Leds are a waste of money. Just fancy. One day theyll be worth it.

 

[Redbuddz]

I already gave you a few tips in my last response. Life hours are also important. some say 35-50k hrs other say 50-80k hrs, that's a big difference in regards to cost per year ratio. You should also be very much aware of the color spectrum the LED light is supplying. With typical HID lighting you have MH for the white/blue spectrum and then HPS for the red/orange. With LED lights there are so many combos of Diode's that spectral color will very and differ significantly. Like many other products it's not easy buying off the internet cause you don't really know what you're getting most times. I would highly suggest a trip to your local grow store for some eyes on info.