Best LED light for stealth closet grow

[clp]

Hey guys,
I'm now looking into buying an LED as I realized the price has dropped dramatically in the last few years. I'm a complete newbie when it comes to LED spectrum and which units are best. I will be growing in a wardrobe that has a 5 square foot base. It's 36" x 20" x 65". If I was using conventional lighting I'd have liked to do a 250 or 400W air-cooled with plenty of ventilation. Is there a best LED wattage for this size grow?

This will be a stealth grow so I need for it to be quiet.

These are the units I am looking at right now. I want to maximize yield/light intensity but I also don't want to do overkill. I also would prefer to not spend over $300 since it looks like there are some great units for under that price.

http://www.amazon.com/Promotion-Tao...erminating/dp/B008MU049W/ref=cm_cd_al_qh_dp_t

Or there are 3 dirt genius brands with UV lighting. 280 240 or 200 watts. Which would be the best size?

Also apparently they are for only flowering and you have to buy a separate unit for veg. Is this necessary or could I use the flowering unit for both? Otherwise I could just use CFL's or other conventional bulbs for vegging.

http://www.amazon.com/Dirt-Genius-System-Flowering-Hydroponic/dp/B00CFM9Z5M/ref=cm_cr_pr_product_top

If you guys have other recommendations I'd love to hear them!

Looking forward to jumping on the LED bandwagon!

 

[clp]

Or I'd also be interested to hear if making my own is viable and cost effective. I have some basic electrical knowledge although I'm no pro.

Any help or guides would be greatly appreciated!

 

[clp]

After more and more research i think I'm just going to build one. Will update with my results. Any DIY guides would be appreciated.

 

[StoopheadFred]

Check out Bueno Time's new COB led grow. This chip on board new style of led is the shit.

Done a ton of research and that's the way I'm going. Simplest and most cost effective diy led out there, with costs ranging from $.50-$.80 dollars per watt of lighting. I just built a 100w unit for right around $50 using the lowest end parts.

https://www.icmag.com/ic/showthread.php?t=284309

 

[clp]

Thank you so much for linking that! I'm building with those exact cobs and he gives great directions. I plan on building with 5 of them for around 300 active watts. Stoked!!

 

[clp]

Check out Bueno Time's new COB led grow. This chip on board new style of led is the shit.

Done a ton of research and that's the way I'm going. Simplest and most cost effective diy led out there, with costs ranging from $.50-$.80 dollars per watt of lighting. I just built a 100w unit for right around $50 using the lowest end parts.

https://www.icmag.com/ic/showthread.php?t=284309

What parts did you use to get the cost down so much?

 

[StoopheadFred]

Sourced all my stuff from Chinese eBay sellers. But another member pointed out to me a thread where they test the light output and my led will put out around half the lumens as the more expensive Cree CXA chips.

But the Cree chips cost around 30-40, where the eBay chips cost between 5-8. So they're less efficient, but for the price you could jsut cram more in to compensate.

 

[hempfield]

Sourced all my stuff from Chinese eBay sellers. But another member pointed out to me a thread where they test the light output and my led will put out around half the lumens as the more expensive Cree CXA chips.

But the Cree chips cost around 30-40, where the eBay chips cost between 5-8. So they're less efficient, but for the price you could jsut cram more in to compensate.

Don't forget the electricity bill. This is were the CXA efficiency kicks in. And also less heat to deal with.

40$ for a LED than can be used (at least in theory) for more than 20-25 years is very cheap compared with a HPS lamp that only give enough light for one or two seasons.

 

[clp]

Don't forget the electricity bill. This is were the CXA efficiency kicks in. And also less heat to deal with.

40$ for a LED than can be used (at least in theory) for more than 20-25 years is very cheap compared with a HPS lamp that only give enough light for one or two seasons.

This is very true although my electricity bill is being paid for with rent at my current place.

Also I understand the logic with the LED's. The only downside on that is that LED technology is upgrading so fast that these cree chips might be obsolete/inefficient in a few months and I will want to upgrade anyways. Doubt they will actually be used by anyone for more than a few years.

I might do the CMH bulb initially and then add 2 LEDS on the sight for supplementary lighting if I can control heat well enough with the 315W.

 

[hempfield]

Indeed the LED technology is upgrading so fast that even a grow light that appear on the market this year can easily became obsolete in the following year if we refer to efficiency.

But hey, there are people that change their smart phone just because a new version is available on the market, and others that use their old smart phone until it dies. It's personal choice.

Good results can be achieved with cheap chinese individual or COB leds (my grows have proved that to me) , especially if you don't crank them at full power. A few days ago I found a datasheet of 100W 45mil COB chinese LED and I noticed that when driven at 50% of their power they can have a theoretical output of >100lm/W, which is perfect for most of the growers. Using them at a lower current will also change a bit the color temperature (shifting it to the more 'warmer' part of spectrum ).

Always have this in mind: when buying cheap chinese LEDs, choose only 45mil (or higher if available) chips. They are a little bit more expensive (sometimes almost twice as ordinary chips), but the lumen output and life expectancy are bigger.

 

[cocogrower]

If your not ending up building your own led i think The hans led from bonsai hero is a good choice. Or you could buy a ZA 120 from cidly light. they let you customize the spectrum, and it's just 125 dollars. the fans are noisy though - as most lights with active cooling.

I bought the ZA 120 and changed the fans to ultra silent, yet effective, silent wings from be quiet. The lights have two channels that can be programed individually to change intensity over the light cycle, thats a really good thing actually!

 

[Soundguy]

I have an 80 watt hans panel and it works great no fan totally quiet also Area 51 has a nice new little panel that is killer for small spaces and a couple larger ones that I think are about the best out there next to Apache
The Hans and the little A51 are in the OP's price range as well

 

[cocogrower]

Hi again, don't know if you're still looking? Just wanna say that the lamps i wrote about earlier probably aren't that efficient (like a lot of pre-made panels) even if they do work ok.. Hans is probably your best choice.

If you are interested in DIY cob lights, iv'e started a thread that is about creating a super efficient cob light:

https://www.icmag.com/ic/showthread.php?t=287557

My cabinet has exactly your size, so we have a similar situation.

 

[cocogrower]

This is very true although my electricity bill is being paid for with rent at my current place.

Also I understand the logic with the LED's. The only downside on that is that LED technology is upgrading so fast that these cree chips might be obsolete/inefficient in a few months and I will want to upgrade anyways. Doubt they will actually be used by anyone for more than a few years.

I might do the CMH bulb initially and then add 2 LEDS on the sight for supplementary lighting if I can control heat well enough with the 315W.

So instead you choose to buy a cmh that's less efficiant and has worse spectrum? Are you even saving money by doing that?

Guess you are one of those guys who uses two cans and a wire instead of a smartphone? Jokes aside, my vote goes for a DIY cob. Look at what the 3070 are capable of. Also the heat from the cmh will be a pain in your ass!

 

[clp]

So instead you choose to buy a cmh that's less efficiant and has worse spectrum? Are you even saving money by doing that?

Guess you are one of those guys who uses two cans and a wire instead of a smartphone? Jokes aside, my vote goes for a DIY cob. Look at what the 3070 are capable of. Also the heat from the cmh will be a pain in your ass!

for 300+ watts I'll be saving several hundred dollars and it'll be a plug and play solution vs tons of research and building. I sure would love to give LED a try though!

Heats definitely an issue.. That was the one reason I'm leaning towards absorbing the extra LED cost.

 

[StoopheadFred]

I've got 2x 150w cmh setups. They're not nearly as cool as people make then out to be.

Honestly if you just get eBay parts and don't get stuck in getting the highest bin or most efficient setup you can build an led setup for less than anything else.

EBay makes it easy. All you need is a 50w chip, 50w driver, and some cords and a heatsink. If you have a pc recycling place near you the last bits can be found for pennies.

Driver = 13
45 mil led chip = 7
Random bits = 5 or less

But do what ya want, HID lights are on their way out with the way LEDS have been advancing in both price and performance. You'd be investing in an outdated technology.