Are your expensive LED lights holding up long term ??

Guest · Aug 5, 2020

Im curious how growers who have spent money on what they expected to be lights that last for quite a few years are experiencing.

I ask because I just today had a relatively cheap Meanwell GSC40B 1400 fail on a HLG 65 clone and seedling light fail. Luckily I had a spare one since I have 3 of these for small cabs and one I had replaced the driver with a meanwell driver I could dim. I ordered a spare just in case today since the 4K board is fine a samsung QB96 a couple years old and like I said I have 3 of them. Back up and running. My primary light in my small grow is a Timber kit I built the frame for and has 4 cree cxb3590 cob lights. Its served me will and I have added a 660 cree kit and a 730 kit from Rapid they no longer offer as kits. Each kit also has a small Meanwell driver along with the main driver for the cxb3590 cob's.

I guess my question is or does anyone keep a spare driver around for their lights in case of failure? I have seen meanwell drivers in industry and they hold up but eventually all fail and my guess is the LEDs I have will outlive the drivers but Id like to hear the experiences of those who have bought quality LED lights, parts and kits.

Mars Hydro Led · Aug 5, 2020

The defective rate of meanwell driver is 1/10000. It is very durable. We have sold thousands of meanwell driver lights. So far, there is no case. So i suppose there is no need to prepare spare meanwell driver.

SuperBadGrower · Aug 5, 2020

The HLG series of drivers, used by most, is a higher quality than the GSC you mentioned. I do own backup strips and cobs, but no backup drivers. Those high watt models are too expensive to just have on supply.

the HLGs used to have a 5 year warrantly, a few years ago they changed it to 7 or 8... shows their confidence in the product.

Koondense · Aug 5, 2020

My HLGs are four years old and workike on day one. Excellent drivers

Switcher56 · Aug 5, 2020

stewart169 said:
Im curious how growers who have spent money on what they expected to be lights that last for quite a few years are experiencing.

I ask because I just today had a relatively cheap Meanwell GSC40B 1400 fail on a HLG 65 clone and seedling light fail. Luckily I had a spare one since I have 3 of these for small cabs and one I had replaced the driver with a meanwell driver I could dim. I ordered a spare just in case today since the 4K board is fine a samsung QB96 a couple years old and like I said I have 3 of them. Back up and running. My primary light in my small grow is a Timber kit I built the frame for and has 4 cree cxb3590 cob lights. Its served me will and I have added a 660 cree kit and a 730 kit from Rapid they no longer offer as kits. Each kit also has a small Meanwell driver along with the main driver for the cxb3590 cob's.

I guess my question is or does anyone keep a spare driver around for their lights in case of failure? I have seen meanwell drivers in industry and they hold up but eventually all fail and my guess is the LEDs I have will outlive the drivers but Id like to hear the experiences of those who have bought quality LED lights, parts and kits.

Not, topic related but in general, many carry spares, not limited to drivers but, fans, lights and filters.

Guest · Aug 5, 2020

Switcher56 said:
Not, topic related but in general, many carry spares, not limited to drivers but, fans, lights and filters.

I have a spare filter and fan because my last grow was so stinky I had to upgrade it. Kept the old stuff, phresh filter, S&P fan, for back up and I got it out and plugged it in the room while I was harvesting last time. In the burbs cant be to careful. :friends:

q3corn · Aug 5, 2020

I think the diodes are going to wear down faster than the drivers. I think Migro posted something about older lights and they lose about 10% of their efficiency in a year? I never noticed and I made it almost 3 years with my Timber lights with citizen leds.

SupraSPL · Sep 11, 2020

HLGs and CXB3590s that have been running nonstop since 2015 and zero failures and no losss in performance.

The cheap $1 100K potentiometers do fail though and need to be replaced from time to time. I should have bought Bourns.

Chi13 · Sep 11, 2020

I've owned a couple of LEDs and wished I'd bought something different both times.

A Mars 700 2, that still works after about 4 years, no problem just not a great light. As an intro to LEDs it was alright. Performed as well as a 400w HPS but if I had my time over I wouldn't have bought it.

I also bought an Optic 4 which has a combo of cobs and single LEDs. Anyway a great light, accept I was halfway through a grow and all but the cobs stopped working. It was covered by warranty but I live in Australia and they had to send the part from the US. To their credit I got the replacement part which I had to install myself. All good now for about 2 years and I get good results. I always have this dread that the thing will fail a second time.

Guest · Sep 11, 2020

I need to get some readings from my Apogee meter for future reference for my CXB and the HLG boards. Im curious now if there is degradation of quality LEDs over time by documentation be it LEDs or drivers.

Brother Nature · Sep 11, 2020

I doubt you'll have to worry about the meanwell drivers, though I've only used the HLG ones as they are actually built for horticultural purposes among other high stress environments. In my last run I had a power outage for about 48 hours in early veg and didn't get home until about 6 hours into it, the entire tent was full of condensation, the plants, driver and cobs were all soaked. I wiped down the driver and cobs before turning the power back on (when it came back) and haven't had any issues since. I did preemptively replace all the wiring though as I noticed a bit of degradation on the wires a couple days after the failure. I also can't imagine it was great for the cobs as I run them uncovered, but the cost of cob replacements versus hps bulbs makes it inconsequential. Two years ago I even had an issue with my 60w HLG Cree combo where an above pipe had burst, spilling water all over the top of my small tent filling the cob lens with water and soaking every electrical part on that setup. I still use that light setup for my clones and early veg tent and haven't noticed it producing anything of lesser quality. It's always good to keep spares though and I would if I could afford it, but all in all Led tech seems to be a lot more resilient than what we used previously.

SupraSPL · Sep 11, 2020

Lumen depreciation for LEDs very much depends on junction temperature and the time spent at that temperature.

This is from a July 2020 Cree PDF regarding lumen maintenance of the CXB3590 using data from 2018. They ran the COB at 75W with a case temperature of 105C (221F) and after 11000 hours of testing they estimate lumen maintenance will above 90% for more than 61000 hours (the maximum projection allowed) of use at that temperature (14 years of flowering).

I run mine at about 30C (86F) so it is possible to set them up for essentially zero depreciation for decades. LED output can increase during the first 1000 hours of use. I am curious if that time period is extended at low currents.

https://www.cree.com/led-components/media/documents/LM80_Results.pdf

Mars Hydro Led · Sep 11, 2020

Chi13 said:
I've owned a couple of LEDs and wished I'd bought something different both times.

A Mars 700 2, that still works after about 4 years, no problem just not a great light. As an intro to LEDs it was alright. Performed as well as a 400w HPS but if I had my time over I wouldn't have bought it.

I also bought an Optic 4 which has a combo of cobs and single LEDs. Anyway a great light, accept I was halfway through a grow and all but the cobs stopped working. It was covered by warranty but I live in Australia and they had to send the part from the US. To their credit I got the replacement part which I had to install myself. All good now for about 2 years and I get good results. I always have this dread that the thing will fail a second time.

wow, you could use Mars II 700 for 4 years. That's amazing. You must maintain the light well. :good:

We have stopped producing it for a year. There are some new quantum board style lights coming out on our site. :biggrin:

GOT_BUD? · Sep 11, 2020

q3corn said:
I think the diodes are going to wear down faster than the drivers. I think Migro posted something about older lights and they lose about 10% of their efficiency in a year? I never noticed and I made it almost 3 years with my Timber lights with citizen leds.

I'm in year 3 with my Vero 29s from Timber. Still quite happy with them.

Dion · Oct 4, 2020

Chi13 said:
I've owned a couple of LEDs and wished I'd bought something different both times.

A Mars 700 2, that still works after about 4 years, no problem just not a great light. As an intro to LEDs it was alright. Performed as well as a 400w HPS but if I had my time over I wouldn't have bought it.

I also bought an Optic 4 which has a combo of cobs and single LEDs. Anyway a great light, accept I was halfway through a grow and all but the cobs stopped working. It was covered by warranty but I live in Australia and they had to send the part from the US. To their credit I got the replacement part which I had to install myself. All good now for about 2 years and I get good results. I always have this dread that the thing will fail a second time.

Hey mate I'm also down under,

If U do run into trouble I'd be happy to fix it or upgrade it for U free of charge , just as long as U pay parts and post

Smth to ease ur mind I hope

Sorry off topic

I have never bought an led so can't comment on that

Dion · Oct 4, 2020

Mars Hydro Led said:
wow, you could use Mars II 700 for 4 years. That's amazing. You must maintain the light well.
We have stopped producing it for a year. There are some new quantum board style lights coming out on our site.

This is great

U ar surprised you lights last 4 years, let's dive deeper

So ur warranty on ur site states 1 year free, and 3 years limited.

Most ppls experience with that warranty is you send replacement drivers when they fail and customers have to do the factory work themselves (most don't know how) in the first year. Any other issue you request they send it back to China(shipping is almost 1/3 of the sale price ) and after your engineer takes a look you want them to pay for parts plus shipping back to them, essentially making it cheaper to just buy a new light

3 years limited means you will ignore Thier emails after 1 year anyway

And your surprise here just shows that your lights arnt designed to last

I really appreciate your honesty, I'm just expanding on what U said for ppl to understand clearly

Think of me like a translator

radioman · Oct 4, 2020

I don't trust cheap electronics from China. I thought about buying a LED light this past summer for a plant that I didn't put out with the others. I just couldn't after seeing that all the LED's that I looked into were made in China. No I would rather stick to my Made in America Hydrofarm Metal Halide & HPS lights - Yes I know that they are "Old Technology" - but I'm old- I'm probably the oldest grower here. They have worked for Me for years - Why should I switch? I just scored a new Hydrofarm Agrosun Gold 400 watt MH bulb that the local Agriculutral store never sold & I have a 4 month old Sonagrow Red 430 watt HPS bulb in my Hydrofarm HPS unit. I suppose if these lights ever failed Me that I would look into buying more lights. I actually like the heat because I use them in a cool room in the winter. No cheap made Chinese light for Me - I made a mistake & bought a Chinese electrical part for my car & it didn't last. I'm afraid if I bought a Chinese made light it would burn the house down when I wasn't there. This is just my opinion & I don't wish to cause any confrontation...

Guest · Oct 4, 2020

Mars Hydro Led said:
wow, you could use Mars II 700 for 4 years. That's amazing. You must maintain the light well.
We have stopped producing it for a year. There are some new quantum board style lights coming out on our site.

I flat out refuse to willingly and knowingly buy ANYTHING made in china simply because they inflicted this virus on the world.

unregistered190 · Oct 4, 2020

Mars Hydro Led said:
wow, you could use Mars II 700 for 4 years. That's amazing. You must maintain the light well.
We have stopped producing it for a year. There are some new quantum board style lights coming out on our site.

:yay: He said it was not a great light and wouldn’t buy again if they had a chance to do over.

Mars Hydro are entry level lights....cheap and essentially no warranty (that is honored). You get what you pay for.

ElGato · Oct 4, 2020

So, on LED fixtures do the Diodes fade over time? what is the part that would usually go bad on an LED fixture? the Diodes? or the Driver? ...Both?

I am considering building a new Cabinet outfitted with LED lighting so this is of serious concern to me, I don't want to spend $300 + on a light just to have to replace it 3 years down the road ...especially since I already have a couple spare 400w hps fixtures.

Are your expensive LED lights holding up long term ??

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