New Gear :-)

villain420247 · Oct 17, 2013

This is gonna be fun stuff. Room is under construction right now, but will have 3 new tables set up in < 2 weeks and run these 6 next to 6k HPS with the same proven genetics I have been running for many years.
I'll start up a mirrored journal off my blog in the forum once I got the construction finished and these beasts hung.
I am stoked

villain420247 · Oct 29, 2013

Room almost done. Should be under these things soon:

ChrisStomata · Oct 30, 2013

Looking great! Good luck and I'll be following your progress

biggoron · Oct 30, 2013

It will be interesting to see what these lights do en masse. Clean looking set up, will definitely check in on this.

NeWcS · Nov 7, 2013

How about an update. Looks great.

villain420247 · Nov 7, 2013

Full room re-model is still underway, but I have the area with the LEDs quarantined off with plastic and got plants under over the last 2 nights. One is a 4x8 table that spent the first 4 weeks under HID, the other is a bunch of (too tall in veg) SourDiesel, GSC, and a few Headband. The fresh table (all are 4x8) will get planted tonight with some Cannatonic and probably a few Trainwreck to fill the space out (first run on the tonic for a patient...so I dunno how it grows).
The lights are certainly bright. I get a good light coverage with 2 of them over a 4x8, but the side light from running them next to each other seems to help as well. I'll shoot some pics tonight and start keeping this updated.

villain420247 · Nov 7, 2013

Okay - a few for now to start with - working on new trellis' tonight and continuing the remodel, but these should keep it spicy

(flowering plants were under HIDs (and too close to them) for the first 4 weeks, they have been under the LEDs for only 3 days currently).

a little cookie nug

headband (...the real one - daywrecker style)

#1cheesebuds · Nov 7, 2013

wow wow they look so dam good n healthy. I just gotta get me an LED light system.

villain420247 · Nov 7, 2013

Yeah - I am diggin em. Significantly less heat - basically with that tarp'd off area, 6 lights running, with zero ventilation has the room at 82deg (thermometer sitting on the wall a bit out from under the lights, so when the reading is right under the light (10" away - it was 10deg warmer). With proper air circulation and intake/exhaust for the room - it sits at about 76...and with the window AC on I can go down to where it's 60ish in the shade. and when run on 220v, I can run a grip of them on a 200amp circuit. That will change once the rest of the remodel is complete (under 2 weeks away), as the tarps will drop and there is a full 900sq ft open.
We will see what things are like with these 6 and 6 HIDs running on the other side of the space. As I am having to plan the new venting system for the HID lights...it makes me appreciate the ability to just hang and go with the LEDs as well.

I have a feeling I will be all LED soon...but we will see what these things can do with a couple cycles first before I drop the cash for another 6-8 of them.

Mikenite69 · Nov 7, 2013

Wow villain that's is a shitload of money and led lights you spent! I am gonna follow along to I am very interested in led lighting also I have some myself I am using a 600w hps with 2 300w led lights on both sides. The spectrum looks crazy as hell the mixed spectrum. Your temps I really don't think will be to bad of a issue because they say you can run a led room hotter than hps because LEDs don't throw off a ton of radiant heat like hps does. Peace mike

NeWcS · Nov 8, 2013

Looking good man. Nice clean setup. As a fellow LED grower I'll be watching.

bombadil.360 · Nov 8, 2013

insane amount of led, wow! why did you go with the blackdog? any specific reasons?

there seem to be panels just as good and for way less money.

still, looking awesome, will get super interesting when you start a new cycle straight under the led.

peace!

villain420247 · Nov 8, 2013

Blackdog - cause in my research I thought they were the best option to be an alternative to the 2 - 1k HPS over a 4x8 that I have been running for many years. I had come down to the california lightworks and the blackdog and knew I needed a bunch of them to scale to what my build will ultimately be.
I went blackdog based on:
- Talking to some folks that had used the big-ass platinum units, as well as a bunch of the vids and posts I found where people were getting solid results, and reading the tested PAR results and such for those units specifically
- Their pull of true power out of the wall (they are either the only or one of the few pulling a full 750w+ I believe?)
- They are based out of Boulder and I live down the street

So not only do I get to support a local company, but have good local support, etc.
- Their size/footprint/structure theoretically worked best for my space

...I could probably come up with more of my logic - but curious as to what qualify as just as good of panels for way less cash? I am always open to opinions and playing with new stuff

New cycle of the Diesel just started in there - but those things are going to get way too big. The fresh table will be planted this weekend and the log can begin!

bombadil.360 · Nov 9, 2013

villain, thanks for the answer, I understand your reasons very well now; just went over again the blackdog's specifications to refresh my memory, and they do indeed seem like a very solid lamp from a solid company. them being so close to you is also a very deciding factor.

my only complaint is the price, I guess that has to do more with my personal tendency of what I'm willing to pay than anything else.

been eying these myself:

http://www.alibaba.com/product-gs/1316883272/2013_high_quality_5w_chip_full.html

a bit less power each than the blackdogs, but you could buy around 4 of those for the price of one blackdog.

the only downside of these is that I've yet to see a grow report using them... unlike the blackdogs that have a solid record already.

very hard to decide on which led to buy!

much peace!

villain420247 · Nov 9, 2013

^^ Legit. They a'int cheap

but I already felt like it was risky enough to deviate from 20+yrs of tried-and-true, so I performance was more important to me than the $$$...especially given the plants being grown and the patients I am growing for.
Also - FWIW - the retail pricing on a single unit goes down a bit when you are buying bunches of them...so while a 6-light setup is certainly not inexpensive by any stretch of the imagination, it's not 'quite' as brutal as multiplying their Platinum XLU price by 6 (or whatever)

Lastly, I also noticed - not that this is your only qualifier or driving metric necessarily, but an interesting note between those you linked and the BlackDog is the weight...the BDs are about 4.5x heavier for each unit. Pretty sure that's the massive heat-sink in the BDs making that delta. And (if I am reading those specs correctly...which maybe I am not), the BDs are using 5w LEDs vs. the 3w bulbs in the CTL (despite them listing a 5w chip, they list 120x3w LEDs). So at least there are some differences for your comparison as you continue your search!

If you aren't on the fence to purchase immediately - hang tight and let's see how those Diesels and GSC run under em. And I am getting the Cannatonic and Trainwreck under the LEDs this weekend. So by new years we should have a pretty good gauge from this 6-light test run.
Hopefully my lack of fiscal responsibility and dedication to trying to grow the very best cannabis I can possibly cultivate, are of help to you in your quest my friend!

bombadil.360 · Nov 9, 2013

hello villain!

thanks for the informative reply. did not notice the weight difference as well as the discrepancies in the chinese led listing the panel as 3w on one place and 5w on another... not rare at all to find similar discrepancies in their list of details all over ali, makes it harder to make a decision.

I'm not in a hurry to buy a led lamp, been wanting to get one since the evo from spain came out and seeing a nice grow reported, was about to pre-order a new version they were supposed to make, but which never did, and even closed down from what I can gather, good thing I did not pre-order as I know someone who did and never got his lamp, dunno if he got his money back either?

did you consider any other american made lamp? like the area51? those look sweet too, granted, way smaller than those blackdogs xl.

I'll be tuned to this grow.

thanks again!

peace!

villain420247 · Nov 11, 2013

I still don't have the watering system hooked up to the center table and have to deal with some new auto-siphoning issues based on my new layout (pain in the ass...i'm going to create a bleed in one of the connectors in the tank and see if that puts enough air in the line to stop the siphon and is still small enough to allow water to pass by under pressure...any recommendations are welcome), but the tables under the LEDs are full

The center table is mostly Cannatonic and is a cut I have not run before. There are 3 Headband in the back and 3 Trainwreck in the front (both of those are cuts I have grown for years...my Trainwreck just now back in my garden). While I won't be able to dial them in with different nutrient strengths and such, I will be able to flush at different times given the run-to-waste setup.

(iPhone pics. I'll shoot with the Canon later.)

ThaMagnificent · Nov 11, 2013

Very impressive Villian! In your experience, is there an optimal LED spectrum to use?

villain420247 · Nov 11, 2013

ThaMagnificent said:
Very impressive Villian! In your experience, is there an optimal LED spectrum to use?

Honestly - no experience thus far - this is my first run with LED. I just figured I would go big or go home

ThaMagnificent · Nov 12, 2013

well in that case, congratulations on the success!

New Gear :-)

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