The best technology of LED lightining at moment 2020?

Shall we reboot this thread without the shill at the start?

Which led manufacturer/seller has the best lights? Or some good bad ones?

What is everyone's thoughts on adding spectrum?
We discussed CRI, UV, Emerson effect (660nm+IR)

Does it work? What to look for in a fixture? Does the diode matter? What ratio for emerson? U running just at lights out or all through the day or other?

what is the best IR wavelength for our favourite plant? (720nm,730nm, wide band infrared? )


And who has the goodies and how are they holding up?(diode recommendations, light recommendations and warnings ect )


It's almost 2021
I dunno if there is interest in this type of conversation or if it's just gonna be bro science and trolls as they say but either way let's have some fun

Let's share what we have found out so far


I'll be adding to this soon

Tnx for all your opinions and experience

HLG are still the best.

i would say MIGRO.. using old 100wat led cob light and i love it!!
now has ARAY witch i think it’s even better light

then luxx,mammoth lightning, lumatek zeus....

Hlg

2nd that

I'm having luck with Forever Green Indoors Uniformity Pros.

HLG or Quantum Boards. Been waiting for months to see the new 648 QB’s back in stock. I’m gutting a first generation 550V2. Going to put a HLG600H-54A with four Qb 648.

If I couldn’t have Qb’s then COB leds would be my second choice. The Cree CXB3590 are every bit as good as Quantum Boards.

My opinion - the best led companies and some models
Chilled Led, Growcraft series
Lumatek, Zeus PRO
Gavita, Pro 1700


others just below the top three
Migro, Aray series
HLG qboard designs
Fluence spydrx
Solstrips
...



Cheers

Another interesting video from MIGRO. Not best, but best value.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=otofcQZ8cUI

That Geekbeast light has my interest piqued...

..... .

growers choice roi e-720's, HLG diablo 650r are nice too.

im still waiting for flower light that uses blue light to increase anthocyanin and essential oil production.

very common hort practice to use blue leds last 2-3 weeks to get colors to pop.


also using far red that IS NOT 730 nm. the exact wavelength which stimulates plant shade avoidance response...

Have you considered using supplemental uvr8 last 4 weeks of flower to increase essential oil production. I'm currently waiting to test out the new fixture from migrow.com

Pow_ said:

Have you considered using supplemental uvr8 last 4 weeks of flower to increase essential oil production. I'm currently waiting to test out the new fixture from migrow.com

Click to expand...

Yes, but it seems like a much less favorable way to achieve the same goal. UV light provides very little photosynthetically useable light and due to the higher intensity of the light is extremely stressful to the plant, whereas blue is an absorption peak . Yes, blue is stressful (the stress causes the increse in oil and anthocyanin production) but it is less so thanUV, and at least the plant is effectively able to use the light for PS.

IF UV light was better than blue, I'm sure the standard horticultural industry would pick it up, but they dont. Only ever heard of UV light being used for cannabis, which pretty much implies snake oil.

eyesdownchronic said:

Yes, but it seems like a much less favorable way to achieve the same goal. UV light provides very little photosynthetically useable light and due to the higher intensity of the light is extremely stressful to the plant, whereas blue is an absorption peak . Yes, blue is stressful (the stress causes the increse in oil and anthocyanin production) but it is less so thanUV, and at least the plant is effectively able to use the light for PS.

IF UV light was better than blue, I'm sure the standard horticultural industry would pick it up, but they dont. Only ever heard of UV light being used for cannabis, which pretty much implies snake oil.

Click to expand...

https://news.californialightworks.com/uvb-light-and-thc-potency/

Note: That link was 2016 if it were true everyone would be doing it

HLG or Next Light in my personal opinion.

SuperWeed said:

https://news.californialightworks.com/uvb-light-and-thc-potency/

Click to expand...

Have to take this info with a grain of salt, being that it originated from an led lighting company which heavily upcharges their shit. plus calinfornia light works kinda sucks, theyre still using old school blurple shit.

And you really need to pay attention to the data presented. 30%increased terpenes vs what? just a standard hps light; vs straight white led light. If they had an expirement with a solid control, and then multiple variable trials. so like white with uvb v white with blue. or something like that.

Blurple design was really out of style. Few people still use it in 2020.

I see branding a little differently. I'm not really concerned with who assembled it, just as long as the right parts are present. At the moment I'm playing about with QB's. So I want leds from the Samsung lm301 series. There is no point trying to save any money there. Any addition red could even more efficient, but there is a big price incentive to fit midrange 660nm rather than the really high efficiency options. Which still carry fairly exotic prices.
Once I have my eye on a nice board, I want to see it on a finned heatsink. Some brands just use a flat sheet of alloy. Cooling is important. I did a thread showing how my fans produced my lumen's per watt than the 3umol/J lights. The short version is the leds ran cooler so more efficient. It was a sizable gain. So I like good cooling and the idea my lights are a nice black anodised alloy extrusion, not some rolled plate.
Now a driver is needed. From a lighting manufacturers viewpoint, it's actually easy to make them light up. The hard part is reducing the radio based interference they give off. Much like the early 600w sodium electronic ballasts. Any cheap offering will of cut corners. We had a well known manufacturer come on here with their new ballast and it became quite a thread. It was going to get doors kicked in and he didn't care. He didn't even understand the issue and refused to tell us the answers to any testing we had him do. Stick to Meanwell there is really no other choice at any decent power level. Put cost aside and the big names like Orsam and Philips have them, but at such cost.

Hanging them is a whole different thread and without seeing an intended space to use I just don't know. I do however like the big £500 500w 6 cob box on Amazon. It lists the right parts iirc but I would really want it to blow out the lid not the side. I don't know which it is. That would suit a meter and send the heat to the filter. Though more and more I like 120-150w units at 4 per meter. Or compact domestic lamps (~14w led) for microgrows where you have time


If you want to them improve the spectrum and see results both with&without them you can use extra lighting. The humble incandescent lamp is rubbish at visible light because it's great at the IR end of the spectrum. It's rise in efficiency starts where most leds fixtures start to fall off. It it were a crossover slope picture on the front of some 90's speakers you would have them. They have a nice 'flat line' like response right past 800 and beyond. In this job, nothing could really be any more efficient than the old school Edison.
If you want further than blue, a reptibulb (or was that reptilight?) 10+ offers a meters worth of UV for £30. Just get a pigtail lamp and dangle it in a white conical hood. UV doesn't reflect well and though many will sell you alloy and stainless hoods, it's not very effective unless painted white.
Then fit a switch so you can turn it off when in the area.

You will find the incandescent makes led plants more elongated like sodium grown ones. Not as pronounced a difference but the lamps are a usable tool. UV.. I dunno. I have messed about but still have no real answer.

Just purchased the Gavita 1700e. I've seen quite a few grows with these that were stellar.