[GP73LPC]

hmm, some sites say 3 years, some say 5...

the manufacturer says 3...

[grow101]

It would be a weird pattern in this case, but some lights feature LEDs with 740nm (far red - flower induction), which could show up as defective if your camera uses an IR-filter in front of it's chip. If you had visible light from those LEDs in question before, then they are broken of course.

[GP73LPC]

thanks to T_B_M for these photos...


blackstar 240W on a kill-a-watt, only 133 watts




and an 240 watt from Growledhydro, pulling 245...

[*mr.mike*]

It's kind of unfair to measure these things using a kill-o-watt, simply because LEDs run on current, and not watts.

I use some 3 Watt LEDs. Well, 3 Watt at the full 1400 mA they're rated for... I'm only using them at a "longer lasting" 1000mA, and they're doing exactly what I wanted from my design. I'm sure the Watt usage is lower.

There's just more "under the hood" in LED units than what can be easily (or willfully) explained by those selling them. Just look at a UHaul truck... the speedometer goes up to 95, but the speed governor keeps it at 65, max.

[T_B_M]

Originally Posted by *mr.mike*

It's kind of unfair to measure these things using a kill-o-watt, simply because LEDs run on current, and not watts.

I use some 3 Watt LEDs. Well, 3 Watt at the full 1400 mA they're rated for... I'm only using them at a "longer lasting" 1000mA, and they're doing exactly what I wanted from my design. I'm sure the Watt usage is lower.

There's just more "under the hood" in LED units than what can be easily (or willfully) explained by those selling them. Just look at a UHaul truck... the speedometer goes up to 95, but the speed governor keeps it at 65, max.

What are you talking about? You do know (current x voltage = watts) right? The more the current, the higher the watts, and vise versa. Also, current and voltage correlate to one another with the LEDs. IE: More voltage = more current. This is why I posted the Blackstar vs. GLH 240W arrays. People say Blackstar works ok, but they lie and it is not a 240W light. It draws 100W less than they advertise (because they too drive them lower than the max rating because no LEDs can last the 50,000 hrs. at max power rating), pretty pathetic.

So using a Kill-A-Watt is giving you the actual current draw, but at the AC side. There are some losses due to the driver circuitry and also the fans that are being powered. So the actual power of LED output would be LOWER than the Kill-A-Watt reading. Also, I would like to note that input power for LEDs does not equal output power for LEDs. The true way to build a light is to provide the correct PPFD in the terms of micromoles per meter square per second. But you won't see any of these retailers giving you that data because they are not engineers. Youd think they would want to IMPROVE their designs and buy a spectroradiometer.

You get what you pay for, which is why the Blackstar is cheap and the GLH is more expensive. More power = more money. Most would think they are both 240W lights, but in reality the Blackstar did some number magic to make less informed people THINK they are getting the same power out of their light as the more expensive lights at the same wattage rating.

[SOTF420]

The Lumigrow ES 165 is a 3 year total warranty.

The bigger ES 330 is a bit overbuilt I think and thus they trust it enough to give it a whopping 5 year warranty, both very good timeframes imo to get alot of dank usage from them!

Never have had any issues at all with my Lumigrow 330's that have been running for like over 2 years now & they are bulletproof, they also use the stated amount of power.

Much love friends

[GP73LPC]

member HempyGuy used an Amp Probe and Fluke meter to determine the following:

Procyon 100 - 110 watts
TI SmartLamp ProBloom - 330 watts

[uptosumpn]

interesting thread..provides nuff info and myths busting for sure!!

[GP73LPC]

phaeton confirmed an HGL 336 Penetrator Pro @ 462 watts (lights, includes no fans)...

I applaud you guys for taking the mfrs to task on their wattage claims. There is no standard here, nor is there much of a regulatory watchdog for rating LED fixtures for horti use (other than youse guys), so its good to dig for the truth and it helps us all. If the advertised power is less than the actual draw, this means MARKETING is in play and caveat emptor. If they lie about the power, what other shortcuts have been taken? Any claims such as "equivalent to x HPS" have no definable meaning and as such are marketing as well.

My only comment is to point out the obvious that power draw isn't enough data to make assumptions about the light output of a fixture, or the quality of the light, but its enough to get a rough number, and certainly is useful for comparisons simply because there isn't much difference in the design of these fixtures and they all have about the same "guts", frankly, speaking of power only. So there is statistical correlation between common design's power draw and output, but power draw does not tell you how good the spectrum is or how well the dispersion or penetration, as you all realize. So don't get too hung up on power. We still need to see how good they grow, and the cream will rise to the top.

your humble servant stratmandu; EE, musician, grower, consumer of fine herbs, and, oh yeah LED experimenter-developer.