[WishMeLuck]

Dear experienced LED growers!

I need to buy grow lights to a 79inch x 39inch (2meter*1meter) closet.
Please help me decide which one should I choose! 2*LED lights or 2*400W HPS?

I like to have a four plant ScrOG in a four bucket flood and drain system. This will be my first time..

I make a research and find out that LED lights are promising, but find a few posts and videos on YouTube from people who had bad experience with them. I was doing a lot of search here in the forum and find alot of nice LED grows.

I know that if I want a good LED light I need to forget those cheap eBay ones.

But before I buy one of those very expensive ones I like to ask some questions.

I live outside of US so it would be much more expensive for me to buy LEDs from US. That’s why I choose HGL (hydrogrowled.com) because they have distributors in UK and Europe.

Is it a good grow light? Should I trust HGL? Anyone have any feedback about these lights?

Which one would be better for my 79inch x 39inch (2meter*1meter) closet?
2 x HGL Penetrator 336X
Sale price: 2 x $1500
336 x 1W LEDs
320W Power Consumption
Dimensions: 23.5” x 23.5” x 3”
Coverage Area: 48” x 48” @ 24” high

Or:

2 x HGL Penetrator 189X-PRO
Sale price: 2 x $1300
189 x 3W LEDs
290W Power Consumption
Dimensions: 17.5” x 17.5” x 3”
Coverage Area: 36” x 36” @ 24” high


Should I choose the larger panel with 1W LEDs, larger coverage and a slightly higher power consumption?
Or the smaller panel with 3W LEDs, smaller coverage and lower power consumption?

Or forget about this very expensive lights and buy 2 x cheap 400W HPS?! Maybe my fan can handle the additional heat what the two HPS generate and won't get much louder.

I’m going to have an oversized 500m3/h wooden boxed fan and a 500m3/h carbon filter and I’m going to push used air outside of the house via the chimney. The closet volume is 5.2m3 (184ft³).

I like to have those LEDs, and I belive that LED is the future, less heat and power consumption, quieter fans, etc. But what if they’re not working? Or not working as good as the cheap HPS? It would be a very expensive learning for me!

I’m looking for Your advise, Guys!

Sorry for my english!

[ClosetAdvocate]

I'd say if you can handle the heat go with the HPS. What you save on the light and bulbs you'll be able to offset the electricity consumption and maybe a fan or two.

If you decide to go the LED route. I'd vote for the higher wattage LED. LED's don't penetrate the canopy very well so if you had more than you needed that'd be a good thing.

If money was no concern go with the two larger LEDs.

[vukman]

Best and only way is to search......search about HGL..the owner/operator...serach other LED retailers...search where they get their lights from...99% come from China....don't care who says what...the retailers know it's true.
Ultimately, it's your money...as ClosetAdvocate says...if money is not an issue, why go with smaller LED's..If heat isn't an issue...go with 1000w HID's, not 400's............
Something seems a little off about this whole thread but I always keep an open mind and try to help whenever and wherever I can...

Good Luck
vukman

[analogue]

start off with HPS if you haven't grown anything yet.

get a few grows in first, before thinking about upgrading your lights.

[medmaker420]

do more research on the different leds, the different types as some are modular and others are single units.

any led light company who says they make them, ask to see pics and describe their manufacturing department else they get them from the same exact led manufacturers as the rest of them.

I would locate the "model and style" and locate who has one with the SPECTRUM ( very important to look into and not just the style as each company can and does offer different ones ) and the price you are looking for. Also there are plenty of led distributors across the pond and you can even odds are call up the manufacturers of those hydro grow leds and get the same exact spectrum but for a better price.

[WishMeLuck]

Thanks for Your quick reply ClosetAdvocate and vukman!

"If money was no concern" - It is. A have to sell my car to buy those LEDs. I'm not rich unfortunately. It's a pretty important decision for me to make.

I only thinking about LED because:

• It has lower power consumption (I do not want to arouse suspicion. Cheaper in the long run)
• It has better wavelength to photosynthesis (allegedly)
• To maximize yield (allegedly)
• To have my fan operating at the lowest speed to reduce unwanted noises
• To getting the best out of my system

@analogue: Thank You for your opinion. It's reasonable.

If nothing else matters I would put in two 600W’s. It’s much cheaper and I’m sure it would meet my expectations. But it has approx. 1350W power consumption with the ballasts and I cannot imagine what kind of heat do light bulbs produce in a small closet like 79” x 39”. Maybe I can handle the heat with my over-sized vent if I run it on high speed, but it will generate more noise.

@medmaker420: First of all thanks for Your reply!
I was thinking about make my own LED light. I decided to copy an existing product on the market. I searched for led distributors on the web and the prices I found were not too friendly. If I was built almost the same product what I copied then it almost cost me the same as the real product. E.g. it would cost me $1200 instead of $1500. ..and what if I can’t make it right and it’s not as good as the original? The original has 60° LEDs. I only find 120° power LEDs, so I had to buy 60° lenses to all of my LEDs. And it wouldn’t be as good as an original 60° LED.

Another thing is the spectrum. Every manufacturer say different about wavelengths. And they make different product also. One says 6-band another says 15-band. One says white/orange not needed another put white/orange LEDs into the product.
I need real people opinion like You and vukman who have real experience about LED growing. I see a ton of manufacturer’s videos with beautiful plants and statistics and read a lot of promising words but I really need the truth. Which one is worth the price?

Best Regards,
WishMeLuck