The Next LED Rage: Quality White LED Tubes

PetFlora · Jun 21, 2013

During my IC absence I have been experimenting using only household led globes. Specifically

1 Utilitech WW RP (remote phosphor) @ 22w
1 Philips WW RP @ 17w
2 Utilitech WW SM (surface mount) @ 7w with globes removed

I replaced the 7w with CREE 9.5w WW

The original plan was to double the number of bulbs with the same bulbs, but the LED market is moving incredibly fast, and although I have very good results vegging 2 clones under this set up, I decided to change it up and go with 4ft LED tubes. Why?

For one thing, globes are point source - intensity falls quickly after ~ 10" which is why I planned to double up on them

Tubes provide an even spectrum balance across the entire canopy and can be positioned closer to the tops

I bought 2 Utilitech shop light fixtures (the T8 is sturdier than the T12!) and 4 iBright 4 ft @ 18w/ @ $35/, not bad when you consider I was paying ~ $30 per (including shipping for 54w aquarium HOT5s). Based on my last grow with globes + a R:B ufo 90, 23 w is not too dissimilar

Within 4 hours of adding them into the mix the plants responded, sending out a lot more pistils

Grow method is Bubbleponics, using 3G buckets with 2 efficient air stones per bucket. Air pump is 35LPM

I trimmed roots for awhile as I had let a few tap roots grow too long. Trimming caused more roots to develop from inside the net pots, BUT, I waited too long to begin trimming; it resulted in full size single blade leafs. Now getting 3 blade with newer leafs 5 blade

Nutes are Hydroponic Research V+B (thanks netprofit!)

Temp only increased 1 degree with 36 more watts, resting at 80 degrees
Plants were flipped from 14/10 to 12/12 on 6/6

No plans to add any blues or reds of any kind are planned. This thread/grow is all about "White Power"

http://www.atgelectronics.com/tube/E58i-LED-Tube-%28HO-Version%29.html

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babelfish · Jun 22, 2013

PetFlora said:
During my IC absence I have been experimenting using only household led globes. Specifically

1 Utilitech WW RP (remote phosphor) @ 22w
1 Philips WW RP @ 17w
2 Utilitech WW SM (surface mount) @ 7w with globes removed

I replaced the 7w with CREE 9.5w WW

The original plan was to double the number of bulbs with the same bulbs, but the LED market is moving incredibly fast, and although I have very good results vegging 2 clones under this set up, I decided to change it up and go with 4ft LED tubes. Why?

For one thing, globes are point source - intensity falls quickly after ~ 10" which is why I planned to double up on them

Tubes provide an even spectrum balance across the entire canopy and can be positioned closer to the tops

I bought 2 Utilitech shop light fixtures (the T8 is sturdier than the T12!) and 4 iBright 4 ft @ 23w/ @ $35/, not bad when you consider I was paying ~ $30 per (including shipping for 54w aquarium HOT5s). Based on my last grow with globes + a R:B ufo 90, 23 w is not too dissimilar

Within 4 hours of adding them into the mix the plants responded, sending out a lot more pistils

Grow method is Bubbleponics, using 3G buckets with 2 efficient air stones per bucket. Air pump is 35LPM

I trimmed roots for awhile as I had let a few tap roots grow too long. Trimming caused more roots to develop from inside the net pots, BUT, I waited too long to begin trimming; it resulted in full size single blade leafs. Now getting 3 blade with newer leafs 5 blade

Nutes are Hydroponic Research V+B (thanks netprofit!)

Temp only increased 1 degree with 46 more watts, resting at 80 degrees
Plants were flipped from 14/10 to 12/12 on 6/6

No plans to add any blues or reds of any kind are planned. This thread/grow is all about "White Power"

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ok, lets have a discussion!!

what are the highest wattages/lumens these go for a given length (2'/4'/6'/8')?

how do the efficacy of these compare to other setups such as hid or standard LED's?

what sort of gpw do you get on these, and in comparison to other types of lights?

could you do a whole grow veg -> harvest with these? (do they make enough spectrums)

Are these all white, or do they have other colors?

tebos · Jun 22, 2013

I don't understand why someone might want to get back to bulbs/tubes, one of the advantages of LEDs is that they emit light just in "one" (<180 degrees) direction and nothing gets wasted because of reflectors/shape of the bulb.

babelfish · Jun 22, 2013

tebos said:
I don't understand why someone might want to get back to bulbs/tubes, one of the advantages of LEDs is that they emit light just in "one" (<180 degrees) direction and nothing gets wasted because of reflectors/shape of the bulb.

to get away from the point source.

PetFlora · Jun 22, 2013

The tubes are 180*. Think high output SM diodes facing one way with 120* angle. The back side is the heat sink

Zoom on photo

http://www.alibaba.com/product-gs/554908810/lowest_price_2012_T8_led_tube.html

Babel some of those questions (that have answers) you should search, I'm not here to answer all questions. Some will happen over time as this grow develops. GPW was never a point or target for me.

For those who want blue and/or red (550) Agro makes em, but $71 per

I can tell you this, pistils are popping everywhere in just 2 days.

I posted the wrong pics I was able to delete them, but not load the correct ones inside this post. see next post

PetFlora · Jun 23, 2013

Photos taken yesterday, even more pistils today (as you would expect), plus plants stretched overnight. In this case, a good thing

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babelfish · Jun 23, 2013

PetFlora said:
The tubes are 180*. Think high output SM diodes facing one way with 120* angle. The back side is the heat sink

Zoom on photo

http://www.alibaba.com/product-gs/554908810/lowest_price_2012_T8_led_tube.html

Babel some of those questions (that have answers) you should search, I'm not here to answer all questions. Some will happen over time as this grow develops. GPW was never a point or target for me.

For those who want blue and/or red (550) Agro makes em, but $71 per

I can tell you this, pistils are popping everywhere in just 2 days.

I posted the wrong pics I was able to delete them, but not load the correct ones inside this post. see next post

hey no worries, I didnt expect all my answers in one place, but figured it couldnt hurt to ask - there's not much info about led tubes just yet. I dream surrounding a girl with LED, so i'll keep a close eye on your grow@!

gpw isnt the end of things, but i meant efficiency of power -> usable light vs heat output. Might be a bit hard to answer without a dozen or so though. I could see these also having some nice household applications as well.

PetFlora said:
Photos taken yesterday, even more pistils today (as you would expect), plus plants stretched overnight. In this case, a good thing

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Very nice they are responding

PetFlora · Jun 25, 2013

Update.

I'll definitely be getting more tubes

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babelfish · Jun 25, 2013

Hello,

You wanted some of the info from my thread:

there was a nice par reading set done

http://growershouse.com/blog/hydro-...-grow-light-review-of-par-and-footprint-size/
https://growershouse.com/blog/stealth-grow-sg1250-ho-led-grow-light-review-test/
https://growershouse.com/blog/california-light-works-solar-storm-800w-led-grow-light-video-review/

there are vids with transcripts @ each of those

Here are my quick impressions:

babelfish said:
note: no edit possible, so i must post new post instead.

So having read hundreds of threads and viewed dozens upon dozens of vids on LED current running brands, it's looking like the 5w diodes are some serious winners. Solarstorm/solarflare seems to run near $2/watt. several grows look like the luma 330 is teh bombastic. and surprisingly (to me) blackstar's confidence stock has gone down, as valued by myself of course. growblu looks SMOOTH, but also looks to be 3w.

i mean look at these par readings:
solarstorm 800:

STEALTH GROW SG1250 HO LED

HYDRO GROW LED PENETRATOR 336X

Thinking about my future empty 3x3 has me drooling. So much growing to do and so little time ;_;

GP73LPC · Jun 27, 2013

hey petflora, i picked up 2 5000K 15W LED bulbs @ lowes the other day. got clones under them at the moment.

i also bought 2 2700K bulbs. i thought i would add those to my flowering cabinet. do you think they will do any good?

also, it will be nice to see what the tubes do for you. i have been considering corner tubes in my grow area.

thanks buddy

hempfield · Jun 27, 2013

I have experience with LED tubes (on aquariums and weed growing also) and I really don't recommend them for flowering cannabis because they have a terrible penetration. They are good for aquariums (where water and glass walls reflect the light back into tho the aquarium) and for office lightning. You can also use them for veg (instead of T5 tubes) and for moms, but for flowering, without a flat and spread canopy, the yield will suffer for sure.

I don't say that you can't grow weed under this light, but the results are bellow average.

:2cents:

PetFlora · Jun 27, 2013

Hey Hemp, as you know LED tech is changing rapidly. Already one can buy COB tubes, they should be awesome
- more lumens and probably more watts

The iBrights are made with Samsung 5050s (100 lpw)- 1800 lumens per 4ft tube

As much as I appreciate alternate POVs, I like to find out for myself

So far, I am blown away with how fast pistils/bud sites have developed in one week. Could easily be due to doubling the amount of watt lumens too

In my last led grow I used only household globe leds through to mid-flower and was very pleased, but, I was growing a new breeders seeds so I added my RB UFO 90 to present his seeds in the most complete light possible

Look for new pics later, probably tomorrow

budsicles · Jun 27, 2013

Thanks for documenting this PetFlora. I am most interested in the white leds.

So do you think that a micro cab using those 9w cree screw-in bulbs would produce a yield comparable to spiral cfl? Lets say both use a 50/50 mix of warm and cool white, and both setups use similar wattages.

tenthirty · Jun 27, 2013

Nice one pet!
So where is the link where I can go buy some of these?
Droooooool.

PetFlora · Jun 28, 2013

tenthirty link is in my opening post

Update

Fresh nutes 900ppm

New pics

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PetFlora · Jun 28, 2013

budsicles said:
Thanks for documenting this PetFlora. I am most interested in the white leds.

So do you think that a micro cab using those 9w cree screw-in bulbs would produce a yield comparable to spiral cfl? Lets say both use a 50/50 mix of warm and cool white, and both setups use similar wattages.

There are a couple growers on another mmj site that are getting amazing results using only CREE HHGs

Do an internet search, you might find them

GP73LPC · Jun 29, 2013

those are some long ass, hairy looking pistols

babelfish · Jun 29, 2013

hey looking GREAT petflora - LOTS of budsites, looks like a fun grow this round

PetFlora · Jun 29, 2013

tebos said:
I don't understand why someone might want to get back to bulbs/tubes, one of the advantages of LEDs is that they emit light just in "one" (<180 degrees) direction and nothing gets wasted because of reflectors/shape of the bulb.

Tubes emit light in 180*s, the back half is the heat sink

HH LED Gs (globes) are great for supplementing under the canopy

babelfish · Jun 29, 2013

I think you really might have something here, thinking side lighting of tubes or globes to go with the 400w sunstorm.

The Next LED Rage: Quality White LED Tubes

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