Dream lights
New member
I'm curious what the best value and effective LED out there for replacing a 1000w? I see a lot of people talk about the Lumigrow ES 330.
Best LED for replacing 1000w?
- Thread starter Dream lights
- Start date
I have an ES330, and like it. However, if you want to replace a 1000w lamp with it, you are going to want two of them. From what I've seen, the actual wattage used by an LED fixture needs to be about 60-70% of the HID lamp that you want to replace.
Dream lights
New member
Hmm so 600 actual watts from pretty much any of the companies listed in the threads here will work? There is no consensus on a brand or model? 
Hey Dream,
You're looking for a 3 watt chipset model, whatever LED you buy. In my experience, 2 watt models will run circles around dim 1 watt units and 3 watt units are even more powerful than 2watters.
After using em for the last year, HPS = LED. Its a watt for watt conversion, but the spread on LED is pretty limited, which means if you're used to a single thowie in a room, you're going to be disappointed. Give you an idea, a 500w 3w fixture will cover a 2.5 x 3.5 rectangular area very effectively, but really falls off past that. Upshot - nearly zero heat, maybe a 1-3 degree increase over ambient temp.
Another thing about LED they don't tell you - they will be too much light for the plants. If you put 3 watt models closer than 10 inches to the plants the leaves will oversuck nutrients, dry out, and ugly up on you. Also, the buds / tops of the colas will turn white from light intensity. Here's a picture of a haze cross we did which did all of the above:
And a shot of a thai / og cross which looks like its been ravaged by spider mites - but again, this was from having the LEDs to close apparently it damages the leaf tissue. The best example of "crispy-ing" the leaves..
This is what umol based light meters will read at distances closer than 10 inches from a blackstar 500w 3 watt unit:
Outdoors, that meter has the same reading in the middle of July at noon. Shade is 1000 umol. Nearly every 1000w / 600w hps setup Ive seen is between 800 - 1300 umol at the canopy, we've since backed the lights away from the plants and have had much better results with LESS light intensity. I wouldn't have ever believed that LEDs could outrun HPS and damage plants, but live and learn.
You're looking for a 3 watt chipset model, whatever LED you buy. In my experience, 2 watt models will run circles around dim 1 watt units and 3 watt units are even more powerful than 2watters.
After using em for the last year, HPS = LED. Its a watt for watt conversion, but the spread on LED is pretty limited, which means if you're used to a single thowie in a room, you're going to be disappointed. Give you an idea, a 500w 3w fixture will cover a 2.5 x 3.5 rectangular area very effectively, but really falls off past that. Upshot - nearly zero heat, maybe a 1-3 degree increase over ambient temp.
Another thing about LED they don't tell you - they will be too much light for the plants. If you put 3 watt models closer than 10 inches to the plants the leaves will oversuck nutrients, dry out, and ugly up on you. Also, the buds / tops of the colas will turn white from light intensity. Here's a picture of a haze cross we did which did all of the above:
And a shot of a thai / og cross which looks like its been ravaged by spider mites - but again, this was from having the LEDs to close apparently it damages the leaf tissue. The best example of "crispy-ing" the leaves..
This is what umol based light meters will read at distances closer than 10 inches from a blackstar 500w 3 watt unit:
Outdoors, that meter has the same reading in the middle of July at noon. Shade is 1000 umol. Nearly every 1000w / 600w hps setup Ive seen is between 800 - 1300 umol at the canopy, we've since backed the lights away from the plants and have had much better results with LESS light intensity. I wouldn't have ever believed that LEDs could outrun HPS and damage plants, but live and learn.
brotherjericho
Member
I'm not an experienced grower, but I do have a much lower wattage LED panel. IMHO, they are awesome for plants directly under them but rapidly lose effectiveness when you move further away from the actual dimensions of the panel. That being said, it would be better to replace a 1000w HPS with 2 or more lower wattage panels.
Again, take my advice with a grain of salt, my experience is limited. I have a Pro-Grow 180, and I do not think it is effective for more than 2 plants, but very effective for those 2.
Again, take my advice with a grain of salt, my experience is limited. I have a Pro-Grow 180, and I do not think it is effective for more than 2 plants, but very effective for those 2.
budleydoright
Member
I learned that the hard way with water cooled lights as well. Just cause you can put the 4 inchers from the tops don't mean you should!
siddhartha
Member
I use a Black Dog Platinum XL with no loss and yield, and an increase in quality. You do want to keep the light over 18 inches high. Also my temps dropped dramatically. You can see some of my last harvest photos, and my thread using this light.
Sidd
Sidd
Max, I couldn't answer your pm because you only get one until you get to 50 posts, and it says that you are full up.
Regarding the ES330's capabilities, it has been many years since I put away my 400w hps stuff, but I would say that the ES330 has a substantial edge over a 400w. I've never used a 600w, but from what I have seen on here, a 600 would have the edge in production but the Lumigrow (I think) would have better quality.
Those 50 posts cannot be "turbo posting" like your one-liners here. By the time you get educated on the 330, you should be well on your way though.
I'm pretty happy with the ES330 - the only thing that I don't care for is the fan noise. I replaced the case fans with their current, quieter fans, but most of the noise was from the power supply fan. You might check Oneshot's thread, he just bought a new one and perhaps they have done something about the ps noise.
For me, the footprint could be better, but that can be said for most of the fixtures available. After having this unit for a while, I've come to the conclusion that it would be better to have several lower wattage, smaller units to enable better coverage. They would be more of a problem to hang, but if you are using a 4x4 tent for instance, you would have far better coverage from (4) of the ES165s than (2) of the ES330s and still have the same total wattage. Unfortunately, Lumigrow is discontinuing the 165s. The Solar Flare units from California Lightworks are about the same footprint and power, but don't have the adjustable spectrum.
I keep the fixture about 12"- 16" over the tops of the plants, any less than that will cause bleaching.
I'm pretty happy with the ES330 - the only thing that I don't care for is the fan noise. I replaced the case fans with their current, quieter fans, but most of the noise was from the power supply fan. You might check Oneshot's thread, he just bought a new one and perhaps they have done something about the ps noise.
For me, the footprint could be better, but that can be said for most of the fixtures available. After having this unit for a while, I've come to the conclusion that it would be better to have several lower wattage, smaller units to enable better coverage. They would be more of a problem to hang, but if you are using a 4x4 tent for instance, you would have far better coverage from (4) of the ES165s than (2) of the ES330s and still have the same total wattage. Unfortunately, Lumigrow is discontinuing the 165s. The Solar Flare units from California Lightworks are about the same footprint and power, but don't have the adjustable spectrum.
I keep the fixture about 12"- 16" over the tops of the plants, any less than that will cause bleaching.
brotherjericho
Member
Are we talking about your hybrid PLL/LED fixture? I'm curious how effective PLLs would be at 12", seems you would be losing out quite a bit.
No, I was talking about my ES330 here. I generally keep the hybrid fixture about 4" above the tops of the plants.
brotherjericho
Member
Ah, cool, went back through your thread and saw that after reading a couple of pages.
Phychotron
Member
for a 2x4 area advancedled's 400w diamond series is a good single fixture for the area. I got one for my 4x4 and want to get another for it to replace the blackstars i started out with. I'm all about multiple smaller fixtures to even out the canopy, but the shape of the 400 is perfect for that area. Too many fixtures in a 4x4 tent make it difficult, strains the tent with too much weight eventually.
shown here is 1063w (kill-o-watt reading) of led's. I have (4) blackstar 240's, 400w diamond series and 180w extreme flower from advanced led. I tried the 500w blackstar but it's lack of a heat sink (just a sheet of aluminum, no fins) is what i think cause it to burn out a strip of lights (not the ps, i tested it). i opted to get the two 240's for an extra $25. Also, the plants can get close to the blackstar with no bleaching, the advancedled fixtures need to be 18-30".... i tried testing it @ around 12 and the tops started to turn white.
I know the lighting is a bit overkill, a bunch just came out of flower and i'm trying to tone it down to the tent size grow.
Chemdog around 6 or 7 weeks. i put this one under the 400w DS since its a much more powerful light.
Afgoo ~7 weeks
If you want to replace a 1000w you don't need to do it all at once, you can slowly build up a collection of good fixtures until your area is at full potential.
shown here is 1063w (kill-o-watt reading) of led's. I have (4) blackstar 240's, 400w diamond series and 180w extreme flower from advanced led. I tried the 500w blackstar but it's lack of a heat sink (just a sheet of aluminum, no fins) is what i think cause it to burn out a strip of lights (not the ps, i tested it). i opted to get the two 240's for an extra $25. Also, the plants can get close to the blackstar with no bleaching, the advancedled fixtures need to be 18-30".... i tried testing it @ around 12 and the tops started to turn white.
I know the lighting is a bit overkill, a bunch just came out of flower and i'm trying to tone it down to the tent size grow.
Chemdog around 6 or 7 weeks. i put this one under the 400w DS since its a much more powerful light.
Afgoo ~7 weeks
If you want to replace a 1000w you don't need to do it all at once, you can slowly build up a collection of good fixtures until your area is at full potential.
