LED Mythbusting, KILL A WATT proof
- Thread starter GP73LPC
- Start date
siddhartha
Member
Hey GP73LPC,
So i have a question. Do you think my kill-a-watt readings are different cause of poor wiring in my house? The only time i have really paid this detailed attention to electricity is with RC cars and helicopters. they are pretty dialed when it comes to electricity. Wish i would have taken a reading off of my 1000. Would other appliances plugged into the same breaker make a difference? like having a 6 can fan running maybe reduce the draw available for my BD 360? I will ask to borrow the kill-a-watt again, and test that. Wish i would have thought of that earlier.
Sidd
So i have a question. Do you think my kill-a-watt readings are different cause of poor wiring in my house? The only time i have really paid this detailed attention to electricity is with RC cars and helicopters. they are pretty dialed when it comes to electricity. Wish i would have taken a reading off of my 1000. Would other appliances plugged into the same breaker make a difference? like having a 6 can fan running maybe reduce the draw available for my BD 360? I will ask to borrow the kill-a-watt again, and test that. Wish i would have thought of that earlier.
Sidd
upon further investigation comparing my figures that have been collected via kill-a-watt or multi-meter readings, that guy uses the manufacturers info. this is from his web page...
Some fields are calculated based on the data from web sites such as "Average Watts/LED".
His field called Actual Watts is not as accurate as mine...
still a nice collection of information...
thanks again
siddhartha
Member
Hey GP73LPC,
what does your name stand for?
Sidd
what does your name stand for?
Sidd
upon further investigation comparing my figures that have been collected via kill-a-watt or multi-meter readings, that guy uses the manufacturers info. this is from his web page...
Some fields are calculated based on the data from web sites such as "Average Watts/LED".
His field called Actual Watts is not as accurate as mine...
still a nice collection of information...
thanks again
I emailed the author of that information letting them know about this and your more accurate readings. Wants to know if they can re-post the real world data you have collected. I am sure he/she would be willing to credit you for the information on the site.
This has saved me a ton of time having this all in one place and if it is more accurate then it's only better.
Either way thanks for pointing out the differences between your data.
Have had my replacement SolarFlare BloomBoost running for 24 hrs, churning out 156-157 watts.
California Light Works sells it as 200 watts but a disclaimer in the literature states there is a total of 160W actual power draw.
California Light Works sells it as 200 watts but a disclaimer in the literature states there is a total of 160W actual power draw.
i'm fine with my data being shared. that's why i collected it, to help people and to discredit scrupulous manufacturers/retailers...
tell him to go ahead and use all the figures in blue, those were confirmed via kill-a-watt or meter...
thanks for the input man...
i already have a reading of 165 watts from someone (haven't gone back in the thread to look), so i am gonna use the highest reading between the two, even tho that includes fans, etc....
thanks again
you might also convince him to leave his 'actual wattage' column in place to see differences in manufacturer claims vs. real world measurement...
Ok New developments with my Grow Stealth 600w Pro-Bloom.
Recall it was drawing an actual of 410w or so on a warranty replacement new unit from a new Chinese manufacturer. It was supposed to be drawing 550 watts. As a result of my findings he lowered the actual draw on the website. Now reading 520 watts as I guess that's what he wanted them to do from the plant in China. This equals 1.80w per led (fans incl). About what we see from led companies using 3w systems.
I contacted Grow Stealth. He looked further into it and found he had gotten a number of units with wrong ballasts. He had to get proper ballasts and sent me 10 brand new ballasts to replace my current ones.
Took a bit for him to get coming from China I guess, but they arrived my door lat yesterday.
I replaced all ballasts this morning nice and cleanly.
Plugged her in to my kill-a-watt meter before installing back in tent to make sure. It came it at 685 watts!
Holy Moses!!
This now comes out to 2.37w per led. Nice, but now I'm worried it won't last.
Here's my pics:
**Edit: Sorry the quality is bad, but trust it's 685w.
Recall it was drawing an actual of 410w or so on a warranty replacement new unit from a new Chinese manufacturer. It was supposed to be drawing 550 watts. As a result of my findings he lowered the actual draw on the website. Now reading 520 watts as I guess that's what he wanted them to do from the plant in China. This equals 1.80w per led (fans incl). About what we see from led companies using 3w systems.
I contacted Grow Stealth. He looked further into it and found he had gotten a number of units with wrong ballasts. He had to get proper ballasts and sent me 10 brand new ballasts to replace my current ones.
Took a bit for him to get coming from China I guess, but they arrived my door lat yesterday.
I replaced all ballasts this morning nice and cleanly.
Plugged her in to my kill-a-watt meter before installing back in tent to make sure. It came it at 685 watts!
Holy Moses!!
This now comes out to 2.37w per led. Nice, but now I'm worried it won't last.
Here's my pics:
**Edit: Sorry the quality is bad, but trust it's 685w.
Attachments
) is quite a disparity...TBH, I don't know where you should change it too.
I just spoke to GS.
Let me give you the whole story:
As some of you know from last grow, I had a bank of led's take a shit on me. Donnie at Grow Stealth LED (a site sponsor here) sent me a replacement ballast promptly. Unfortunately, in the end, that didnt fix it. We don't know how long I ran that flower with one bank out for sure. I rarely ever looked up at the light itself.
When the grow was over, I sent my light back to Grow Stealth LED. Upon receiving my tracking number Donnie shipped out a new replacement LED. This is the one we see in my tent now. About 5 weeks ago, I got a kill-a-watt meter on sale from rottenoldegg. When it arrived I plugged the new 600w Pro-Bloom LED into the meter. It was supposed to be drawing 550 watts. On the meter it came in at 410 watts.
I knew this was a problem. Donnie and I had spoken previously and I recalled he mentioned he changed manufacturers in China. I kinda figured this was where the problem was.
In the end, Donnie tested some units locally and saw an issue. As a result of said testing, and some correspondence, Grow Stealth LED changed their website to reflect 520 watts actual draw which was what was supposed to reflect the new manufacturer and the new ballasts.
He told me he would get new ballasts sent over from China. Obviously it took a while on the slow boats from China. This is also why I went out and bought a 400w hps setup.
The ballasts arrived late yesterday at my doorstep.
This morning I replaced all 10 ballasts in my unit. Nice and clean with the wiring, everything went together fine.
The moment of truth. I plugged in the unit on my work desk with the kill-a-watt meter. Total draw 685 watts!
Holy shit! WAY more than expected!
This is kinda cool and at the same time has me a little worried. Mostly the worry is about heat and the led diodes. That being said, I told Donnie at Grow Stealth LED my results and he was surprised. He feels like they will be fine, he said not to worry, the unit is still under warranty. And I'm going to try to rig up some heat tests inside the unit near the massive heat sink.
I installed the unit back into the tent and raised it to about 17". It's still covering 1/2 the tent and the hps is over the other 1/2. There is some overlap, but not a ton because the led is higher than the hps and the reflector shrouds the led angle a fair bit.
When speaking to Donnie today, he figures the China manufacturer probably installed lower watt ballasts, hosing him for profit. He said he reamed their asses as a result of my findings and now thinks they must have sent even higher wattage units.
Grow Stealth has some new products coming out in the next couple months. I've been told I'll probably be seeing something to test in a future grow.
I want to make something very clear about this:
I did not bring this up on the forums earlier for a reason. I wanted to give Grow Stealth LED an opportunity to find the problem and correct the issue without any drama from the outside. While it took some time to do, I feel like GS made every effort to deal with it properly. What I didn't want to see happen was excessive drama from the forums before GS was able to deal with the issue.
Hopefully, it's all going to be fine now with this higher wattage and my grow is going to be even better than hoped.
I just spoke to GS.
Let me give you the whole story:
As some of you know from last grow, I had a bank of led's take a shit on me. Donnie at Grow Stealth LED (a site sponsor here) sent me a replacement ballast promptly. Unfortunately, in the end, that didnt fix it. We don't know how long I ran that flower with one bank out for sure. I rarely ever looked up at the light itself.
When the grow was over, I sent my light back to Grow Stealth LED. Upon receiving my tracking number Donnie shipped out a new replacement LED. This is the one we see in my tent now. About 5 weeks ago, I got a kill-a-watt meter on sale from rottenoldegg. When it arrived I plugged the new 600w Pro-Bloom LED into the meter. It was supposed to be drawing 550 watts. On the meter it came in at 410 watts.
I knew this was a problem. Donnie and I had spoken previously and I recalled he mentioned he changed manufacturers in China. I kinda figured this was where the problem was.
In the end, Donnie tested some units locally and saw an issue. As a result of said testing, and some correspondence, Grow Stealth LED changed their website to reflect 520 watts actual draw which was what was supposed to reflect the new manufacturer and the new ballasts.
He told me he would get new ballasts sent over from China. Obviously it took a while on the slow boats from China. This is also why I went out and bought a 400w hps setup.
The ballasts arrived late yesterday at my doorstep.
This morning I replaced all 10 ballasts in my unit. Nice and clean with the wiring, everything went together fine.
The moment of truth. I plugged in the unit on my work desk with the kill-a-watt meter. Total draw 685 watts!
Holy shit! WAY more than expected!
This is kinda cool and at the same time has me a little worried. Mostly the worry is about heat and the led diodes. That being said, I told Donnie at Grow Stealth LED my results and he was surprised. He feels like they will be fine, he said not to worry, the unit is still under warranty. And I'm going to try to rig up some heat tests inside the unit near the massive heat sink.
I installed the unit back into the tent and raised it to about 17". It's still covering 1/2 the tent and the hps is over the other 1/2. There is some overlap, but not a ton because the led is higher than the hps and the reflector shrouds the led angle a fair bit.
When speaking to Donnie today, he figures the China manufacturer probably installed lower watt ballasts, hosing him for profit. He said he reamed their asses as a result of my findings and now thinks they must have sent even higher wattage units.
Grow Stealth has some new products coming out in the next couple months. I've been told I'll probably be seeing something to test in a future grow.
I want to make something very clear about this:
I did not bring this up on the forums earlier for a reason. I wanted to give Grow Stealth LED an opportunity to find the problem and correct the issue without any drama from the outside. While it took some time to do, I feel like GS made every effort to deal with it properly. What I didn't want to see happen was excessive drama from the forums before GS was able to deal with the issue.
Hopefully, it's all going to be fine now with this higher wattage and my grow is going to be even better than hoped.
siddhartha
Member
Hey guys I am starting my journal today if you want to see that Black Dog Platinum XL in action. I have a plant cam set up so at the end of the grow i will have a stop motion video as well. Fun stuff,
Sidd
Sidd
Bassy - I take it that the drivers that you installed don't have any adjustments for the current levels? I don't know how long the warranty period is, but I would have serious doubts about the longevity of the leds running at 125% of the design heat load as well as whatever the increased voltage levels the leds are getting hit with.
found it...
