Led Recommendations

[greenies]

What are good recommendations for a 5x5. My Kind Led is having software issues! Don’t buy these lights NO customer service! Was looking at HLG Diablo, Mammoth or Gavita?

 

[Swamp Thang]

I have never had a single problem with the cheap generic unbranded made-in-China LED grow lights that I use because each light runs for no more than one hour at a time around the clock, thus eliminating the possibility of overheating cheap components due to prolonged use.

In my tent, two LED lights are connected to timers programmed to toggle on, and then off in sequence for one hour, thanks to each light being powered by one of those eBay Chinese weekly digital timers. For the 18 hours between 5 am and 10 pm daily the lights are timed on for one hour and off for one hour, such that while one light is on, the other is off, in synchronized relay.

I am convinced that the main difference between costly brand-name LED lights and their cheaper, unbranded models is that the costlier lights are constructed with hardware that is designed to withstand long durations of continuous operation whereas the cheaper lights may become subject to heat-induced component failure when left powered on for hours on end. By limiting the operation of each light to no more than one hour, the main point of weakness of those cheaper lights is eliminated.

Here is a typical example of a weekly digital timer that I find so effective in greatly extending the operating lifespan of the cheaper Chinese LED grow lights. By making a small $30 investment to acquire TWO of these timers, one can get away with using bargain basement LED lights without a care in the world about overheating issues even in the long term. After one year of use, I have seen no LED light failures using the timer method that I highly recommend here.

Programmable Digital LCD Timer Weekly Time Electronic Switch 20A AC/DC 12-240V | eBay

20A 230V AC Lamp load 2500W COS∅=0.8. Staircase Switch. Automatic Transfer Switch. Grid Power <-> AC Generator. Type AC RCD RCCB. - Permanent ON/OFF switching. Isolator-Main Switch. Delay On Star/Delta.

www.ebay.com

 

[Ca++]

The number one cause of failure, is repeated on/off cycles. Deep in the spec, some lights speak of life expectancy in these terms. It's an issue of thermal cycling, where parts change size, and it's the connections that are failing.

If you are going to spend brand money, you want a real brand. Fluence are the public face That Philips and Osram have been trading. Same sort of prices, with actual cannabis research behind their design. I really don't see another option, if you want a big name.
If a mid range purchase is more fitting, then we have a couple of sponcers to look at.

 

[Swamp Thang]

Wow, there I was thinking that overheating was the number one cause of LED light failure. I had no idea that on/off cycles were listed as factors relating to the longevity of lights.

 

[Prawn Connery]

Cycling LEDs does not affect them at all. LEDs are designed to be pulsed – that's one of their advantages over HIDs and fluoros. You will see a pulse rating on almost all LED spec sheets, and it is usually up to twice the normal current.

Current-generated heat is normally what burns out LEDs, usually the bond wires that connect the die to the solder pad.

Some drivers may be adversely affected by constant cycling, but generally speaking cycling does not affect them either because LEDs are designed for rapid on/off – just have a look at any type of LED advertising sign that blinks.

Most drivers are current surge protected and will trip an internal switch when the DC side is shorted out and you will be able to reconnect in a short amount of time.

Again, heat is what mostly kills drivers.

Of course, the real question is why you would buy two cheap lights to cycle on and off instead of just buying one decent light that can be left on when you need it?

I honestly don't get the logic! Most LEDs have a life of 50,000 hours – that's 12 years of continuous 12/12 use – and good drivers, such as Mean Wells, have 5-8 year warranties.

Don't be scared to buy a good LED light and use it!

 

[Ca++]

You are talking about pulses as part of the duty cycle. Thousands of times per second.
I'm talking about thermal cycling, effecting the circuit board soldering. Early manufacturers were plagued with the problem, up to about 10 years ago. We have many posts of people loosing part of a light, with some able to push and make it work. Loosing a few used to be a genuine fear.

They are easy topics to confuse, when you are not in the industry.

 

[Swamp Thang]

Miserly ways are part of my Scottish heritage, Prawn Connery, haha, and as we all know, copper wire was invented by two Scottsmen fighting over a copper penny. I might even have some Dutch lineage lurking somewhere in my penny-pinching family tree, and that would probably explain why I prefer to go Dutch on dates, on those rare occasions that I actually score one.

On a serious note, I am relieved to hear that on-off cycling is potentially less taxing on LEDs over time than the heat buildup that could arise from continuous uninterrupted use in the close confines of an indoor grow tent. This brings me to the second reason for using timers to ensure that the cheap LED grow lights I bought never operate continuously for more than one hour each, which is of course my need to reduce the odds of a fire outbreak due to overheating of these bargain basement LED lights I bought on eBay.

All told, I've seen a full year of uninterrupted service from my cheapskate LED lights, with hundreds of clones taking root under this dual-timer-operated LED light setup during the past year. Like the guy who successfully dispatched a bear by flailing about with a 2-by-4, and who may therefore have few insights to contribute towards a scholarly discussion of rifle ballistics, I will, for now, refrain from fixing my dual-timer innovation since it ain't broke, yet, hehe.

 

[Crooked8]

Agrobar

 

[dimodz]

Here is 720w good quality for smaller price dimmable & more :



View media item 18715848
View media item 18715849
View media item 18715850



Here is 1000w good quality for smaller price dimmable & more :


View media item 18715852
View media item 18715851

 

[Ca++]

On a serious note, I am relieved to hear that on-off cycling is potentially less taxing on LEDs over time than the heat buildup that could arise from continuous uninterrupted use

Damn. If you believe him over me, I'm not sure I want to carry on..

Top search result

Request Rejected

AI can read, but doesn't really understand what is going on.

 

[Prawn Connery]

Miserly ways are part of my Scottish heritage, Prawn Connery, haha, and as we all know, copper wire was invented by two Scottsmen fighting over a copper penny. I might even have some Dutch lineage lurking somewhere in my penny-pinching family tree, and that would probably explain why I prefer to go Dutch on dates, on those rare occasions that I actually score one.

On a serious note, I am relieved to hear that on-off cycling is potentially less taxing on LEDs over time than the heat buildup that could arise from continuous uninterrupted use in the close confines of an indoor grow tent. This brings me to the second reason for using timers to ensure that the cheap LED grow lights I bought never operate continuously for more than one hour each, which is of course my need to reduce the odds of a fire outbreak due to overheating of these bargain basement LED lights I bought on eBay.

All told, I've seen a full year of uninterrupted service from my cheapskate LED lights, with hundreds of clones taking root under this dual-timer-operated LED light setup during the past year. Like the guy who successfully dispatched a bear by flailing about with a 2-by-4, and who may therefore have few insights to contribute towards a scholarly discussion of rifle ballistics, I will, for now, refrain from fixing my dual-timer innovation since it ain't broke, yet, hehe.

LED fixtures are very simple. Most consist of a PCB or multiple PCBs that are solder-wiped before a pick-and-place machine places the individual diodes on the PCB before it goes into a reflow oven, where the solder melts and the LED settles on the pad.

Those PCBs are then wired in series or parallel (more common these days with voltage-matched diodes) to a driver plug.

So the only solder joints that can fail are either on the PCB itself – which is rare unless you don't match the solder pad to the diodes when you design the PCB, or they don't use enough solder paste on the board – or the hand-soldered connectors that link the PCBs and then the driver.

Burn-in periods usually pick up any dead diodes, but again it is rare for the LED itself to be the problem. Even if one or diodes fail at the solder junction, the fixture will continue to work. The problem then becomes the extra current that goes through the remaining diodes (if they are soldered in parallel – if they are soldered in series, in isolation, the whole string will go out).

But again, it's not the on-/off cycles that are necessarily the culprit. The real culprit is the PCB temperature because, as you know, the hotter a metal is, the more it expands. If the heat cycle is moderate, it will take many, many heat cycles to "lose" (not "loose") a dodgy solder connection than if the overall temperature is allowed to exceed specs, such as when you overcurrent it or allow ambient conditions to climb or don't use adequate heat-sinking.

So regardless of what someone says happened 10 years ago, you are correct – excessive heat will cause a PCB connection to fail sooner than an on/off cycle. We have had LED panels that have run for literally years at lower currents and temperatures – on, off, on, off – that only failed once we put higher currents (and heat) into them. I am talking about a failure at the solder junction on the PCB.