LED Retailers...

[The Hummus Monk]

Cool.

Keep posting details and impressions if you can.

I'm interested in footprint v height.

What angle are the lenses?

So this is a 300w but actually is a 185? Does this mean we should think of it as a 185w light really..?

 

[Neekz]

Yeah I am guessing it is putting out around 180 actual watts. Will eventually get a kill-a-watt to test. This fuggers bright as hell, in a 2x2 tent it would be right at home. Im gonna have it in a 2'x3'x5' space, look's to be stretching it a bit thin, but should still pull some weight. I think we got it 3-4' off the ground ATM, gonna be raising the pot's for now due to us running half-flowered outdoor's first run. I saw 2 degrees mentioned, 120 (Guessing that's the diodes angle...), and 90 (Probably the "X-Len's"). They appear pretty narrow, when test fitted in a 2'x2',footprint at 3' looked pretty damn intense. I have confidence in it, but only time will tell. The seller I told u about is pretty friendly, I am sure you could get quotes on actual watts for the ones un-advertised. I based my wattage need's on oneshot's tent (Just dividing it down in scale...). Even if I pull less then 1g/w, I am still well above my goal so all should go fine. My order when calculating a set-up is, 1)footprint 2)cost 3)yield. Lemme know your goals, I can try and advise based on other's work.

 

[Neekz]

So here's the panel in action, areas about 2'x3', light's maybe 4' from the ground, 6-10" from the canopy (Uneven canopy, pretty soon will have a run of clones for conclusive data...). The switches, like I said, are neat. One is for the middle 4 rows (Horizontal in pic...) for vegging, the the other switch turns on the outer 6 rows (Mostly red...) for flower. Heat feels about the same as my U.F.O.'s just a larger area of it. Right now were dealing with ridiculous ambient temp's and RH so can't comment on it affecting the room... Here it be. Plant's are various stages of outdoor we wanna finish up.

 

[The Hummus Monk]

Looks nice but it seems it struggles to cover the footprint? Maybe need a second unit?

I'm planning a 3x3 grow space with either 400w hps or 2 of those 300w white units linked above.

I want to flower 4 plants at a time and build modular scrog frames for each pot so individual pots can be raised for even canopy.

Did it come with a hanging kit?

 

[The Hummus Monk]

Looking at the numbers it will be probs 2.5' x 2.5' which will give a wattage per sq ft of 64 (assuming 400w output).

 

[Neekz]

Yea the lens definetily cut's core coverage (Lost the link, but on a reef forum I saw some testing where 90 degree len's like the ones this has turned their arrays PAR reading from 300ish 6" underwater to around 1000 with the lens at 6", with a simmilar multiplication factor at the bottom of the 24" tank aswell...) . Were just tryna get these gal's through their cycle (Their coming in from outdoor's so we'll see how that goes lol...). After that were going into a GL60 (Gotta scrounge-up a bit after all the other cost's...), so the coverage should be better in there. Were only shooting for a QP eventually, so the watts are there, just need a better set-up in general , IMO, kinda shameful I admit lol, but we gotta make do. It just seemed a nice combo between layout, wattage, cost, lens availabillity, and sheer number of feedback. The hanging kit's just the flimsy wire BS most come with. Like a vegetable rack, kinda scared it's gonna bust lol (unit's hefty, maybe 20+lbs), nothing a few chains from the hardware store wont improve upon. SCR
OG sounds bomb, and modular looks so good for staggered/multiple strain harvests bro. Im personally gonna run a 16 plant SOG when I get the tent with 1, then emulate the setup in the future. Good growin THM!

 

[Neekz]

Also, to be frank the picture's really don't do justice, it's fuggin' bright!

 

[Neekz]

Oh and to be clear in-case it wasn't, these are plant's brought in from outdoor's (Hours before photo's lol!) to help finish up the flowering.

 

[DZLHIT]

Hummus, hello! I have found that you need a good 18" from the panel to ensure your foot print and color mixing. And after that 18 inches, there is another 24 inchs of, usable, vertical, grow space. I am talking about 3 watt diodes, with 30,60,and 90 degree lenses.

The 5 watters should throw even more depth penetration.

Here's a 405 watt unit (it draws 305 watts) doing a 3x3. I am keeping them small right now... but the lowest branches are growing fine quality nugs. So I know there is room for larger plants. I have some in the back.

Here it is earlier in the year when I was still testing.

IME penetration is not an issue. Foot print, by design, can be. More smaller units with a measured overlap would be ideal, but of course more costly. I think the Mr. X unit's (evo shunshine or what ever) would be the ideal layout design...obviously not the best LED cluster design, or they would be dominating the market.

 

[The Hummus Monk]

Coolio!

Was that an Aliexpress spesh?

 

[DZLHIT]

The company I bought it from is on alibaba, I would assume they are also on aliexpress. Evergrow Lighting, I contacted them directly for my order.

 

[Neekz]

Nice ish DZL, evergrow is the same vendor as Mayer on Aliexpress I think, I was wary myself in dealing direct with them, and seeing as Aliexpress does the middle man thing, It ultimately made my decision. Really diggin that 9-pot array!

 

[Oolong]

Hi friends i have this panel 60 led x3W ;
6x 660nm
3x 650nm
27x 630nm
4x 610nm
5x 460nm
3x 450nm
2x 440nm
2x 430nm
6x 2800k
2x 730nm

Is good spectrum for vegg and flowering time??

 

[Neekz]

Sounds pretty rounded, if anything, it seems to have a little more flower emphasis. I would run it...

 

[Neekz]

Here's a look into where I am sure a majority of our fixture's are made!
Here is the link...
Enjoy ...

 

[babelfish]

Here's a look into where I am sure a majority of our fixture's are made!
Here is the link...
Enjoy ...

nice link, sweet to watch. If they would pay more attention to:
a. remote ballast
b. cooling solution
c. duct the lights
then they could be 10x better in my mind..

 

[DZLHIT]

Here's a look into where I am sure a majority of our fixture's are made!
Here is the link...
Enjoy ...

No.... no way. All those made in USA fixtures are all made in the USA! lmfao. No way they put a few screws together and "assemble" it in the USA.....

Nice link

Remote ballast... What? Why? They use several small power supplies.

They have liquid cooling systems for computer components, you could rig one up for your LED... but I think it's a waste of extra electricity and cost.

Duct the lights? I haven't seen/heard of anyone with a heat problem using LEDs

.... I'm confused...

 

[Neekz]

Remote ballast would be like your brick on your xbox 360 that used to be inside it, just a hassle getting in the way, when it's much more convenient all in one. Even the made in U.S.A. super-panel's do the same thing. It would be too costly and time consuming for them to fabricate separate housing's, cordage, and packaging for a remote ballast that will do nothing more then spread everything out. Driver's hardly fail from their own heat or heat in general, they will fail from being wired incorrectly, over-driven, or just plain old being bunk from the factory they came from. Most of them have cooling solution's adequate enough for the current's being driven. Of course a Lumi is gonna have loud-arse High-CFM axial's, the Cree emitter's are being run for output (1000mA+), not for compromising for thermal efficiency. Truth is, L.E.D.'s will always put off SOME heat when driven for what we want (Rapid growth, penetration... I sound like a Viagra commercial ;P!) and if we got rid of all heat (IE using liquid cooling, or other excessive power consuming means...) we would actually have our plant's suffer (Cold environment's harbour slow growth rates....). There are no studies on it thus far, but I believe as you increase the amount of PAR available to the plant, you may actually increase it's heat tolerance's as well (Think about it, the more PAR's a plant get's in it's natural environment usually coincides with increase's in temperature and UV radiation right (Think tropic's, afghanistan, etc...). Ducting is just plain silly. If you have ever been near any form of L.E.D. fixture, you would know that the air being blown from it is no warmer than the air coming off of you DVD player or Flat-screen T.V. (And even that's a stretch, my BDplayer get's hotter than my 185w china panel.) Don't be a skeptic till you try it. Inform yourself, and you will make great decision's. I too rushed into it when I got my blackstar's (Still got em cheaper than retail, and they do work for 42w...), but I did some REAL research (Asking people what work's, then ignoring their answer's is not researching, but we will STILL try and guide you right...) and educated myself to the point where I can accurately judge a fixture for what it really is, whether or not it is LEGIT BRAND, or false advertiser's, or "China Junk"... Did you know most 1,2, and 3w L.E.D.'s are actually the same chip's (Most of the time!) just running at different current's? Did you know 5w chip's are just series of less than 1w diode's in a matrix? Allot of misinformation being spread about L.E.D. technology in general, to the point people are expecting more than necessary... Actually, I WOULD NOT pay more than $1000 for a panel UNLESS it had all the above he mentioned. BECAUSE, unless the fixtures bigger than 2.5 ft/2 (Unit size,Wattage regardless...) , the parts and labor cost's are well, well below that for basically the skill it take's to assemble a P.C. ...

 

[#1cheesebuds]

hey anyone know where is the best place to order a good led grow light. ps: I don't have a lot of money to spend and the grow spot is 4ft 1/2 tall by 3 1/2 feet tall. this is for me micro garden.

as of now only have those little LED spot lights. but Im ready for a better led light.
thanks for ur info on this.

 

[Neekz]

My only experiences thus far (And I am in the same boat as you, most bang for the buck, and I don't like to take gambles ...) are with Blackstar's and ordering from a single china vendor.

Now the Blackstar's ARE NOT the best representation of what L.E.D. can do! They get good result's but not the one's that impress the "big boys" lol... They are older tech, using a shite spectrum, and charging a steep mark-up (Aren't we growing to stick it to the "middlemen"?) for what their worth. I am lucky I got one of the 2 I have used so the price eventually added up to about what I would pay from the factory (Had I known though, I would have not purchased this type of technology. Good for veg in small cab's, with sub-PAR result's...).

The other route I went after trial and error with the Blackstar's and even more research was for custom panel's from china. I found a few manufacturers on Aliexpress (Due to them having good consumer protection and return policies...) that had some good looking model's, and that would also let me customize the things I wanted (Lens * and Spectrum...). Then I checked into their history and feedback. One of them had nothing but positive result's, with a pretty long history, and a large quantity to some of the order's. Even their sister storefront's shared the same positive reviews. They seem to have a lot of European client's as well.

Well first panel I got from them was a 100 diode, square, lensed, panel. I followed their spec's, except I decided to change a few whites, and add some IR and UV for flowering. Now when I asked about it, they advised against getting the UV as it damages plant's. I assumed nothing of it and ordered it anyway, with them even waiving the additional cost of it. Now It arrives promptly, bust her out, nice and bright, plant's loving it, covering a 2.5'x2.5' pretty good. A week goes by and the plants directly under the UV diodes start to get these saucer round burns like crop circles on the fans. Took me forever to pinpoint the problem, and it was in veg. Good thing they wired the circuit with a majority of red/IR/UV on a separate switch so I can leave it off. Does help finish some of my late flowering plants throwing um under it with the UV/IR circuit on, but I plan on replacing a number of diode's ASAP to see how the plant's respond. I look back and see their recomendation as a sign they know/care about what they are doing.

Second panel, a modular "apollo" type was decided upon, after seeing the phenomenal display that Growblu's put on! In place of doing a crazy multi-band rainbow spectrum, I decided to follow the advice of many other's (KNNA, Area51, Lumi, CLW, Apache...) and go for a white heavy spectrum. I figured I couldn't go wrong, seeing as I and other's have had success under CFL's of similar color temp's, and L.E.D.'s make more Lumens a watt then fluoro, then why not?

The result's so far haven't really translated well from pic's but the SCROG lady I got has turned 360* from being stunted and root-bound then freshly transplanted into lava hot soil and having all growth burnt to a crisp, to now finally having vigorous even new growth, light green top's, like some how the new spectrum is helping them handle the nutrient's better. Only 2 days flo so far so we will see what it does, but I say performance on par with a 250 HPS using only 100-110w of light and no heat. I know I ain't gonna get those number's this round, but with enough veg (I am an impatient prick lol...) I know she will light up my whole tent.

All in all china was the best option so far for me (Low Budget, bang for buck...), go through my guy (Greengrow, Shenzhen Jingchuangxin Electro-Optic Co.), or CIDLY, or Evergrow, or Bysen, and I am sure you will get a good product. The deciding factor will be the spectrum followed by driver current (Len's degree/focus only matter's when covering bigger area's and worrying about making PAR/footprint sacrifices, micro grow's usually not need worry, the box is the lens lol...).

I am sure for $300USD you will be able to double the yield and halve the wattage used on part of you CFL setup, no matter what you decide upon getting. Let me know what you budget and area's like and I can do some tweaking for ya (I window shop setups all day lol...) and find something that will fit...