So is LED lights better than HPS ???

[Ibechillin]

how much you adapt your growing technique to get the best out of the lights

Red light (HPS) doesnt penetrate into the canopy as far as green light (CMH and Led). I think the canopy penetration difference your thinking of is more due to leaf surface temperature differences under HPS/CMH vs Led. I prefer Samsung led strips or quantum boards over HID/COB because multiple overlapping sources of light is less effected by the inverse square law that plagues Single light source HPS/CMH and provides better/more consistent coverage. Plants grow in the direction of light with phototropism, having a higher intensity of light concentrated from one area causes the plants growth to "chase" the most intense source with apical dominance, the further away the more stretching/chasing. With multiple light sources plants grow actively in every direction light is coming from instead of trying to compete with other plants or forsaking its lower growth in favor of top growth in the high intensity zone.

Quality Led Grow lighting is typically rated to last 50,000+ hours before needing replacement. Check both the full-capacity wattage and the actual wattage, The full-capacity wattage is the full wattage the LED chip can handle. An LED lighting system may contain 100 5-W LED chips totaling 500 full capacity watts. However, when that light system is operating, the LED chips may only draw 3 W each for an actual wattage of 300w. Led chips are more efficient (more lumen per watt) and last longer when ran at less wattage because less heat is generated. The closer the actual wattage is to the full capacity wattage the faster the system’s light energy will degrade over time.

Veg light running 16hrs a day 365 days a year = 5840hr veg per year.
50,000hrs divided by 5840 veg hours = 8.56 years minimum estimated of operation.

flower light running 12hrs a day 365 days a year = 4380hr flower per year
50,000hrs divided by 4380 flower hours = 11.41 years minimum estimated operation.

 

[Lost in a SOG]

One of the other things rarely stated is that HPS grown plants often need thicker stems to transport all that extra water and a hell of alot of weight in ganja is in the stems so i think some of the hps weights in g/w are slightly dodgy in that way as well. You want quality flowers not just heavy weight ones.. or i do anyway.

 

[Ruby_Abu]

I heard a lot of good thing about LED light. So want to try it for the my beginning.
I would try a low price light firstly. I am hesitating to buy MarsHydro or king led.
I don't know which one is better. Any other recommendations?

 

[Lost in a SOG]

^^ Id say get a HLG 135w quantum board.

 

[f-e]

Led's are where the research is being done. If your growing a particular product in a competitive market, you can find the exact spectrum to use, at each stage of growth. So you can better balance the electric bill and quality arguments.

That will not happen here for a long time. If you only worked from one mother plant for many years, you could learn the recipe, but it wouldn't be transferable. We are perhaps best served with broad spectrum lights, and the waste that produces. At least copying the sun keeps everything happy. But means we are not on the same page as people like Phillips.

Speaking of Phillips, they make the best 315cmh but don't push it on their horticulture site. It's all about sodium and led lighting. For some time I have wondered if the 315w cmh just serves to extract money from people that would spend that much.

The cheapest way to get a lot of power, is a green power 600w sodium. You can cover maybe 1.5sqm for 100 moneys. And cover it well!

That's great, but are you just trying to light the top? In the confines of a grow tent, sodium lighting can't do a lot else. Smaller sizes get less efficient. A 150w sodium is around 100lm per watt, which domestic lamps from the diy shop can achieve. As we drop lower, to the 70w son lamps, Leds can produce twice the light at the same power level. The same sort of efficiency as that 600w son at the top of the sodium ladder. Some can even better the 600, but lets talk price again. 1 monies per watt is normal for DIY led lights. Ouch.

Thus, I use 600w green powers as top lighting, and leds both around and between the plants. I have seen more yield per watt from this than my main lights, but there is simply no way the main lights are going. The through lighting is really just unloading the main lights, keeping lower stuff fueled, that really could of been chopped off. I'm developing this bin fodder into smoke, not just rubbish sapping energy from the tops. Tops that I have never seen leds produce in any diary. Sodium just does something right. Indoor growers have been selecting their best plants while using sodium for years. When breeders switch to leds, and thus starting selecting plants that do best under leds, Something might change.


Heat.
Leds are not as much colder as people seem to think. The power into a lamp leaves as light or heat. The 600's I'm so fond of are around 150lm per watt. The rest of the power leaves as heat. The very best leds might be talking about 220lm but that's barely running. 190lm is more typical, running them around 30% of the rated power. The chances are few of the installations we see on these pages are making 150lm per watt, so are in fact making more heat than a 600w sodium light, if there was 600w of led.

Many diy store floodlights use the typical cobs found on ebay. These are often under 100lm per watt. Meaning 80% of the power could be turning it into a radiator. Avoid these crazy cheap cobs, and the crazy cheap drivers. Nearly all are half the advertised power, which gets you a refund, but you still can't use them as they knock out peoples radio's at some distance.


So to sum up, in my opinion, if you can use a 600, do so. If you can use a 400, fair enough. A 250... maybe look at leds. You will get a better spread from leds, and multi-point lighting is better. Both from a light distribution angle, and heat. Because you can get lower down with your lighting, if the heats not all concentrated on one spot. There is quite a bit of action in the led market at these lower power levels. It's where it's at. It's modest.... not killer.


In a nutshell, Sodium top lighting with led interlighting is my favourite recipe

 

[Ibechillin]

Philips MASTER GreenPower 600W 400V E40

Primary Absorption Spectrum:

Full Absorption Spectrum:

 

[Lester Beans]

LED is certainly the light of the future but I'm not ready to toss the 1k HPS. I haven't seen people matching the yield and quality of the HPS with anything yet. I tried CMH 630 de and it is a pretty light and the plants liked it, but the plants uder HPS loved it. Far better quality and quantity under hps hortilux eye bulbs.

Just my experience.

Let us know what you decide.

 

[Ibechillin]

What 630 DE bulb did you use? Spectrum makes all the difference, Not all CMH are the same.

 

[skotty]

They do perform.... this is 1 of my cuts under a solarsystem 550.. shes currently on week 5 12/12

 

[Ibechillin]

Hey Skotty awesome , what size space is that 5x5? Only one light above?

 

[Lost in a SOG]

That surely cant be only one light!?

 

[skotty]

That surely cant be only one light!?

its not just the light pal... the cut thats under that led is phenominal... she finishes in 7 week...

 

[skotty]

Hey Skotty awesome , what size space is that 5x5? Only one light above?]

Its 2.4m x 2.4m x 2m flower room...

The solarsystem 550 does in-deed have a remote control with an unbelievable amount of settings and intensity options..

I can set programs so as soon as the light comes on it starts off low and over the course of 4 hours i can increase the intensity then keep it there for 4 hours before before spending the next 4 hours reversing the intensity down till lights off...

It kinda mimics sunrise and sun set.. you also have the option to go from 0% intensity to 100% on the colour'd diodes in the unit..

For example

100% blue
50% red
10% white
For veg

Or

100% red
30% blue
50% white

Flower

Mid flower you can push all intensity to 100%

Once you have programmed the settings you just sit back... also has the option to daisy chain lights together

 

[Lost in a SOG]

Funky. I like.. i see Osram are appearing big time now at the more hobby end of the market. I didnt know they owned Fluence till the other day which are probably on Osram diodes as well. Those new Gavita LEDs are on a mix. But now they're owned by scotts im not giving gavita any money, may seem petty but fuck those guys.

 

[bigtacofarmer]

Funky. I like.. i see Osram are appearing big time now at the more hobby end of the market. I didnt know they owned Fluence till the other day which are probably on Osram diodes as well. Those new Gavita LEDs are on a mix. But now they're owned by scotts im not giving gavita any money, may seem petty but fuck those guys.

Not petty at all. Voting with your dollars sends a message. Good for you for shopping smart. Hopefully the whole bayer>monsanto>scotts and affiliates crumble. And soon. I just read bayer stock crashed 40%. Only another 120% and maybe they will hear the message loud and clear.

 

[Hubbleman]

Solar system 550??

Looks good......... expensive

 

[Lost in a SOG]

There's good capitalism and bad and i know how i feel about those suits