LED Grow Light Review

[WheeloFortune]

Re: Official LED Grow Light Review

Color spectrum is the most important thing in using LED's.

If there is interest in it, I could find the actual spectrum and then translate it to an LED output for people, shouldnt be too hard.

here's where i'm not sold.

over eons of evolution, plants have grown highly efficient at utilizing the parts of the sun's spectrum that are the weakest.

this is like a highly trained athelete whose body is more efficient at using oxygen in the blood than a normal person.

also, plants use the strongest part of the suns spectrum a lot less efficiently for photosyntesis. and doesn't use any green.

this is like a person who goes on oxygen therapy, and because of long term over availability of highly concentrated o2, the lungs get less efficient at proccessing the o2, because there is so much, it gets lazy. (this really happens)

this doesnt neccessarily mean that you should just blast the hell out of them at their most efficient wavelength that they can proccess. they might need other wavelengths for other things.

i personally would try to mix my spectrum, placing emphasis on the best parts of the spectrum, and eliminating green all together. but then again, im not a botanist or an electrical engineer. . . oh wait i'm one of those. . .

 

[CountBrass]

Re: Official LED Grow Light Review

Ok, I am new on the forums .. so bear with me, but I keep seeing something that I wanted to point out .... Namely that all the LED grow lights are manufactured and touted how cool and great and how they are targetting the correct wavelength to stimulate MAX plant growth ... well I am calling BULLS**T!!

If you read the tech specs on the "Procyon 100" (supposed best LED grow light) "All Procyon 100 lights ship with ~635nm peak and ~450nm peak wavelength LEDs. "

635nm Peak for the RED... UMMMM you want a 640-660 or you WONT see ANY RESULTS ... you might as well unplug it and use it to block open the door with for ventilation....

wikipedia has a nice chart on cholorophyll light waves and absorption

I have been doing extensive research into the LED lights every since I came across the first reading articles referencing them ... and every study all references PAR and the responsive wavelengths .. but when you research the CREE LED's .. I havent seen one of the red ones that covers the correct wavelength .... (superbrite LEDs has a good selection of the CREE's and the red is the wrong light wave and every site that carries cree has the same issue! Cree DOESNT seem to make a RED in the correct wave!!) So where is Procyon is just using the normal RED Cree in the wrong light frequency ...


Blue will get good veg growth but without the correct red frequency you will not see good flowering as the plants are really starved for light that is correct at that point ... the small bit of red that is bleeding into the proper range is the bottom of the peak... and since RED is going to be what controls flowering and things of that nature ... you would think .. get RED correct since thats the light that controls the end result of why we are doing this ...

Look at the other grow lights on the web.. they all seem to have the same problem... hidden in the tech specs of the light either the red or the blue is the wrong wavelength ... the range for the correct blue led is actually closer to purple than it is blue .. so its almost twice as expensive as the normal blue leds... reds in the right frequency are easy to find and cheap .. BUT you have to sort through alot of them to get the right ones .. there is something like 7 different red hues for LED's that are just a little off from each ranging from a deep ruby red to an orange/red color ...

so as a wrap .. look at wikipedia on cholorophyll for the right waves (430,453 642, 662 are the peaks for those that dont want to check then look at the tech specs of the grow lights .. they ALL state in the fine print what the LED's in use are and what light band they use .... (or dont use as the case usually is!!)

 

[JonnyHempSeed]

Re: Official LED Grow Light Review

Dear Countbrass-

The Procyon was the first heavy-duty high-powered grow light produced in this country, and that was years ago...its no surprise that its spectrum is insufficient.

Check out OSRAM Opto Semiconductors' Dragon family of LED's...this is probably the best quality+strength commercially available LED manufacturer, that provides a decent range of wavelength spectrum for both red and blue, and is available up to 10W individual diode size. Check out the golden dragon, platinum, and argus lines, because they're all sweet, and building your own light is still the way to go for this technology.
OSRAM Opto Semiconductors|Products|Light Emitting Diodes (LED)|index

Also, there is a new plasma bulb made by the Luxim Corp, it is a bulb the size of a gelcap that puts out more lumens than a 400W HPS at 1/3 of the electric draw and heat generation...in addition, it's a plasma spectrum bulb so the color range is much closer to the sun's. I don't know if anyone has tried growing with these yet, but they have been used extremely successfully in home-made projectors and as replacements for standard street-side HPS systems. If these jerk-offs ever return phone/email product requests, I'll keep updated on if they're effective or not.

 

[Hydroguy]

Re: Official LED Grow Light Review

Hi all,

Firstly very interesting thread, and yes there is a lot of conflicting info for not so tech minded.
I'm starting off my scond grow first went pretty well, just used Mh for veg and HPs for flower, 4 plants, 3 flowered ahead of the last one, then enjoyed the fruits of my sucess and dropped the ball on the last one (proby mistake.

anyhows i have decided to seperate my grow area into 2 tents, veg and flower, in veg i am going to use 90W UFO FULL SPECTRUM TRIBAND HYDROPONIC LED GROW LIGHT, bought this of ebay hoping it works (from China)
in flower tent i intend to use HPs as primary light and supplemnet with stem led's, hoping this will help with light penetration probs through canopy.
should have said veg will be used for 2 mothers and 4 clones at a time and flowering tent will have 4 plants at all times.

Does anybody have any feedback on the above led light and has anybody used the stem leds yet, they seem like a really good idea, as on the last grow you could see the dimishing return the lowet you got.

Cheers
Hydroguy

 

[Slowpuffer]

Re: Official LED Grow Light Review

Hydroguy,
I bought 2 90 watt leds off ebay. They both grow nice plants in veg. stage. I think they grow a tighter bush than mh, a little slower, but they do work. I don't know why ebay allows the sellers to blantly lie about what these lights will do, but i can tell you flat out that even 3 of the 90 watters will not flower like one 400 watt hid will. Now that's the truth !! There's no truth in advertising anymore !! Good luck !!

 

[Hydroguy]

Re: Official LED Grow Light Review

Thanks for the reply slowpuffer. its difficult to choose with all the claims being made, I have done some research but conflicting reports seem the norm.

The 90w led arrived yesterday and what did the send me a 7.1.1 ratio light (7 Red 1 blue 1 orange ratio, i wanted the blue veg light. may end using it simply as a extra light if i can position so its gets under the canopy,,

I think leds maybe the way forward for vegging, but flowering still requires hps

It might be an idea to start a thread on recommended LEDs, what works what doesn't, what is obviuosly crapo being sold on ebay.

 

[TorturedSoul]

Re: Official LED Grow Light Review

Is anyone trying to flower with 400 watts of LEDs? That would be an interesting (and proper) comparison to a 400-watt HPS.

I'm not against LEDs - I don't have the knowledge required to really take a stance one way or the other. I am, however, strongly against those who advertise them as "being equivalent to..." just like I'm against those who do the same for CFLs. Only it's worse for the LED people because they aren't comparing them to a reading light, lol.

 

[Tead]

Re: Official LED Grow Light Review

^^^^ Yea... what he said.

I'm just disgusted by the "equiv wattage" numbers on LED and CFL's. It's useless info and bloated marketing spluge.

IMHO, any comparison of any lighting technology shoud be with equiv consumed wattages.

Cheers!

 

[MSTRRYAN2]

Re: Official LED Grow Light Review

alright, just got back from my growing class at CT's here in Colo Springs. They brought in a grower who uses LED's for seeds, clones and veg cycle. He says he gets great results with tighter internode spacing thru the veg cycle. when flowering he still uses HPS.

gonna give it a shot.

 

[Tead]

Re: Official LED Grow Light Review

I get great results in vegging and germ with LED's, but it sure goes WAY downhill for flowering.
LED's and household CF's fill my veg cabinet and flower outside. Works quite well for me.
I've tried flowering on my LED's, but it's just not a good idea. Craptastic buds.

Cheers

 

[TorturedSoul]

Re: Official LED Grow Light Review

I am not convinced that "two blues, two reds, and white" would provide the spectral mix required for optimum flowering (or growth either).

I also believe that sativas use more of certain wavelengths and that indicas use more of others although there is of course some parts of the spectrum that are used by all.

For example, indicas tend to produce more chlorophyll than sativas.

While this holds true regardless of the type of light used, with LEDs it is conceivable that the wavelengths (and ratios) could be better tailored to suit each (type of) plant.

That is definitely one potential plus of LEDs in my book. Whether this benefit matures from a potential one to an actual one in mainstream use remains to be seen.

I still believe a portion of the solution is to treat actual watts as actual watts. If someone is used to using 1000 watts of HPS and they try to achieve comparable results with considerably less wattage (of any type of light in use today), they are going to be disappointed.

Another portion is in learning through much experimentation the proper plant-to-light spacing for optimum coverage and the light's penetration ability. Grows can be tailored to fit variances in each but the numbers must first be known. And these values will be different for different lights - just like with other types of illumination.

Multiple experimentation is required because while we have learned through many years and thousands of grow what spectra, type, and wattage of HPS and MH provide what results/benefits... that is not yet the case for LEDs. There is some active research being performed by some manufacturers. Unfortunately there are (far) more manufacturers/sellers that do not do the R&D/experimentation - especially among (but not limited to) the "Made in China" knockoffs that are often dumped on the market via eBay.

In practice, I feel that a person could actually replace a 1kW HPS with more than 1kW of LEDs in many cases due to the lesser climate-control requirements. It would certainly cost them more - but I cannot consider cost per light a factor in comparisons (and I pay more attention to costs than some).

Just rambling on.

 

[toadilyinsan]

Re: Official LED Grow Light Review

If I were one of the companies that produce the lights, I would have one of the big name growers (authors) like Jorge Cervantes, Logan Edwards or any of the other writers do a grow and film it and document every plus and minus. This would be a way to show if they are for real yet, it would also help them with there development of the light. Also with LED lights they should be able to replace a strip of the fixture to change the color, so when you need more of one color and less of another when you are changing from vegetative to flowering.
If they donated a few lights that would really be all they need. Even the grower would make out as he would be able to write another how to book.
Also companies like Supercloset should be looking into LED's to help with the heat problems, it would be better for them to use LED's for safety too

 

[Tead]

Re: Official LED Grow Light Review

I keep waiting for them to come out with tri-band LED's. Not a tri band panel, but individual LED's that have 3 elements in them... red, green, and blue and have 4 wires coming out of the bottom (power for each element and a common)... these would allow you to control the spectrum of each individual LED and tailor your light output.

Does this make sense? Seems like you could dial in any spectrum range you want using this technique.

LEDs are a fun tech to watch. They seem to be developing fairly quickly.

Cheers

 

[Bolivar]

120 watt led = at least 400 hps.

What do you base that on?

 

[TorturedSoul]

Hope?
Amount of money spent?

 

[Bolivar]

Hope?
Amount of money spent?

Heh. That's as good as any other explanation I've seen. I do hope LEDs pan out for grow lights, but it's been quite a while now and not much progress that I've heard of...

 

[TorturedSoul]

Yeah, I chuckled too - but I was sort of serious or I'd have not hit the post button.

I want to believe. I'd love to be able to buy a 120-watt device (of any sort) that would allow me to use it exclusively and be able to produce in a year's time with it the same amount (and potency) that I could produce in a year's time were I to use a 400-watt HPS exclusively in that year. I wouldn't care if it did it by more (shorter) cycles netting less bud each or less (longer) cycles producing more bud each. If that particular "tomorrow" ever came, whenever someone posted that "120 watt led = at least 400 hps," I'd be nodding at the monitor instead of laughing at it.

Then again, I want to believe in lots of stuff.

 

[Bolivar]

experiance...

Oh.

 

[TorturedSoul]

LED's work. Plain and simple. If you claim they don't well then you would be wrong...

If you bought an LED system and it didn't work, you got ripped off...

So you get 35+ ounces of well-trimmed bud a year from your 120-watt LED? Which brand/model? I'll check one out.

 

[Bolivar]

I grew 2 plants and got 4 big as mason jars full but it's still curring. That was my first grow but I'm a smart dude, still it is enough to get me to the next round which should be better. I let the plants veg to long and they outgrew my closet and grew above the light.

That's good to hear. Other growers using LEDs have had probs getting decent buds with them. They were great for veg (amazing, really), but didn't seem to promote flowering too well.