LED Vs CFL

[Jd1989]

Hi guys I was just wondering I have a small grow cabinet I have been using which is working great I run a 400w cfl which has been been very productive I have recently purchased an led 250w I was just wondering if anyone had any idea weather the swap would be worth it in the long run for yields etc I have read so much on this and still feel clueless any info would be greatly appreciated ,
Thanks

 

[Mike Wright]

Depends very much on the light. If it is 250 w real draw then most likely it is going to blow the cfl away.

 

[Jd1989]

Sorry real draw?

 

[Mike Wright]

How much it pulls from the wall versus its rating. Manufacturers will bill a light as 600w because it has 60 x 10 watt chips, for example, but it may only pull 250 watts from the wall, because it is more efficient to drive the leds. What make/model is your light?

 

[Jd1989]

That’s the thing the only sort of label I can find on the led light is CE roHS I did some research into it it’s chinese I think?

 

[Mike Wright]

What makes you think it is a 250 Watt light?

 

[Jd1989]

I brought it a while ago and remember it was a 250 , got it from the net

 

[Jd1989]

Looking through my emails it may have been a 120

 

[Jd1989]

So would a 120w led be better than a 450w cfl ?

 

[Tinted Tahoe]

So would a 120w led be better than a 450w cfl ?

I'm no pro on leds more like a rookie but I am going to say no. Is it a led panel? Usually leds actual wattage is around half of what it is sold as my 450w panels pull an actual 200 watts each. These "450watt" led panels I have claim to cover a 3x3 in veg and 2.5x2.5 in flower. So it's safe to say the light you have would cover less then half of that which would make for a pretty small plant.

Those Chinese mh/hps lights are the best bang for your buck...but led is much more energy efficient and provides the plant with better spectrums and also run way cooler then hps. I do not recommend hps in small spaces.

It verys on type of light someone can correct me if I'm wrong but I believe with led you want at least 35w per square foot with 50w per square foot being the best.

 

[Mike Wright]

It sounds like the CFL may outperform what you have. Post a pic of the LED if you want. With LED's sometimes you really don't know what you are getting. My 5 year old TopLED pulls about 185 watts with veg/bloom on and I'd take that over a 450 watt cfl any day, especially for light penetration.

 

[TorturedSoul]

Should be a tag somewhere that lists number of amps @ 120V. Multiply it by 120 to get wattage consumed. How much gets to the LEDs will depend on efficiency, so most folks go by the amount used. Or you can get a device called a Kill A Watt. They're relatively cheap, and will give you numbers for anything that you plug into one.

You could always remove an amount of CFLs equal to the actual wattage of your LED panel's (once you find out what that number is), lol. Actually, that might not be a bad idea. Some cheap LED products could probably use the help - both in terms of gross photon output and in spectral output.