Manchester2020
Well-Known Member
Has anyone switched from hps to led and had better yields I’m confused on what led light will be equivalent to a 600w hps
Replace 600W HPS with LED
- Thread starter Manchester2020
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Emilya Green
Well-Known Member
I made the jump a couple of years ago now, and after a little bit of a learning curve and now much better LED lights, I am definitely experiencing better yields and better quality product, for much less electricity costs. The way to look at LED is different than HID... don't think watt per watt.... think footprint and available PAR. LED generally requires you to get much closer to the canopy than HID, so the tight footprint under an LED light is much different than the wide dispersion with an HID light 36" away. Also, heat is no longer a problem, so that also allows for much closer placement as well as deeper penetration into the canopy. Lastly, LED plays games with the old inverse squared law followed by regular light... LED is "tuned" light, and it just seems to penetrate a lot better... red and blue focused light, even in a full spectrum light, goes through leaves better than yellow light... and this makes LED growing very interesting if you come at it with HID experience.
Welcome back by the way... let me know if I can help.
Welcome back by the way... let me know if I can help.
I switched from 1000 hps to 1000 w cheep Led it was a disaster. There are sponsors here that will give you a discount. Do yourself a favor check them out.
You want one to fit your grow room and get full coverage. Check their charts and actual wattage. Don't just by a cheep blurple off Amazon. A little research will go a long way. Best of luck brother.
you need to know what the driver(s) actually draw from the wall socket as opposed to the mfgrs wattage claim.
wattage claims by mfgrs can be voodoo math based on the number of diodes x the max wattage the diodes can handle. no one powers them like that, but it won't stop bogus builders from making the claim.
you can make a (very) rough hid watt comparison if you know the true wattage draw of the rig or driver. a decent rig with white light emitters will be about 50 to 65 % more powerful than an equivalent hid. don't run burple.
example :
my flower rig draws a true 600w. it is roughly equivalent to 1000w hps. i actually run a dimmer at 75% so it is only drawing about 450w of real power, as the rig is a bit overkill for a 4 x 4 space.
i used to work with led a bit in another industry.
wattage claims by mfgrs can be voodoo math based on the number of diodes x the max wattage the diodes can handle. no one powers them like that, but it won't stop bogus builders from making the claim.
you can make a (very) rough hid watt comparison if you know the true wattage draw of the rig or driver. a decent rig with white light emitters will be about 50 to 65 % more powerful than an equivalent hid. don't run burple.
example :
my flower rig draws a true 600w. it is roughly equivalent to 1000w hps. i actually run a dimmer at 75% so it is only drawing about 450w of real power, as the rig is a bit overkill for a 4 x 4 space.
i used to work with led a bit in another industry.
SaltyDog
Well-Known Member
Back in the day I used to run a 400 w HPS. I am setting up a room with a SF2000 now. My question is this, should I just move the light up and down because I really don't know what the dimmer knob really does... any help will be appreciated..
Emilya Green
Well-Known Member
Hi dog, and welcome. LED light needs to be close to the plants... 12 inches is not uncommon in bloom and 18 inches in veg. Further than that really gets these new lights out of their sweet spot, so instead of moving up and down it is easier to stay in the range where the light is effective, and then just vary the output with the dimmer. This way you can get some crazy efficiencies and still be pounding the plants with very intense light.
For example, I can move my COB LED array down close to the plants while in veg, when they don't need more than 25,000 LUX or so, and then adjust my wattage to get to that value. Typically in early veg, my big super efficient LED array will not draw more than 40 or 50 watts from the wall, but will be giving the plants all they need and then some.
Bush Doctor 77
Well-Known Member
New to it myself, but Samsung diodes, Meanwell drive and no fan---the way to go. Got Mars and Budget as sponsors here with discounts. Go with 450 or so from the wall, and you should be happy. I went from 1000W HID MH/HPS to 675 watts of quality SMD's with 475 watt Budget+ 200 watts HLG and I will never go back. Get dimmers!
i would never run them that close.
2 reasons :
if your led is sufficiently strong it will cause issues with the plant being that close. they can develop what looks like a genetic issue. what is happening is the photons are damaging the plant cell walls by displacing the material that would make the cell wall creating mutations. it's essentially plant cancer.
if you have a dimmer there is no need to run them closer than 24 inches at any time.
if you have a weak rig you can run them closer. but it's a sign of a poor rig.
most rigs run 24 - 36 inches in veg and 18 - 24 inches in flower.
when starting seedlings with a dimmer start at 50%. slowly ramp for the first two - three weeks to 75 %. most of veg will be spent there depending how powerful your light is. in flower ramp to 90 - 100 % and stay there. maintain the distances i cited.
i built and sold custom rigs for 5 yrs and have well over a decade of led experience in another industry.
i know what a good rig is.
irocu88
Well-Known Member
I will let you know....getting ready to ditch my 1000w HPS for a pair HLG 350R's.....You get what you pay for.....(I hope)
check prices with @Budget LED before pulling the trigger.
go read grow doctor guides dot com. explains fully the differences between mfgrs as well as where and how to buy, getting the best deal, how to beat amazon, ali baba, etc. completely explains what the lights are, what the components are, and who builds them.
HLG is the worst deal as far as led pricing. you can easily match them for components and save 30 - 50 % or more. but you have to be educated to get a deal. loads of times you can get a better rig for less.
i also highly recommend led gardener dot com.
Nunyabiz
Well-Known Member
Each one of my lights is pretty close to a 600w HPS.
Mine are just 325w but I iam running it right now at 173w and between the two of them still putting out 900+ PPFD which is more than enough.
Mine are just 325w but I iam running it right now at 173w and between the two of them still putting out 900+ PPFD which is more than enough.
your build is a bit ahead of what most folk want to tackle @Nunyabiz
90% of growers have no idea of what makes a led rig work, or how incredibly easy and cheap it is to build one once you do the leg work. they just want to plug it in and pay piles more for the convenience.
you clearly are not afraid to learn and understand.
90% of growers have no idea of what makes a led rig work, or how incredibly easy and cheap it is to build one once you do the leg work. they just want to plug it in and pay piles more for the convenience.
you clearly are not afraid to learn and understand.
Just wandering around looking for a likely place to ask this question. I was thinking of buying a grow tent for extra space in a new spot, and a 4x4 one came up locally.
On the side it came with a bunch of stuff I don’t really want - like some nutrients and grow books and CK seeds and stuff.
But mainly in the unwanted dept - four V Sprectra ‘300 watt’ lights. For a total of about 540 actual watts if I remember right.
What to do with them? I am mostly growing with 600 watt HPS lights to this point, though I’ve got some QB knockoffs as well. The kind Graytail has.
I’ve never had a blurple light before. Is that what these are? The thought makes me cringe. Should I get rid of them quick? Try to give them to homeless people?
Are they better than I think and ‘better than HPS’ and I should grow under them but don’t let my friends find out? I did a bunch of googling to see what these lights are about, but in this area google seems flooded with so many crappy BS articles and ads that I lost heart.
Never paid much attention to cheap LEDs before and never thought I’d be standing here with these sort of lights in the house having to ask this question.
On the side it came with a bunch of stuff I don’t really want - like some nutrients and grow books and CK seeds and stuff.
But mainly in the unwanted dept - four V Sprectra ‘300 watt’ lights. For a total of about 540 actual watts if I remember right.
What to do with them? I am mostly growing with 600 watt HPS lights to this point, though I’ve got some QB knockoffs as well. The kind Graytail has.
I’ve never had a blurple light before. Is that what these are? The thought makes me cringe. Should I get rid of them quick? Try to give them to homeless people?
Are they better than I think and ‘better than HPS’ and I should grow under them but don’t let my friends find out? I did a bunch of googling to see what these lights are about, but in this area google seems flooded with so many crappy BS articles and ads that I lost heart.
Never paid much attention to cheap LEDs before and never thought I’d be standing here with these sort of lights in the house having to ask this question.
And dang- I didn’t mean to hijack your thread Manchester2020 sorry about that. Thought it might add.
perfect veg and seedling lights. can also keep mother plants under them.
lastly - craigslist them
lastly - craigslist them
Nunyabiz
Well-Known Member
I am using my old ones set up under the house keeping a pepper plant, a lemon tree, rosemary plant and an orchid alive through the winter.
Great for seedlings
Great for seedlings
Thanks guys. Not what it says on the box, but ok. 
Yeah they do look like nice little seedling starters.
Craigslist isn’t the greatest option in this faraway backwater because it’s basically telling everyone in the entire area that you’re growing- which is sort of ok/but sort of not, in privacy terms. I’ll keep one or two and maybe give a couple away for Xmas. Cheers.
Yeah they do look like nice little seedling starters. Craigslist isn’t the greatest option in this faraway backwater because it’s basically telling everyone in the entire area that you’re growing- which is sort of ok/but sort of not, in privacy terms. I’ll keep one or two and maybe give a couple away for Xmas. Cheers.
Cannabomb62
Well-Known Member
2 of those hlg 350r would replace a 1000w de hps. You would basically have a 650r which those lamps do replace 1000w de. Your going to get alot of people will turn you away from hlg for something "cheaper" but it wont be the same. Its all up to you and your budget though. Ive learned to not ask these questions online. Too many mixed answers. Your going to get a much more solid answer if you just researched the companies yourself. And HLG
there's only a handful of places printing boards. budget led, hlg, spider farmer etc all have the same or similar suppliers. they don't print the boards themselves.
the biggest difference will be whether they are printing epistar or samsung leds. most of your lower cost boards will be epis. even brand name boards will wind up with epis masquerading as lm's, as samsung doesn't produce enough to supply the market.
a majority of builders have the capacity to print more than one type or brand of chip on the same board. this is why you can get far red chips and different kelvin printed together. most of the development envelope is opposing mfgrs printing and trying different combinations of chips. they all have the ability to do it.
the biggest difference will be whether they are printing epistar or samsung leds. most of your lower cost boards will be epis. even brand name boards will wind up with epis masquerading as lm's, as samsung doesn't produce enough to supply the market.
a majority of builders have the capacity to print more than one type or brand of chip on the same board. this is why you can get far red chips and different kelvin printed together. most of the development envelope is opposing mfgrs printing and trying different combinations of chips. they all have the ability to do it.
irocu88
Well-Known Member
They already have...and I do appreciate the advice, however in my experience cheaper is rarely better...its more of a choice due to other circumstances. I can afford the HLG's, and that is where I will stay. I want to make sure I am getting a good "replacement" for my HPS. If I like the results, I think I will eventually add a 650r between them with my two UVB's between the 650 and 350's. I have done some (need more) research...and HLG is top of the list.
