greengrace
New Member
Hi to all ,thanks Steve ,just got my first lights,from advance DS200 .First time the info here is great.have no idea what im doing but am going to do my best.
eace
Stevehman's LED Buyer's Guide
- Thread starter SteveHman
- Start date
Hi to all ,thanks Steve ,just got my first lights,from advance DS200 .First time the info here is great.have no idea what im doing but am going to do my best.eace- Thread starter
- #182
greengrace,
Welcome to 420! If there is any information you need about growing with LEDs there are several of us here using them. Check out some of my journals as well as Jozo-sha's, Magic Bean's, Maer's and several others.
Magic beans
New Member
You obviously have some type of idea what youre doing
ratatattooey
New Member
You obviously have some type of idea what youre doing
Obviously! Great lights! welcome greengrace!
wheat berry
New Member
i wish i had found this guide a month ago, some great info here thanks. i'm going to buy from one of the sponsors here. what to do with the 1 watt panels i have?
Craigslist them at 1/2 price
wheat berry
New Member
thanks Bassman59 at least i'd recoup some of the money, even at half price that would go a long way towards getting some 3 watt panels. thinking about getting the diamond series from advanced. my electric company says i use more power than 100 nieghbors, those smart meters are scary.i was running 3 400w hids.
i'm going to join the led revolution.
i'm going to join the led revolution.
"Your welcome. Do I get a bulk discount?"
"The floor furnace at one end of the house went out so we installed baseboard heaters."
"Yeah, I know. 89 of those 100 neighbors are out of work and the other 11 work at Welfare*Mart."
"We're stockpiling it in case we have a power failure."
"Rotating stripper poles and strobe lights use a lot of electricity."
"You're telling me! I wish I'd known before I bought that Panasonic 152" Quad-HD Plasma television. On the other hand... Thanks to it, we haven't had to turn the furnace on once this year."
"I told those pesky kids not to keep opening the refrigerator door every few minutes."
"We heard CFLs had mercury in them, so we traded with our 100 neighbors for their incandescent bulbs."
"Man cave. 'nuff said."
"Multiple redundant power supplies, three 1.5 gig video cards, three 42" monitors, seven speakers, two subwoofers and an extreme water-cooling setup... But our teenage son no longer goes out and murders hookers and middle-aged nosy utility company receptionists on the weekend out of boredom. I'd say it's a bargain... wouldn't you?"
Yep - multiple smaller wattages have the benefit of spill over lighting; for example, in my tent (a 3x5 roughly), I have 2 x 300's over each half of the tent, any plants in the middle of the tent get spill over from...ah shit...I'm too high to explain this right now, LOL.
Yep - multiple smaller wattages have the benefit of spill over lighting; for example, in my tent (a 3x5 roughly), I have 2 x 300's over each half of the tent, any plants in the middle of the tent get spill over from...ah shit...I'm too high to explain this right now, LOL.
Haha I hear ya, I got what you were saying. I placed order this morning and from mentioning this thread got free shipping. He talked me into 2x200w for a 5x5ft tent growing 2 plants on a 2.5x2.5ft scrog screen.
Wondering how you can get even light distribution in a square tent with two panels. Are you going to add a Light Rail?
It won't be even, but remember it's only a 5x5 and both lights have a coverage area of 2.5ft x 3ft.
NCDude
New Member
A couple of LED questions, please....
#1.Do LEDs loose their brightness over time?
I have a small closet, and a couple of small tents I use. I have an assortment of LEDs I've collected: A couple of those round 90 watt 'UFOs" a 240 watt, and a couple of 160 waters (both the 240 and the 160s have the red or blue light switches)
I've been gardening for a couple of years, and am pretty happy with the above LEDs....my second question is:
#2. Whats a good rule of thumb on how high to hang LEDs above the canopy?
THanks!
#1.Do LEDs loose their brightness over time?
I have a small closet, and a couple of small tents I use. I have an assortment of LEDs I've collected: A couple of those round 90 watt 'UFOs" a 240 watt, and a couple of 160 waters (both the 240 and the 160s have the red or blue light switches)
I've been gardening for a couple of years, and am pretty happy with the above LEDs....my second question is:
#2. Whats a good rule of thumb on how high to hang LEDs above the canopy?
THanks!
- Thread starter
- #197
1.) Yes, LEDs will deteriorate over time. How much and how fast depends on the quality of the chip, and how much they drive it (if you drive a 3w chip at 100% the lifespan is greatly reduced). On the bright side, by the time the LED panel needs to be replaced (5+years), newer technology will be around and they will be cheaper than the ones you bought. The total cost of ownership is lower than that of other lighting systems based on the non-replacement factor (for 5+ years).
2.) It depends on the lights you have, my rule of thumb is 24~30 for veg, 18~24 for bloom. But again, that all depends on your light, others may recommend closer. Factors include wattage and lens angle, so there is no set answer. But, if you are in the range I recommend you should be fine.
Milly C
New Member
Excellent post. 
I am new to LED's, I recently bought a 90 watt UFO type led, (from China) for $200, hadn't read this post then. Space and interest being my motivator to try LED's rather than my old HPS/halide setup. But all things considered I am very impressed with the performance of this light. My girls are still in veg, but the growth has been nothing short of phenomenal. Heat build up is negligible, almost nonexistent, and that in a 3' X 2' wardrobe. I have been reading about 3 watt LED's but the prices are definitely up there. If my plants head up as well as they've vegged I'll be one happy chappy. Thanks again. 
I am new to LED's, I recently bought a 90 watt UFO type led, (from China) for $200, hadn't read this post then. Space and interest being my motivator to try LED's rather than my old HPS/halide setup. But all things considered I am very impressed with the performance of this light. My girls are still in veg, but the growth has been nothing short of phenomenal. Heat build up is negligible, almost nonexistent, and that in a 3' X 2' wardrobe. I have been reading about 3 watt LED's but the prices are definitely up there. If my plants head up as well as they've vegged I'll be one happy chappy. Thanks again. Thank you for the great thread Steve. After much gnashing of teeth and wringing of hands I decided to go with LEDs for my flower room. The veg room is strictly T-5 but I may try one Penetrator there to see the effect. (First grow journal to follow) The information on this site was invaluable in my research.
Yesterday I bought 4 Penetrators, 1 450 Dorm Grow and one 90W eLoofa UFO. All used off Craigslist except the DormGrow. In spite of negatives about the Penetrators (bad customer support, false claims, etc.) I couldn't pass up the deal. The seller had a setup of 8 1000w HPS with the 4 LEDs in the middle and would move the plants around every so often. He never kept some plants totally under the Penetrators so couldn't tell if the yield was better or worse than under HPS.
By the way, two of the Penetrators were defective - about a quarter of the leds are dead - so I got them for almost nothing. The seller maintained that Hydrogrow will replace them if I can stand the downtime. I figured to use them as is, but maybe I should test the infamous HydroGrow support.
The arguments for and against these lights will continue for a while but I am convinced that they are the future. I simply do not have the power to run megawatts of HPS, so with only two 20 amp circuits I can maximize my space with LEDs.
Thank you all again for sharing your knowledge and experience. The flower room should be up and running in about a week - I'm taking over half of a 40' sea container and have to frame and insulate. Floor will be painted with elastomeric and the walls are mylar. No big deal ventilation is necessary with these lights, just good circulation. When it's done I will share pics.
Yesterday I bought 4 Penetrators, 1 450 Dorm Grow and one 90W eLoofa UFO. All used off Craigslist except the DormGrow. In spite of negatives about the Penetrators (bad customer support, false claims, etc.) I couldn't pass up the deal. The seller had a setup of 8 1000w HPS with the 4 LEDs in the middle and would move the plants around every so often. He never kept some plants totally under the Penetrators so couldn't tell if the yield was better or worse than under HPS.
By the way, two of the Penetrators were defective - about a quarter of the leds are dead - so I got them for almost nothing. The seller maintained that Hydrogrow will replace them if I can stand the downtime. I figured to use them as is, but maybe I should test the infamous HydroGrow support.
The arguments for and against these lights will continue for a while but I am convinced that they are the future. I simply do not have the power to run megawatts of HPS, so with only two 20 amp circuits I can maximize my space with LEDs.
Thank you all again for sharing your knowledge and experience. The flower room should be up and running in about a week - I'm taking over half of a 40' sea container and have to frame and insulate. Floor will be painted with elastomeric and the walls are mylar. No big deal ventilation is necessary with these lights, just good circulation. When it's done I will share pics.
That must have qualified as the deal of the century, lol. Free?
Please do. I for one would be interested in your results. As you did not purchase them new from "her," there is no danger of you asking for your money back (and therefore being threatened with being turned in to your local law enforcement authority for (possibly) growing cannabis), so you ought to be safe. As to whether or not you will ultimately receive satisfaction... Who can say?
In any event, good luck with your grow. May you have bountiful harvests!
