LED Grow Light Review

[TorturedSoul]

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]

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]

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]

Originally Posted by bigtires001

120 watt led = at least 400 hps.

What do you base that on?

[TorturedSoul]

Hope?
Amount of money spent?

[Bolivar]

Originally Posted by TorturedSoul

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]

Originally Posted by bigtires001

experiance...

Oh.

[TorturedSoul]

Originally Posted by bigtires001

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]

Originally Posted by bigtires001

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.

[diggler35007]

i purchased a tri-band off the net . they do not produce the lumens promissed . they work good for sup. lighting only. dont waste your time or money on it . unless you buy them big shits -like $2000.00. cant say about them though. mine cost $165.00 us dollhairs. shipping included.- better off with cfl's if the spectrums are right.

[rtgcel]

I have used these lights for over two years now and the results only get better. Run the lights on solar as well.

[TorturedSoul]

Originally Posted by bigtires001

htgsupply.com

120watt LED.

Oh, that one. I thought you meant something new as in "recently created." I wasn't thinking; if that were the case you wouldn't have had prior experience with it lol. My bad.

Never really cared for HTGS. Nothing against someone trying to make a buck, but that guy's taken greed to a whole 'nother level. Still, such is the way of the world.

As far as that particular LED goes, if it works to your satisfaction, that's great. I haven't had the chance to use one although - IF it's the one that he's selling for $499.95 & that he mentions the PhD Botanist (a Dr. E.R. Myers, I believe) but doesn't list any real specs - I did get to see one for about 30 seconds before the guy's wife came home. Couple months later he'd sold it. Don't read anything into that though - he was about three days away from splitsville. People shouldn't attempt to hide things from their spouses lmao. So I never got to see whatever results he managed.

Originally Posted by bigtires001

the 120 watt is rated for like 25 to 50 square feet. Better turn that back to about 4, 3 foot high plants in a square.

You mean four square feet? If that's how you'd compare it to 400 watts of HPS, the last time I ran numbers like that I was using CO2 injection/monitoring, semi-sealed chambers, and other things that I wish I could forget because knowing that I gave every bit of that particular setup away. Actually, I think it was 102 watts/sq. ft. but close enough lol. In a normal semi-hobby type setup I would be setup for 50-75 watts per.

Regardless, if you can consistently manage at least 8 ounces of well-trimmed & cured bud off of it or say 35oz. or more per year than I'd say it would not only hit the range of a really good 400-watt HPS setup but be worth investing in. Of course I read that you've not grown much with your setup so I understand that you wouldn't necessarily be expected to max it out production-wise on your first run. Or even your second, lol.

Originally Posted by bigtires001

If you have a HPS bulb like a 600 or more, cops can see it plain and simple if they waNT TO. sure they may not have found you yet but if you get busted for somthing else or a neighbor turns you in, you better be ready for an infared scan...

Never been busted for drug-related "offenses" and the only arrests that did happen were LONG (as in decades) ago. I'm all grown up now, getting arrested (for anything) is for stupid punk kids. But I've partied with more than a few cops, K9 agents, etc. in the past 25 years. And one of them was nice enough to end my paranoia on THAT score about ten years ago when he bet $50 me he could pinpoint my grow within five feet the next time he did a flyover. Thermal properties, heat transfer, and the like aren't exactly black magic. Use a little common sense and put a little effort into design instead of slapping something together - which ought to be a given anyway whenever one is dealing with electricity and water in the same equation - and you'll find that you can easily set up an upper-story grow above which the snow won't even melt from your roof on a mild winter day; and a lower-story or below surface-grade grow which might raise the temperature throughout your entire home a couple of degrees (max) or add a little more load to your central air. Deal with the heat, keep the smell separate from the heat, understand the principles of electricity, load-balancing, & proper grounding, properly set up all your plumbing needs, and don't piss off the wife so badly that she decides that she'd like to see you rot in a 5' by 7' cell, don't leave empty hydroponics nutrient jugs lying around (or be caught carrying bags of soil in/out if you're a DIRTy guy lol) and you'll be fine. Assuming you keep your mouth shut & don't try to feed your ego, but that's common sense - like all the rest of it.

In short, grow with LEDs if you like. Do it because you like the challenge, because you can't afford the extra few bucks a month for electricity, because you like to play on the bleeding-edge, or because you wish to support the research (although, since typically only pennies out of the dollars spent on LED lamps are spent on research, you'd be better off just cutting a check just for research), etc. Just don't due it because you buy into the fear-mongering tactics of an ad-writer.

Ahh, well... At least you didn't say that HID lighting causes fires.

Originally Posted by Tead

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.

Sounds what you're looking for is a SUPER bright gigantic OLED. Me too. Maybe someday they'll get around to inventing one for us instead of the television, monitor, cell phone, and pda people.

In the meantime, have you talked to the folks at CREE?

Cree Introduces World’s First IPx5-Rated Tri-Color LED for Full-Color Displays

DURHAM, N.C., JUNE 17, 2009 — Cree, Inc. (Nasdaq: CREE), a market leader in LED lighting, announces the first commercially available water-resistant, surface-mount, high-brightness LEDs for outdoor video screens. This RGB (red-green-blue) LED has an IPx5 rating, indicating that the LED is protected against low-pressure jets of water from all directions.

Cree Screen Master CLV6A-FKB LED“We’ve developed a water-resistant, red-green-blue LED that can be used in indoor and outdoor video screen applications,” said Paul Thieken, Cree director of marketing, LED components. “Previously, LEDs had to be encapsulated to protect them from water. By incorporating encapsulation at the LED level, we can help our customers save time and money.”

“Displ’aire, working with Cree, is changing the rules for LED displays,” says Leo Stearns, Displ’aire’s CEO. “Cree’s involvement started with us early in our development cycle, and they provided the support we needed to rapidly deploy our new technologies. Displ’aire portable, daylight-visible displays and the new water-resistant Cree LEDs are a perfect technology match for creating brighter, more efficient displays that can better stand up to the elements.”

Source:

http://www.cree.com/press/press_detail.asp?i=1245244814243

They also manufacture some really freaking bright LEDs:

Cree Announces Industry’s Brightest and Highest-Efficiency Lighting-Class LED Cree to Demonstrate XLamp® XP-G LED, Features 132 Lumens per Watt Efficacy, at LIGHTFAIR International

DURHAM, N.C., APRIL 30, 2009 — Cree, Inc. (Nasdaq: CREE), a market leader in LED lighting, announces it is demonstrating the newest addition to its lighting-class XLamp® LED family—the XLamp XP-G LED—at LIGHTFAIR International in New York, May 5-7, 2009.

The cool white XLamp XP-G provides 139 lumens and 132 lumens per Watt at 350 mA. Driven at 1 A, the XP-G produces 345 lumens, which is 37 percent brighter and 53 percent more efficient than the brightest XR-E LED. The XP-G LED has the highest lumen density of any available lighting-class LED, and it is based on the XLamp XP family package.

“The XLamp XP-G again raises the level of performance available from our XLamp LED family,” said Paul Thieken, Cree, marketing director, LED components. “This product is designed for customers requiring the highest levels of brightness and efficacy.”

The XLamp XP-G LED is being demonstrated at Cree’s LIGHTFAIR International Booth #1463. Cree is currently taking sample requests for the XLamp XP-G and targets the product to be commercially available the third quarter of calendar 2009.

Source:

http://www.cree.com/press/press_detail.asp?i=1241094842732

In fact, I thought those were the brightest LEDs in the world. But I was WRONG lmao. A... friend of a friend works with LEDs (building them from components they order to spec) and has for a few years, so he makes a point of trying to stay current with the industry.

It seems that a company called Luxeon actually makes the brightest and most efficient LEDs in the world. They've got a little module that puts out just shy of 32 times as much illumination as the top 1-watt "high performance" LEDs. Of course, that comes at a price, lol so I guarantee that they aren't currently in use in ANY of the LED lamps sold as grow-lights. They currently run $186.73 - not per lamp, but per LED module! Oh yeah, I believe that's wholesale pricing for LARGE lot orders. Still, imagine 100 of them specced to the wavelengths you designate in one fixture. Would be a little pricey at $18,673.00 (plus cost of associated components which would be negligable, considering).

But since looking at one module for a second or two will cause some severe vision "artifacting" for several minutes and likely a couple of days of feeling like you forgot to drop your shield while welding (sand in your eyes?), I'd guess that a lamp like that WOULD out-produce the sun over a small area.

[Jamahl]

LED light review with no pictures of plants grown under LED....yep youve convinced me.

[Tead]

I'm like... starting to be a bit amused by the strong opinions in both camps regarding LED's. Funny... well, funny to me anyway, but I've always been a bit twisted.

Cheers!