LED vs HID - did both - here's what I know

I am not slamming any particular manufacturer, one of them will get it right soon and we'll see a price change as everybody goes to them. I'll wait until they are on several versions from that before I dig in or until the price point works out that my power bill goes down and it pays for itself in one year or 18 months. That would be good. But as long as I have to buy it again every 18 months it won't be worth it as I will only break even. :)
 
What are you talking about? People have been running Meanwell drivers for over 18 months ;/ They are efficient and quality.

Whether it meets your "price point" is another question. They are pricey but quality isnt cheap.
 
One reason why I really like the guys at reefll. They sell the heavy duty meanwells but tell you right upfront if you can get then locally you'd be better off due to weight and shipping costs. Any company that tries to save you a buck with honest advice def gets my vote. Can't wait to build a light with these.
 
So far I have only bought my LED lights, in my area electricity is one of the cheapest in the country. So I doubt I will ever recoup my money on LED lights. So I just look at the extra cost as cost for doing business. Now for people who pay really outrageous prices for power it is much easier to recoup the cost of purchase.
 
It depends on how you grow and whats the average year temperature of your city and house. In my place i will save more $$ with LEDs than what i would spend on AC+HPS power. If you want to grow with CO2 and heat is an issue (on big enough rooms and warm climates it will be) then LEDs are the way to go (my case).
 
I was looking at LED to replace approx 1400w of HPS and MH. The LED total power draw was 540w this saves me about $40 month seems like a no brainer but the LED costs about $1100.00. In a year assuming the bloom room was going all year long I would recover about $720.00 in energy savings so about 18 mos to pay for itself - break even. My room isn't going all year though so really it would take about 3 maybe 4 years to pay for itself. That is past its repair warranty. If it broke down I would have to pay for repairs or a replacement at that point so I am still not ahead because of the re-investment of the repair or replace.
They will come down in price and energy company costs will rise but at some point it will make sense for me to invest in an LED. I want to see reviews that say these LEDs have a good 3 or 4 years before they break down OR a repair warranty that extends to that point. Right now they claim 50,000 hours. A year is 8760 hrs at 24 hrs a day so the claim is about 5 years but a bloom cycle is 12/12 which means 10 years of service all year long - I seriously doubt these claims. My 10,000 hr veg CFLs blow around 8 mos My 20,000hr HPS blows after about 8000hrs. My HPS costs $40 to replace.

I'm just rambling my thoughts here not against them at all. I read all the NASA science about the blue and red spectrum being so good for growing I know they are the future for me its just too high right now.
:peace:
 
What LED are you looking at?

If you build your own LED, itll be better than most anything you can purchase. You can build a more efficient light (about 42%) with 600w of actual power for about $1000. More than 540w, more efficient, and probably grow better/more green.
 
What LED are you looking at?

If you build your own LED, itll be better than most anything you can purchase. You can build a more efficient light (about 42%) with 600w of actual power for about $1000. More than 540w, more efficient, and probably grow better/more green.
I could do this I have the tech background. My problem is not knowing which drivers will last or which LED will last. Putting it together on a heat sink is a good idea, I don't know where I can buy piece parts like building a computer e.g. MicroCenter for LED grow lights.
 
Sorry to here you had issues with your LED.

I too have grown with both kinds of lights. But I have a very different tale.
I moved over to LED three years ago when I bought 3-300w 11 spectrum lights from what would become Mars Lights.
It took a little while for me to get dialed into growing with them. But it did not take long for me to really start liking them.

Now I have about 14 LED's including some Mars2's and a Advanced LED.

I have not had any issue with any of my lights. They all work just like new.

Sure maybe I just got lucky. But I sure have no plans of changing anything real soon.

It is LED for me with no thought of looking back.

Once you know what your doing with LED it only takes two crops at most to pay them off in my mind.

Mine have payed for themselves many times by now.
 
I agree you have to adjust to a different way of using lights when going from HID to LED. When you start your plants from beginning to end under LED they seem to take off faster than when you move them from HID to LED. I have a couple of P300's and I wasn’t sure if I was going to get good speed of growth at first. Once the plants shifted into second gear they took off.
I have about 10 LED lamps myself and so far no problems, maybe I’ve been lucky too.
 
Cool i just cant come around to spending the money it would take to get 1000w of LEDs when u can get a complete HPS 1000w setup for $250.

10 x 10$ 100w drivers from china
10 x 150w (50*3w bridgelux) 100w real draw full spectrum chip $30.00 (many types available here).
10 x PCU coolers 10$
100$ extra

500$-600$ for a LED sys of 1000w will give you better buds and last longer but its more thn double the price.
 
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