NCDude
New Member
I've been reading the posts comparing LEDs with intrest. How do they stack up against T-5 floros? Anyone have an opinion?
LEDs vs T-5s?
- Thread starter NCDude
- Start date
They are pretty comparable. LEDs seem to stack a plant better and produce fatter stalks over t5s but in flower it mainly comes down to wattage.
100w of LED wont beat 175w of t5s or vice versa.
Similar to china made LEDs where th MFG claims a 90w UFO can replace a 400w HPS or some even say a 600w HPS. Its all crap.
You have to match the wattage of any light source for it to be comparable and frankly at the point your results will be very close down the board. It mainly comes down to what works best for your intended applications.
I supplement my HPS which LED in bloom and use t5s and LED combined for veg.
If your looking for a nice veg light, go with t5s. If you want both a veg and flower light, go with LED. Reason being you dont have to swap bulbs and LEDs last longer and run a little cooler. In the life time of a t5 you will have to replace the bulbs 3-4 times and if you have an 8bulb 4ft unit your looking at a lot of money in bulb replacements. LEDs cost more up front but dont require any maintenance like HID and t5s. (bulbs replacements)
If you get anything out of my brain just get this. No single one watt of light is any better to the next I.E. no one watt of LED is better then 2 watts of HPS or 2 watts of T5 or vise versa or anyway you arrange it. It all comes down to watt for watt my friend.
100w of LED wont beat 175w of t5s or vice versa.
Similar to china made LEDs where th MFG claims a 90w UFO can replace a 400w HPS or some even say a 600w HPS. Its all crap.
You have to match the wattage of any light source for it to be comparable and frankly at the point your results will be very close down the board. It mainly comes down to what works best for your intended applications.
I supplement my HPS which LED in bloom and use t5s and LED combined for veg.
If your looking for a nice veg light, go with t5s. If you want both a veg and flower light, go with LED. Reason being you dont have to swap bulbs and LEDs last longer and run a little cooler. In the life time of a t5 you will have to replace the bulbs 3-4 times and if you have an 8bulb 4ft unit your looking at a lot of money in bulb replacements. LEDs cost more up front but dont require any maintenance like HID and t5s. (bulbs replacements)
If you get anything out of my brain just get this. No single one watt of light is any better to the next I.E. no one watt of LED is better then 2 watts of HPS or 2 watts of T5 or vise versa or anyway you arrange it. It all comes down to watt for watt my friend.
- Thread starter
- #3
NCDude
New Member
Thanks...I'm in a small space, and the heat has been brutal....I read where alot of growers shut down in the summer because of the heat. But I'm a newby, and am having fun, and didn't want to wait till fall...
BlissfulToker
New Member
I think the biggest thing you're missing here is that a good LED carries both red and blue of the light spectrum. Fluoros only emit blue light & fluoros can get quite warm, LEDs much less so. masking any heat signals that may be picked up by police. Blue light is good for all stages, but more so for veg. red light is good for all stages but more so for flowering.
LEDs also take alot less power than anything else. There really is no debate. anyone who can afford to buy LED should do so. a good quality LED beats all.
LEDs also take alot less power than anything else. There really is no debate. anyone who can afford to buy LED should do so. a good quality LED beats all.
T5HOs have two bulbs for growing. A blue and a red spectrum. In multiple tube fixtures the tubes can be mixed and matched for the best possible spectrum according to what stage of development the plant is in.
I use 3 different T5 fixtures. a 2' 4 bulb 96 watt, a 2' 6 bulb 144 watt, and a 2' 8 bulb 192 watt fixture. None of them produce heat except for what is near the tubes.
I also have two 90 watt UFO's and the heat output from them is comparible to the T5 but the T5 offers a larger footprint of coverage. My 96 watt T5 will outgrow one of my 90 watt UFOs any day every day
watt for watt T5 and the hi end LEDs are very comparible in the results they produce. T5 does not have the sex appeal like LED but it does the job very well.
It's really a matter of cost and what the grower wants to spend. Do you want to spend $900 for 200 watts of LED or $200 for 200 watts of T5HO given that both lights will have about the same yield?
Orangeblood, you are being a little forgiving on T5 and the heat they produce.
Is running roughly 20 degrees hotter and using nearly 2-3 times as much energy really comparable?
I currently grow with LED's and have owned and used T5's in the past, I know what I am talking about here sir.
Nothing beats a good quality brand name LED for vegging, I've never had plants grow so full and fast before with T5's or even HPS for that matter.
It is true T5's are cheaper to buy, but not cheaper to operate, so monthly power bills will keep draining the bank account.
LED's are more expensive to buy, but much cheaper to operate, so the bank account is only really drained once, during the initial purchase.
It sounds like you get the same if not better coverage & penetration from your LEDs than what you got with your T5 of a much higher wattage. What's the wattage of your leds now compared to the T5 you used in the past?
BlissfulToker
New Member
The UFO LEDs are mediocre at best. If you scan the internet long enough you can run into some really decent fixtures that easily beat the UFOs. LED is the future. There will be debate over them for years to come because people aren't as familiar with it as they are other lighting options. In a few years most everyone will be on board with LEDs.
There's no question leds have a future in horticulture. I totally believe in the ones I use otherwise they would be in a scrap box with other pieces of old gear I have.
My next led buy will be a 120 watt panel made by the same company that makes my UFOs, California Nursery. LEDs will always play a significant role in my bloom cab as supplemental lighting to hid.
My UFOs are good lights for what size they are. They produce a good plant but they have their limits.
My T5s are great lights but they too have limits.
It's also important to remember that all T5s are not equal. My Hydrofarm T5 lamp is a much better light than a HTG T5 I have.
I think the real question here should be how does a GLH 600 watt LED compare to the Quantum T5 BadBoy 4' 12 bulb light that is 648 watts.
This would be a match up of the heavy weights in their class.
IMO without seeing anything but previous grows from other members I think the Quantum would hold it's own for less dinero. The power consumption would be relatively similar too. Heat would need to be controlled with both lights.
I was using 2 Sunlight Supply New Wave T5's, 2 ft., 8 bulb, 192W's each (384W's total).
Now I use 2 ProSource 180W Jumbo UFO LED's instead (360W's total).
The LED's keep my 2x4x5 veg tent in the mid 80's, as where the T5's pushed the temps to over 100.
I'm definitely getting better coverage & penetration with the LED's.
Like I said before, I've never had plants excel so fast in veg like this.
I can not speak for the flowering capabilities of the LED's yet, but I should be able to before Thanksgiving
I was using 2 Sunlight Supply New Wave T5's, 2 ft., 8 bulb, 192W's each (384W's total).
Now I use 2 ProSource 180W Jumbo UFO LED's instead (360W's total).
The LED's keep my 2x4x5 veg tent in the mid 80's, as where the T5's pushed the temps to over 100.
I'm definitely getting better coverage & penetration with the LED's.
Like I said before, I've never had plants excel so fast in veg like this.
I can not speak for the flowering capabilities of the LED's yet, but I should be able to before Thanksgiving
Ahh yes the New Wave. I had a four bulb light from them several years back and you are right about them running hot.
The newer models and types of T5 have made drastic improvements over the NewWaves. So much so that the New Waves are being phased out of retail hydro shops.
The new waves use stamped steel casing and heavy ballasts inside that run hot. The newer versions of T5 are using cool running ballasts with aluminum reflectors and very little steel casing.
My Hydrofarm T5 actually runs so cool that I had to cut off the circulation fans to warm up the grow space.
I can easily see how two jumbo UFOs would provide better results over the New Wave T5s especially during veg.
The wattage comparison is very silmilar between 360 and 384 watts so it seems to me the only real savings in energy would come from being able to reduce the size of the fans and blowers or reduce their run times.
Hi guys, I reading this in hopes I can decide what to get next . I have a 288 watt LED now only been using it for 3 wks in my flower tent. However there are 2 1/2 rows of bulbs that are almost completly out they just seem to be flickering a bit , I have a friend who has a hydro store and he keeps talking to me to but a T5, but I know nothing about them . I see hear that there are many different types of T5s !? Can you pros give me any idea of what I should be looking for in a T5 for a 3'6"x3'6" tent ? Thanks a bunch, I also have a 400 Watt HPS that I took down when I got my LED, I'd hate to have to put the 400 back up as it gets so f'n hot ... Thanks again...
Well, almost.
The Amp rating between the 2 is different.
The LED's run at 1.5 Amps each, the T5's ran at a higher Amp rate that I can't remember off the top of my head right now.
I'm running 6 180W Jumbo UFO's (1080W's total) between my veg & flower tents and am still paying far less in electricity then when I was just running the 384W's of T5.
People get too focused on Wattage sometime and forget about the Amps a light uses, and those Amps will get ya every time.
I saw an increase of around $20 a month when I was running an HPS (150W).
I saw an increase of $12-15 a month when I was running T5's (384W).
I've seen an increase of $5 a month since I've been running the LED's (1080W).
A Watt for Watt comparison doesn't really work when the Amp ratings for these lights are so different.
Didn't The Builder make a point to say that he would take the light back if you were unhappy or dissatisfied with it?
I know I read that after you were posting about how the light seemed to be banged up from shipping.
See posts #51 & #55 of the linked thread.
If it's broke, get your money back!
Otherwise, stop being so passive aggressive in your posts about your light when you can easily rectify the matter yourself.
I'm really baked right now but if I understand this correctly you're saying that your bill spiked $20 with 150 watts of hps and only spiked $5 with 1080 watts of led?
With that equation you're saying that 4320 watts of led costs the same to run as 150 watts of hps just because of the lower amp rating. Are you sure about that one?
I'm really baked right now but if I understand this correctly you're saying that your bill spiked $20 with 150 watts of hps and only spiked $5 with 1080 watts of led?
With that equation you're saying that 4320 watts of led costs the same to run as 150 watts of hps just because of the lower amp rating. Are you sure about that one?
Like I said, it's all about Amps.
Let me make an analogy using cars.
We all know how Miles Per Gallons ratings work for our cars.
I can put 10 Gallons of fuel in two different cars, one a Hummer and the other a Sedan of some sort.
The 10 Gallons of fuel is our Watts and the Miles Per Gallon (MPG) is our Amps.
Now their both automobiles containing the same amount of fuel, so they should go the same distance, right?
We know that's wrong though, a Sedan has a more efficient engine in how it uses it's fuel and a lot less weight to move by just being smaller.
Yes, the Hummer is by far more powerful, but that raw power comes at a price, poor efficiency.
The Hummer will gulp that 10 Gallons up and get you several miles fast, but gas-out quickly before needing to be refueled.
The Sedan can't match the Hummer's top speed, but it can travel considerably farther on that 10 Gallons before it needs to be refueled.
We find out that the Hummer only gets 9 MPG and the Sedan gets 25 MPG (these numbers are fictitious and are only for the purposes of this example, actual brand mileage has not been checked by this poster).
So despite using up the same amount of fuel (Watts), the MPG rating (Amps) plays a huge role on how quickly that fuel is used.
Now let's say you have a 500 mile trip to make, do you want to pay to refuel twice or six times?
And yes, I would be able to run something in the neighborhood of 3-4 times what I currently am to see that $20 spike, 1W LED's are super efficient.
You should ask The Builder on how to do that, especially considering one of the selling points of that brand of LED lights is that it's serviceable by the customer. Then he can send you a proper repair kit at no cost to you since you're still under warranty.
But you didn't ask how to fix it, you asked what you should get next.
You shouldn't fib to those who can fact check you.
That would seem like the thing to do except The Builder is nowhere to be found and is not responding to any of the earthfire threads. + the EF website has been inop for several weeks now.
The lights never came with any warranty card or anything and I'm sure OH does'nt want to try to call Hong Kong for parts.
Similar threads
