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LED Sound Levels! Need Help!

T

treegoesmoo

Active Member
Hey RIU,

I've been looking through here, and have been increasingly interested in LEDs. Mostly due to the claim of less heat output than HID/CFLs. I'm in need of help looking for an LED that has an actual draw of around 100-160~ watts. Most likely 180w-240w LEDs. I've done quite a bit of research, mostly on the actual LEDs, not so much on the mechanics of how it works. (Which I should, but it gets sort of confusing for me). But basically, I'm here today b/c I haven't seen much reviews on the noise levels of these top LEDs.

I guess I should start out by saying some details needed on the light. The dimensions cant really be more than 17"x12" (LxW) to get maximum results. As for the wattage, I don't really want to go above 160~ actual watts.

The ones I'm interested in are the:
Advanced, DS100, but I've recently seen a video that they can get pretty loud.
Blackstar 180 Chrome (The 2014 square ones). Video I saw of it seemed as loud as a TD100 fan.
Apollo4 180 - couldn't find a vid of this one.
Hans 65 panel - Said it was 45 dB! Seems pretty loud to me.

I've also thought about getting two 90w or 130w UFO LEDs, but I haven't heard such great things about them. But it seems like that might be quieter than running one big led. And I know the ones I've looked at aren't top of the line quality, but that's ok, my priority is stealth. (Being noise level).

On a side note, can anyone help give me an idea on how these LEDs actually work. B/c I've seen the a51, hans panels, and such that have such low wattage, eg: 75w panels, but the prices are insanely high. Would you be able to use just one hans 65w or 80w for one or two small plants from seed to harvest? How does that compare to say a 150-250w HPS? B/c on the website they posted this,

"In Set-Up 12 I used 2 panels of 65 watt each to produce 153 grams, 5.2 Ounce, of great Marijuana with only 103 KwH of electrical power, 0.67 KWH per gram. With HPS it would take about twice the amount of electrical power and space to produce a similar amount"





So if anyone can give any insight regarding my questions, that would be great.
 
Yodaweed

Yodaweed

Well-Known Member
Blackstar panels are pretty quiet I have 3 of them and cant hear them over my oscillating fan.
 
Yodaweed

Yodaweed

Well-Known Member
LED actual wattage is different than HID wattage, if you have 600 actual watts of LED that is going to be much more powerful than 600 watts of HID light.
 
Yodaweed

Yodaweed

Well-Known Member
Most Chinese vendors advertise "LED wattage" not actual wattage. Im pretty sure A51 does show actual wattage when they say their model uses 155watts in flower mode it does.
 
Mellodrama

Mellodrama

Well-Known Member
It'd be great to have some more info on noise levels. Some need stealth, others just want peace and quiet. I was thinking about buying a California Light Works until I watched a video and heard how loud the fans were. Or seemed to be anyway. Granted, a video could be very deceiving, depending on the rooms' acoustics, mike placement and sensitivity, etc.

From a manufacturer's point of view it's cheaper to spend less on the heatsink and simply run the fans harder, so in general I'd expect cheaper lights to be louder.

Watts are an expression of work, not light. There's a standard conversion for horsepower to watts. 1 horsepower = 746 watts. Google it.

Don't fall into the trap of comparing lights by wattage alone. Wattage is a fine measurement if you want to know how fast your meter will spin, but it's a very poor indicator of useful illumination.
 
Yodaweed

Yodaweed

Well-Known Member
I have heard bad things about the Apollo brand LEDs a lot say they have terrible quality and break within the first year of use.
 
PSUAGRO.

PSUAGRO.

Well-Known Member
treegoesmoo said:
Hey RIU,

I've been looking through here, and have been increasingly interested in LEDs. Mostly due to the claim of less heat output than HID/CFLs. I'm in need of help looking for an LED that has an actual draw of around 100-160~ watts. Most likely 180w-240w LEDs. I've done quite a bit of research, mostly on the actual LEDs, not so much on the mechanics of how it works. (Which I should, but it gets sort of confusing for me). But basically, I'm here today b/c I haven't seen much reviews on the noise levels of these top LEDs.

I guess I should start out by saying some details needed on the light. The dimensions cant really be more than 17"x12" (LxW) to get maximum results. As for the wattage, I don't really want to go above 160~ actual watts.

The ones I'm interested in are the:
Advanced, DS100, but I've recently seen a video that they can get pretty loud.
Blackstar 180 Chrome (The 2014 square ones). Video I saw of it seemed as loud as a TD100 fan.
Apollo4 180 - couldn't find a vid of this one.
Hans 65 panel - Said it was 45 dB! Seems pretty loud to me.

I've also thought about getting two 90w or 130w UFO LEDs, but I haven't heard such great things about them. But it seems like that might be quieter than running one big led. And I know the ones I've looked at aren't top of the line quality, but that's ok, my priority is stealth. (Being noise level).

On a side note, can anyone help give me an idea on how these LEDs actually work. B/c I've seen the a51, hans panels, and such that have such low wattage, eg: 75w panels, but the prices are insanely high. Would you be able to use just one hans 65w or 80w for one or two small plants from seed to harvest? How does that compare to say a 150-250w HPS? B/c on the website they posted this,

"In Set-Up 12 I used 2 panels of 65 watt each to produce 153 grams, 5.2 Ounce, of great Marijuana with only 103 KwH of electrical power, 0.67 KWH per gram. With HPS it would take about twice the amount of electrical power and space to produce a similar amount"





So if anyone can give any insight regarding my questions, that would be great.
Click to expand...
Hans also makes a silent (passive cooled) design http://www.bonsaihero.com/noise-free-ledgrow-panel.html if noise is such a concern to you, the fanned versions are also very quiet because I own one.

Also can look at these for silence and your small grow area:

http://www.rhinogrow.com/RhinoGrow_400_Series.php good quality, NOT allot of grows with them though.
 
Red1966

Red1966

Well-Known Member
treegoesmoo said:
Hey RIU, I've been looking through here, and have been increasingly interested in LEDs. Mostly due to the claim of less heat output than HID/CFLs. I'm in need of help looking for an LED that has an actual draw of around 100-160~ watts. Most likely 180w-240w LEDs. I've done quite a bit of research, mostly on the actual LEDs, not so much on the mechanics of how it works. (Which I should, but it gets sort of confusing for me). But basically, I'm here today b/c I haven't seen much reviews on the noise levels of these top LEDs. I guess I should start out by saying some details needed on the light. The dimensions cant really be more than 17"x12" (LxW) to get maximum results. As for the wattage, I don't really want to go above 160~ actual watts. The ones I'm interested in are the: Advanced, DS100, but I've recently seen a video that they can get pretty loud. Blackstar 180 Chrome (The 2014 square ones). Video I saw of it seemed as loud as a TD100 fan. Apollo4 180 - couldn't find a vid of this one. Hans 65 panel - Said it was 45 dB! Seems pretty loud to me. I've also thought about getting two 90w or 130w UFO LEDs, but I haven't heard such great things about them. But it seems like that might be quieter than running one big led. And I know the ones I've looked at aren't top of the line quality, but that's ok, my priority is stealth. (Being noise level). On a side note, can anyone help give me an idea on how these LEDs actually work. B/c I've seen the a51, hans panels, and such that have such low wattage, eg: 75w panels, but the prices are insanely high. Would you be able to use just one hans 65w or 80w for one or two small plants from seed to harvest? How does that compare to say a 150-250w HPS? B/c on the website they posted this, "In Set-Up 12 I used 2 panels of 65 watt each to produce 153 grams, 5.2 Ounce, of great Marijuana with only 103 KwH of electrical power, 0.67 KWH per gram. With HPS it would take about twice the amount of electrical power and space to produce a similar amount" So if anyone can give any insight regarding my questions, that would be great.
Click to expand...
Illumitex are fanless and completely silent. High quality, but expensive.
 
T

treegoesmoo

Active Member
PSUAGRO. said:
Hans also makes a silent (passive cooled) design http://www.bonsaihero.com/noise-free-ledgrow-panel.html if noise is such a concern to you, the fanned versions are also very quiet because I own one.

Also can look at these for silence and your small grow area:

http://www.rhinogrow.com/RhinoGrow_400_Series.php good quality, NOT allot of grows with them though.
Click to expand...
Yeah those silent ones look pretty sweet. Do they emit any heat at all? And do you think one 65w silent panel and a supplemental 55w CFL would be enough for one plant? Oh and any sound tests on the Rhino LED?

Mellodrama said:
It'd be great to have some more info on noise levels. Some need stealth, others just want peace and quiet. I was thinking about buying a California Light Works until I watched a video and heard how loud the fans were. Or seemed to be anyway. Granted, a video could be very deceiving, depending on the rooms' acoustics, mike placement and sensitivity, etc.

From a manufacturer's point of view it's cheaper to spend less on the heatsink and simply run the fans harder, so in general I'd expect cheaper lights to be louder.

Watts are an expression of work, not light. There's a standard conversion for horsepower to watts. 1 horsepower = 746 watts. Google it.

Don't fall into the trap of comparing lights by wattage alone. Wattage is a fine measurement if you want to know how fast your meter will spin, but it's a very poor indicator of useful illumination.
Click to expand...
Right on, about the wattage. Being how much power is being consumed. I've just become accustomed to using wattage as providing X amount of light. Even though I'm guessing its more along the intensity of the light. Being the lumen count? Which I haven't seen much of on these LED info. Which brings me to PAR. From what I've read, it seems like its a certain frequency of light that interacts with the plants? Care to elaborate?

Red1966 said:
Illumitex are fanless and completely silent. High quality, but expensive.
Click to expand...
Yeah those look sweet, but way out of the price range.
 
PSUAGRO.

PSUAGRO.

Well-Known Member
treegoesmoo said:
Yeah those silent ones look pretty sweet. Do they emit any heat at all? And do you think one 65w silent panel and a supplemental 55w CFL would be enough for one plant? Oh and any sound tests on the Rhino LED?
Click to expand...
Yeah one indica dom girl will do fine under the hans 65w, or two small(short or no veg time) fems. The Rhinogrow panel is dead silent because it uses passive cooling(no fans). Remember that you will need some type of air circulation in your room to keep these panels in temp-check; it's a must in any grow either way.

Everyone that owns area 51 panels say their extremely quiet for an active cooled(fans) panel..........can check them out too.

http://a51led.com/store/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=65
 
starcraftguy1988

starcraftguy1988

Well-Known Member
PSUAGRO. said:
Everyone that owns area 51 panels say their extremely quiet for an active cooled(fans) panel..........can check them out too.

http://a51led.com/store/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=65
Click to expand...
I can attest to this. I Run3-4 A51 sgs 160s , and i can say, It is an incredibly quiet fan setup. Just a beautiful little whirring that excites you when you walk in the room. Still using them, Wish i had a lux meter when i bought them to see if there has been any kid of real decay of intensity from the diodes. nearly a year later, but with only 2 full cycles on them at approximately 50-70 days of 18/6 and probably 90-110 of 12/12 total add that up= 2100-2300 hours roughly and they are still nice and quiet :)
 
T

treegoesmoo

Active Member
PSUAGRO. said:
Yeah one indica dom girl will do fine under the hans 65w, or two small(short or no veg time) fems. The Rhinogrow panel is dead silent because it uses passive cooling(no fans). Remember that you will need some type of air circulation in your room to keep these panels in temp-check; it's a must in any grow either way.

Everyone that owns area 51 panels say their extremely quiet for an active cooled(fans) panel..........can check them out too.

http://a51led.com/store/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=65
Click to expand...


I think it's gonna be between the hans silent panel and the a51 RW 75. They're both basically identical in price. The main differences are that a51 has lifetime warranty (vs one year from hans), and a51 is 75w. The a51 states that it has a 10 dBa fan in it, which prob won't make any noise at all. The one concern about the Hans panel is whether or not it will produce excessive heat due to passive cooling.

Oh and one last thing, the a51 has a 50w veg mode and 75w flowering. I never understood why change the wattage? Is it due to the fact that it only has 50w worth of blue light? What would happen if one just vegged with full 75w?
 
digimidgi

digimidgi

Well-Known Member
Howdy!

You seem concerned about the noise from a small fan. Unless you have no concerns about neighbors/smell shouldn't you be concerned about the noise from a carbon filter and extractor fan?? :)
 
T

treegoesmoo

Active Member
digimidgi said:
Howdy!

You seem concerned about the noise from a small fan. Unless you have no concerns about neighbors/smell shouldn't you be concerned about the noise from a carbon filter and extractor fan?? :)
Click to expand...
Hey digi, at first, I didn't think much of the noise level of an LED light, till I saw a video of the Advanced Diamond Series 100 light. That shit was like a vacuum full blast. And keep in mind, that's the lowest wattage LED. You're right about the fan/filter combo, but the S&P TD100 is fairly quiet. Even more so once attached to the filter. But the reason for my concern is that you can find ways to quiet your inline and airflow. Maybe I haven't been looking hard enough, but I've yet to find a way to quiet an LED panel.

Now that I've narrowed my choices, my next concern is heat. Since the Hans silent panel is passive cooled, I'm not sure how hot it will run. The a51 R75 supposedly runs around 77-86F. Generally couple degrees above ambient temps they say. With the weather warming up fast, and the possibility of adding supplemental CFLs just got me thinking a bit more.
 
digimidgi

digimidgi

Well-Known Member
treegoesmoo said:
Hey digi, at first, I didn't think much of the noise level of an LED light, till I saw a video of the Advanced Diamond Series 100 light. That shit was like a vacuum full blast. And keep in mind, that's the lowest wattage LED. You're right about the fan/filter combo, but the S&P TD100 is fairly quiet. Even more so once attached to the filter. But the reason for my concern is that you can find ways to quiet your inline and airflow. Maybe I haven't been looking hard enough, but I've yet to find a way to quiet an LED panel.

Now that I've narrowed my choices, my next concern is heat. Since the Hans silent panel is passive cooled, I'm not sure how hot it will run. The a51 R75 supposedly runs around 77-86F. Generally couple degrees above ambient temps they say. With the weather warming up fast, and the possibility of adding supplemental CFLs just got me thinking a bit more.
Click to expand...
I honestly don't think you should be worrying about any noise from an LED light panel. The noise of the air being sucked from the filter and out the back with mask any noise from a LED panel fan, shiiit, even the general noise from the neighborhood/cars ect will mask it :) Have you considered Plant photonics panels. They are quite literally silent!
 
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