how efficient are led's at growing ?

[furious248]

hi all,
bit of a silly question really but until recently i have been a dedicated cfl grower, trying to perfect growing with cfl's but i want to moove on, i have seed a led grow board that is 14w dual spectrum, i was just wondering how good these were, and how many lumen i could expect, i was going to get 2 and mix with my cfls, then moove onto full led, but how would this led compare to cfl's, would it out preform better and have a higher lumen output than cfl's.
any help/experience would be great. i know a high cost led would be better, but i like to dip my toes in before i jump in at the deep end, many thanks, furious.

 

[Rentaldog]

Hmm, not sure on the panel you mentioned - you might contact the producer and ask for specifics on its actual power draw and its output. That, or google to see if there are any reviews out

I currently use a little 100w LED panel, and its doing amazing. I have one CFL on the side of my plant as well, but it seems like it may as well not even be there judging by the amount of attention its getting from my plant lol. Only real concern is light penetration as far as I can tell, so be ready to train your plants so you end up with an even canopy of flowers.

 

[furious248]

thanks for the reply, i did have a look on goigle but couldnt find anything, as for l.s.t i train every mj i grow so thats no probs.

 

[PatchKid]

14 watts of anything isn't gonna grow you a good plant! and btw LEDs are VERY efficient if you get the correct spectrum, size, wattage, size of diodes, heat sink quality, etc.

 

[Greensea]

Yea i love my cheep chinese led... doing rly good especially in summer time, when relative temp. is high...

 

[turbobuzz]

I bought a 90W Taotronics UFO to use in conjunction with my T8's. I think it helps a lot. Here are a couple of auto Jack Herrer at 9 weeks from seed.

 

[furious248]

thanks for the replys guys, i really would like to know a estimate of lumens from one of these boards, i use cfls so i know a small wattage doesnt mean low lumen but i just cant find any info.

 

[Greensea]

Well my 2x300w led has 29k lumens VS 55k lumens of my 400w Hps but i can tell u the led has same growth power as my hps maby even more... So i belive LEds have more effective lumens than any hps or cfl... I tested side by side my new 400w hps bulb and my led with allmost same results... but on led side i noticed more lush green and more frosty bud sites... I belive this is because of heat radiation on hps side...


Specification of my light : (got 2 of them)

• Growth/Bloom switches, Save more power and more efficiency.
• Spectrum: 430~440nm, 450~475nm, 620~630nm, 650~670nm, White, Real Infrared spectrum: 730nm
• LEDs: 96*3WLEDs
• Dimension: 22*10*2inches
• Lumen: 14600lumens
• Coverage: 3.5*2ft( Veg), 3*1.5ft(Flowering)
• Output power: 300Watt
• Power consumption: 110V: 175W-191W/220V: 168W-176W <--- notice very low consumption (2x176w=352w)
  
• Amp:1.52A/110V, 0.75A/220V
• View Angle of LEDs: 90/120° Mixed
• Lifespan: 50000-100000hours
• N.W.: 5.6KG G.W.: 7KG

 

[Greensea]

Here is my last run...
Have 2x 300w led, 1x 400w cooltubed hps and selfmade 4x 28w cfl...
Led plants was more compact, green and more frosty...
All are clones from same mother and got aprox 35g dried x clone...
Led and hps was allmost same results but like i said maby led ladies was more happier and lushy.
The cfl side was a bit low yield and slower growth, but not so bad at all!

 

[safety meeting]

A Cree CXA 3070 running at 37v @1.4 amps will do about 140+lumens/w at about 43% efficiency. [HPS is about 33% efficienct and generally around 130 lumens/w. ]

Run that same COB @ 350mA and it will produce around 156+lumens/w. [depending on the bin as high as 49% efficient.

White leds are really starting to gain major efficiency, although some blues [low wattage Osram] have clocked over 50% efficiency.


The problem with cheaper panels.

a. often they Don't disclose their spectrum [10 band is not a description!]
b. they use inferior diodes and then run them hard, leading to more chances of failure, generally with heat.
[they purposely use cheaper diodes, because the good ones are made into white LED's, tadah!]

They will grow, they might not blow up for a while, but they will.

DIY with the higher wattage cob's are dollar for dollar cheaper or similarly priced to the cheaper panels.
Fixing one up requires a soldering iron and some patience. You can learn to solder correctly in 5 minutes, I can't teach patience

 

[safety meeting]

In the LED forums, somebody did an Apogee [umol/s meter] test on Cree led lightbulbs [9.5watt] versus a 26watt cfl. [Both 2700k and 5000k]

The led put out 400+umol/s @ 6" from the sides, the Cfl did about 200 umol/s while drawing nearly three times the power.

The lightbulbs are nowhere near as efficient as other Cree diodes, maybe 29%. So there is quite a gap.

 

[rob333]

my opinion is the ones we have tested are ok for veg but compared to hps for flowering yeah they just aint gunna do it for the price one we tested at our shop MarsHydro 4PCS 450W Led Grow Light Growth Flower Switches 3w LED Grow Lamp Panel sells at $749 was ok but for price its just silly compared to the hps 1000w single we got just over 4 ouces more

 

[rob333]

in fact i find they are just a wast of money and ur time if anything is gunna compare plasma is all i can say will do it like hps even with our shop test hps out performed plasma buy 2 ounces

 

[Abiqua]

Gawd, I can't find the PDF's i need, but rob333 you bought a Focus thinking it was an STI.

Icemud just did a vid and the Mars 450 or whatever it is put out 450-500 umol/s @12 inches /30 cm.

For reference the AT660, which is a beast of a light, puts out over 1200 umol/s at 18". [660 watts outputting more than a Lumatek 1000w HPS.]

Rob you bought 800w's of true light output and yielded what? 450-550grams? If so, not too shabby as a 1st LED grow?


#10 kind of nailed it.

Just get something with true Cree or build it.

 

[Greensea]

A Cree CXA 3070 running at 37v @1.4 amps will do about 140+lumens/w at about 43% efficiency. [HPS is about 33% efficienct and generally around 130 lumens/w. ]

Run that same COB @ 350mA and it will produce around 156+lumens/w. [depending on the bin as high as 49% efficient.

White leds are really starting to gain major efficiency, although some blues [low wattage Osram] have clocked over 50% efficiency.


The problem with cheaper panels.

a. often they Don't disclose their spectrum [10 band is not a description!]
b. they use inferior diodes and then run them hard, leading to more chances of failure, generally with heat.
[they purposely use cheaper diodes, because the good ones are made into white LED's, tadah!]

They will grow, they might not blow up for a while, but they will.

DIY with the higher wattage cob's are dollar for dollar cheaper or similarly priced to the cheaper panels.
Fixing one up requires a soldering iron and some patience. You can learn to solder correctly in 5 minutes, I can't teach patience

Yea i know this cob diode and i think it will be my upgrade soon...
I wonder if XLamp® CXA3590 LEDs is better than one u mentioned? It cost allmost double as 3570...

CXA35xx series are "u must have" if u like led

 

[rob333]

Gawd, I can't find the PDF's i need, but rob333 you bought a Focus thinking it was an STI.

Icemud just did a vid and the Mars 450 or whatever it is put out 450-500 umol/s @12 inches /30 cm.

For reference the AT660, which is a beast of a light, puts out over 1200 umol/s at 18". [660 watts outputting more than a Lumatek 1000w HPS.]

Rob you bought 800w's of true light output and yielded what? 450-550grams? If so, not too shabby as a 1st LED grow?


#10 kind of nailed it.

Just get something with true Cree or build it.

our led did ok off 1 led 2 plants we got 12 ounces 10 grams hps 1000w we got 16 ounces 14 grams same climate controll strain and nutes so for led yeah it was ok but not the best i found the led bud was very spongy which choped pretty good but the hps but yea as u no what hps bud is like choped out wikked and was very very dense with not bud xl maybe next time if i went a full run of nutes and adatives and bud xl with led might pull ok but the price was pretty out there for leds we sold it for round 400 bucks as it was used and stocked in 4 new 1000 w hps

 

[rob333]

our led did ok off 1 led 2 plants we got 12 ounces 10 grams hps 1000w we got 16 ounces 14 grams same climate controll strain and nutes so for led yeah it was ok but not the best i found the led bud was very spongy which choped pretty good but the hps but yea as u no what hps bud is like choped out wikked and was very very dense with not bud xl maybe next time if i went a full run of nutes and adatives and bud xl with led might pull ok but the price was pretty out there for leds we sold it for round 400 bucks as it was used and stocked in 4 new 1000 w hps

forgot to mention as well thru out the grow we had to replace a few bulbs in the led which was a pain in the ass to find hps bulb we have had running since 2012 with no real diff in weight

 

[Greensea]

Where i can find how to build pannel (select right spectrum/wattage, select right driver, etc..) with this CXA35xx LEDs
Please post a link if anyone know good place to learn somethink about DIY pannel with this cob diodes...
Cant wait to build one... My budget is around 500$ and i like to build pannel or pannels to beat a 600w hps...

 

[rob333]

Where i can find how to build pannel (select right spectrum/wattage, select right driver, etc..) with this CXA35xx LEDs
Please post a link if anyone know good place to learn somethink about DIY pannel with this cob diodes...
Cant wait to build one... My budget is around 500$ and i like to build pannel or pannels to beat a 600w hps...

good luck with that u gunna need about 1000 bucks to do that

 

[Greensea]

good luck with that u gunna need about 1000 bucks to do that

NO way!

Drivers are about 30$ each and diodes are about 34$ each and i belive i can do with 8-10 so this is MAX around 640$!!!!
I found stuff on net but i dont know what model to order(spectrum) prices are same for differnt spectrum so i know aprox final prize and is not more than 700$ with taxses and postage!
Where did u find 1K$??? U know what u talking about?

P.S. i have a virgin rack mount pannel with 4x super fans... i dont need to buy any extras just a aluminum heat sink but i can pull it from my old PCs or buy it in different sizes...they are rly cheep