IF you are new to LED and want help choosing what to buy, POST HERE!

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a senile fungus

a senile fungus

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nomofatum said:
Florescent is about 95-105lm/w depending on the bulb. So a LED putting out the same color and lumens is a match. Your 330w of T5 = 330w of 100lm/w of LEDs. Or 235w of 140lm/w LEDs. They are available in different color temps just like floro. The strips can usually be cut to length and individual segments can be connected back together with wires. So you could buy a 5m strip and cut it into as many individual strips as needed and discard the rest, jumper your cut pieces together and plug her in.

The main concern is making sure the LEDs selected are of the proper color and decent efficiency. (watch out there are 40lm/w strips out there too.)
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You rock man. That's exactly the info I needed!

I'll mull on it, no room in my budget at this time for a project like this...

Do you have a ball park estimate of what an undertaking like that would cost me?

I've always read about the binning and been afraid of bad diodes, how can I avoid this?
 
nomofatum

nomofatum

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a senile fungus said:
You rock man. That's exactly the info I needed!

I'll mull on it, no room in my budget at this time for a project like this...

Do you have a ball park estimate of what an undertaking like that would cost me?

I've always read about the binning and been afraid of bad diodes, how can I avoid this?
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I'm not sure, haven't found the best strip for growing yet. The one I linked too sort of sucks, only 72w over 5m/16ft. I'm guessing like $60 for the less efficient and $100 for more efficient.
 
a senile fungus

a senile fungus

Well-Known Member
nomofatum said:
I'm not sure, haven't found the best strip for growing yet. The one I linked too sort of sucks, only 72w over 5m/16ft. I'm guessing like $60 for the less efficient and $100 for more efficient.
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I couldn't find any info on wattage on that site. It said 380lm/ft and 18leds per ft, that doesn't really help me I don't think...
 
nomofatum

nomofatum

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a senile fungus said:
I'm gonna have to search a bit more but it actually seems feasible now...

Do these strips put out much heat?

Gee a LED trashcan, into the future we go...
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With electricity 100% (>98% at least) of what you use turns into heat. So heat is the same on a 330w LED as on a 330w floro, even if efficiency is different. Efficiency helps by reducing watts needed then you cut heat when you cut watts. In the metric system heat is measured in watts not BTU.
 
a senile fungus

a senile fungus

Well-Known Member
nomofatum said:
With electricity 100% of what you use turns into heat. So heat is the same on a 330w LED as on a 330w floro, even if efficiency is different. Efficiency helps by reducing watts needed then you cut heat when you cut watts. In the metric system heat is measured in watts not BTU.
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captainmorgan said:
Cooling for LED is very important because heat can drastically affect a LEDs efficiency,output and life.
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So, given that I already have a mixed spectrum of 3000K and 6500K fluoros putting out 330w in my approx 6.28ft³ space, and I have those lights running cool already, would I see any discernable use for LED lighting in that particular space?

I maybe see it being wasteful because its only for one plant.
 
nomofatum

nomofatum

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For cooling, use a metal trash can. It will act as a huge heatsink and reflector.

With tiny LEDs cooling is much less of an issue than with larger LEDs. The LED strips I have (I use one in my ice fishing shack, 12v battery) don't get hot at all. Just slightly warm to the touch.
 
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a senile fungus

a senile fungus

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I could still run these strips in the cool tubes that the fluoros are in. They would have constant flow of fresh air over them. Heat is NOT an issue for this trash can, that's for sure.

Definitely a couple of things for me to think about, thanks everyone.
 
nomofatum

nomofatum

Well-Known Member
captainmorgan said:
It's always a good idea to get more than one opinion from long time knowledgeable members here and not rely on just one source for your info.
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If you can find anyone with experience using .5w or less LED strips for growing, I'm all ears and want to hear it.

These things look cool for micro builds.
 
Boatguy

Boatguy

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My use of them is only for supplemental light, so any results of mine will be of no use. More lumens cant hurt.
 
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