Are LED's practical for a grow room? (24 ft x 12 ft)

Darth Vapour

Darth Vapour

Well-Known Member
churchhaze said:
It makes more sense to setup shop with DE right now. This circular argument doesn't need to keep going on. DIY led is more for hobbyists and research and development. But seriously, if you looked in one of my tents, you'd be shocked at just how bright these things really are. I've actually burned holes in my floor at low setting, the same way you'd burn ants with a magnifying glass if you're at point blank. It's easy to believe the lumen values and calculated efficiency when you see how bright they are in person, or what they can produce.

Keep in mind, I'm not a salesman (i'm the one that gives away everyone's recipes)... I've used HPS all my life, experiented with COBs to see what they were all about (i ignored all the other LED shit for over 10 years.), and have been very happy with teh results. Would have I saved money using HPS? Probably.
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That is what its about as long as your happy with the results life is good.
People tend to think i am totally against LED tech or cobs i am far from it
 
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churchhaze

Well-Known Member
Darth Vapour said:
That is what its about as long as your happy with the results life is good.
People tend to think i am totally against LED tech or cobs i am far from it
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I don't think anyone cares if you're against led or not. LED is a fools game. Think about it... In order to get the 50% efficient lamp, you have to pay BIG... but consumers think "i want to grow with LED to have results like that guy with the DIY lamp", and look for the cheapest one they can find... because they think somehow they can game the system. This is the mentality these company prey on. They always end up buying the cheapest one, don't get the results of the 50% efficient lamp, and conclude "led's can't flower" or "leds can't penetrate".

We even try to warn them to get HPS instead, but they insist on having "the efficiency and low heat of led". Then they go embarrass us all by posting journals with their known shit lamps with low efficiency, and thus high heat. (more importantly, predictable shitty results every time)

If you want the most efficient lamp, HPS is almost always the winner, and certainly has the lowest startup cost. You can get more efficiency, but it's probably not cost effective.
 
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707humboldt

707humboldt

Well-Known Member
bicit said:
Kind of an ignorant knowledge base, but OK. Ignore perfectly effective technology....
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If I had just a few lights and heat was an issue maybe. But I have great systems that kill it and I wouldn't jeopardize perfectly fine setups for technology that I have heard nothing but bad things about from other larger scale growers. Like I said before, might work ok on a small scale but there is a reason everyone isn't switching over to them. When DE hit the market, everyone switched almost instantly. Led has been around for a while and yet I don't see warehouses full of them. There is not 1 person out there that will say DE isn't as good as regular hps, but there are many who say LED doesnt compare to hps.

You know what you guys have convinced me, what is the best LED on the market that will even compare to my DE HPS? I will do a small scale test to see. I bring all my runs to sequoia labs so I will be able to see for sure.
 
bicit

bicit

Well-Known Member
707humboldt said:
If I had just a few lights and heat was an issue maybe. But I have great systems that kill it and I wouldn't jeopardize perfectly fine setups for technology that I have heard nothing but bad things about from other larger scale growers. Like I said before, might work ok on a small scale but there is a reason everyone isn't switching over to them. When DE hit the market, everyone switched almost instantly. Led has been around for a while and yet I don't see warehouses full of them. There is not 1 person out there that will say DE isn't as good as regular hps, but there are many who say LED doesnt compare to hps.

You know what you guys have convinced me, what is the best LED on the market that will even compare to my DE HPS? I will do a small scale test to see. I bring all my runs to sequoia labs so I will be able to see for sure.
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COB tech has only been around for the last couple years. It's only been used for growing pot by small scale enthusiasts for about a year or so now. This is fairly cutting edge lighting technology that wasn't even originally intended for horticulture use, but just happens to be very well suited for it. Much like HPS lamps in days of old.

The best COB based LED's are custom made panels made by enthusiasts. Optic grow lights is the only company I'm aware of that utilizes cob's in their design. The pickings are slim at the moment, there are only a few people growing with these and even fewer are in positions to comfortably document their results.
 
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churchhaze

Well-Known Member
bicit

bicit

Well-Known Member
churchhaze said:
The best LED on the market. The top bin 3000k 80cri CB bin driven at 700mA (72V version)

http://www.cree.com/~/media/Files/Cree/LED Components and Modules/XLamp/Data and Binning/ds CXB3590.pdf

It boasts a luminous efficacy of source of 168lm/W at 700mA, and an efficiency of 51.67%



Driving lower would make it run even more efficient, but be more cost prohibitive as you'd need more cobs to get the same output.
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You can get slightly better actually. The 36v CXB3590 @700ma is about 58% efficient.
 
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churchhaze

Well-Known Member
bicit said:
You can get slightly better actually. The 36v CXB3590 @700ma is about 58% efficient.
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But the 36V has twice as many strings of half the length as the 72V version. Running the 36V at 700mA is underdriving significantly more, so the $/PARW is much higher.
 
SPLFreak808

SPLFreak808

Well-Known Member
just blastin them with a few enhanced spectrum 1000w HPS would be the simplest/fastest and cheapest way unless you plan to grow for 5+ years. 24x12 full of cobs is dedication haha, if you payed 14K$ for a cob setup vs 2500$ for an HPS setup it will take a very very long time for you're electric bill savings to catch up the money spent on the cobs alone. which is why you loose out unless you are going to grow longer than it takes your electric savings to catch up. not bashing on cobs either. they can grow and yield! but when it comes to big room ops you have to be practical right?
 
bicit

bicit

Well-Known Member
churchhaze said:
But the 36V has twice as many strings of half the length as the 72V version. Running the 36V at 700V is underdriving significantly more, so the $/PARW is about the same.
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In the words of SDS, that herb on your dest right now must be very dank. You could run 10 in series on the soon to be released HLG-240H-C700[ ] series.
 
707humboldt

707humboldt

Well-Known Member
Yea what footprint are the cobs suppose to be put over. I run my ac/de over 4x4 but I know a lot of people wh run their DE over 5x5
 
Darth Vapour

Darth Vapour

Well-Known Member
I Am not sure as i do not run cob maybe someone who does might chime in what also would be a good guage in performance is what the par reading of the cob after one year use
Cause Gavita claims (>95% PAR light over one year of use). Being the most efficient 1000W horticultural lamps available
Now would be cool to see what par readings are from a COB out of the box and re tested year later cause people are led to believethere good for 10 years
 
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