Need help with understanding LED lighting

[Tyrone Smith]

I am not new to the growing game but i am new to the cannabis grow. I have never used LED lights before and really need some help laying things out for me. I know its all based on the spectrum of light compared to how many kelvins. But other than that I am at a lost.​

 

[anzohaze]

Ask @sunni or a mod to move this to led section for help. Plenty will help but as reading in the led section will have everything.land out to read for you

 

[az2000]

I have never used LED lights before and really need some help laying things out for me.​

The main thing to keep in mind is that the LED grow-light market is extremely predatory, flim-flammy. You definitely want to spend some time in the LED forum.

All the inexpensive fixtures you see on Amazon and eBay are not worth the money. They use inefficient epi-whatever diodes. To get dense nuggets you have to run about 50w/sq ft. (I've seen people running 90w/sq ft with them).

At that point the question becomes: why are you choosing LED? Because, T5HO and CMH are better choices for shorter and taller grows, respectively. About 40w/sq ft for T5HO in a short space, 35-40w/sq ft for CMH.

For efficient LED (running about 25-30w/sq ft) you pay more for fixtures like Area 51, Tasty, Johnson, growgreenled.

So, the first question should be: why are you considering LED? What are you trying to accomplish? Reduced energy consumption? Cooler operating temperatures? Or, just the sexiness of "high tech?" (which seems to be what motivates purchases of the eBay/Amazon lights).

FYI: Duplicate thread: http://rollitup.org/t/need-help-with-understanding-led-lighting.894786/

 

[Tyrone Smith]

az2000 i have a small grow space that is 18"x36".... is there any LED setup that is worth my time?

 

[az2000]

az2000 i have a small grow space that is 18"x36".... is there any LED setup that is worth my time?

I replied in your thread in the LED forum.