led vs hps
- Thread starter vegetta
- Start date
Evil-Mobo
Well-Known Member
No it's what you're getting for your money, how far the dollar goes with that purchase. These guys are spot on and just trying to help
1200 watts of cob light cost me about 1.33$/w and I over bought and am not using 6 of them at the moment. Plus most of the smaller led fixtures are over diving the crap out of the LEDs so they don't last near as long. Mine are being driven at half power (1.4 amps) and should last quite a while.
my supplemental lighting didnt do too bad.
Attachments
Hybridway
Well-Known Member
Don't do it. You will regret it.
Captain Keg
Well-Known Member
The cob lights or the viper leds?
Johnny Lawrence
Well-Known Member
If you were on a serious budget and looking to get a cheap, chinese panel, then Vipar wouldn't be the worst choice for the money.
But five of them? Might as well just pull your HPS light(s) out of storage. They're just as efficient. Unless head space is an issue for you.
BTW - Hybrid was referring to the Vipars
Captain Keg
Well-Known Member
It's not that it has to be cheap, being honest I really don't have the time to rebuild the grow rooms from I've moved. So I was thinking led would be a temporary fix because the flower room ceiling is five & a half foot until I'd have the time to build a cob set up.
Then use the leds in the veg/seeding room. (Once that room is built )
I was going to use the hps or switch it to mh for the veg/seedling room but I'm trying to reduce the electricity im using. That was the main feature that attracted me to the led & cobs to be fair. (It's all powered by turbines)
Plus the ceilings are the same height as the flower room (5ft 6') so heat is a bit of a problem but fine with a fan this time of year, summer A/C will be needed again.
visajoe1
Well-Known Member
If you're crafty, you can get going with quality cob's relatively easily and at discount, and accomplish your goals. You can always expand. Take a look at below, particularly #5
https://www.rollitup.org/t/modify-roleadro-400w-cob-light.932486/#post-13312960
https://www.rollitup.org/t/modify-roleadro-400w-cob-light.932486/#post-13312960
check out the MEIZHI china boards.
same blues but more whites and reds on the same wattage. vipar is also more expensive.
it is simply a better light if im reading this correctly. more efficient too.
i just bought 2 MEIZHI 300w lamps for my 2X4 as i expand into my 5X5 which will have my 180w cob and 600w viparspectra. i will eventually pull the vipar and sell it. but i plan on leaving the 2X300w MEIZHI boards in the 2X4 and adding more cob's to the 5X5.
Last edited:
Hybridway
Well-Known Member
That's a terrible spectrum. Hope you plan on supplementing it w/ mad white cobs. Getting them to blend will be a tough one. Good luck!check out the MEIZHI china boards.
same blues but more whites and reds on the same wattage. vipar is also more expensive.
it is simply a better light if im reading this correctly. more efficient too.
i just bought 2 MEIZHI 300w lamps for my 2X4 as i expand into my 5X5 which will have my 180w cob and 600w viparspectra. i will eventually pull the vipar and sell it. but i plan on leaving the 2X300w MEIZHI boards in the 2X4 and adding more cob's to the 5X5.
its for growing tomatoes.
nfhiggs
Well-Known Member
Blending is for margaritas...
erfb0und
Member
Lurker here. Honest question: curious why this would be a terrible spectrum (assuming you're talking about the meizhi)? I thought it would be ideal to have a good balance between blue and red spectrum for a light that can veg and flower decently?
ttystikk
Well-Known Member
Well shit. Pretty much covered it there!30-40% is the number you are looking for.
Things you need to consider:
1. Growing under LED takes a bit of adjustment. Environmental, light positioning, lenses and spectrum all have to be considered. There will be a bit of a learning curve. Took me 3 grows to dial everything in once I had the light I needed.
2. Efficiency is offset by capital cost. While savings are pretty decent the initial cost of the lights is high and ROI is difficult to achieve in some cases. A theft or seizure of grow equipment would be devastating for a small operator. Whereas with HPS, you could be operational again within a day or two due to the low cost and ready availability.
So if you are running 600 watts HPS, if you go watt per watt and do 600 watts of LED, your yield should increase and your cooling costs decrease. If you want the same yield you get presently under HPS, shave 30-40% off the LED wattage; therefor a LED light with approx 450 watts (actual, not equivalent, ignore equivalents) should do the job for you. In this example your savings are on cooling (which you basically will no longer need) and electricity, again (obviously) to the tune of 30-40%. Growth characteristics of your plant may also change under LED, if your crop under LED is lighter/fluffy, the plant is stretching etc, it could be you dont have enough watts or the lights are too far from the plants. You will definitely see your plants do different things under LED. Buying multiple smaller LEDs is sometimes a better option than one big one that has to be raised up higher to cover the entire canopy. Smaller, overlapping lights give you better PAR values without hot spots and will provode some redundancy in the event a panel dies. (rare). Active or passive cooling is another choice you need to make and is primarily dependent on your LED light manufacturer and your grow space.
As for how many people are doing it, I have no idea, but it is catching on and most of the early adopter pains are over. Cost of the lights is still the primary issue. The tech keeps getting better every year. The low heat footprint makes indoor grows way stealthier, choppers with FLIR will not be able to see your grow glow from the air
I also learned it's a waste to use LED for cloning/rooting/vegetative growth (florescent works fine at a fraction of the cost), so go with a flowering spectrum, heavy in the reds or warm whites or both. The best part of LED is that you get to design your own spectrum.
Don't bother with UV LEDs, If you really want UV you will have to supplement with tanning bed floros or some other source. Always wear eye protection.
One last piece of advice, if you are going LED, take that opportunity to entirely re-engineer your grow. Reconsider how you do everything, cooling, odour control, humidity, circulation etc.
For a blurple, the MEIZHI is the best I have found. All of them have the same level of blue but the MEIZHI has more reds and whites than any other blurple. They also have the highest efficiency of any blurple I have found. Imo, they are the best cheap China led.