Led Growing Is The Way Of The Future My Friends
- Thread starter curly604
- Start date
Well you're wrong. I'm someone who got into LED, found some good ones, and helps others interested in LED or those who it would work well for (as I've gotten through all the crap LED tech and grows that naysayers haven't, I know the bullshit LED from the not). If you read 800 of my posts you'd know I talk about several differen't LED companies, none of which I work for*
Again its interesting you spend so much time on ME instead of proving what I say wrong, didn't I offer up to have you post crappy LED grows so I could show you how they have shitty LED lights and then show you a good grow with good lights? But no, you continue to try and attack me.
And yes harrekin, wayno30 has flatly stated that LED is junk/crap/ and other such things in the last several pages. I don't have a problem with people who say its really expensive, because it is! I have problems with people who just keep saying its crap or won't work, and spends most of their posts attacking me (or making shit up about me).
If you can give me examples of crappy LED flowered grows, I can show you they were done with crappy LEDs. And I can show you a good grow with a good LED. That would be much better than what you've been doing, you don't need to give examples necessarily, you just need to do something different in this thread than what you've been doing.
Bad Karma
Well-Known Member
What's with the asterisk?
Just to point out that I don't work for any one them. Thought it would make it stand out a little more. Oh I guess i forgot to say it would be extra unlikely for someone to work for more than 1 LED company anyway.
Wayno30 no it would not be from my fellow salesman, because for what must be at least the 3rd or 4th time I am not a salesman (therefore I can't have fellow salesman). I don't know even any LED salesman. Again you go to accusing me and attacking my character instead of doing anything to prove me wrong. You don't have to prove yourself, I just want you to stop saying LED is crap without doing anything to prove it (besides just saying its crap or it won't work), and to stop attacking me and making crap up about me and insinuating things. This is a pro LED thread, you are supposed to prove it can't work (instead of just talking smack) if the people here already think it can.
hoss12781
Well-Known Member
went ahead and ditched two 400w hps lights cause they took up way to much electricty and I don't have adequet heat ventilation in my basement closet. I still have a shit ton of CFLS (105, and 65w flowering and veg spectrum). Looking to go all LED + CFL as side suppliment light. As of right now I have a 90w UFO from LED Wholesalers 2 diode quad band, a Hydo Hut 180w (3w chipset) pro grow, a 50w (1w diode) all blue veg LED (origin unkown - ebay). I'm going to order one more to make it complete. I only grow four autoflowering plants at a time as four is a misdemeanor, five a felony in my neck of the woods. So the question for the LED users - what to buy? I'm considering a blackstar 180, maybe a 240 if I can talk 'em down in the price a little bit. I already have a Hydro Hut and want to buy another from a reputable company, looking for at least 180w output, don't want to spend any more than $270 max. Cheers!
so by what you've said, instead of buying the $1200 stealthgrow 300w LED, i'm still gonna need 3 of those to match my HPS yields? so my 1000w light which i could've found on craigslist for around $100-$150, and costs around $30 extra per month on my bill ($360/yr or around $2k in 5 yrs, + $500 for replacement bulbs), and you think it would be a good idea to spend nearly twice that in the same amount of time, for unreliable fixtures? perhaps if you're growing in a REALLY, REALLY high risk place i may consider it, simply due to not making noise and no heat signature. even at that doubling my investment is a hefty pricetag to put on being discreet.
In no particular order, blackstar, isis, magnum, GLH, advanced LED 3w, LG-LED solutions, hydroponicshut pro-grow, apache tech, blackdog, are companies I keep on my list
RRLBT420 what is the system and size of your grow you are thinking of when you say that?
budleydoright
Well-Known Member
So what does it cost to build your own panel. Can this make it affordable? I would like to stay up on this emerging technology and learn more about it. Are commercials panel really unreliable? what goes out, can they be be fixed?
It should be cheaper if you know who to call/buy from as far as parts go (factories, warehouses, US/China). But it would seem to me that the people having much success building their own are the people who end up starting their own online LED business (some which are crappy ebay ones, others that are fairly successful with their own website and on the list i mentioned, or seven sponsors for some websites like this one). They are generally reliable, the only problem I've seen people have is losing power to a bunch of LEDs at one. Sometimes its a bad power supply, other times an LED crapped out and took out the power lines for other LEDs so to speak (but some companies avoid that issue ). I've read of people fixing their units with an new power supply, I don't think they can really break so bad you can't fix em. But as far as replacing single LEDs, that I don't know. The company I bought from used the tech to keep more than 1 LED from going at a time, and they said that also makes it easier to switch out dead LEDs. The only company I've seen issues with units crapping out in month or two is Kessil, but I think they that was a factory error thing they fixed.
If I'm not mistaken I think the issues with stuff dieing or failing quick was with round LED panels from not so great companies anyway. But to be fair, nobody has really had the chance to run an LED for 50,000 hours yet, the better panels with 2/3w diodes have only been around a year or two, so we really can't know how long they will last. And any LED panel that has been around long enough to run near that 50,000/5 year was made withold LED tech poor for growing, and who knows how reliable the parts were. Now companies seem to care, and the panels can actually grow. It is yet to be seen if the majority of panels will last 3-5 years. I'm hoping mine does, I at least won't have to worry about losing more than 1 LED at a time, but I suppose there is a chance the power supplies or cord socket could go (5 year warranty)
in a home-grow. in a 5'x5' area, if i had a single 1000w lamp in let's say a common flood and drain system.
i hear the power supplies are a common failure as well though as they're one of the parts manufacturer's cheap out on
budleydoright
Well-Known Member
I like to monitor this tech. The promise is there. some one will find the right combo of price and performance to bring people over. It's not there yet for me and I'm invested in what I have, but I do feel the winds of change. when I first poked in on an LED thread the results were pretty slim, but I have been seeing more and more impressive results. I'm really excited about it and look forward to seeing the future of it.
Yeah I guess you gotta hope they cared enough to go for a quality power supply as that seems to be the only thing going wrong besides LEDs just dieing out.
Normally I'd say going with one of the top companies you could get away with 1/2 as many watts going LED (especially if you SCROG, LST, SOG, or otherwise don't let plants grow more than 3-4ft tall. Or I say a good rule of thumb for good LED is 30w per square foot, so for you depending on the company and how much power I'd say you'd spend $1200-$2400 Since the footprint of a 1000w HID is so large, to cover the same are would need to split the power between several LED units (if you had told me you wanted to replace a 600w HPS I'd have said to just get a single good 300w LED)
*I'm just not sure as much how to replace a 1000w HPS with LED because its footprint is just so much bigger. LEDs are usually crammed into a panel and no single LED panel can handle more than 4x4 if you ask me (and any one that could would probably cost >$1300). Replacing a smaller HID like an 800 or 600 or 400 is easy because single LED panels can compete with those .
*If we're talking 1w LEDs or 2w LEDs then all that stuff I've said is bunk and you would need a lot more power (because CRAPPY led panels suck). Not to say all 1w or 2w panels suck, there are some good ones, but they do still suffer from poor penetration so most grows done with them are not that impressive.
* I realize there are panels using diodes that are greater than 1/2/3w, but I can't help when it comes to those (i just don't know or have seen anything done with them)
*When I talk LED watts I mean true total draw. Most LED companies name lights by how much power they would use if the LEDs were all driven at max power (which would fry them very quickly). So When I say a 300w LED could replace a 600w HPS, I mean an LED unit that actually draws 300w from your killowattmeter
in a few more years when they're more cost effective and reliable, they'll be far more practical. they are unquestionably more efficient watt-for-watt, but they still need better penetration and a larger footprint to impress me. then they need to cut the price in half or better
Yeah I hope it will be a lot cheaper soon. 3w with <100 degree angles seem to get good penetration (better than my 400w at least), I wouldn't start to worry unless a plant was getting over 3ft tall. They made the jump from 1w diodes to 2w, and I think you could say 2011 is the year that 3w came to place. Perhaps next year it will be 5w diodes and they will really put the doubt out of peoples minds?
I'm sure I'll end up getting another big LED unit in a 2-3 years when the tech puts the present to shame
true, but the biggest issue i've seen with the higher wattage diodes is shortened lifespan, especially with the cheaper units as they tend to overdrive the diodes. again i think they will have a future, but i think they really have to figure out how to make them far less expensive, and more reliable. in 1900 people probably never thought that nearly everybody would own a car someday, but Henry Ford found a way to make them affordable when he invented the assembly line. LED will need somebody like him, who really cares about progressing the industry and who's really motivated to make the necessary improvements to make them practical in most grow rooms.
budleydoright
Well-Known Member
I've seen high output color mixing LED's used in mission critical applications for years. Like HID, it will likely be a product developed for industrial applications. an LED street light or stadium lamp that is repurposed. We definately need the benefits of scale to bring this to the masses. Probably be GE, Sylvania or Philips that come up with the right combination of price, performance and reliability.
one of the biggest problem they need to solve before led will ever be applied to things like stadium lighting is how fast the light intensity degrades over distance. part of the reason hid lighting is popular for that task is it's low degradation over distance. if you've ever put one of those led replacement bulbs in your closet, you'll notice that it's very bright immediately around the bulb, some so bright you can't look directly at the bulb, but you'll be lucky if you're able to see the floor. granted these aren't the same power as you'd expect to see in stadium lights, but you get the idea