3600 watts for 4x4 space... too much?

ask fdd he provided a link to youtube "led vs hid" they used a ufo w/90 leds and a 400w hps .the hps did better in each one of the tests. if you think youll save on electricity it wont matter if you spent 5000$ on lights. you are already down 5 gs. everyone who wants to save cash on electicity get someone to switch your room to 220v and switch the ballasts then you can run twice the lights for the same cost.

diqufer said:

Honestly, I think its probably overkill. thats alot of wattage for a fairly small room. I too read the article in high times and those sound like a pretty promising product. Too costly for my tastes tho, I bought some cheap LEDs off E-bay just to give it a shot. When I finaly finish up my grow area I get to see how those work. Good luck!

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that number is the equivalent im sure of it

Steve said:

As this technology is constantly advancing prior grows really dont have to do much with the current "leader" in LED systems

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no doubt, most definitely and i dont disagree with that statement....

with all and any technology...all early adopters suffer, i for one know all about that.... i always buy on impulse and love gadgets and all kinda shit


but with these LEDs they got a few years to master it. Hell the digital/electronic ballast field isnt even up to par yet and has a some ways to go.... so i know for sure that LEDs have a while to go before that will permanently replace mh/hps ballasts

everyone who wants to save cash on electicity get someone to switch your room to 220v and switch the ballasts then you can run twice the lights for the same cost.

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I'm afraid it doesn't work that way. It's power consumption (watts) that matters, not voltage. Doubling the voltage will decrease resistance a little, it may even save you a few pennies a month, but nothing worth noting.

1000 watts = 110 volts X 9.1 amps
or
1000 watts = 220 volts X 4.55 amps

Regardless, a KW/h is a KW/h is a KW/h, no matter how you slice it.


In regards to spending $5000.00 on an LED setup. I feel sorry for you. You've been had. If you can, send back the lights. Go with what is tried, tested, and true; Metal Halide or High Pressure Sodium are the only way to fly. Period. I'm not going to argue the merits of using HID over LED, the proof is in the pudding. I've seen countless LED grows and none of them even compare to grows using HID lighting. Hell, I'd even recommend CFLs over LED right now.

LoudBlunts said:

no doubt, most definitely and i dont disagree with that statement....

with all and any technology...all early adopters suffer, i for one know all about that.... i always buy on impulse and love gadgets and all kinda shit


but with these LEDs they got a few years to master it. Hell the digital/electronic ballast field isnt even up to par yet and has a some ways to go.... so i know for sure that LEDs have a while to go before that will permanently replace mh/hps ballasts

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I don't argue that their potential is underdeveloped. However, in this particular case he's pumping a massive amount of LED power into that grow. It might be enough to offset the downfalls. We'll see I guess

The title of this thread is misleading. I would love to see an led grow using 3600 actual watts of led.

i think paracelus is looking to be a seller. he'll spend 5k on lights with the mindset that he'll make that money back with one grow. he's using led because it's less power consumption and less heat, hoping that traditional methods police use to find indoor grows (heat and power - IR from air) not apply to his indoor grow. i would not like to say i support sellers - you should just grow for personal use. selling is risky- you might not raise the red flags for heat coming out of the room, but i think thats a tiny red flag compared to all the unavoidable red flags of being a seller (people talk).

FWIW, in the United States IR thermal imaging searches for grow-rooms have been ruled unconstitutional by the Supreme Court unless a search warrant has been obtained in advance.

Citation:
KYLLO V. UNITED STATES ( 99-8508 ) 533 U.S. 27 (2001)
190 F.3d 1041, reversed and remanded.

The upshot for growers is that if you keep sight/smell/power consumption/foot traffic etc. under the radar to deny probable cause for an IR scan then you don't need to worry about external heat signature. The remaining shreds of the Fourth Amendment still protect you, for now. (Although this may change if the issue is revisited by the newly Bush-stacked court. KYLLO V. US is from 2001.)

More information--

From after the 9th circuit upheld the conviction, but before the US Supreme Court overturned it:

[ABA:]
Supreme Court Preview Featured Cases: Kyllo v. United States (ABA Division for Public Education)


From after Kyllo prevailed in Supreme Court:

[Cornell Law:]
KYLLO V. UNITED STATES

[Findlaw:]
Criminal Law and Procedure Decisions: Kyllo v. United States

[Wikipedia:]
Kyllo v. United States - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia


A legal scholar's academic commentary upon the Kyllo decision and its implications:

SSRN-Back to the Future: Kyllo, Katz, and Common Law by David Sklansky


Regarding LEDs: use them either with a small HID, or with a moderate array of CFLs (if stealth is required) for best results. If you drill down into the forums and articles out there, the producers of the LED grow lights note that ideal the ideal LED profile for growing is still a couple years away production on a scale that would make them affordable, even with all the progress that has been made. The kinks are still being worked out and even the UFOs and such are not there yet--though they have reached the point of being usable if disappointing (just in terms of yield, not talking about a price comparison with HID which makes it even moreso.)

My sense is that in two or three years we'll really start seeing LED arrays come into their own, but not quite yet. It seems like that's also the conventional wisdom--I promise, I'm not a cave-dwelling cane-shaking curmudgeon.

At least, not after I have a cup of coffee and a bowl or two.