900W BLACKSTAR LED - Yes or no? Why or why not?

Hey all,

I have been using MH/veg and HPS/flower in the past, and want to try something new. I know a decent amount about white LEDs work (close friend in that business), but not so much in terms of grow LEDs. I know that commercial LEDs for places like offices and warehouses have come an extremely long way in the last couple of years, but haven't found many grow companies that produce reasonably priced LEDs.

Spending 900 dollars for a 900 watt LED seems pretty reasonable to me - that is, if the light is of high quality and lasts a couple of years.

What are your opinions? Should I order one of these babies off ebay? If I do, I'll document a purple kush grow with it.

http://www.ebay.ca/itm/New-2012-900w-Lighthouse-Hydro-BlackStar-LED-Grow-light-3W-Flowering-LEDs-/290622471445?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item43aa72fd15#ht_8643wt_1037

Thanks all

That 900w is really more like 500w actual draw. I see some really nice journals with blackstars, but they don't run at advertised wattage. Also consider that it only has a one year warranty as opposed to other good led grow lights that come with +3 years warranties, something to consider seeing as how blackstars have a reputation of being poorly (maybe cheaply is a better adjective here) assembled.

Thank you for the good info. What are these said companies with 3+ years warranty?

No problem, glad to help. There's quite a few actually.
http://advancedledlights.com; http://www.blackdogled.com; http://www.hydroponicshut.com; there's a couple others, check out this section of RIU where there's a lot of good led information:

https://www.rollitup.org/led-other-lighting/

Two more years man, two more years. I'll move to LED in 24 months. I have a pretty good sense for these things...in 2 years what you are seeing as the "best" LED's on the market will be the cheaply made china-product and they won't be $900.00. It's like buyin a plasma when they first came out. You may feel cool, but in a few years you'll feel like a dumbass. I work in with technology so I understand that there will always be a cheaper/better solution in the future, but it slopes and this is the steep part of the slope. Prices are going to fall.

The first promise was that LED's would be good enough in a few years (that came true) and now the promise is that they'll be affordable in a couple of years. They aren't really that expensive to manufacture so the high cost problem isn't intrinsic.

Yup, 2 years in technology is a lifetime, a lot changes and the same is true in led technology. But that's no reason to shy away from buying now if you are interested in them now. I never understood that feeling like a dumbass sensation when newer stuff came out but apparently it's a common thing...I either upgraded if I thought it was worth it or not, but I would never feel dumb for buying something I wanted.

I dont know the lumen output of led's but I'm guessing you can get your plants right on them ? no heat at all? Might have to burn a HID just to keep your temps up. sounds interesting, HID are cool though, I dont see any reason to switch, especially for 900dollars you can get some good HID's for that money, whats the benefit?

puffenuff said:

Yup, 2 years in technology is a lifetime, a lot changes and the same is true in led technology. But that's no reason to shy away from buying now if you are interested in them now. I never understood that feeling like a dumbass sensation when newer stuff came out but apparently it's a common thing...I either upgraded if I thought it was worth it or not, but I would never feel dumb for buying something I wanted.

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It's not that something "newer" came out. It's that you overpaid for what you got. If you bought a 42" plasma when they first came out, you paid $10,000-$12,000 to get one. Within 3 years they were $1500 and now that's about the going rate for a good quality TV in that range and has been for a long time. Sure, if I spend $1500.00 on a TV today a newer one with more features and perhaps better picture will be along for $1500 later, but that doesn't make me feel like a dumbass. Paying $10,000-$12,000 for a TV a couple of years later, I would feel like a dumbass.

These LED's are currently in the $10,000-$12,000 range relative to their final destination cost. These things are going to cost $200.00 for the best quality units in just a few years. Right now you can buy the "junk" units that were the fantastic units 3 years ago, but the problem that existed then (they suck) is in those units and it won't be in this generation.

Thank you for all of your input laser.. Here's the thing. I know a man who has exclusive rights to several white led's in Canada. This man can order other components from companies he is working with (such as the red, orange, and blue light that is needed), SO I would like to create my own light panels with these high quality components that are available to me .. If it weren't for one problem - I DON'T KNOW HOW! How hard would it to be to create an LED panel? Person who can answer this and give me some information would be hooked up large if I were to ever work on creating a sample product.

See....everybody's gonna be making these things.

laserbrn said:

See....everybody's gonna be making these things.

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Yea, that's my point. They really don't seem that hard to make. I don't know why everyone with basic electrical knowledge isn't copying designs and mass producing them. To create a 900 w panel with a highquality chip set shouldn't cost more than a couple hundred dollars .. that's at an end user's price point, someone who can order just enough to make one himself and then put it together himself.

im down thatC lol

led's are a waste of money and time. they don't produce weight, have immediate light degridation, no penetration power and no light spread to speak of.