well
1 - I don't see how any light is 'wasted' by modularity, in fact modularity improves performance/maintenance as there is no single point of failure for the power to the panel... i.e. one 'orb' can lose power, the others still work. You can replace parts easier... etc...
2 - even with whatever extra cost might be involved in manufacturing panels with these 'improvements' - custom angled lenses, custom spectrum, excellent heat sink/fan/airflow, modular power, etc.. (however 'necessary' or 'beneficial' they may be argued to be), I am still able to get a 430W power draw panel with 180pc custom spectrum 3W LEDs for $1/watt shipped... I have not seen that anyone else can come close to that... I mean, I am the owner of two Blackstars from Gotham Hydroponics myself, and I am a big fan of my panels! I have documented 3 very successful grows with them here on RIU, but even Blackstars are closer to $2/watt... BEFORE shipping...
Plus they come with 3 year warranty and service, so I'm still pretty interested in these Apollos... but yeah there are not too many documented grows with them, so I guess I may be a guinea pig if I go for one...
my spectrum would look like (15 LEDs in each modular 'orb', 12 orbs total in Apollo 12):
3 Red 660nm
3 Red 650-670nm
2 Red 630-640nm
2 Red 620-630nm
1 Orange 610-615nm
2 Blue 450-470nm
1 Blue 420-430nm
1 White 6000K
1/2 lenses: 90 degree angle
1/2 lenses: 120 degree angle
View attachment 2080440View attachment 2080439
Cidly does not have the ability to manufacture an Apollo with switchable spectrums yet (they say August 2012 for this technology), so I opted against any IR wavelengths, as I would only want to have this spectrum on during flowering phase. Also the IR LEDs add $2ea to the cost of a panel... ugh. There are no 280-315 UVB LEDs available, so I also opted against their UV options (380nm-400nm, 400nm-410nm) as well. I figured I would continue to use my Reptisun 10.0 UVB reptile lights for UVB supplementation.
Figured I could use an Apollo 12 as the main overhead light in my 2x4 tent, and use a Blackstar240 (I have 2) on each end as side lighting. I also supplement with 2 68W 2700K CFLs.
Any thoughts/advice is appreciated =D
with all that led power u may just wanna chuck those cfls in the livingroom lamp were they belong.well
1 - I don't see how any light is 'wasted' by modularity, in fact modularity improves performance/maintenance as there is no single point of failure for the power to the panel... i.e. one 'orb' can lose power, the others still work. You can replace parts easier... etc...
2 - even with whatever extra cost might be involved in manufacturing panels with these 'improvements' - custom angled lenses, custom spectrum, excellent heat sink/fan/airflow, modular power, etc.. (however 'necessary' or 'beneficial' they may be argued to be), I am still able to get a 430W power draw panel with 180pc custom spectrum 3W LEDs for $1/watt shipped... I have not seen that anyone else can come close to that... I mean, I am the owner of two Blackstars from Gotham Hydroponics myself, and I am a big fan of my panels! I have documented 3 very successful grows with them here on RIU, but even Blackstars are closer to $2/watt... BEFORE shipping...
Plus they come with 3 year warranty and service, so I'm still pretty interested in these Apollos... but yeah there are not too many documented grows with them, so I guess I may be a guinea pig if I go for one...
my spectrum would look like (15 LEDs in each modular 'orb', 12 orbs total in Apollo 12):
3 Red 660nm
3 Red 650-670nm
2 Red 630-640nm
2 Red 620-630nm
1 Orange 610-615nm
2 Blue 450-470nm
1 Blue 420-430nm
1 White 6000K
1/2 lenses: 90 degree angle
1/2 lenses: 120 degree angle
View attachment 2080440View attachment 2080439
Cidly does not have the ability to manufacture an Apollo with switchable spectrums yet (they say August 2012 for this technology), so I opted against any IR wavelengths, as I would only want to have this spectrum on during flowering phase. Also the IR LEDs add $2ea to the cost of a panel... ugh. There are no 280-315 UVB LEDs available, so I also opted against their UV options (380nm-400nm, 400nm-410nm) as well. I figured I would continue to use my Reptisun 10.0 UVB reptile lights for UVB supplementation.
Figured I could use an Apollo 12 as the main overhead light in my 2x4 tent, and use a Blackstar240 (I have 2) on each end as side lighting. I also supplement with 2 68W 2700K CFLs.
Any thoughts/advice is appreciated =D
Hey this is awesome info ghettorigger, thanks! It's great to hear from someone who has actual experience =DI use the apollo series and i have been selling em around a bit. I designed a 5 band model that works great. I pulled the same results that I had gotten in the same room with a 600w hps. The leds are from a company called EPILED, no complaints atvall about them. They are made in Taiwan, just like Cree, bridgelux, and another's name brands.. I sell the panels at a $50 dollar markup from what it costs me to get them over here and they are cheaper than a blackstar and perform twice as good. They run very cool., closed up with no aircon my room capped at 95 degrees with a temperature of 80 in the room. So very little energy was wasted by producing heat. I would recommend these to anybody prospecting for an led panel. They are very worth it. Plus I use uv cfls instead of putting uv on the panel which does a bunch towards cost and not wasting led power.
I
also another thing I would add is that my first customer after his first full cycle came back and replaced all of his HPS with these in all of his grows. He said that his power bill probably was cut in half now that he doesn't run multiple blowers and air conditioning. And he priced it out and with me not marking up much at all, his cost to set up a new room was less due to a smaller aircon unit being installed as well as not needing 4 1000cfm blowers and insulated ducting. Fruit for thought.
I'm going to have a conversation this week with my contact at LED Star so I'll get into it with him on exactly how they produce their "5 Watt" diodes. I'm pretty sure they're dual diode 2x3 watt diodes running at 2 watts each. Some diodes might be singles but I doubt it. Maybe I'll post some emails if Psy doesn't mind.Someone needs to ask Fran Jan about his 5w panel from led star.....I remember him showing a closeup of the diode and it was a single core....
Damn typical Stoner memory........I was wrong...haI'm going to have a conversation this week with my contact at LED Star so I'll get into it with him on exactly how they produce their "5 Watt" diodes. I'm pretty sure they're dual diode 2x3 watt diodes running at 2 watts each. Some diodes might be singles but I doubt it. Maybe I'll post some emails if Psy doesn't mind.
Just call their hotline @ (555) 867-5309, and ask for 'Jenny'.can you call me about your panels I am looking to buy twenty or more thanks john 5157783278