Best light for my purpose?

I have been using a 600w HID mh/hps to some pretty good success. Most notably my current crop looks pretty stellar. But summers in michigan can get quite hot and humid, and I'm not going to fork out the cash for a dedicated AC unit. And If my predictions are right, this summer is going to be rough on my crops.

I'm considering switching to LED. I have 9 plants in 7 gallon pots, spread out in roughly a 5x5 area (but i can take measurements for more exact numbers) I was wondering what might be a decent brand and where I might be able to shop around at a good price. How many watts would I need? I want to keep all 9 plants and I want as much light to grow impressive crop. I know nothing about LED, and information out there seems a bit sparse. Are most of these setups multiple lights? Is one large enough to cover my entire area? Any info is helpful.

You could pick up this kit

https://www.cutter.com.au/proddetail.php?prod=cut2903

and then follow along this thread

https://www.rollitup.org/t/cutter-electronics-complete-diy-cob-kits.902453/page-11#post-12450842

And if you want to run 10 cob's you can with that kit. Just pick up two of these add ons

https://www.cutter.com.au/proddetail.php?prod=cut2901

That's an assload of money for a DIY

Keep in mind it's Australian dollars not sure where you're from

But yeah you're right and that's about what you're looking at. Several vendors here sell prebuilt lights if you want to pay more for something already made with less modularity

Plc
Area 51
Tasty

I think you're looking at forking out a fortune in shitty crops if you don't dedicate an ac which is 150 bucks by the way. Just my opinion

covert222 said:

I think you're looking at forking out a fortune in shitty crops if you don't dedicate an ac which is 150 bucks by the way. Just my opinion

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thats a pretty hasty judgement for someone who has no other info on my crops other than they dont run in AC. My high temp is about 77 F. low being around 68. 600w is not a difficult to manage heat until outside temperatures reach 80. Even after that, there are ways to manage. It isn't necessary to spend $100+ monthly on cooling.

DIY COBS are still going to need AC in the summer in michigan,, heck I needed ac for a few weeks here in ORegon last summer, it is just the way of things,, and cheap LED still runs hot,, sad to say

Well I guess that idea is out then. I just always heard people talk about how much cooler they run.

if its cheap LED, sadly the fans are loud and they make heat, ,, good led where you buidl it yourself, you can move the drivers outside of the tent or grow box,, greatly reducing the heat

I'm not very good at building things like that. But I have an entire bedroom for my room. Well half a bedroom as I wouldn't fill the whole thing because of the window.

papa canna said:

thats a pretty hasty judgement for someone who has no other info on my crops other than they dont run in AC. My high temp is about 77 F. low being around 68. 600w is not a difficult to manage heat until outside temperatures reach 80. Even after that, there are ways to manage. It isn't necessary to spend $100+ monthly on cooling.

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You asked a question and I tried to answer bro. I need ac and I live I oregon. And 12000 but window unit runs about 15 dollars a month running 10 hours a day by the way and you could get away with a 6000 btu

Ps. I tried swamp coolers and all this other 10 dollar do it yourself bullshit I found on the Internet and none of it worked for me. After all my attempts I had more in it than just buying a damn window unit. Also if you buy a central ac for your house it's gonna run you about 5 gs depending on what you get but if you get the newer energy efficient shit and own your home you can probably take it as a tax right off

covert222 said:

Ps. I tried swamp coolers and all this other 10 dollar do it yourself bullshit I found on the Internet and none of it worked for me. After all my attempts I had more in it than just buying a damn window unit. Also if you buy a central ac for your house it's gonna run you about 5 gs depending on what you get but if you get the newer energy efficient shit and own your home you can probably take it as a tax right off

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I have central cooling, but it doesn't matter. I have to keep the door to that room closed. And the cooling from my central unit is negligible to that amount of heat in the summer.

$15 a month you say? Are you sure? That sounds pretty low. Do you use a window unit or just a little floor model? I'd rather get a floor so I could open the window on a nice day. How much wattage are you running in what size space?

2000 in a 7 by 12.

papa canna said:

I have central cooling, but it doesn't matter. I have to keep the door to that room closed. And the cooling from my central unit is negligible to that amount of heat in the summer.

$15 a month you say? Are you sure? That sounds pretty low. Do you use a window unit or just a little floor model? I'd rather get a floor so I could open the window on a nice day. How much wattage are you running in what size space?

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If you do the math on it 7 x120/1000 ×10 ×.14 that comes out to 30 bucks a month. So that would be running a 12000 btu maxed out for all ten hours but mine cuts off a lot through the cycle and ends up being around 15 bucks a month. Of course a humid heat wave can get that number back up 30 bucks but running your lights at night of course is going to help

Tim Fox said:

if its cheap LED, sadly the fans are loud and they make heat, ,, good led where you buidl it yourself, you can move the drivers outside of the tent or grow box,, greatly reducing the heat

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Exactly what I'm planning to do with my new setup

As someone who has a little experience building DIY LEDs I would say they don't sound right for you... also don't be tricked into believing they're a LOT cooler than HIDs... they are still very hot if they're packed together although somewhat less hot than a HID.

A HPS light is typically around 15-20% efficient which means it's putting out around 80-85% heat (every 600w generates about 480w of heat).

Typically CREE COB LEDs are around 40-50% efficient (could get as high as 60% but you need to run them at lower amps which means more chips in total and a higher initial outlay). That means you're still putting out 50-60% heat from your watts (every 600w generates about 300w of heat).

Have you considered a 315w CMH to replace your 600w HIDs? They put out about the same lumens as a 400W HPS but you'd have less than half of the heat you had with a 600W HPS (a 315w cmh should put out around 220w of heat). If you don't fancy building your own DIY LED panels and want to reduce your heat significantly then I'd seriously give a 315w CMH a look.

Disclaimer: I've never used a CMH myself.