Brand Name Led of chinese panel?

Hi guys, I'm new to this forum and growing in general really.
i have read a whole of lot of articles and forums and watched hundreds of videos and now it's time to start growing myself. the space i will be using is a closet of about 3.2' by 2' (i'm a student in a student building so stealth is of the essence). i'm definitely going for a soil grow since hydroponics is still very much out of my league, and was thinking of preparing a Super soil (anyone familiar with subcool's supersoil recipe?), but not sure if this would be the best way to go for a first time grower...if you guys have any advice or tips on this, please feel free to advice me.
so anyway, maybe the most important question would be what kind of lights would i use?

i'm not a big fan of HPS in my particular situation since
1) it would produce a lot of heat which i would need to get rid of in this small space without having to install a big ass (and loud!) vortex fan
2) it uses a lot more electricity then LEDs which could be noticeable by my 'land lord' (again, stealth is of the essence here!)

so i was thinking of growing with LEDs but they are super expensive. i found a brand online called "Boss LED". apparently they go under a lot of different brand names and i'm not to sure if they are good quality BUT they are cheap. a 1000W panel costs only 130 euros (actual power drain from the wall is about 200W) so compared to KIND leds of MARS hydro, they are a whole lot cheaper per Watt.

SO what should i do? spend 130 euros on a "1000W" chinese panel link (which would probably be equivalent to a 400W panel or so from KIND Leds) or spend 300+ euros on a 450W panel from Mars Hydro link?
(PS: the wattages here are 'equivalent-to-HPS' watts, not actual power usage)

any advice or experience is very welcome!

go with option C,,, get a COB led panel bro

check out Buildasoil.com

https://cobkits.com/

http://timbergrowlights.com/

lets see,, there are more
http://www.tastyled.com/

The Aliexpress one is guaranteed shit.
The Mars Hydro isn't really worth it either.

Are you American?
Bulbs from homedepot are better and cheaper than that Mars panel
http://www.homedepot.com/p/EcoSmart-100W-Equivalent-Soft-White-A21-LED-Non-Dimmable-LED-Light-Bulb-4-Pack-5bSA1600SSQ105/206668128

Combine that with 2 of these
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1-To-7-LED-lamp-Base-Socket-E27-LED-Lamp-Light-Bulb-Base-Socket-Splitter-Holder/32583694003.html?ws_ab_test=searchweb0_0,searchweb201602_0_10065_10068_10000009_10084_10083_10080_10082_10081_10060_10062_10056_10055_10054_10059_10099_10078_10079_426_10103_10073_10102_10096_10052_10050_10107_10051_10106,searchweb201603_0,afswitch_5&btsid=4252bd40-666a-4d84-b34c-8371f109e6da



Alternatively cob panels are about as expensive as the Mars panel but great.
Timbergrowlights and Tastyled too
https://northerngrowlights.com/collections/all/products/photon-180v-gen-7?variant=25843297480

Twice as expensive as going with bulbs, but also a bit more efficient.

I almost forgot about nothern grow lights

https://northerngrowlights.com/

more good cob panels

Wow thank you all! didn't expect so many replies so fast!
i'm actualy from Belgium (Europe) so not sure if these companies will ship here... hopefully they will.

i've heard about COBs but it sounded quite complicated at the time so i didn't investigate any further. will do some research tomorrow and check out all of these sites.

expect some replies to your posts guys, thanks!

Also have the quantum boards at northerngrowlights.com

Allright, so I checked out your info guys and i have some questions.

first of all, can someone tell me why COBs are so much better than other LED panels or HPS sysems? I know i should just search this forum and other websites but maybe you've got some great links for me because so far, i haven't really found anything thats got me super convinced on COBs vs other LED systems.

second, why are most of these COBs in a 3000K spectrum? i'm guessing because the white light is full spectrum, but what i mean is: when you go with an HPS system you often take a 2700K and 6500K bulb for optimal conditions during flowering and vegging respectively. even other LED panels use blue and red light, why not with COBs?

third, a lot of these sellers are all out of stock... is there another way to purchase there products of should i just wait?

fourth, do you recommend a DIY cob kit and building my own lights? because it seems to me that the cost spared on a DIY kit vs a completely assembled panel, ready to plug and play, is not really worth it. besides, you have extra costs on bare material you would use a frame... not sure on this.

thanks again for the info!

UPDATE: i was comparing some lights from Timber growlights and Northern Growlights (links included).
and i'm kind of confused...

if i'm not mistaken, the one from Timber growlights uses 2 Cree CXB3590 with a Meanwell HLG-185H-C1400B driver so 1400mA.
the other one also uses to 2 Cree CXB3590 but with a different driver (Meanwell HLP-80H) with 2200 mA.

what confuses me is that they use the same amount of COB units, but draw a different amount of wattage from the wall.
also, the one from Timber growlights has 685 PPFD for a grow space of 18"x30", and the one from Northern Growlights has over 900 PPFD for the same grow area (using the PPFD calculation tool for an area of 4 sq ft).

should i go with the more expensive Northern Growlights version or the one from Timber growlights?

Bill422 said:

UPDATE: i was comparing some lights from Timber growlights and Northern Growlights (links included).
and i'm kind of confused...

if i'm not mistaken, the one from Timber growlights uses 2 Cree CXB3590 with a Meanwell HLG-185H-C1400B driver so 1400mA.
the other one also uses to 2 Cree CXB3590 but with a different driver (Meanwell HLP-80H) with 2200 mA.

what confuses me is that they use the same amount of COB units, but draw a different amount of wattage from the wall.
also, the one from Timber growlights has 685 PPFD for a grow space of 18"x30", and the one from Northern Growlights has over 900 PPFD for the same grow area (using the PPFD calculation tool for an area of 4 sq ft).

should i go with the more expensive Northern Growlights version or the one from Timber growlights?

Click to expand...

1400mA means the 3590s are driven at 1400mA.
The ones with 2200mA means they're driven at 2200mA.

LEDs can be driven at different currents, just like you can dim an incandescent.

Northerngrowlights just pushes more power through the same COBs so they produce more light.
Efficiency is slightly lower that way, but it's a very small difference.

Would go with the Northerngrowlights one.
It also has a dim knob if you want to run it at a lower wattage.

frica said:

1400mA means the 3590s are driven at 1400mA.
The ones with 2200mA means they're driven at 2200mA.

LEDs can be driven at different currents, just like you can dim an incandescent.

Northerngrowlights just pushes more power through the same COBs so they produce more light.
Efficiency is slightly lower that way, but it's a very small difference.

Would go with the Northerngrowlights one.
It also has a dim knob if you want to run it at a lower wattage.

Click to expand...

allright thanks frica, i''ll look into that and consider spending some more on the northern growlights one.
do think this light is a good choice for a 5 sq ft grow space? how about heat production?

Bill422 said:

allright thanks frica, i''ll look into that and consider spending some more on the northern growlights one.
do think this light is a good choice for a 5 sq ft grow space? how about heat production?

Click to expand...

It's perfect for a 5 sq ft grow space.
Heat is as low as it gets.

frica said:

It's perfect for a 5 sq ft grow space.
Heat is as low as it gets.

Click to expand...

awesome! thanks man

Cobkits ship in Europe.
You can also buy clu048 1212(cob) from ebay within Europe and free shipping.They are better in price/performance compared to cree cxb.
Than buy extruded heathsink bar, meanwell driver and other stuff from tme.eu(very cheap on shipping cost,no custum).
Than go with diy.
And have the best light

every Chinese LED panel I have seen has these issues ;
- Does not pull consistent wattage from the plug, or consistent Lux/lumens
- drivers/panels malfunction much quicker than anticipated ( due to low quality components)
- typically have poor coverage( footprint)
- Terrible efficiency for watt/PAR or watt/Lux

I personally dumped 2 1200W King panels and built a CoB unit and doubled my lux/PAR readings , and reduced my wattage @ the plug by 600 watts total. Plants are still thanking me.

I am also new to the whole indoor cultivation and I will agree first had that the Chinese stuff is garbage. If companies like Mars and platinum are using so/so chinese components then you have to think the Chinese are using the bottom of the bottom quality components. I personally run 2x Platinum Led P300's one in each tent and I am having excellent results considering its a so/so light. I got 3oz from 3 plants my very first grow, my last grow I got 4oz from 2 plants and my current grow I'm pretty sure I will exceed or even double that. For a small area like you have and I had, I think a small panel light or 2-4 cob system would work. I'm waiting on my Timber Grow Lights 200w 4 cob citizen diy kit to come in.

Current grow with supposedly crappy lights. A bit overpriced for old tech maybe, but not crappy. Yeah my plants could be bigger with a HPS or a Badass expensive Led unit but for 30 bucks a month extra on my elec bill (running 2x p300s, inline fan and 2x small fans.) ill take it.
Pics are from 10 mins ago.

First 2 pics are Snow Fruit(14 days into flower)



Second set is Chocolate Mint Og 2 months into veg from seed

Rapidled.com

growmau5 suggested it among a few others and I went with them

GreenTools said:

every Chinese LED panel I have seen has these issues ;
- Does not pull consistent wattage from the plug, or consistent Lux/lumens
- drivers/panels malfunction much quicker than anticipated ( due to low quality components)
- typically have poor coverage( footprint)
- Terrible efficiency for watt/PAR or watt/Lux

I personally dumped 2 1200W King panels and built a CoB unit and doubled my lux/PAR readings , and reduced my wattage @ the plug by 600 watts total. Plants are still thanking me.

Click to expand...

So you reduced your watts at the plug by 600w by replacing the 2 1200W King panels that use around 250w from the wall with a CoB unit. Please let us know where we can buy this magic CoB that generates electricity from nothing as you have claimed.

Or just admit that you have no clue and were talking out your rear.