BS240 VS HSS a non scientific comparison

Just to help out the LED community, I decided to make a journal of this grow. I am a hobby grower, I do it for my personal use and I hope that other beginner wanting to do the same thing will learn from this... I should mention I am not an experienced grower.


The setup:

Variety: Grapefruit, Chemo, ConKushion, 1 unknown

Grown in soil with supersoil (inspired from subcool's, ingredients can be found in the first page of my journal in my sign.)
TV cabinet
4''inline fan + scrubber
Haight Solid State PPF-400Rv2 LED Grow light http://shop.haightsolidstate.com/ Current draw power unknown, advertised as a 90watt light
Blackstar 240 http://www.lighthousehydro.com/blackstar-240w-led-grow-light-3w-cree.html Current draw power around 135W I believe...
home made air pot


About the air pots:

I just used landscape fabric, I didnt put enough holes but that will do, it's a must for growing with LEDs, it looks like I won't be watering for a total of 10 days this time. For that reason, if you are about to grow with soil using LEDs, I strongly recommend a supersoil, since the soil is drying much slower, you don't have to worry that the plants are not getting their nutrients.


About the comparison:

It's not the type of comparison in which I will come with the weight from one light and the weight from the other...I don't need anybody to say I should have done this or that regarding the comparison, I am fully aware that the plants in the middle will get light from both lights. Also, the main plant under the blackstar is a different strain, it's a clone from my grapefruit and it started much earlier. One plant could also be a super lemon haze or afghan kush, also from a clone. The Chemo and the ConKushion (right side of the cabinet...) were put under 12/12 pretty much from seeds, I am unsure what day of flowering I am at, possibly about a week. It's my first time growing 12/12 from seeds too so I am looking forward to see how they grow. I don't know how long it will take for them to show their sex.


About the setup:

This is not a stealth setup, with a fan like this it's quite noisy, I should let you know that even though most companies claims that there is no heat with those lights, they create a great deal of heat for a small cabinet like this, so good venting is still a must with LEDs...


About the lights:

I think that this grow should give accurate results about the lights, I think that my setup is good now and it's up to them.

The HSS: Its a very light light, easy to hang. Its my most quiet LED, it still makes a little humming sound. It gives of a very natural light, if I would have close the blackstar on the picture you would see. I will go with the company's recommendation for the light height, which is 3'' from the plant in flowering. (I will let them grow to the light first) I have nothing bad to say about this light for now!

The Blackstar 240. I talked about it on Wejuana's thread, but I will mention it here again, it's really cheaply assembled, looking inside the light I can see big mess of glue to hold components... the light looks good overall though. Also, I should mention that I have a problem with the power connector (a few RIU users are experiencing the same thing), it's not a big deal but everytime I hit the power cord the light goes off. With that said, I think that the light itself delivers, and it's well priced...(used to be well priced..., is 386.99$ the new price for it!? I think mine was at 269.99 when I bought it...) I am curious to see what kind of buds it will grow, I will be able to compare them with the buds from the mother grown under HID.

Now the fun part, the pics! (I know most of you probably watched the pics before reading ...!)



I hope you all enjoy this grow, any comments/advice/questions are very welcome

Awesome, looking forward to watching this. Thanks for the heads up about not being scientific in the comparison. Still should be fun to see the results. Grapefruit has always been a favorite of mine. Just a suggestion, can you take some pics throughout this with the leds off to get some better visuals? Thanks for doings this journal by the way.

yes puffenuff, I will do that once in a while, I prefer to do it before the lights goes on or when the light just went off, I don't want to interrupt anything hehe. Thanks for the suggestion.

I did not intend to do a comparison grow when building this cabinet, but now that I have the HSS and the blackstar side by side, both with a small footprint, I realised that it would give everybody a good idea of each lights capabilities. I can say that the Grapefruit doesnt get much of the HSS light and the 2 container to the right do not get much of the blackstar.... now hopefully we get at least one female off of the 4 plants in the blue bins.

healthy growth

Looks good. The PPF-400 is in reality around a 45w unit and the Blackstar pulls ~130w (just realized you already knew this).

hehe.. yeah it's more to show each light capabilities... they both have totally different specs, and since I don't expect a big yield out of either light, it's going to be more about which light seems to be growing the frostiest/most potent buds. And also see what's up with those 6W diodes!! I think that the ppf-400 rv2 is doing a good job at vegging those plants for 45W, they seem to be growing at the same rate that the ones that were vegged under the 400W in my room, for now anyway!! and they are only getting 12hours of light a day to grow... another week and they should show their sex!

If you just were to turn one on, which do you find to be brighter, more intense and which looks like it has a better footprint?

Since you have to keep the HSS at 3'' in flowering, I would say that the footprint is slightly bigger than the light itself... so about 15''x24'' for optimal result IMO. And the blackstar has to be about 8'' in flower so probably slightly bigger than the HSS I guess. In my setup, each light has to cover roughly 18'' x 22''. As for which one is the brightest, it's hard to tell because the blackstar is a bright pink light and the HSS has enough white in it that it looks like normal daylight. Considering that the HSS consume 1/3 wattage than the blackstar, I would say the HSS would be a brighter light if you would match it watt for watt. I just put the partycup contest plant under the HSS at 3'' from the light, we'll see how that go.

Even though we have a big gap in wattage between the 2 lights, they both sell for similar price, in some ways it's fair game to compare the 2.

Gastanker said:

Looks good. The PPF-400 is in reality around a 45w unit and the Blackstar pulls ~130w

Click to expand...

Have you tested a PPF400 to know that's what it draws or seen them tested somewhere? Also is that for the version one or two of the light as they may be slightly different?

Endur0xX said:

As for which one is the brightest, it's hard to tell because the blackstar is a bright pink light and the HSS has enough white in it that it looks like normal daylight. Considering that the HSS consume 1/3 wattage than the blackstar, I would say the HSS would be a brighter light if you would match it watt for watt. I just put the partycup contest plant under the HSS at 3'' from the light, we'll see how that go.

Click to expand...

On the label on the back of the HSS, does it list both a typical and max wattage? I've got a version 1 unit and it says 90w typical draw and 150w max. If it really does only draw 45w then I'm not sure why they'd mislabel it right on the unit.

no I have no idea, .. I just went with what I was thinking and what gastanker said. I have the RV2, I thought it was about 60W but you might be right, hopefully you are! I doubt it though because the rv1 has 15x6W LED ... usually they don't drive em full blast and the RV2 has a few 3W diodes but both light are very similar. I will try to find the answer to that question...

I know HSS advertises their lights as having 6w and 3w diodes but I think they may actually be 10w running at 6w and probably 5w running at 3w. The only pic I've seen showing how much they actually draw is from SettingSun's grow on 420Mag from a while back. He used a PPF800 and got a draw of 189w.

Yeah I was also wondering about the wattage of the hss. The website says it's 90w? Where did you get 45w from?

Interesting comparison! Love the HSS passive cooling design... Should be an interesting comparison, subbed! /grabs some popcorn

Hi,


The 400 draws 90 watts.


Thanks,
Kiran MerchantHaight Solid State
San Francisco, CA

[COLOR=#49535A !important] 415 752 2160 ​

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On Dec 20, 2011, at 2:25 PM, xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

Hi, I have had the light on and going for a little while now, things are going well at the moment. I am wondering what is the current power draw of the PPF-400 RV2? Thank you


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Since I don't get much freshair into the room (I keep a few small home made co2 bottles kicking around the room..), it looks like I will have to deal with 50% humidity. I have a dehumidifier that I may put in the room at some point. I removed all the lower flowers that were not going to amount to anything on the grapefruit, I won't hurt it from now. Everything else looks good, as expected, the conKushion in the middle of the cabinet is loving the spectrums. I don't know if I should remove the lower branches before the plants show signs of sex or after? (I like to remove the lower branches to improve airflow and help with watering..) cheers

Endur0xX said:

Hi,


The 400 draws 90 watts.


Thanks,
Kiran MerchantHaight Solid State
San Francisco, CA

[COLOR=#49535A !important] 415 752 2160
​

On Dec 20, 2011, at 2:25 PM, xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

Hi, I have had the light on and going for a little while now, things are going well at the moment. I am wondering what is the current power draw of the PPF-400 RV2? Thank you


​

[/COLOR]

Click to expand...

Not sure who you talked to but I really doubt it puts out 90w of light. The RV1 has 15 6w LEDs 15x6=90w. However LEDs are NEVER at the full wattage (would be like redlining your car 100% of the time) so a 6w LED generally pulls 3w. If do you research you'll find LEDs run in mA and not W - the wattage comparison is an equivalency running at peak ability, a number that LEDs are never actually run at (it would be very bad for the bulb).

The RV2 has 17 LEDs - 15x7 = 105/2 = 52.5w

Look at your blackstar - 80 3w LEDs, 80*3 = 240w which is what is in the description (240w LED) yet the rated energy consumption is 135w... Half the draw of each LED chip + a tiny bit more for fan/heat loss.

KawiZZR said:

I know HSS advertises their lights as having 6w and 3w diodes but I think they may actually be 10w running at 6w and probably 5w running at 3w. The only pic I've seen showing how much they actually draw is from SettingSun's grow on 420Mag from a while back. He used a PPF800 and got a draw of 189w.

Click to expand...

Although I could be wrong if this is true. Not many quality LED manufacturers are making 5/10w LEDs in viable spectrum though...

Would be super helpful if they had more info on their site. Amazing how little it says when it comes to specifics on the product.

Gastanker said:

Although I could be wrong if this is true. Not many quality LED manufacturers are making 5/10w LEDs in viable spectrum though...

Would be super helpful if they had more info on their site. Amazing now little it says when it comes to specifics on the product.

Click to expand...

I'm thinking that next fall once my warranty is up I might take it apart to see if I can find part numbers for the diodes. Then it'd be a matter of just looking them up and seeing how much they are.

KawiZZR said:

I'm thinking that next fall once my warranty is up I might take it apart to see if I can find part numbers for the diodes. Then it'd be a matter of just looking them up and seeing how much they are.

Click to expand...

Great idea. I would be curious about your results. Crazy how many LED companies advertise the LED W*Diodes versus the actual wattage consumed.

I am gonna look into getting that tool that tells you current power draw if it's not that expensive. Its the only way to know.

EDIT: too expensive

Endur0xX said:

I am gonna look into getting that tool that tells you current power draw if it's not that expensive. Its the only way to know.

Click to expand...

They are cheap, ~$20. http://www.homedepot.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?storeId=10051&productId=202196386&langId=-1&catalogId=10053&ci_sku=202196386&ci_kw={keyword}&cm_mmc=shopping-_-googleads-_-pla-_-202196386&ci_gpa=pla&locStoreNum=6609