I was looking at branded LED lighting and did some research ended up DIY LED grow light saving $$

Koheleth

Koheleth

Member
I'm a total newbie grower. But I've got a couple harvests using LEDs. I have a Vivaspectra 450 Dimmable and a Bestva 1000. The first was advertised as a replacement for a 400 watt HPS and the latter I think was supposed to replace a 600 watt HPS. Never grew with HPS lights, but I'm pretty sure that's major bullshit. What I do have is about 400 watts of light to grow in the right spectrum for cannabis. Quality wise I'm happy with what I've been able to do. But I'm never going to get the yields I want with LEDs, I fear. You just don't get the penetration, in my experience. But anyway, I think the Vivaspectra is A LOT better light than the BESTVA. It doesn't seem nearly as bright, but it has 3 channels, red, blue, white, that you can control independently. The light just seems cleaner and it doesn't get hot, and the plants under it just do better. The Bestva seems more powerful, but it clearly heats the room up and its light is really red. I wish I had another Vivaspectra. Of course, for the price of one I could go buy a 1000 watt HPS light. Only problem with that is it comes with a $100-month electric bill. Which is funny really because when I first bought my lights I was afraid of getting too many watts and running up the electric bill. These lights haven't moved my bill one bit. So my yields, I guess, shouldn't come as a surprise.
 
INF Flux

INF Flux

Well-Known Member
Koheleth said:
I'm a total newbie grower. But I've got a couple harvests using LEDs. I have a Vivaspectra 450 Dimmable and a Bestva 1000. The first was advertised as a replacement for a 400 watt HPS and the latter I think was supposed to replace a 600 watt HPS. Never grew with HPS lights, but I'm pretty sure that's major bullshit. What I do have is about 400 watts of light to grow in the right spectrum for cannabis. Quality wise I'm happy with what I've been able to do. But I'm never going to get the yields I want with LEDs, I fear. You just don't get the penetration, in my experience. But anyway, I think the Vivaspectra is A LOT better light than the BESTVA. It doesn't seem nearly as bright, but it has 3 channels, red, blue, white, that you can control independently. The light just seems cleaner and it doesn't get hot, and the plants under it just do better. The Bestva seems more powerful, but it clearly heats the room up and its light is really red. I wish I had another Vivaspectra. Of course, for the price of one I could go buy a 1000 watt HPS light. Only problem with that is it comes with a $100-month electric bill. Which is funny really because when I first bought my lights I was afraid of getting too many watts and running up the electric bill. These lights haven't moved my bill one bit. So my yields, I guess, shouldn't come as a surprise.
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Understand that all LEDs are not created equal. Blurple lights are older tech and don't perform anywhere close to the modern full spectrum white light offerings. They work, but arent the best option. Look for fixtures using Samsung's lm301b. Hlg, timber, plc, rapid led, chilled etc.
Here on riu there is a wealth of information on diy with LED. Go to the indoor forum and there is a subforum on LED.
 
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churchhaze

Well-Known Member
Phils Dabs Corner said:
not to badget, but when it comes to veg, 1/3rd the power is completely correct. as for flower my test is only half over, im sure hps will take the cake for flowering, but for vegging your clones you should be under LED's.
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This is theoretically possible if you're replacing a 20% efficient lamp with a 60% efficient lamp. Then you would need exactly 1/3rd the power.
 
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pollen205

Well-Known Member
Phils Dabs Corner said:
LED's have come a far way now, they COB's are comparable in output to HPS, while drawing 1/3rd the power, quantum boards blow cobs out of the water. LED is where it's at now.
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Are you saying that quantum board are better than diy cobs. .
If yes can you please explain why... Spectrum?
 
Frank Nitty

Frank Nitty

Well-Known Member
Phils Dabs Corner said:
What everyone wants to know, 4x Bridgelux BXRC-35E10K0-L-23's 3500 spectrum wired to HLG-320H-C2100A(the a specifically for the built in dimmer to dim and start on smaller veg plants) and mounted using rails where the COBs can freefloat move them along the railing as needed to direct your light as optimally as possible. For the frame i used 4x pieces of cut down to 2ft pieces, x4 2ft pieces for the outer frame, and then 4 pieces for the inner frame for the cobs/heatsinks to lsy on.

Link to the guide :https://philsdabcorner.com/phils-diy-led-growlight
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Looks like a drone!!!
 
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Hailey's Comet

New Member
Big Green Thumb said:
First off, stop calling it 1200 watts. Don't even think it. It is 240 watts (that is even debatable). Thats it. You have 2 240w lights. I don't care if they say they are 10w leds. The only thing that matters right now is how many actual watts the lights draw. You have 480 watts of bottom tier efficiency led lights. Do not utter 1200 watts or you have not learned anything. Not a peep.

You have 480 watts of led lighting that is roughly equivalent to 480 watts of HID lighting.

Get yourself a kill-a-watt meter and see just how many watts the lights are pulling.

Have you ever seen a swap meet car stereo amplifier that is labeled as a 1000 watt amp for like $20? Or a 10" subwoofer labeled as 3000 watts? Same thing as your lights.
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So these Aglex 2000w people are wrong? I thought it was shady when they say replaces a 1500w hps but draws 480w from the wall. The other tip off was my 630w HID light is way brighter just to the naked eye.
 

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Hailey's Comet

New Member
Bz Dreamcatcher said:
Hey is PPM the same as U'Moles.. I see people are saying 1000' to 1500' but that's not Umole's is it..? I got a nice PPFD reader but can't get the U'mole's part above 600' no matter how close the reader is to the light.. fml! Any input helps) cool) and I'm using nice 1000'watt DE's.. my plants are always good but when I put that Reader up it said 220' like wtf...
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stray77

stray77

Member
Watts in from the wall and PPFD/w out. (Photosynthetic Photon Flux Density per Watt). OR for a rough guess, use the data sheet. Real world numbers will be different dependent mostly on how well heat is moved away from its source and the efficiency of the driver. The led's are remarkably consistent.LM301H and LM561H.PNG
I haven't seen anything classified as white touch these numbers. 3.1 umol/J is tough to beat. But I will be happy to be wrong. It's no problem changing my mind when presented with newer better information.

IMHO anyone selling a growlight without publishing the PPFD/W of their light don't want you to know, but I am a very jaded individual.
 
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