Led grow lights thoughts and comments

I've been thinking abut converting my cfl grow into a led grow but can't seem to find much but expensive led panels.

But i was just wondering what people on RIU new about the subject as well as possibly making your own. i'm sure i'm capable of doing all the soldering and what not, just not sure on what type of leds, panels, power ect to use.

your probably better off using your money to get more cfl's or an hid.. imo

Yeah dude,

The words not in yet on which is really best so the tried and true way is with HiD.
That being said: I'm pushing with a 90W LED, I have a 400W HiD. After this grow which I'm trying my best to only do on LED, then i'll run a comparison side by side grow with Hid against my Illuminator LED. So in 3-5 months RIU will have the first side by side comparison (first I've seen) but for now LED'ers with solid harvests are popping up here and there. and there is a ton of info lying aroud here you just gotta search it out. There are even sites which tell you which red's or blue's to do a push with. If you really just have that hankerin to build a LED panel. Just don't throw red LEDs in there LOL
Anyway dude - You can join the pioneering crowd and just grab an LED and start poppin off feedback here in RIU.

Hey dude, the west was founded by pioneers....

Just do it...

Ciao,
Pure...

i have looked into building my own led panel before, costs are tough to manage. not sure why the leds are so expensive, but they are. hopefully time will change that!

There's been posts of people showing off their grows using ufo's and the like. One could argue their authenticity, since it's pretty easy to take a still shot of a flowering plant under x-mas tree lights if you wanted and say, "oh look at these beefy buds from my led panel"...who knows. They're supposed to be more for flowering than vegging it seems.

The only real benefit I can see is the heat control is easy, they run pretty cool, compared to hps or mh. You would need more than one panel to have any good grows, I do know they lack penetrating power, something you get from a hps.

Punk said:

The only real benefit I can see is the heat control is easy, they run pretty cool, compared to hps or mh. You would need more than one panel to have any good grows, I do know they lack penetrating power, something you get from a hps.

Click to expand...

You hit the nail on the head man! LED has no penetration and I have seen this first hand. A 400W equivalent LED had nothing on my 250W HPS. It would only penetrate the top 3" of a plant whereas a HID is getting deep within the plant for good penetration. The only plus about those units is the heat factor they put off...but other than that, they are not worth it, yet.

Dudes,
Couldn't it be said that the LED's are optimal in certain grow as opposed to others. Given their lack of intensity , if the LED is used in a sog or scrog shouldn't that eliminate the need for deep penetration (sounds weird saying that to a group of dudes)!

Personally, I'm doing a scrog this grow to benefit from the low intensity from the LED's, so far so good. but i'm wondering what'll happen when I start flowering and only the tops is getting the light source. I might get buds that look like lollipops...

Pure...

Well the main reason i'm looking into led is because my only way to grow is 1-2 plants at a time in a 3x3 grow tent in a storage closet in my building, so venting and heat are an issue with 1 plant 18'' tall and about 9'' wide, using 7 cfls temps would get up to 38C its cooled off outside now and i have 9 cfls and running at 33C. so my plan would be to replace the 9 cfls with led panels keeping the light all around the plant... so light penetration is not a big factor, like i said i'm more concerned with heat then anything else.

I have a Glow Panel 45. It is supposed to be equivalent to 280 watts of real light....

I have determined that it is "gay". Which would be fine by me if it were Rob Halford hell bent for leather gay, Drag Queen gay, or even more flambouyant yet... full out Pride Parade gay. NOPE. My LED glow Panel is "Log Cabin Republican" gay.

I now use it for side light, and dont complain. But that's all I am expecting out of it now, a nice bit of side-lighting.

Here is my Girl... vegged about 1 1/2 months with the LED Glow panel, and flowered for 2 months with 125watt CFL + Glow panel sidelight. Apparently it has 2 months left. >>>> https://www.rollitup.org/harvesting-curing/328642-want-know-if-your-plants-322.html <<<<<