LED light comparison

A

azz1012

New Member
Hi,
I am looking to buy a led grow light for small grow of 1 or 2 plants in a 2x2 cupboard.
i Have seen the black star 240w led grow light seen here http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/New-2013-240w-Lighthouse-Hydro-BlackStar-LED-Grow-light-Flowering-3W-LEDs-L010-/281097580414?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item4172b8af7e .

i have also seen this one non branded http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/321192286235?ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1438.l2649 .

Are they the same as the specs seems the same, or is there a difference, from what i can tell there is a difference in price and the cheaper one has only 2 fans while the blackstar has 3 fans, so what i want to know is to do with light because the bulbs seem to be the same same wattage, is there a difference and is the cheaper one worth the buy, or can someone recommend a led light for growing marijuana that is cheap i don't really want to spend more than £150 on light preferably less than £100

regards arran
 
JohnnySocko

JohnnySocko

Active Member
following...and hoping someone just doesn't link you to some frigging thread 100 pgs long.... I would like some real time advise also, esp. on which cheapo units are least likely to burn your house down; et (this is a temporary THING; so spare me the "get what you pay for" crap as I'm already thinking quality LED's as soon as the prices calm down)
 
dbkick

dbkick

Well-Known Member
http://solis-tek.com/products/hiled.html

I'm gonna wait to see how these are priced myself. I haven't felt the same about solis tek since I figured out they are banging sunpulse.
Both companies do make some impressive items though. a lot of people call hype on some of their products but I'll be interested to see these.
Blackstar unless they've done something about failure rate I owned 5 and of that 5 I know at least 3 went bad, luckily I had already sold them to someone unfortunate.
I just sold my last blackstar 500 the other day for 75 bux, half of it had gone out, and I got tired of looking at the trash take up room. I already know it wasn't a driver and the design ( I hope they changed that) left you taking out a couple hundred small screws just to get at the solder joints to replace or bypass the bad diode.
 
dbkick

dbkick

Well-Known Member
JohnnySocko said:
following...and hoping someone just doesn't link you to some frigging thread 100 pgs long.... I would like some real time advise also, esp. on which cheapo units are least likely to burn your house down; et (this is a temporary THING; so spare me the "get what you pay for" crap as I'm already thinking quality LED's as soon as the prices calm down)
Click to expand...
oh and by the way, one blackstar 500 I owned came on for about a second and then billowed smoke, lots of it. luckily I was right there and unplugged it or who knows wtf may have happened. Right now I'll take my chances with HID. Good luck with your choices.
 
prosperian

prosperian

Well-Known Member
You get what you pay for. Save up and buy a quality unit once and then forget about it. You can follow my LED grow below at sig line. I'm in a 2' X 3' closet running a 160w LED panel from Area51. Yes, more expensive, but worth the extra nickels. I harvested 3/4 lb. from my last grow and I think it will pay for itself rather quickly.
 
dbkick

dbkick

Well-Known Member
prosperian said:
You get what you pay for. Save up and buy a quality unit once and then forget about it. You can follow my LED grow below at sig line. I'm in a 2' X 3' closet running a 160w LED panel from Area51. Yes, more expensive, but worth the extra nickels. I harvested 3/4 lb. from my last grow and I think it will pay for itself rather quickly.
Click to expand...
you're claiming 2.1 gram a watt huh?
 
Red1966

Red1966

Well-Known Member
prosperian said:
You get what you pay for. Save up and buy a quality unit once and then forget about it. You can follow my LED grow below at sig line. I'm in a 2' X 3' closet running a 160w LED panel from Area51. Yes, more expensive, but worth the extra nickels. I harvested 3/4 lb. from my last grow and I think it will pay for itself rather quickly.
Click to expand...
You got a 10 ft, ceiling in your closet? Nice!! Do you have problems with differing plant heights with so many different strains?
 
dbkick

dbkick

Well-Known Member
Red1966 said:
It's possible with highly efficient LEDs, but not with HIDs. It would have to be a pretty damn good light, tho. And a long veg time.
Click to expand...
hey I'm sold then, I just ordered two.......not.
I am however interested in if and when solis tek is making those HILED available . dunno how long the webpage has said "coming soon" but the shit might be trashed before it even hits production for all I know.
 
dbkick

dbkick

Well-Known Member
at the maximum yield grow expo last year solis (or maybe it was sunpulse, they're the same anyway) they had this pretty big panel that appeared to be a prototype they were in the process of building. this thing had arrays and lense that were a couple inches round and almost as thick, like really thick magnifying glasses . I didn't pay much attention but wish I had now.
 
Red1966

Red1966

Well-Known Member
I'm still using HID, myself. The longer I wait to go LED, the better and cheaper they will be. New technology adapters pay a premium. Think about it. Pay $1,500 for an LED today or buy one next year for $500 that puts out twice the light.
 
Red1966

Red1966

Well-Known Member
dbkick said:
at the maximum yield grow expo last year solis (or maybe it was sunpulse, they're the same anyway) they had this pretty big panel that appeared to be a prototype they were in the process of building. this thing had arrays and lense that were a couple inches round and almost as thick, like really thick magnifying glasses . I didn't pay much attention but wish I had now.
Click to expand...
"I didn't pay much attention but wish I had now."-Story of my life.
 
JohnnySocko

JohnnySocko

Active Member
ya know I've been eyeballin these Kessils for my tank since they've been out..now a quick visit to their site seems they've delved into hort (no doubt due to indoor "growers" he he) ...anyway the "controllable" feature goes hand in hand with my Apex (which I use for my Hydro)...and while I'm at it, I've tried to sell growers on using these Aquarium controllers for a NUMBER of automated task but nobody's hip yet... perhaps I'll do a step by step thread on my shit one day (I had recently hooked it up pretty cool; light sched, auto top of, pH params, nute dosing, et et)_
 
Adjorr

Adjorr

Well-Known Member
Cheap LED work just fine if you know what to look for, I don't like the units with white bulbs because u don't know if it is a full spectrum white or just the spectrums to look white. I Prefer the custom spectrum units with 6 or more types of spectrum specific bulbs, check out my thread to see what ive been using
 
prosperian

prosperian

Well-Known Member
dbkick said:
you're claiming 2.1 gram a watt huh?
Click to expand...
LEDS are pretty efficient. 26,000 viewers watched me replace my HID with LED and follow the results. Lucky for me I didn't embarrass myself. https://www.rollitup.org/grow-journals/654674-im-ready-blue-og-white.html



Red1966 said:
You got a 10 ft, ceiling in your closet? Nice!! Do you have problems with differing plant heights with so many different strains?
Click to expand...
Penetration was really not a problem. I scrog to help manage the differences but still ended up with a lot of different heights. The LED did just fine penetrating to just below the screen (20-24" total distance but only 2'x3' foot print).

The 10 ft. closet ceiling was useful with my HID fixture. I had to run two ventilation systems to keep the temps at 84 degrees. With LED my room is 74 degrees, one degree over ambient and the top 5 ft. remains empty except for the Phresh carbon scrubber.



Adjorr said:
Cheap LED work just fine if you know what to look for, I don't like the units with white bulbs because u don't know if it is a full spectrum white or just the spectrums to look white. I Prefer the custom spectrum units with 6 or more types of spectrum specific bulbs, check out my thread to see what ive been using
Click to expand...
"if you know what to look for" that's the real issue isn't it? Hard to find growers that will sift through all the LED tech to educate themselves on what to look for and buy. I spent the time, like you did and found the right panel for me.

Unfortunately the industry preys upon the uninformed and sells them junk that won't work, but at the right price. I networked with several trusted LED growers for months before I pulled out my wallet and made the investment. I would have built one, but I was on a time crunch (105 degree summer heat + HID + 2' x 3' closet = disaster) and needed it to work out of the box. It worked great.
 
Slipon

Slipon

Well-Known Member
azz1012 said:
Hi,
I am looking to buy a led grow light for small grow of 1 or 2 plants in a 2x2 cupboard.
i Have seen the black star 240w led grow light seen here http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/New-2013-240w-Lighthouse-Hydro-BlackStar-LED-Grow-light-Flowering-3W-LEDs-L010-/281097580414?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item4172b8af7e .

i have also seen this one non branded http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/321192286235?ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1438.l2649 .

Are they the same as the specs seems the same, or is there a difference, from what i can tell there is a difference in price and the cheaper one has only 2 fans while the blackstar has 3 fans, so what i want to know is to do with light because the bulbs seem to be the same same wattage, is there a difference and is the cheaper one worth the buy, or can someone recommend a led light for growing marijuana that is cheap i don't really want to spend more than £150 on light preferably less than £100

regards arran
Click to expand...

I guess your in the UK ?

then look at this place

http://ledlightszone.eu

will be hard to get quality for less then 100 pound even 150, its more like 200+ at this place, but quality and "local"



EDIT: could always start up the seedlings under some 2700K CFLs (on +23W) and safe up for a months or so more wile you veg. then buy the small 4 spots cree fixture (240 pound) and add to the CFLs
 
dbkick

dbkick

Well-Known Member
prosperian said:
LEDS are pretty efficient. 26,000 viewers watched me replace my HID with LED and follow the results. Lucky for me I didn't embarrass myself. https://www.rollitup.org/grow-journals/654674-im-ready-blue-og-white.html
Click to expand...
That wasn't an answer to my question but I'm glad you're building a fan base, that's a lot of views.
I'm not looking thru that entire thread to find your 2.1 gram per watt because quite frankly I think it's exaggerated but hey that's common here.
 
theartoflife

theartoflife

Member
I ended up with lights from FuseLED.com. You might need to check with them for UK shipping. I used the 90W ufo for my first two grows before adding six 5W 660nm LEDs as out riggers. The 660nm are switched on when heading into flower. If interested, check out my cabinet overview that shows my SCRoG setup and near harvest plants. As I finish up this grow, I'm planning on posting an overview of the modification to the ufo and SCRoG.
 
Red1966

Red1966

Well-Known Member
prosperian said:
LEDS are pretty efficient. 26,000 viewers watched me replace my HID with LED and follow the results. Lucky for me I didn't embarrass myself. https://www.rollitup.org/grow-journals/654674-im-ready-blue-og-white.html Penetration was really not a problem. I scrog to help manage the differences but still ended up with a lot of different heights. The LED did just fine penetrating to just below the screen (20-24" total distance but only 2'x3' foot print). The 10 ft. closet ceiling was useful with my HID fixture. I had to run two ventilation systems to keep the temps at 84 degrees. With LED my room is 74 degrees, one degree over ambient and the top 5 ft. remains empty except for the Phresh carbon scrubber. "if you know what to look for" that's the real issue isn't it? Hard to find growers that will sift through all the LED tech to educate themselves on what to look for and buy. I spent the time, like you did and found the right panel for me. Unfortunately the industry preys upon the uninformed and sells them junk that won't work, but at the right price. I networked with several trusted LED growers for months before I pulled out my wallet and made the investment. I would have built one, but I was on a time crunch (105 degree summer heat + HID + 2' x 3' closet = disaster) and needed it to work out of the box. It worked great.
Click to expand...
So who has the best bang for the buck? Area 51? Plantronics seems like a very well built unit, but seems to always be out of stock. Pricey as hell, too.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top