Led Users Unite!

djwimbo

djwimbo

Well-Known Member
Corso312 said:
Is the 400 Watt their only light?
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Looks like it so far.
I think I'd pick the CLW SolarFlare 200 over it though, but that's me. I'd love to help out an entrepreneur from my home state, but dollar for dollar I think I'd be happier with CLW. (165W, 5W LED's, higher PAR-values, etc)
 
D

David the Gnome

Member
those 5watts will give you higher par values past 12inch, but right now im under the impression that higher watts isnt reallty what you think. 3 1watt diodes are alot stonger then 1 3watt diode. Buy hey its your money. Its pretty funny how people with no real led knowlage buy up the so called "latest and greatest" Everyone is talking about watt per $ but in all truth i havent seen any pics on here that prove that high watts/ great price for watt have grown anything of any quality. Not trying to be a dick, but everyone gives me sh*t because i spent good money on my Rhinos.
 
jubiare

jubiare

Active Member
if you drive higher watters softer as you would drive a standard 3watter, you gain more photons than a standard 3watter

if you drive them hard, more watts yes, less diodes yes .... but more photons? No (fewer exceptions)

RHIno never answered my tech questions anyway

I suppose I am not a customer?

Shame anyway
 
Corso312

Corso312

Well-Known Member
What?s. Did you have for rhino?

Djwimbo...I think I may try to build a led light. Found a site that shows how.
 
valuablevariable

valuablevariable

Well-Known Member
Could anybody with some experience point me in the right direction when looking for LEDs to build a custum light? Ive been doing basic research but would be very interested in some links to sites that sell the right kind of LEDs.

For those interested, Im looking to do some small scale experiments with micro grows.
 
djwimbo

djwimbo

Well-Known Member
Corso312 said:
Djwimbo...I think I may try to build a led light. Found a site that shows how.
Click to expand...
I've contemplated this many times. I want good parts, and I want to be worry-free. Off-brand LED's have a ton of appeal because they're cheap, high end LED's are out of the price range, "good" LED's haven't filled in the specifics I need yet. There are a ton of LED panels I would love to try, but I'm limited on electrical draw because my veg and bloom will be on the same circuit. I keep looking at the AF600 on sale for $1050, as much as it's what I want, it is not what I need.
I would DIY, but I can accept that my fear of failure can get the best of me for now. A few years down the road, maybe I'll tame that tiger.
 
J

jcmjrt

Well-Known Member
valuablevariable said:
Could anybody with some experience point me in the right direction when looking for LEDs to build a custum light? Ive been doing basic research but would be very interested in some links to sites that sell the right kind of LEDs.

For those interested, Im looking to do some small scale experiments with micro grows.
Click to expand...
I've diy'd a couple of LED lights and took a short course from cree on LEDs. I recommend that you use quality parts so you aren't wasting your time and just looking for heartache during the diy process. You probably won't have a lot of head room so you'll need the lower wattage quality LEDs - more like 3W (maybe even 1W) but definitely not the 10 watters. Next heat management is everything if you want to get the best performance from your LEDs (amount of light, on wavelength) and longevity. Get a good heatsink. I would try to fit one (or more depending on the size of your box) about 2 inches smaller than the dimensions of your box. Coverage with LEDs is king! Use thermal mounting pads to mount your mpcb mounted LEDs to the heatsink and not just thermal grease and screws. The pads help with heat management and won't ooze away from your LEDs over time leaving heat issues. A quality driver will give you good performance and a dimmable one will allow you a little bit more play with the fixture/amount of light. Some - like Inventronics - are quality drivers and are very easy to dim - just add a simple, cheap, potentiometer. I'll also be giving Steve's drivers a chance; they look quality and are reasonably priced. You will probably want to make sure that you have plenty of line between the driver/power supply so you can place it outside the box for even easier heat control.

ledgroupbuy.com stevesleds.com
 
djwimbo

djwimbo

Well-Known Member
Corso312 said:
U got 15 or 20 amp breakers DJ?
Click to expand...
early summer I'm moving to a friend's house, she said I could "Do whatever you want in the garage" ... without rewiring, it's a 15A circuit, and she's cool with my medical/legal growing.

Since it will be in the garage, it needs AC (summer highs hit 95-100F+ around here), it needs heat (winter lows hit 0F), 2x scrubber fans, 2-3x oscillating fans, 1x main fan, and lighting.
It all adds up, when I started designing my room I took into account every thing I could, budget, space, temps, watts, air flow, ease of cleaning, storage, stealth, wiring/ducting flow, filters/smell, hangers, head room, light leak prevention, bugs/pests, paint/mylar, DWC/coco/soil and I'm sure a few other factors I'm forgetting.
Obviously I'm here because I don't want to use HID's, my options would be two veg under 150-250 and bloom under 400. I weighed my options for CFL's too, it would be 1x 48" 4 bulb(220w) and 1x 48" 8 bulb(440W). Then I figured I needed another route, now I'm torn between LED's and induction(IndaGro). Both veg and flower lamps need to accompany 6x plants (perpetual 6-6), and BOTH of them need to take <7amps(half my power).
I made a number of charts with watts/amps VS coverage, used what research I could find on any of the products and made "combos" that fit my budget and my space requirements. I think I'm going to use the 420PAR for bloom, but I'm between the 200PAR and the CLW SF200(Veg-master) for the veg side. The CLW is cheaper and should have the same coverage, but with the added veg-specific spectrum. There's enough watts left to run 2x 48" Bloom T5's as supplemental(above or below main canopy) on the bloom side, or I might add a couple of these http://www.buildmyled.com/660nm-deep-red/ as "DIY pontoons". Price adds up, as I would have two of those in either 36 or 48", but I feel like it would be worth it.

Edit: I thought about running 1x CLW VegMaster 200 in the veg side, and 2x CLW FullSpec 200's in the bloom room... still kicking that idea around, but I'm not sure how well that will cover 4ft X 5ft.
200PAR + 420PAR = $1400
1x CLW 200VM + 2x CLW 200FS = $1200
 
R

RainerRocks

Active Member
Try RapidLED.com ...they have kits all ready to go and you just pick your led's. They also
have solderless led's that you just connect.

Makersled.com has some nice heatsinks that rapid led's will fit.
 
jubiare

jubiare

Active Member
You spend much more, soldering LEDs is easier than what one thinks!
Reflow is like a walk in the park, even easier than soldering iron!
 
S

SnotBoogie

Well-Known Member
Can i suggest a mod makes a "reccomend me a LED light for my situation" thread to cut down on quality threads being spammed off the top page? They dont look like they'll slow down anytime soon.
 
R

Rastapher

Member
I will say everyone told me not to go with LED... So I didn't listen... And bought the Bloom Boss 600....... And why I would spend less money to create more heat and create more electric bills was the reason I decided with no experience to try this light. So now I own 4 of them, two in 4*8 La Jardin tents with twelve grow flo pots and the results are insane. These lights only draw 300 watts but simulate 600 watts with full spectrum. I use the lights on full from the start and hang them as high as they can in the tent. Let the ladies grow to them, cause if you lower them the plants won't reach to them. Once you change to 12/12..... Man they reach for the sky and 8-9 days have white hairs starting in the new growth buds....
 
DWCBobby

DWCBobby

Member
Hi there ,LED FTW , this is my first all LED grow and I am doing some soil and some DWC ,I am currently running x3 -135wt ufo's in my flower tent and a combined 200wt of LED in my veg area.
So far I am seeing pretty good results and am very happy with the performance of these lights.
So far I see very little difference in the speed of the growth compared to other forms of light I have used in the past.
I will post some pics of my current grow soon.
Keep the faith LED-ers....
 
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