Reasonably priced non-HID Vegetation light for 80x80x160cm?

Newbiez

Newbiez

Well-Known Member
Alright guys, I am wondering what non-hid light options I can use in my vegetative tent, it's 80x80x160cm. I want to have 4 maybe 6 plants in there during a short veg period at different stages of veg before they go to my flowering tent, but I want it so I don't have to worry about hardening them to light changes.

I'm using T5 4x55w 6400k for Seedlings and clones and 2x HLG 320w and 2x HLG 260w for flower so a decently priced LED light would be my most desired option, but I am trying to avoid spending another $500 for another HLG light right now as I want to see what else they come up with.

Is there any reasonably priced LED options in the couple hundred dollar range that would be suitable for vegetation? I'm not concerned if it doesn't contain a flowering spectrum.
 
Newbiez

Newbiez

Well-Known Member
coreywebster said:
One option would be the hlg135w v2 kit in 4k, $188

Got to be lots of other options though.
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Yeah, I was thinking this or another 260 but I was wondering what else might be out there with a stronger veg spectrum that I might've missed. All this time I've researched which LED's are best for full cycle or just flower, never specifically focused on veg for them so wondering if I can find another option that might be a bit stronger veg side. I don't need overly deep penetration as my plants are topped and kept low, just want fast healthy growth for a decent price, but yeah so far a HLG 135W is looking the money. I'm wondering though, previously I'd of used a 400W MH in the veg stage, does the 135W kit even compare or am I going to see major downfalls in veg?
 
coreywebster

coreywebster

Well-Known Member
Just been looking around to see if I could find anything more veg specific. Neither chiLED nor PLC have anything in your price range, chilLED seem to have minimised their tech down to just logic pucks.

Though the 135w kits would light up 80cm x 80cm perfectly well for veg I don't think they would keep up growth speed wise with a 400w mh, I might be wrong, hard to compare the two, MH is a lot less efficient than HPS. Cant say I have ever seen any comparisons, everyone focuses on flowering.

I know you want to stay away from bulbs but a 315cmh would kill a 400w MH, it would be a beast in your space. I used to use one in veg and it almost keeps up with a 600w mh.
Now I just use the QBs, but my spaces have changed so it would be comparing apples and oranges.
My last crop I vegged with 260w v2 kit in 4k turned down to minimum which I think is around 130-150w and then cranked her up to about 200w when plants were bigger, full power in flower. That's in a 60x120cm tent.

Maybe some other folks will have some other ideas

Edit, from a lumen perspective, a 400w mh does around 30'000 (75 lumens per watt) the 135w kit should be around 24'000 so maybe they would not be as far apart as I first thought. Though everyone know lumens are not the best measure of a light.
 
coreywebster

coreywebster

Well-Known Member
Another option would be to get a 4 pack of QB132 for $135 and buy a hlg-185(200w driver) or the hlg 240 and you could get a fair amount more power for similar money to the 135w kit.
But you don't need heatsinks with them, just some aluminium frame.

Again, sorry for not having a more diverse set of options. :oops:
 
Newbiez

Newbiez

Well-Known Member
coreywebster said:
Just been looking around to see if I could find anything more veg specific. Neither chiLED nor PLC have anything in your price range, chilLED seem to have minimised their tech down to just logic pucks.

Though the 135w kits would light up 80cm x 80cm perfectly well for veg I don't think they would keep up growth speed wise with a 400w mh, I might be wrong, hard to compare the two, MH is a lot less efficient than HPS. Cant say I have ever seen any comparisons, everyone focuses on flowering.

I know you want to stay away from bulbs but a 315cmh would kill a 400w MH, it would be a beast in your space. I used to use one in veg and it almost keeps up with a 600w mh.
Now I just use the QBs, but my spaces have changed so it would be comparing apples and oranges.
My last crop I vegged with 260w v2 kit in 4k turned down to minimum which I think is around 130-150w and then cranked her up to about 200w when plants were bigger, full power in flower. That's in a 60x120cm tent.

Maybe some other folks will have some other ideas

Edit, from a lumen perspective, a 400w mh does around 30'000 (75 lumens per watt) the 135w kit should be around 24'000 so maybe they would not be as far apart as I first thought. Though everyone know lumens are not the best measure of a light.
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Yeah I am seeing a lot of pucks & QOB's on the market, which I'm glad for since I'll be using them as supplemental lighting during flower, but $200 a puck for a veg tent could get a bit rich quickly.

I have been looking at the CMH lights but my intentions of buying LED's was to slowly swap both flower tents and both veg tents out to LED if possible to minimize cooling costs, fire risks and energy bills. At the moment I've got 2x 1000W HPS's to replace with LED's for flower still as well as a 80x80x160 veg tent and a 1.2x1.2x2m veg tent to swap out to an alternative light source, currently they're running 1 400W MH each but I have 1 veg tent down due to a cheap hanger (Bad decisions are bad decisions) so I figured now is a great time to swap out the 400W for non HID instead of a new hood so I'd rather not get CMH even with their reputation.

TacoMac said:
And those will work well for the entire veg stage. Don't waste money on lights you already have.
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But power wise, are they the most efficient non-HID vegetative light within a 200-300 price range? I'd have to buy more lights regardless as they're replacing lights in a perpetual grow, I can't simply re-task my cloning & seedling lights to veg as they've almost always got clones or seedlings under them.
 
TacoMac

TacoMac

Well-Known Member
Newbiez said:
But power wise, are they the most efficient non-HID vegetative light within a 200-300 price range?
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Yes.

For 2 to 300, you're not going to get an led that covers 18 square feet with the same efficiency. You would have to spend close to 600 to get good, efficient coverage from an led for that size area.

But if you're in the mood to waste money, go ahead. Sounds like you've already talked yourself into it.
 
A

Apalchen

Well-Known Member
Did u say your replacing a t5 with it? Don’t know much about them but I know they make led replacement bulbs for T5
 
Newbiez

Newbiez

Well-Known Member
TacoMac said:
Yes.

For 2 to 300, you're not going to get an led that covers 18 square feet with the same efficiency. You would have to spend close to 600 to get good, efficient coverage from an led for that size area.

But if you're in the mood to waste money, go ahead. Sounds like you've already talked yourself into it.
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TacoMac said:
Yes.

For 2 to 300, you're not going to get an led that covers 18 square feet with the same efficiency. You would have to spend close to 600 to get good, efficient coverage from an led for that size area.

But if you're in the mood to waste money, go ahead. Sounds like you've already talked yourself into it.
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I'm confused how you came up with 18 sq/ft? The footprint of the tent is 7sq/ft, The plants are trained low so maximum penetration required would be approx 15cm (6") from the top to the lowest leaf. Unless you're talking about the 120x120 tent though that's still just shy of 16sq/ft and penetration requirements would still be the same.

I don't know how it sounds like I've talked myself into it? I just want the best performance/price vegetative light available within the budget, if it is T5 then so be it, I simply don't want HID anymore but given I'm using top of the line lights for flowering I also don't want to diminish my yields and results by using sub-par vegetation lights.
 
TacoMac

TacoMac

Well-Known Member
Newbiez said:
I'm confused how you came up with 18 sq/ft?
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Let me try one more time:

Newbiez said:
I'm using T5 4x55w 6400k for Seedlings and clones and 2x HLG 320w and 2x HLG 260w for flower so a decently priced LED light would be my most desired option, but I am trying to avoid spending another $500 for another HLG light right now as I want to see what else they come up with.
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Now then, a 2 foot long, 4 bulb T5 fixture runs 55 dollars and will give a 2 x 2 tent all the power it needs to veg and then some. You could actually flower with it pretty decently.

Even if you wanted to go to a 4 x 4, the 4 foot long, 4 bulb T5 fixture only runs 75 dollars and produces the same quality of light only over a much larger area. So in a worst case scenario for you, you can get 18 square feet of coverage for less than HALF of what you'll pay LED wise for just 4 square feet.

That was the point.

There is no LED on earth, or any light of any kind for that matter, that is going to do as good a job anywhere near as cheaply and as good as the T5 fixture.

But again, go ahead and waste your money. It seems you're simply adamant on doing so.
 
A

Apalchen

Well-Known Member
Scynceled.com/shop has a blow out sale on there veg light the dragon lp 250 watt is on sale for 325 dollars.
 
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