ledgrowtester
Active Member
Hi guys, theres been a lot of talk about growing with LEDs in the past year and we finally took the plunge after doing a bit of research so I thought Id share some of our results so far.
First, we went with the TI-Smartbar from Theoreme Innovation. After looking into the various lights out there it seemed like they had the best technology and the most powerful lamps compared to all the others some of which looked like toys.
We thought about going with the Smartlamp 600 they have, but since we already use 1000 watts and since the Smartbars are water cooled, it seemed like the perfect heat control system since we do have to do a lot of air conditioning requirements.
The Smartbars are two bars sold as a kit with the pump, ballast and water hoses (you can see the hook-up in the photos). We had to get a water tub and get the electrical hooked up because the Smartbar uses 240 volt. The pump is submersed in the water and circulates the water through the lights and back. In the long run we will get a chiller and run all the smartbars in series through the chiller.
We grow under a medical permit using 1000 watt HPS for flowering phase. You can see our set-up from the attached photos.
This is our first test with these led lights, so we have made a few mistakes along the way that we will correct on our next test, but for this first test we want to use the same conditions as for our plants under HPS. Later we will try to figure out what nutrient changes might work better.
So a few words about conditions which are the same for both HPS and LED plants :
Room temperature is about 21C (70F) degrees
Humidity 55%
Pots are 12 inches
12 hour lighting for flowering
Nutrients:
Canna CoCo A ( 1-4-2 ) 500 ml
Canna CoCo B ( 4-0-1 ) 500 ml
Water 200 L
Cannazym 400 ml
BioBoost 200 ml
PPM 600 to 900
Problem one was that we got started under the LED 5 days later than under HPS due to a delay in hooking up the electrical for the Smartbars.
So the photos with the HPS are at 35 days and the LEDs at 30 days (or 48 days vs. 53 days for the second set of photos).
Second problem was that we didnt pay much attention to the water reservoir for the first month and let the water get really low due to evaporation which is apparently a problem because the water temperature got really hot. Apparently this reduces the amount of light generated by the lights and reduces lifespan. We sure wont make that mistake again!
On www.greenpinelane.com they put a fan next to their water tank so that would be a good idea to reduce water temp and increase the light output from the lights.
Results so far:
Day 30 (LED) average plant height = 17.4 inches, average width = 17.5 inches
Day 35 (HPS) average plant height = 18.4 inches, average width = 18.5 inches
HPS had received 16.7% more light (in days).but only had a 5.7% advantage in height and width.
Day 48 (LED) average plant height = 17.4 inches, average width = 17.5 inches, average flowering branches per plant = 8.5
Day 53 (HPS) average plant height = 18.4 inches, average width = 18.5 inches, average flowering branches per plant = 9
HPS had received 10.4% more light by this time (days) but only had a 5.1% advantage in width and height and a 5.9% advantage in number of flowering branches.
Temperature under the HPS is 26C (79F) and 21C (70F) under the LED. I am not sure if this will make a difference or not. I could adjust this once the room goes all LED cause we wont need to run so much (any?) A/C in the room. Does anyone have any thoughts on this?
Generally watering under the HPS is every 5 to 6 days but every 7 to 8 days under the LED.
We also moved the plants under led closer together after the first month (to the way appear in the photos) since that gave us better light coverage on them without any heat issues or penetration problems.
So far given the 60% saving in power costs to run the lights and lower A/C costs, this is definitely looking like a much better bet than the HPS.
What will we be working on for the next run:
-not screwing-up with the water level in the water reservoir which theoretically should increase the light emission from the leds
-starting the test at the same time
Not sure what optimization to do on the nutrient level yet. Thoughts or experiences to share?
The photos should be self explanatory by their file name. The ones without the red light (ie nice green plants) are the plants under the led but with the light off.
More to come
First, we went with the TI-Smartbar from Theoreme Innovation. After looking into the various lights out there it seemed like they had the best technology and the most powerful lamps compared to all the others some of which looked like toys.
We thought about going with the Smartlamp 600 they have, but since we already use 1000 watts and since the Smartbars are water cooled, it seemed like the perfect heat control system since we do have to do a lot of air conditioning requirements.
The Smartbars are two bars sold as a kit with the pump, ballast and water hoses (you can see the hook-up in the photos). We had to get a water tub and get the electrical hooked up because the Smartbar uses 240 volt. The pump is submersed in the water and circulates the water through the lights and back. In the long run we will get a chiller and run all the smartbars in series through the chiller.
We grow under a medical permit using 1000 watt HPS for flowering phase. You can see our set-up from the attached photos.
This is our first test with these led lights, so we have made a few mistakes along the way that we will correct on our next test, but for this first test we want to use the same conditions as for our plants under HPS. Later we will try to figure out what nutrient changes might work better.
So a few words about conditions which are the same for both HPS and LED plants :
Room temperature is about 21C (70F) degrees
Humidity 55%
Pots are 12 inches
12 hour lighting for flowering
Nutrients:
Canna CoCo A ( 1-4-2 ) 500 ml
Canna CoCo B ( 4-0-1 ) 500 ml
Water 200 L
Cannazym 400 ml
BioBoost 200 ml
PPM 600 to 900
Problem one was that we got started under the LED 5 days later than under HPS due to a delay in hooking up the electrical for the Smartbars.
So the photos with the HPS are at 35 days and the LEDs at 30 days (or 48 days vs. 53 days for the second set of photos).
Second problem was that we didnt pay much attention to the water reservoir for the first month and let the water get really low due to evaporation which is apparently a problem because the water temperature got really hot. Apparently this reduces the amount of light generated by the lights and reduces lifespan. We sure wont make that mistake again!
On www.greenpinelane.com they put a fan next to their water tank so that would be a good idea to reduce water temp and increase the light output from the lights.
Results so far:
Day 30 (LED) average plant height = 17.4 inches, average width = 17.5 inches
Day 35 (HPS) average plant height = 18.4 inches, average width = 18.5 inches
HPS had received 16.7% more light (in days).but only had a 5.7% advantage in height and width.
Day 48 (LED) average plant height = 17.4 inches, average width = 17.5 inches, average flowering branches per plant = 8.5
Day 53 (HPS) average plant height = 18.4 inches, average width = 18.5 inches, average flowering branches per plant = 9
HPS had received 10.4% more light by this time (days) but only had a 5.1% advantage in width and height and a 5.9% advantage in number of flowering branches.
Temperature under the HPS is 26C (79F) and 21C (70F) under the LED. I am not sure if this will make a difference or not. I could adjust this once the room goes all LED cause we wont need to run so much (any?) A/C in the room. Does anyone have any thoughts on this?
Generally watering under the HPS is every 5 to 6 days but every 7 to 8 days under the LED.
We also moved the plants under led closer together after the first month (to the way appear in the photos) since that gave us better light coverage on them without any heat issues or penetration problems.
So far given the 60% saving in power costs to run the lights and lower A/C costs, this is definitely looking like a much better bet than the HPS.
What will we be working on for the next run:
-not screwing-up with the water level in the water reservoir which theoretically should increase the light emission from the leds
-starting the test at the same time
Not sure what optimization to do on the nutrient level yet. Thoughts or experiences to share?
The photos should be self explanatory by their file name. The ones without the red light (ie nice green plants) are the plants under the led but with the light off.
More to come
