[SmknVTEC]

High All,

Finally I got the LED Grow Lights from my buddy. They are much brighter than I expected. The two lights pictured here, according to my buddy (who has grown peas, beans and herbs under it), are the equivalent of a 400 watt HPS. However, when putting the light meter under the lights it barely registers any lumens therefore; lumen output with LED's is almost irrelevant. The wattage is also different; all the lights are just a few watts.

It comes with a ballast and has just as many wires as an HPS system except the LED ballast is a fraction of the weight and size. It is unfortunately very expensive to buy right now because of the cost of the LED bulbs but with time that should hopefully come down. What you see pictured costs at least $400 and that is my friends cost. Retail of course is a bit more expensive but, the patent on the design is still pending so my friend is not selling them just yet. Despite being at least twice the cost of the comparable HID light systems, this difference is identical after year 4 due to difference in electricity costs per year (about $75 per year for the LED’s and $300 a year for 400 watt HID’s). After year 4 of LED use, the electricity savings will be around $105 per year in favor of the LED’s.

Anyway, I plant to do a side by side grow between my 400 watt HPS and this LED from clones (so it is as accurate comparison as one could get). But that comparo grow won't happen yet because I have major surgery coming up soon and will be out of commission for a while and I don't want to ruin the side by side; otherwise the whole thing will be pointless. I might start a couple of seeds off uder them just to see how it grows. So, stay tuned for that…