Will My Light Work ?

Discussion in 'Lighting' started by devilslettuce, Apr 24, 2014.

  1. That's not gonna work unless you buy about 30 more, and then its not even the right spectrums.
    Cheers

    Sent from my Nexus 4 using Grasscity Forum mobile app
     
  2. Ahhh damnit. Thanks mate
     
  3. #4 Fidge, May 1, 2014
    Last edited by a moderator: May 1, 2014
  4. Might work "vegging" a small single plant.. Not gonna work for flower. Those are just meant to illuminate an outdoor garden at night, not grow plants.


    Sent from my Nexus 4 using Grasscity Forum mobile app
     
  5. I've had a look at the 50 watt versions and apparently they get really hot so probably wouldn't be a good idea for a closet grow.
     
  6. Honestly, CFL's are your best bet for a small space.
     
  7. #8 Fidge, May 3, 2014
    Last edited by a moderator: May 3, 2014
  8. #9 devilslettuce, May 3, 2014
    Last edited by a moderator: May 4, 2014
    So i got two of these 48w CFLs and and a blue and red one of the other . Thoughts ?
     

    Attached Files:

  9. #10 Hydrolome, May 3, 2014
    Last edited by a moderator: May 3, 2014
    Lots of folks will be happy to tell you that led won't grow shit.  I would agree when comparing low powered led to other more powerful lights.  Led sellers often overstate what their leds will produce which has given leds a bad rep with some.  I have been growing with led for 5 years now.  I started out using leds similar to yours but very quickly realized that the low powered ones work fine for very short non-flowering plants like lettuce but not for mj.  After purchasing several Chinese grow lights, some no-name and one brand name I discovered how they were built because they had periodic failures which I chose to fix rather than wait for warranty.  I was pretty happy with the quality, yield, power savings and cooler environment but not so happy with those periodic failures.
     
    I now have built my own very efficient and reliable lights using high quality Bridgelux Vero and Philips Luxeon ES chips rather than their cheaper, less efficient and reliable Chinese chips.  The Veros I use are Vero 13s running at 20w each and the Luxeons (all deep red) at around 2.5w each.  My entire grow uses less than 1000 watts with everything on.  Average production is ~4oz/month.  The power to run it all costs about $60/month
     
     If you are looking to buy an led that will grow really well efficiently and won't break there are a few good choices but they are not cheap.  Area51 http://a51led.com/store/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=65  uses all Cree chips which are both efficient and reliable.  Another manufacturer is Apachetech http://www.apachetechinc.com/.  They use Nichia chips...also very efficient and reliable.  The Area51 prices are lower.  The Apachetech costs more but I think their engineering is a little better.  I'm cheap so I would probably go for Area51 if I were looking for an off-the-shelf grow light.  If you want to stay small I recommend the Hans Panel from these folks.  http://www.bonsaihero.com/
     
     
    So, if you want to go led, you can waste your money on inefficient, failure prone cheap Chinese lights but if you want to see the true benefit of growing with led I suggest avoiding the mistakes I and many others have made by believing bullshit like "90 watts of led = 400w of HPS".  The really good leds are really about 30% more efficient than HID.  The cheaper ones have a hard time keeping up with HID but they do run cooler.
     
  10.  
    The CFL is good, the other one no good. Pick up 4 of those CFL's and you should be good for your vegging. Make sure you are getting "cool" or "daytime" light (higher kelvin 5000-6500K) for your vegging, and "warm" light (lower kelvin 2700K) for flowering.
     
  11. Thanks guys . OK so I just found a problem . The two cfls I bought are different. One is 'natural light' at 5000k and one is warm light at 3000. Will the natural light cfl be enough on its own to grow one smallish plant ? Will post photos of my grow area soon guys. Thanks heaps for the help
     
  12. 5000k works very well for vegging but you will need more or mostly warm like 3000k or better yet 2700k for flowering.  I use 5000k only for my clones and mother plant and about 80% 5000k  with 20% warm for veg phase.  It works well to keep the internodal distances short.  You should be good to go with what you have until you begin flowering.
     
  13. So just the single 5000k should be fine until I flower her ?
     
  14. #15 Hydrolome, May 4, 2014
    Last edited by a moderator: May 4, 2014
    Personally I would use as much light as practical for the situation.  A single 48 watt 6500k cfl should be fine for veg considering that it is over 1 plant.  The requirements in flower are for significantly more light, like 3 times as much.   I would get another warm white, preferably 2700k and run all 3 in flower.  Once she gets further along you may want to add even more.  Of course, at that point you will need to be moving some air to cool your space unless it's unconfined.
     
    By the way, I just really looked at the Philips bulb box.  That 30 degree spot will give good light but at a very narrow angle.  If you can, you may want to exchange that for bulb with a wider angle or one like the 6500k in warm whit and use a reflector as many do with cfl bulbs.  
     
  15. damn...
     
    1) OP, as every1 said the 7w light wont work, it uses crappy 30ma leds, like on christmas lights.
     
    2) for a small area, like micro small, I am convinced that leds are the better option. IF and ONLY IF you decide to go the diy way. And you can go with the cheapest chinese leds from ebay, i mean sure, look for great finds on anything cree/osram/whatever, but crap, look at my grow, i was darn happy with less than 40 actual watts of china led power. before i trashed it that is...:(.
     
    otherwise its not worth it, becaus if you buy the china leds, you get a fire hazard prone to break out, and if you go with the brand names... well you are overpaying even more. Sure if you got money to burn, and are looking for the absolute best efficiency, go with the brands, but you can get the same effect for less $. Im a bit of a cheapskate ..
     
    3) imo the best cfls are the long thin tubes, i think they are called pll or t5. Use those in a vertical set up with a good reflector for the best effect. The spiraled cfls loose quite a bit of light which becomes "trapped" in the center, and also need good reflectors or you are wasting light.
     

Share This Page