I received the following LED light, just some generic chinese model being sold as "Sunny" and "Pioneer" brand on ebay: It is fairly light weight, the fan runs very quietly which was a nice surprise, and it has 150 LEDs advertised @ 3watt per diode (450watt Light): For the hell of it I took a picture of the light pattern, it only has one mode (full spectrum), no on or off switch either just a plug in the back for the power cord - here is the light pattern: The intensity of this light is surprising, even when I look at it momentarily very indirectly, my vision is a green hue for a good 30 seconds after the light is off - Will definitely be getting some LED shades for when I am actively working with plants under it. So my question is, I hooked it up to a wattage meter, and it came out to 130 power consumption from the light: So with 150 diodes that is ~.86 watts per diode, and was wondering if that is piss poor for diodes rated at 3w / diode? From what I read about ~50 watts per plant is recommended for LED grow lights, however I have also read for better penetration you want higher wattage per LED rather than more LED's at lower wattage - Does this light seem like it would be decent for growing? Can anyone else report what their wattage per diode is for similar lights? Thanks!
Not seeing an edit button on the mobile site but wanted to add, I forgot about the wattage the two fans are consuming, any idea what sort of wattage that draws? I'm hoping 20w so there is 110w of power, would like to ScrOG two plants at some point.
$172, so I honestly wasn't expecting much, my grow space is a 3x3x6' Jardin tent with mylar walls, so I figured if this even put out 100w for two plants going the Scrog / lollipoping method it should suffice. I was told by the seller it would be around ~160watt true draw but that of course was BS, which is not surprising from a seller of bottom of the barrel generic lights. I know of the more respected vendors with more expensive lights, but I figure I'd try one of these knock offs and see if it performs fairly well, as I've seen plenty of arguements that price is not really an indicator of the lights performance. Though with LED's, I'm curious if people who have worked with them and tracked the wattage per diode, and possibly the ratio of LED colors if running full spectrum. I feel confident that this would be pretty decent for two plants in a highly reflective tent, but I'm no pro, so I'd appreciate you OG's input EDIT: The link to the exact light with it's advertised specs can be found here: http://www.ebay.com/itm/Pioneer-450W-10bands-Medical-Flower-Plants-Grow-Flower-LED-Grow-Light-Panel-/121325794478?pt=US_Hydroponics&hash=item1c3f94b4ae Though I bought it from a different vendor, the specs and product pictured are the exact same, and the feedback looks pretty good regarding the light so figured I'd give it a chance.
Ha Ha it begins man! take a look at the photo that is where this takes you. I started with a ufo View attachment 142628 that light is going to leave you wanting. looks like it is made by the same people as the light in the middle of my photo. Price is not an indicator of a quality light but I have never purchased a high quality cheap led. I have a 300 watt veg light. it uses 5 watt leds; it runs at 279 on my watt meter. thats 74.4% or 3.75 watts per led - fans so 3.5 watts good guess. I hope that is right I hate math.
Which of those do you use for flower? I was thinking about buying a separate LED anyways, in case an entire panel or something craps out I don't want to be scrambling for one, and I was going to go much bigger. I still kind of want to give this LED a shot unless someone can come through and confirm that wattage ratio is total crap, cause I see this light amazingly getting a lot of good feedback (at least seller feedback which is far from conclusive), though after I bought it and read about 1 diode dying taking out entire LED panels I decided I'd be getting a backup. And by the way, nice collection of lights! How did you come to own so many if you don't mind me asking?
130w from a supposed 450w model? That is a rip off and a half. It's like they're using 1w diodes. My old blackstar 240w was drawing 196w.
Yeah after reading around on what people are getting of true draw versus the wattage advertised, I sent the item back. I know that actual wattage draw is usually lower (sometimes significantly) than the advertised, but after letting that sink in for a couple days, each diodes output being less than 1/3rd of the advertised output that was enough. The first big surprise was when the box came with a label on the outside that read "LEDGrowlight", that was a very nonchalant initial fuck you to me from the seller, like you couldn't have worded it "AquariumLight" or absolutely anything else. So I'll get my money back, and put it towards a quality one, and not have to need a backup light because mine is so horribly shitty.
Thanks man most of those sit in the closet now unused. I came by the collection thru trial and error. I just want to have the best possible equipment you know. Over time I learned what features are better. I look for a spectrum firing on the right nanometers and secondary lenses, I knew LEDs had entered a new era when I notice that street lights all over are upgrading to LED. HID use to own the street light market. LEDs work bra but not all LEDs work even though they all say they do.
I say there are chinese watts and US watts. to calculate Chinese watts you divide the advertised watts by 2 then subtract 80. US watts you just subtract around 50.
So after the LED has already been shipped back to the address it was sent from, the buyer messaged me requesting I send it back to China, and I noticed at this late hour (shame on me again), the seller is 'joyhydrogrow-uk' that you can google their name and it's that same scam. I kind of laughed in shock at the audacity of that email after my money was refunded. Would you suggest any particular brand or model of LED? I was thinking about looking into a Mars 2 from topledgrowlight, but I am sure as hell doing a lot more research before making another purchase.
I think you just owned one. the light in the middle is a mars 2. it was below 180 watts running. I have become an advanced led fan. I am running their blue light in veg and the xml in flower and for starts. here is something interesting i have found. a buddy of mine "borrowed" a lux meter right after I got a light in. Lux doesnt measure anything when it comes to making a plant grow. every article you read and everyone can tell you it is PAR that matters and I agree they are right; but the lights that have a high lux work much better. I logged the data in my journal i will pull it out and get it for you. for spectrum i dont listen to any hype i know that plants use chloropyll a at 439 and 667 nanometers and chlorophyll b at 469 and 642 nanometers. make sure you match that as close as possible. secondary lenses work they grab all the light wasted that directs it to the plant. yes you loose a little going thru the lens but you gain a lot more from the light you redirect. so as you research look at spectrum (heavy towards chlorohyll a my opinion), lenses and lux. Brada Haole "My opinion is relative only to my experience"
Ok so I know it's a little late but I purchased the 300 watt panel exact same seller I took the panel apart and what I found was they're running the lights on 50watt drivers so you're not getting what's advertised on the up side I found you can replace those drivers with bigger ones I used two 100watt led drivers the drawback to that is it's producing alot more heat also there is no heat sink in it I had to but better fans to go in it but it's alot brighter and is working very well hope this helped somewhat peace out
Why would you go with the same seller who sold you a 450w light that only drew 130w? Should've been at least ~200w draw.
I was going to suggest you do that but would have recommended getting even bigger drivers. Cheap drivers rated at 50 watts can't be used at 50 watts continuously for long periods of time. They eventually get hot, become less efficient, delver less power, and if they don't get a break for days they will burn out. Usually a low quality driver can only produce 50% to 80% of the power it says it's rated for. That means your three 50 watt drivers were probably only capable of putting out 75 to 120 watts. Three 150 watt drivers are still only good for around 225 to 360 watt. You never want your driver to work at 100% because it will get tired and start to lose performance ultimately dimming your lights and burning out the driver faster that you need to. If you over size by 50%-100% your lights will shine brighter and last longer and your plants will be healthier. I said it in another thread and I'll point it out here too. The issue isn't the LED's in the Chinese lights. The LED's in the cheap lights are the same as the LED's in the expensive lights. The reason cheap lights are cheap and the reason cheap lights fail is because of the power supply. If you have the ability to obtain a quality power supply and put it into a cheap light your light will be just as good as the expensive lights and your plants will not see a difference.
and one more thing to note... If your power supply isn't working as hard it doesn't produce as much heat so once you reach the threshold of the LED's the whole light will actually start to cool down
LED diode manufacturers also have different "bins" for their diodes after quality control/inspection. The diodes that are "top bin" diodes are more expensive than the very same diode that tested lower. Some light mfg's say they're using "certain" diodes, but they may be bottom bin class diodes and therefore inferior quality. Bottom bin diodes are almost always run at lower wattage than their higher binned counterparts as well, but most all diode mfg's run their lamps at less than full power. Additionally, one of the main things to look at with LED's are the lenses. Yes, secondary lenses are usually a good thing, but more importantly is the clarity and uniformity of the lenses. If the acrylic is also of lower quality the lenses will cloud up (ex: look at those foggy headlamp covers on your older car) degrading the light quality. If you ever have a chance to do it, look closely at the lenses on different lights through some magnification (you don't need alot, even some 3x readers might lend the magnification you need). What you see speaks volumes. Seeking advice in trusted forums is a good way to hedge the bet in your favor, but there is no substitute for due diligence. Also, it's smart to NOT use manufacturer naming conventions to assume light output. For instance, my Mars II 700 is often referred to in forums as a "700w" light...it's not. Chances are it wouldn't even run at 700w for more than a few minutes though that's juts speculation. peace
You just met a scammer, we make real power 150w, and no need fans, http://www.lumenhort.com/pd.jsp?id=44&_pp=3_13