Hid Or Led Lights?

if you have the money and heat is an issue, i'd look into led.
 
but, i doubt you'll see the same results

 

if you have the means to purchase the Ferrari level lights then LED is totally worth it. They are not cheap but you will get quantity and quality from them.

 

LED will give you equal and even better results, as long as you don't expect a 200w light to equal a 1000w HID... If you use at least more than half LED watts to HID, you should see very similar results, a lot better gram/watt ratio, more trichomes, increased flavor, increased THC content.
 
LED is a big upfront investment, that pays off over time.
 
I went LED and haven't even looked back.

 

I love leds for the fact that I don't have to buy new hps or cfl bulbs every few harvests. That right there pays for the light.
 
I haven't really done a comparison grow...but others seem to be having great results with led. I'm starting to see much better yields and results online then I saw years ago.. The technology has come a long way in just the past few years...I could see myself switching over fully in the near future.

 

 
I'm with you on replacement bulbs. You are absolutely right.
 
Growing under MH/HPS does have its downsides... Electricity co$t + heat (even with passive venting)= cooling co$t,
replacement bulbs, etc. Grows frosty berries tho. 
 
Currently looking at viable LED options to help curb operating expenses. I have the space to
set up a side by side comparison. Any one with actual experience comparing these two technologies?
 
-PG

 

1) What brand did you go with?
2) What were you using before?
3) Is your room cooler?
 
Thanks in advance,
-PG

 

1... I started with Mars II from top led and the reflector series, they worked alright for the price...
then I moved on to Intelligent Gro LED which so far have given me the best gram/watt of any types of lights I have used. Much better flavor and quality buds too..
 
2. I was using HID lighting in my flower tent (400w CMH and a 600w HPS) for 1000w mixed spectrum. For my veg tent I was using a 400w CMH.
 
3. My room isn't really cooler with LED, but I also have a very small grow area...I have seen that people with larger grow area's do infact see temperature reductions, however mine was about equal if not slightly higher with LED...The reason I feel is because LED's even though they run less hot, they don't havee a way to extract the heat directly like a air cooled setup for HID....
 
My bonuses for using LED over HID were definitely a huge reduction in my electricity cost.... higher gram's per watt which means I am using electricity more efficiently, better flavor and smell out of my finished product, stronger meds..

 

I am planning on making the switch to LED by my next cycle. There is talk of White Light Spectrum LED vs the red and blue on other forums debating their effectiveness. It is both exciting and frustrating to see new technology emerge. It would be  nice to see results before I pull any triggers. Just a little hesitant due to the fact that everything is growing well now. 

 

Your electric bill will be the same using the same wattage of LEDs. If you use less watts you will harvest less. If it was any other way all commercial growers would use them (none do).

 

 
Then the LED growers will need to heat the grow rooms in the winter time, there goes the imaginary power savings.

 

Thats actually inaccurate an a lot of commercial operations are in fact switching over to LED. LED has reached the point that they are more efficient useage of electricity as well as more of the light is usable to plants.
 
Like a HPS for instance... lets say you have 120,000 lumens of light coming out of a HPS 1000w bulb... now a good portion of that light is outside of the PAR spectrum of 400-700nm which is light that is not usable to a plant...so when you are using 1000w of HPS... only a fraction of that light can be converted to energy within the plant, the rest is heat.
 
Also just to mention, typically HID lights run about at best 85-150 lumens per watt, LED now is pushing 200-300 lumens/watt... there for more photons are being emmited per unit of electricity being used with less heat. More efficient.
 
Now when you take LED and run 1000w of it, a much greater percentage of the light is used by the plant (nearly 100%) therefore if running 1000w of LED vs HID, the LED will grow more efficiently...and this has been confirmed by tests... Generally 60-80% LED watts is equal to HID.... therefore a 600w hid should grow just about the same yield as a 1000w light (this has also been tested and confirmed). Not to mention LED will bring you more THC content (also tested and confirmed) and will increase the terpene profile and amounts (also tested and confirmed).
 
You are correct that yes, running 1000w of anything whether its a grow light, blender, ac unit or whatever is going to cost the same..the bonus with LED is you can reduce the amount of power by 30-40% and still get the same results with better quality.
 
http://youtu.be/YrUDJA00soI

 

Commercial growers are not using them. I know you want it to be true, but the fact is they are not. We deal with lots of dispensaries and hydro stores, all will tell you the same thing (they use HID lighting). The commercial growers I know are in fact switching over to a new type of lighting system but it is not LEDs. Most are doing a complete change over to Gavita double ended lamps.
 
I am sure you can get a guy who claims to be a commercial grower to say he uses LEDs, but the simple truth is they are not being used by any good commercial grow operation that wants to make money.
 
LEDs are being used in small grow rooms and tents. I install them in rooms that have limited height restrictions.
 
As far as quality goes, don't sell yourself and your growing skills short. Your quality gets better as your skill as a grower does. It is not the LEDs, it is you that makes the quality bud.
 
I want LEDs to be what the sales guys and colorful graphs claim. No one here wants a better lamp more than I.

 

Just got this $500 dollars later though, that hurt.

Let's Smoke About It.....
http://forum.grasscity.com/index.php?/topic/1320164-Sade's-First-Grow-Green-Crack

 

I am subbed to this member's thread:
http://forum.grasscity.com/indoor-grow-journals/1316222-4x4-led-wild-thai-seed-second-grow.html/page-4
 
He is using/ testing a new White Light Spectrum LED and his plants seem to be responding positively.
The technology is relatively new (to us at least) so I am trying to keep an open mind. There is another
member that goes by the handle WeedDude with a journal testing these LEDs as well. By the looks of things,
I may make the switch.
 
The world was once flat and you would have been executed for claiming otherwise. Oh, and Pluto was once a planet (by definition).
I am trying to be optimistic and hoping this new technology can prove itself quickly because It would be nice to get more bang
for my buck with the electric company.
 
-PG

 

2 years ago I would have probably agreed with you, but the fact is LED is taking over, small gardens and commercial (I am not just talking about MMJ) but agriculture in general. You say that commercial growers want to make money...well then it would be ignorant of them NOT to use LED because they would reduce their electrical consumption by 30% or more making more profit, as well as having a higher quality produce or bud with increased THC and flavor which will generate even more revenue than HPS...
 

 
\t 

 
Royal Philips and Green Sense Farms (GSF), a Chicago-area commercial grower, have partnered to develop one of the largest indoor commercial farms using LED grow lights. This farming method allows them to harvest 20-25 times a year by using ‘light recipes' optimized for their produce and uses 85 percent less energy, Philips said in a release.
 
</blockquote> 
 
The reason that LED get a bad rap is because yes, 2 years ago they did suck and could only grow shitty weed and wheat grass...and with all the lies and BS information in the LED industry, but with not much actual fact behind it, it often leads to dissappointment. If LED's are used correctly (such as I do by using a PAR meter to position the lights appropriately) then you will see better results with LED. Unfortunatly people buy into the hype that a 200w LED light will replace a 1000w HID and of course its not going to...but you take 600-800LED watts and put it against a 1000w HID....LED is going to come out ahead.. (as long as mounted properly) LED uses electricity more efficiently by almost double what HPS can do... if used properly the results will also show this.
 
The video I posted you will see that in fact 600w of LED does produce better bud than a 1000w HID... and their lab tests prove it. Yes a good grower grows quality and a bad grower does not, but take that good grower and put him under LED vs HPS...I can almost guarantee that the quality of the product will go up.... tests have shown this many times now in both MMJ and agriculture.
 
either way I respect your opinion, and hopefully that is mutual. As a former HID grower converted LED,, I am very happy I made the switch and will not be using HID lighting most likely ever again.. my yields are similar, my grams/watt efficiency is higher, and my buds are stronger and more flavorful...

 

2 years ago people said the same thing you are saying.
 
You seem to know more then commercial growers. Because they are not using LEDs, they don't save a dime per pound of weed grown. It takes more watts and more time to produce a pound of weed using LEDs.
 
The quality suffers using LEDs as well. LEDs only work being very close to the tops (just like CFLs), all tops that are not up next to the lamp will produce light bud of a lesser quality. This is the reason they take more power to produce a pound of quality bud.
 
Folks like to think they spent the money on the correct product and will do what ever they can to justify the expenditure. 
 
To date we have tested lots of different LED grow lamps using the same clones. And we have seen the results (in person) from more then I can count. Sure some of the lights we tested are just bigger panels of the same brand, but we went in to it with an open mind and no "buy in bias". I like the results from the California Lightworks SolarStorm 880W, but it won't replace a 1000 watt HID.
 
LEDs are OK for a small grow with limited height. I have seen them being used in tons of grow rooms. Real life and the real story.
 
Respect is mutual. It is just dialog that is good for everyone.

 

Hello Rumple,
 
Have you tested any of the White Spectrum LEDs? Or have they all been the red type?
 
-PG

 

What LED models/brands have you tested? and have you documented or posted your results anywhere? I would be curious on seeing your results.

 

Most of the ones we tested are not posted. After the Prosource tests we decided  to keep the tests among the vendors and shops that put them into our space. A few real bad ones we talked about (Kessil and Hydrogrow LED). We just rapped up testing California Lightworks SolarStorm 880W. I won't go through the trouble of testing anything that is just the same product relabeled under a new name (most stuff I see).
 
Most tests you see on the net have a motive for the tests to be positive. I remember when tests proved that one 180 watt UFO LED could produce more than a 1000 watt HID and how much better the quality was. Anyone remember that one?