LED vs. HID grow cost analysis

Discussion in 'Lighting' started by katebtr, Nov 29, 2014.

  1. Never said I run them all at the same time. I am buying another 350 watt Mars 2 unit this week to try and seed out and veg some Northern Light plants...they should provide more than enough light to get my plants through the winter...that will save me big time...I wont hit them with heavy lighting until into flower...and instead of burning hps and mh through veg, and even the big led banks...my savings should continue..now, this is theory on my part because I have never vegged using that small amount of light for three pants in my life...should I need more light, I have more....but turning on the hps is not even in my mind anymore.....the money I saved with just using the LEDs over the big lights was substantial enough to make me not want to go back.
     
  2. our visible spectrum covers about 350 wavelengths (give or take) measured in nanometers, so i'm wondering why anyone would believe that 9 or 11 wavelengths would be sufficient to give plants everything they need in photons. it just boggles my mind why anyone could conceive that missing 95% of full spectrum wavelengths can be a good thing. will they grow, sure, will they reach 100% genetic potential, i doubt it but again we have much research to go.
     
  3. OUTSIDE is the best light..the Sun...most PAR light....and you do realize that the science is in...done...all this has been figured out decades ago...we are NOT "waiting on tests" or results or anything else. Agronomy is old, well established and photosynthesis in particular holds no surprises. Plants...Marijuana plants in particular only NEED a certain portion of the light spectrum to flourish and the more of that part of the spectrum you give them the better they like it. LEDs provide that portion in abundance at  nearly half the cost of HPS lumen for lumen. I really dont see what your confusion is based on...stubborness?
     
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MVNxNVnkBPE
     
  4. ...and the "tests" that ARE being done are ALL, without exception coming back showing LED tech blowing HPS and MH out of the water in terms of savings, QUALITY and quantity. Ya better get on board before you get left behind fellas...trains leaving...
     
  5. #45 BloodBooger, Dec 9, 2014
    Last edited by a moderator: Dec 9, 2014
  6. #46 BloodBooger, Dec 9, 2014
    Last edited by a moderator: Dec 9, 2014
    I NEVER said "never used" by the plant...I said parts of the light spectrum produced by both the sun AND artificial lighting just don't produce any significant growth or add to the quality of the plant..this isnt even up for argument..its established science...known for decades....HPS doesnt produce ALL of the light spectrum outside of PAR in quantities enough to affect plant growth..neither do LED or any other artificial light. the SUN DOES however, even then the plant doesnt seem to NEED that part of the spectrum OUTSIDE of PAR to be totally happy and flourish..is this really that hard to grasp?
     
  7. #47 Rumpleforeskin, Dec 9, 2014
    Last edited by a moderator: Dec 9, 2014
    I remember a lot of side by side grows done by LED vendors six years ago. The LED plant grown by a 90 watt UFO was always twice as big and better looking than the 1000 watt HID. What happened to make a 90 watt UFO out perform a 1000 watts of HID lighting?, but now we can all trust them. Huh? Oh I remember, it was the usable color spectrum that made them so effective, I saw lots of graphs being posted on the forums by the folks who bought into them. I remember the same stuff being said six years ago here and how the folks who bought into it fought so hard to get everyone to agree they made a wise purchase. What has changed? Par?
     
  8. #48 AugustWest, Dec 9, 2014
    Last edited by a moderator: Dec 9, 2014
     
    is this test done by an LED manufacturer or by an independent source?
     
    I understand that LED has come a long way and all, but i'd like to see some sort of study done by someone who doesn't have something to sell.. that would go for a study done by hortilux or any of the HID manufacturers as well..
     
    also still confused as to how you drew half the power running 1800w of LED compared to 1000w of HID. The numbers don't add up in my head..
    i mean, a watt is a watt.. no?
     
  9. The only tests I would consider valid are those run by either independent laboratories or commercial grows..the ones I listed are from Commercial grow operations in and around the Denver area...as for your confusion about the lighting I used in the past vs the present...I used a 650 watt Metal Halide lamp for vegging 24 on for 40 days then switched to a 1000 watt High Pressure Sodium lamp for flowering along with the MH at 12/12 for however long I believed it took till my trichs were right. My power bills that winter were scary big. I then bought first a really nice Budmaster ll LED and some CFLs for vegging...boxed the high powered lamps for the future if I needed them..I had ZERO idea if LED tech would work...later in the middle of the grow when I saw the vegging going along nicely I figured I might need to add some extra wattage and lumens to the grow to help the flowering...about the middle of flowering, I received additional LEDs but didnt use them until the last two weeks of flower when I felt my plants needed a boost. So, for that particular grow I was running @ 30% less wattage  from the socket (right at the end of flower) but it according to my light meter I was putting much more light on the plants. The LEDS I chose had 5 watt crees ,focused and tuned..they really did a great job....my energy bills were half what they were the previous grow...the combination of not using the heavy HPS and MH, cooling fans, reptile lamps, extraction fans and dehumidifiers plus only using a single large LED  and two CFLs through veg and into flower, putting the power to them in the last few weeks...it saved me a ton. It isnt as simple as comparing watt for watt...never is.
     
  10. #50 BloodBooger, Dec 9, 2014
    Last edited by a moderator: Dec 9, 2014
    And I'm still not convinced that the cheaper LEDS are any good at all...but I'll find out this year..I'm stepping down even farther in power use and have ordered a Mars2 unit from alibaba that a lot of people are raving over...I'll be able to judge it against my HPS/MH grows (which were dynamite) my LED grows which were also fire. I've been using HPS for nearly 20 years so I'm still a big fan of them...I just cant afford to use them....plus, the goddamned Power Companies show up here all the time checking our wires, rooting around, I'm sure they look at my power usage....with the LEDS, its within normal ranges..a hell of a lot more so than when those two big ballasts started humming.....
     
  11. I could care less what you think "of my purchase", lol...in fact I just went out and bought an even crazier model...a lowly 350 watt Mars 2....if that baby will get me through early seedling (just after cfl) through most of veg, I'll be a happy camper....anything to lower my energy bills and have a low profile....you just seem to have some weird aversion to new technology...maybe you can smell bullshit really good and man, when those cheap ass LEDs first came out, you know the ones..the round underpowered UFOs, they were shit..but the salesmen hyped them like they could grow an acre of corn....who knows? All I know is, I got experience and I'm really happy..if someone came out with a new tech tomorrow that was better than LEDs I'd jump...I'm all in for technological change for the better.
     
  12.  
    ok we'll leave it at that, plant botany just isn't your thing i get that. i was never here to argue with you, i was just curious if you stumbled on some recent data sets or studies, my interaction with you had nothing to do with LED or HID. take care man.
     
  13. What do you mean "plant botany just isn't my thing"...it isn't me that is stuck in 1990....the current science and practical applications all point to the same result....hps and mh are fine for growing plants...leds are fine for growing plants...leds just do it more cheaply.....with less heat and with a more focused PAR band so as to not waste energy creating wavelengths the cannabis plant really doesn't need for proper growth and flower....you are just hell bent in not beliving anything except what you want to believe,,,now, we'll "leave it at that".
     
  14. #54 BloodBooger, Dec 9, 2014
    Last edited by a moderator: Dec 9, 2014
    https://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&ei=lGKHVOWcDYOy7QbZoIHQBg&url=http://lists.umn.edu/cgi-bin/wa%3FA3%3Dind0507%26L%3DCOMGAR-L%26E%3Dbase64%26P%3D70754%26B%3D------_%3D_NextPart_001_01C58BD4.768236E0%26T%3Dapplication/pdf%3B%2520name&ved=0CCUQFjAC&usg=AFQjCNFCznLp69YWSyaFBVwfoYkZ6Dc7OQ

    thats a study out of the University of Minnesota pitting hps against leds for use in commercial greenhouses..they found led tech cheaper and just as good....see for yourself...and they are "botanists", lmao
     
  15. i thought you were going to leave it at that?  btw plant botany has nothing to do with "growing plants" i know a few i work with that can't even keep a house plant alive.
     
  16. If I can get my grow down to micro levels, I'll be happy....wife too...she thinks I waste too much time out in the greenhouse and grow rooms...time for the winter cleanout and sulphur fumigation....and she hates it when amazon make a trip all the way out here just to deliver me a bulb.
     
  17.  
     i'm not interested in data i already have a plethora of access to. might i add it's like comparing 1st grade science to college level science as far as what i'm looking for.
     

Share This Page