I saw a good deal on LED grow lights. They claim that they are much more energy efficient, burn cooler, don't emit ultra violet or infrared radiation. They offer them in Red and Blue spectrum, but I noticed that they also offer panels that emit both at the same time. I'm interested to know if anyone has ever tried the dual spectrum panels before. Any feedback would be most appreciated. Thank you!!
hehe Well since I had a laugh I'll at least lead you in the right direction. This is not the right location for your topic as there is a lighting section that would A) yield more results, and B) probably already has a lot of information on them. Also you can search thread titles for LED and find a million journals by them. But in my opinion, they are not priced what they are worth. I think rumpleforeskin had a LED grow that was a huge let down and he was using 2 $900 lights if I'm not mistaken. They do run cooler but yield wise not much better than CFL. My 2 cents anyway.
my comment was not ment to lead him in the wrong direction... i ment what i said...but it was funny... and it was not my joke... it was rumples gotta give credit where credit is due
Well I did not think you were being a dick. A while back I did a lot of research on LED's that was basically watching live journals and just was not impressed with the pricing or the yields. I tried to make and LED and just gave up because I went with the tried and true HPS and MH due to prices coming down at HTG.
The lights are very inexpensive, from what I've seen. I've grown with HPS and MH before, but we all know they are often expensive units, not the most efficient in terms of energy, and they burn extremely hot, which can cause different problems from burning the plants, to barometric issues. The reason I posted this thread here is because people who grow hydro are more likely to be familiar with using grow lights. I don't think it really matters if I post the question here, or anywhere else applicable to the subject, as long as it is being read by people who take the question seriously. I feel like the lights might have a beneficial application as peripheral lighting. That is to say if I were to mount the panels from the side, rather than the top, they might help provide a safe lighting alternative for getting quality light to the lower canopy. Just a thought.
By the way.... if your friend Rumpleforeskin paid $900.00 for two LED's, he definitely got ripped off. The ones I'm looking at are under $100.00, and you can get a three panel set for $150.00 Just sayin'.... Ya gotta be a smart shopper these days!!
I be real skeptical of any LED that was that cheap. But if you want to see journals with peoples actual weigh ins you won't be happy. Everybody gets a hard on during veg with LEDs but go limp at the weigh in. The fact they get used as supplemental lighting should tell you everything you need to know. If you want advice on the actual LED you are talking about why not post a link to help us be smarter shoppers... May help us out, or at least we could tell you if the light is bullshit or not as there are WAY more bullshit LEDs than legit ones.
You just read my mind.... I was thinking the same thing. I'm interested to know what you, or anyone else thinks about it. I've never used them, so I'd like to hear the results of anyone who used a similar unit. The single panel unit; 50 Watt LED Hydroponic Light System Panel Blue Red - Access Hydroponic.com - Your LED Grow Lights source This is the three panel unit; LED Grow Light Panel 225 LEDs Red/Blue 4 Panels - Access Hydroponic.com - Your LED Grow Lights source My initial question was referring to using the LED as the main light source, hung from above. If they aren't as productive as the traditional lamps, perhaps they could be mounted from the side, below the top canopy, to improve the amount of useful light in hard to reach areas from above units. You have to admit, in an indoor grow, whether it's organic, or hydro, it's often difficult to get light to those lower buds. Mylar works ok, but reflected light is not as good as direct light. I'm thinking those LED's might be a practical, affordable, and safe way to get useful light to more of the garden. Especially for smaller indoor grow rooms. Any thoughts??
http://forum.grasscity.com/hydroponic-grow-journals/485301-rumples-led-challenge.html That is a link to rumples LED challenge. Trust me the lights he uses there spanks the ones in your link and Rump is a pro at grow. If he can't get a good yeild (compared to hps/mh) in this grow (he even does a 2nd one then calls it quits on LEDs) then I don't have any more faith in any one else or lights for that matter. As far as I understood when I was into the LED topic, only the top dawgs can afford the real deals as they are still 300-1000w leds and run from $600 on up. Really CFL's are a nice cheap way to go stealth or micro if heat or wattage was your concern. I'm not saying that light in your link won't grow pot, as I'm sure it would... just probably not as good as you were hoping for. There are lots of people using cheap LEDs just like I said your yields will be nothing like a hps or mh (like the many claims of those LEDs). Also I can't find any links of a bud grower that uses that light in your link so another reason to probably save your money. Especially when I see CFL's being added to LED grow journals... not good. I think they are great supplemental lights however because of the heat and watt issue if you are already using a lot for hps/mh. The best bud I have ever seen grown and smoked was using mh and hps together the whole way thru and dude did not worry about lighting lower buds with other lights. Shit was still kill. I think there is fine tuning and then there is overkill and a lot of ppl cross that line. Really how much more pot weight wise would have to grow on them lower branches than would have normally to justify spending $100 on a light for it. That is what I'd be asking myself. If it was not going to increase my yield considerably I would not do it. Nor would I gamble on a chance when there is plenty of research for tried and true methods. I'm not crossing LED off my list for good, quite the contrary. I'm lurking in the shadows waiting for it to be perfected and made affordable. Neither of those 2 things has really happened yet in my opinion. At least not enough for me to go run and grab my wallet. LED's may still serve a purpose for stealth or micro grows (where yield is not important so much) or supplemental lighting... but is NOT a replacement for hps or mh like the many claims mislead us to believe.
Points well made, and well taken. Currently, I use a 350W HPS / MH combo unit. I use just one unit, but interchange the bulbs when necessary. My unit uses no ballast either, which is cool. I agree with your point of view. I think it maybe falls under the category of don't fix what's not broken. One thing I've noticed, not only in my past grows, but in other buds I've seen as well, are buds that are too light and fluffy. Do you know what I mean?? The buds lack density. It takes a mountain of bud to weigh out an Oz. Any suggestions on how to remedy this problem?? I'm sure there are better places on this forum to ask that question, but what the hell.
Duder, don't get them lights. LED's can kill it with the right panel, just check out Irish boys's grows! Don't be scared to experiment either, just gather good info to make your choices informed.
Visit Code: www.Growledhydro.com I am doing a test on the Spectra 180, for the price it has been a good grow. im still about 9 weeks out of harvest so on my 60 day grow i will be posting more, search for my thread using (dpickl01) and pm me if you have questions, also dont skimp on the led if your high set to get one, a 1watt led system is junk get at the least a 2 watt per buld system or highter, mine in a 3 watt fail system,
it's a new generation fo grow lights compare to HPS ,CFLs and other grow lights, only the price a little expensive