I bought 1000 watt hps for a 4x4 only 2 plants. Getting nervous now itll get too hot and could even be dangerous. I'm either thinking about doing a 600 watt or wondering what a good LED flowering light would be that arent like 5 or 600 bucks. I know conversions from led to hps and hid and stuff are comparable really so I dont know a good led light to flower with. Please help or what do you think I should do? Thanks Sent from my SM-N950U using Grasscity Forum mobile app
Well I've been looking too.. to tell you the truth. Lot of good LEDs out there these days. But so far my research has led me to CMH or LEC.. I've switch three of my HPS lights to CMH now and I'm running the 315 CMH and a 41k bulb. The results are really well and they're inexpensive compared to LEDs and a lot of commercial Growers have been switching over to the CMH lights. If you're going to invest in any light rather be LED or LEC try to get one as close to commercial grade as possible that you can afford you're going to get the best bang for your buck if you do.
Yea it's just confusing because I know it's not really about watts it's about lumens or whatever I dont know. But like a 100 dollar light on Amazon says its 1000 watts and a 600 electric sky 300 watt has way better results. I dont get itn led confuses me. Sent from my SM-N950U using Grasscity Forum mobile app
Also do you find it getting pretty hot In your tent with cmh? Sent from my SM-N950U using Grasscity Forum mobile app
I don't have a grow tent I have a room but I can put my hand on my reflector Hood. It isn't but about 90°. The CMH lights don't throw a lot of heat. I've never compared them though to an LED yet. I see a lot of LEDs to have heat sinks on them and I don't know how much heat one of them throw off. But I'm sure somebody on YouTube has done in comparison and that's probably the first place I would check to see what somebody's come up with
Simply switching lights will not solve your heat problem. May help, but I would address the heat issue before spending money on new lights. More a/c or suspend hot month growing. Better airflow. These qb boards can be installed so the heat producing driver is located outside the tent.
@Hayden2970 save yourself some cash if you already have the 1000w hps and purchase an XL cool tube and it'll solve your heat problems and give you lots of quality light. It'll vent all that heat right out of your tent and keep things cooler. That's the short answer... Now for the longer answer... LED lamps are very efficient on a per wattage basis to save you a few bucks on your electricity bill. HOWEVER -- LED has poor light spread and penetration -- translation -- for a 4x4 tent you would need at least 4 large QB boards and maybe 5 or 6 depending upon what wattage you run the 4 panels at and how crazy you want to get with it. Pick up a PAR meter to check your spread if you want even. Next, stop looking at Amazon. You're going to confuse yourself at best and at worst you're going to end up buying a shit light. Click on over to HLG Horticulture Lighting Group's website and start looking at lights like their QB324V2 with heat sink for $80 (you could get four of these) and their QB96V2's @ $100 each if you want to run higher intensity and/or their QB144V2's that are brand new -- you get 4 of these for $125 but you have to source the heat sinks off eBay which are only about $6 each. Now... you need to decide on drivers. General rule of thumb for LED grows are between 25-35 watt per sq foot. But you also need to make sure that you have these positioned well because again, they do not have have good light spread or good lower branch penetration. These are great lamps for SOG or SCROG designs I've been told. You could easily have $600 in LED's. I would spend ~$100 on a cool tube XL for your existing lamp. HPS has great penetration and spread. You get UV benefits and a good spectrum of light. It's not as efficient, but it's not a terrible light for your setup. My .02 cents worth