hey everyone. i know its been asked before but cant seem to find what im looking for. i currently have a 600w hps and am hoping to switch to led. i have a 4'x2' grow box 6`-8‘ high. i currently have about $2000 to blow so any help would be appreciated on what light(s) to get. i know that led will not yeild as much as an hps and im alright with that. and i read that it would be best to get 2 smaller for better light spread. i was thinking about hydroponics hut but have read some bad reviews about the internal structure of the lights. so now i have no idea what to get. thanks ladies and fellas.
LEDs have been given a bad name based on a lot of early "experimental" non-functional purple lights. They weren't really good for anything other than disco lights. LED technology has come a LONG way from those days, yet a lot of the purple light brigade (old growers, new followers) refuse to give up on the old performance issues. I'm going to suggest reading the information on this site: http://www.superled.net/led-growing-faq.html It explains the major differences and misconceptions of the attempted comparison of LED vs. HPS. LEDs just work different. I can recommend a few companies, I personally own a California Light Works 400w. I love it! It's probably a better idea to give you information and let you make an informed decision based on your own situation. Here's a pic of one of my current girls to prove to you how LEDs don't work... Enjoy your research!
thanks for the response...she looks great. hoow many plants can you veg and flower under that 400, also what is the light penetration?
There's 12 in there now, penetration goes all the way to the bottom of the plant, but this is only my second grow with this setup. Considering growing them about 6 inches taller next time since I have room. So much for what people tell you about penetration. Here's a pic of the current setup.
those look fantastic. on your last grow using this light how big did you let them get and what was the final weight?
I bought my gear last year, August/September, so I have the old version. That pic was yesterday @ day 50.
your gonna have to keep me updated on what you pull from them. how tall are they now? and do you have a journal on here?
im sorry but seems to me ur just spamming this site and keep trying to sellur cheap chinese made lights to people who deserve better. Ur in the Uk most of us live here in the states and would prefer to support American made products.
you are not the first one who want to support American made products. maybe you will change your mind when you know how good our product is .
I thought you'd like to see the latest... I have a pic posted in bud shots on the last page or so. http://forum.grasscity.com/bud-shots/545754-post-your-organic-bud-shots.html/page-65
We have setup quite a few nice LED grow tents and closets over the last two years that seems to do pretty good. Our best results came from California Lightworks SolarStorm (440 watt) and Lighthouse Hydro BlackStar (480 watt). They can grow short plants (around two feet tall) as well as any grow lamp. The Key to LED growing is to keep your tops close to the light source. Anything away from the light won't produce well (this is why all commercial indoor growers use HID lighting). But within a close range things work out real nice. You can grow taller plants but they tend to look like a ball on the end of a stick. Good smoke regardless. I like to setup LED lights when the grow space has limited height or adequate ventilation is a real problem. But you will pay the price for the compromise. We still find that the LEDs use more electricity and take more time to produce a pound of quality bud next to the same size HID (watt for watt). I don't recommend buying anything bigger than 450 watt LED, at a certain point and a bag of money, it just make more sense to go with a conventional grow light. The 1000+ watt LED grow operations I have seen require a real ventilation system. We found no real advantage to the high wattage LED systems at all (they do look real nice). None of the LED light we installed have had any problems at all. They tend to be rock solid and very dependable. One last tip.... Watch out for anyone who makes quotes like this: "high-output LED lights that will skyrocket your plant's growth while consuming 75% less power!" (quote from http://www.superled.net/led-growing-faq.html) Pretty easy to spot the liars. Best of luck, R.
Obviously the superled site is shoveling BS trying to sell lights, so there will be marketing info on the site. The pertinent info was the Par vs. LED paragraphs. How about a site that's just dedicated to growing and not selling anything? The fact still remains that PAR vs. lumens is an incorrect analysis. I get that commercial guys are all about volume, but a commercial grower really shouldn't be hanging around a web forum looking for advice on gear. I'd think those guys, like you, would have the experience and knowledge to make an educated choice. I'm a personal grower, I make recommendations based on that. In any case, I always recommend doing some research and understanding the technology instead of just taking any old advice including mine. Fixed the link I hope... http://www.just4growers.com/stream/grow-lights/lumens-are-for-humans,-par-is-for-plants!.aspx
all in all it seems like the solarstorm 440 would be the best to go with. checked out your plants on that page you sent dawill and they look great. my first grow was with hps and only let them get about a foot tall and in the end only pulled 2.5 oz off 6 plants (bag seed). made a lot of mistakes though.