LED LIGHTS FOR 6'x6'

Everything I've read and heard suggests LEDs are not ready for growing use yet. They might be OK for supplemental lighting, but even then, they aren't cost-effective.
I would suggest doing a search of threads, I know there are a ton of them on LEDs.

 

Why are you so hung up on led's...I fell into the led trap and I now regret it. You will get the same or better performance out of cfl's and they are way cheaper..Led's will *work*, but at the same time almost any light will *work*..Led's are way too expensive for what you get.
Also if your trying to light a 6'x6' area you would need to drop a boat load of cash on LED's..Why are you against HPS? You could spend about 300 bux on a 600w hps that would give you a much better crop than anything else ever would. But in order to light that same area with LEDs you would need to drop atleast a grand..

 

How about this idea..
Take about 500 bux and buy a ventilation system and take another 500 bones and buy a 1kw electronic hps or maybe the new nexgen. Honestly, led's do not grow bud any better than flourecents and arent any cooler running but your gonna pay 5 times more for lights when you should just upgrade with a vent system. That 1kw hps will grow monster buds!!

 

The new nexgen digital ballast..just search google..its one bad mofo!!

 

You're looking at 4-5x the $$ for 1/2, maybe 2/3 the crop. Why?

 

Give this guy a call. They have a new type of LED they made for the military that kicks but as a grow light. They max out the PAR meter. Ask for Tim 970-690-7568 www.g2led.com

 

That was also my experience. LED's work great for the Veg stage but for me lacked when budding. My bud's with LED's were 1/2 the size I was getting with a 400W HPS. I just rehung my HPS today after a 6 week trial using 2 90W UFO's in a 4' x 4' area. Not dealing with all the heat was great but I want my big buds back! Still running Blue/Red LED's for veg. Only noticed a $20 drop in my electric bill. One other thing to consider about LED's. They may last longer but that doesn't mean they retain the same intensity. They get dimmer and dimmer over time untill they just quit.

 

The guy I know growing with these is related to one of the VPs or something at the company making them. That's Tim. He gave my friend a couple street light prototypes designed to replace 400 watt HPS cobra heads street lights. These two lights where used to veg and then flower and the results were great. This was my friends first try at growing and to have these results out of the hole shot it has to be the lights. They maintain a perfect grow temp from the little heat they make. He did about everything else wrong and still got over an once per plant and more coming. I don't know the strains he used and I don't think he does either. Somebody gave him the seeds. They tested the stuff and everything was thumbs up. These are a new type of LED. They do not look like anything you have ever seen. Tim says they sell these to the Military. The light is a true full spectrum light designed to mimic natural sunlight due to its efficiecy properties. They just tested on a PAR meter and I guess they max out the meter. No heat, no ballasts, no fans, no bulbs, just full spectrum powerful light. I would call Tim and ask him any questions you have. He's cool cat. He is looking to have folks help him expand this new growing channel. I am sending folks his way when I can. They put an add in High Times this month. They are toward the back of the mag. G2LED. I would give you page, but I can't find my copy. Good hunting . 970-506-0525 is their number. Ask for Tim.

 

Direct from Tim: I am copy and pasting his quoting as to not confuse.
That is a good question. The elements are very intense without any damaging heat. We just measured the light on a PAR meter from testing just starting at Colorado State University. The light makes a 1200 PAR at 3". Each channel makes a usable cone of 5"x 12" at that height. If you want to maintain this super high number each plant would have to be within this range. As we back away to 6" the number still makes 400 plus par numbers. The cone created for max results is 12" x 20" per channel. The HLS120 has 8 channels and makes a cone that holds the 500 plus par for a spot 12"x 60". It has a par rated cone of 100 at 12" you make a usable cone of 24" x 70". Building a sheet of light is going to maximize your results and building in the means to adjust your light height with a change or something will also allow you to keep the plants in the max ranges.

Simplified The HLS120 is a good light for single rows of plants up to 6. The Round Chicken feeder is a better light for creating a 24"x24" grid of lights for 4 plants per light. For larger green house operations we are putting the HLS 120 up in the air for the area lighting and the round Chicken feeder is being used for the intense over the plant direct grow. The smaller 19x19 grow pad does the same thing as the round, but just 2 channels less intense.

 

I just talked to Tim on the phone.



FINALLY a LED company that GETS IT.



They created these LED's to mimic sunlight.... not like everyone else who is just doing reds blues / whites.



I may be doing a grow journal with the LED's for Tim

 

The most efficient way to use these systems is to do Scrog and use the chicken feeder style of light, since they need to be closer than HPS. BUT you would need more than one to get anywhere near the effects of HPS.



They still have a ways to go before they can get the cone of 1200 PAR light to reach a decent sized plant.



Not too much longer and these LED things will actually be viable.