Led V.S HID lights

So far what I read is that LEDs have more light in the PAR spectrum which can be used for photosynthesis but research has shown that plants need the other frequencies as well to be healthy. So the conclusion was basically to mix HPS and LED. But I haven't read a lot of how to mix it properly. There seems to be a lot of information out there which is quite biased because it comes from manufacturers. Imho LEDs are quite good if combined with techniques like SCROG or SOG.

 

I enjoy aspects that both bring to the table. I prefer HID generally, and my colleagues are doing incredible things with CMH. I find that the LED panels do very well for me as supplementary lighting for my HPS rooms.

Back to CMH. I'm shocked at the coverage, and wow do they run much cooler than my HPS's. The Growers Choice setups are very nice, and I like the results my colleagues are achieving very much!

 

I've used various types of lighting, many types of flouros,t-12,t-8,t-5,t-5HO,cfl,pll,ccfl,hps,mh,cmh, various led panels, cobs...

I prefer cob leds at the moment.

I would recommend against any blue/red ..aka blurple led panels....all those panels are just trying to mimic the chlorophyll A+B charts...there's alot more in canna then just chlorophyll. The 3500 white cobs have a very balanced spectrum...I'm definitely getting better results with only 3500k white cobs then I ever got with mixed spectrums of cheap led panels.

 

check out some of growmau5's videos on youtube he has a great diy series on cobs that explains everything very well. He also has some good videos where he explains spectrums too. vipar=mars=lowend leds. The advertised watts are always different then the actual watts, that seems pretty shady to me. Their 600w light is probably closer to 250w. They will certainly grow some weed...but for the same price I think there's far better options out there.

 

I'm a big fan of the DIY cob lights. timbergrowlights has some good prices on cob kits, I recommend building your own frame though to save money. You're definitely looking at a higher start up cost with cobs then you would with hps...but also no bulb changes, less heat, better efficiency and imo much better light quality. I've seen a few grows at riu where people replace a 1000w hps with about 500-600w of cobs and are very happy with the results. You'd be hard pressed to find someone who uses cobs that isn't very happy with them. Check out the prices at timber (frameless kits) and see if that fits your budget.

 

All you have to do to answer this question is to see what commercial growers use. Pretty much comes down to watts, no matter the light source. You will not save anything by using less watts, you will just give up yields.

I found it pretty even watt for watt, but I'm able to grow taller plants with HIDs. LED sales guys will use words like "equivalent". That is just to get you to pay twice as much for less light. Never believe it.

Commercial grow operations use HID because they get the highest yields per watt consumed.

 

Or could it be that commerial operations are all about pumping out product as cheap as possible? And hid lights are cheap.

Either way i have a 8 cob set up on the way and once built i will do a side by side with my hid setup.

 

You are 100% correct. They want to produce the best possible yields of high quality bud at the lowest price. My goals are the same.

I'm sure if you look across the net, you will find a few commercial growers using LEDs. People will do all sorts of stuff. Most the commercial growers who have serious operations in California and Colorado will not even entertain the idea of using LEDs.

I have setup a few nice LED rooms. But most have height restrictions and/or limited ventilation options.

 

Most commercial grows are trying to make money. They know they have to produce as much high quality bud at the lowest overhead possible. $20K is relative to your yield (if that is your power bill). The market will determine what is a reasonable return on your investment and how to get the best margin.

When LEDs produce more high quality bud for the same amount of watts, all commercial growers will switch over. All of them. Folks like to make money it seems

 

I find it pretty likely that big ops will be turning to CMH over LED. At least for the foreseeable future. Cost wise in relation to coverage and performance LED is just not where it needs to be yet, and likely won't be for some time.

 

They both have there strong points but a cheap LED probably isn't going to out grow a cheap HPS. I like the idea of running both during the cooler months went I need the heat in the tent, and summer months maybe just wake up the girls with a HPS For a bit then switch to LED to keep temps down. All that being said a light isn't the grower you are, if you give it the right amount of what they need weather you use CFL,HPS, LED you will get good smoke

 

I switched from a 600w HPS to a 650w (actual) Full Spectrum LED and I couldn't be happier with the change. I don't have any issues with heat, a fan blowing over the top of the plants without any exhausting of heat off the bulb is enough to keep the temps in range. My LED is 39" x 39" and covers a much larger footprint than the HPS, I can max out my 4 x 4 tent to the edges. Good LED's are a lot more money up front but if you plan on growing for any length of time it's worth the investment in my opinion. A good HPS bulb costs about $100 and needs replacement every 2-3 grows. My LED has a full 5 year warranty and is designed to last 10 years - that's $1000 worth of HPS bulbs, not counting the extra electricity to exhaust the heat from the fixture. Beware of those cheap blurple LED's on Amazon - they claim 300w but it's only 120w out of the wall. You would need at least 4 to achieve the same results as a 400w HPS. Compare watt for watt out of the wall.

 

What light are You using if You dont mind Me asking. Im looking to do a 4x8 grow space with either LED or COB's. Dont have a giant budget to work with though.

 

A watt costs the same rather it's an led or an hid light it's used in. There's is no cost savings for a comparable led to a comparable hid. Even led manufacturers are coming back to reality. I run both as I see the benifits of both. I wish I would of known leds dirty little secret before buying my 1st led and expecting the impossible.

Looks at gcs beloved mars hydro and their rep on here, they even say an led is only comparable to a similar sized hid now, watt for watt after being called out over and over. No more of these completly ridiculous claims.

When an led states a certain wattage and ran at less it is not an equivelant wattage. It only has to do with what the diodes can handle. Yet they're ran at less so they last longer. It's all a marketing ploy, play on words.