Hello everyone! What are the pros and cons of using LED opposed to HPS Thanks in advance Sent from my E5823 using Grasscity Forum mobile app
There are many pros and cons to each. If you do a quick search on the forums here I am sure you will the information you are looking for. This is a topic that has been discussed many many times.
There are tons of threads on GC about this very subject and many people who disagree about those pros and cons. I'll throw you a bone and write a few concepts though and you can judge them to be pros or cons given your situation. LED: Many companies make them and few of them are good. Bulbs last a long time compared to HID, as long as the bulbs aren't faulty. You could roughly expect LEDs to use about 3/4 of the electricity of a comparable HID light. LEDs don't produce nearly the amount of heat as HIDs do. Up front cost of LEDs are more than twice of what you'd spend on a comparable HID light. HID: Many companies make them and most are probably good. You probably have to change bulbs once per year, depending on your usage (HPS and MH). HID runs hot, you may have to plan for additional cooling or even air conditioning. HIDs are relatively cheap up front. HIDs are well vetted in terms of how to use them, what you need to grow what amount of plants.
Hey @MaryJane121 leds have a higher upfront cost than HPS. All leds aren't the same and be careful on which led you buy. I can say my diy led is better than hps all day and I don't run any AC during the summer thus lowering my electric bill. Now lets talk about efficiency. Most HPS 1000w are about 30-39% depending on if you use a Gavita DE and you get the 39% which means 390watts of usable light and 610watts is heat which you have to cool thus using more electricity and leds depends on what brand panel and the diodes they use just remember you get what you pay for and buyer beware that's why I make my own lights using the best and it's not hard to do. Here's a few pics for proof of how they work oh yeah my lights are running at 64% efficient
There are pros/con's to both.... HPS: -Less efficient at producing usable light, more light converted to unusable IR radiation -Needs bulb replacements every year, most HPS experience a drop in 5-15% light output within the first 5,000 hours. -Proven results, has been used for 25 years or more for growing cannabis with success. Generally most HPS systems you can buy will do a great job without much variation in growth from different light brands (efficiency and output may change but spectrum is relatively the same) -Better light canopy spread (less direct and spreads further than 3w and 5w LED's) Comparible to COB/LES spread. -Cheaper up front cost, a whole system may cost $300-600 for a 4x4 area. In side by side tests, HPS produces slightly less THC than LED or Ceramic Metal Halide light sources, not a huge difference but around 3% less. -Some HPS bulbs need a cool down time to restrike in case of a power outage or surge, this may range from just a few minutes to 10-15 minutes depending on the HPS bulb and system. HPS does not provide full spectrum, and is targeted in the green/yellow/orange range of light, with very little blue or UV. -HPS generally will produce a higher yield than LED, but have a much lower gram/watt (growing efficiency) -with HPS, not much has changed over the last 20 years in the bulb efficiency and spectrum with HPS. LED/LES/COB -More efficient at producing light from the wattage used, with 3w and 5w diodes the light spectrum is within the PAR range and can be targeted to the plants needs. COB white chips also are the most efficient light source for producing PAR light. -3w and 5w diodes with lenses provide very good penetration intensity, however do not spread well which means more panels are needed to cover a large area, COB/LES however spread very similar to HPS and therefor can be spaced out to allow for an even coverage. -LED/LES/COB lighting can save electricity, but not much.. generally you need about 80% LED wattage to compare to HPS wattage, meaning if you are replacing a 1000w HPS, you should be using about 750-800w of LED to replace it... -Contrary to popular belief, LED are not cooler than HPS when the same exact wattage is used as any electric source in a closed environment at equal wattage produces the same heat load to the room. So the saying "LED's run cooler" is only true due to the fact that you can run about 20% less wattage, therefore less heat is emitted. I've found that when compared to Air cooled HPS, LED actually can run hotter because with Air cooled HPS much of the heat is removed immediately from the grow area, where as LED their is no way to evacuate the heat produced immediately, therefore it blows the hot air into the grow area...(take the "runs cooler" claims with a grain of salt). -LED/COB/LES do not need to be replaced very often, most LED/COB/LES can be expected to run around 50,000 hours with minimal lumen depreciation, higher end chips like cree and osram can be expected to run around 68,000 to 100,000 hours with very little lumen depreciation. CXB Cree chips actually don't have the greatest projected reliability and sits around 38,000 hours for 20% light loss however the CXA series actually is rated to last double the CXB series... but runs less efficient that CXB. -LED is a much much higher cost up front, for a 4x4 area you could expect to spend $1000-2500 up front to illuminate a 4x4 area, probably about 800$-1000 if you go DIY, but still about double the cost of HID/HPS. Luckilly the ROI or return on investment will save you over time with LED because of the slightly lower energy cost of use, as well as there will be no need to replace any bulbs every year.. -LED can be fine tuned to the plants needs, therefore certain lights can increase terpene production, resin formation, and overall potency which has been shown in a few side by side tests. -LED will generally produce a slightly lower yield than HPS in many cases however with LED you will grow more efficiently and should see a much higher Gram/watt than with HPS...almost double. -LED is less dependable as there are many many brands available, most of them have poor company support and longevity, however there are a few brands in the industry that are really good. Results with LED may vary greatly due to them mostly being very directional light sources and many people don't use them properly. Also with LED lighting advertisments and companies, there are a ton of untruths and misinformation on the market so this many times leads growers to expectations much higher than they actually accomplish. Not true for all brands but I would say 80% of the LED industry is rebranded junk, or cheaply made crap lacking premium parts. With LED, about every year or 2 newer and more efficient LED chips hit the market, so the industry is constantly seeing better and better results, and as time goes by, LED will keep increasing in efficiency, producing more light that previous versions of the chips.
So if flowering time took 65 days that's 780 hours of light on time. You replace the bulb every 5000 hours that's about 6 harvests, if you were hitting that magical 1 gram a watt and only had one plant in flower you would harvest roughly 14 pounds of herb before you had to replace that 50$ bulb. That is a higher priced HPS bulb. You can find regular generic bulbs for 20$ so by the time you spent 200$ on bulbs you could have harvested 56 pounds of weed and 2 years have gone by. Sent from my SCH-I545 using Grasscity Forum mobile app
Good answers here and I love cobs a little more than 5w Crees. The last time I used hps was to keep soil warm in cold months. But hps can be a cheap start for someone and much better than cheap inefficient panels and more trouble free. HPS herb kept and keeps many happy! The future however, is elsewhere. Cobs are helping with coverage. With led panels it sometimes feels like aiming at a plant. If I didn't have some really good 5w panels all would be cobs.
I'll keep my HPS/mh until the technology is better and the price is down for led. Just pulled 37 Oz wet weight from one plant from a 1k HPS electric costs 60 extra a month. Now running 2k HPS but will have 6 plants, harvesting 3 every 3-4 weeks. I think I can afford 120$ a month in electric for 2+lbs a month
I pull about a pound per 400w for my DIY Cree cob lights I'll be harvesting tomorrow and I have other girls ready to flower as soon as I empty the tent Cree cobs crush HPS all day!!!!!!
What is your watts at the wall with that setup? I was checking out your link and it looks like each 400watt setup is matching a 1k hps and it looks like you are running 5 of them, correct? Would you say you are pulling about 5lb a harvest?
I'm running them half power right now lol I only run them full power during the winter. I don't use any AC
So running at half power and still hitting that 5lb mark? Sorry for the questions. If the savings can give me equal results from what I have now it would be something that might interest me enough to put some $ into.
