Led vs HPS

I think it's accurate to say that you need close to equal wattage with an LED as an HID. In my opinion, the value with LED is with long term maintenance cost savings (assuming it's a quality LED) and that it generates less heat, which is only important if you otherwise would have to go to difficult measures to exhaust the heat from an HID.

I think you would probably be best off buying a 400 or 600 watt HID fixture with adjustable ballast. I've only used an LED fixture but it's a big one that draws ~740 watts.

 

I happen to come across a rather interesting paper on this today doing some research on the topic.

Economic Analysis of Greenhouse Lighting: Light Emitting Diodes vs. High Intensity Discharge Fixtures

Definitely worth a read if youre interested in the economics of LED vs HID.

And for those who dont want to read it. It would appear that HPS are the cheapest followed by CMH then LED. Very interesting stuff.

 

Buy two lights ,one for each plant 300-400 watt LED . don't worry about comparisons LEDs require less coolng , HPS run very HOT ,HPS require buying a new bulb every year , LEDs can last for 10 years or more ,LED can be closer to the plants and the spectrum is fine tuned for growing . You can easily make your goal ... shop ebay its cheaper
300W LED Grow Light Lamp Full Spectrum Panel Veg Flower for Medical Indoor Plant

 

I have a 400w hps rig and then a while ago I got an led panel that pulls 261w. I'd say hands down the led is better than the hps.

 

It's this. https://amzn.com/B0185OLBPK

for the 2 months I've had it I haven't had any issues. I my signature there's a link to my mainline grow and I'm using this light for it

 

When my 2 newest ones were in veg they seemed to do real well under the led. I was pretty skeptical as well what got me to buy the led was the RF disruption the ballast was putting out.

 

I had led and hps/mh and currently the LED lights are not being used. I upgraded my 4x4 room to add a 8z8 tent and I went with 4 600 watt lights running on 220v. I get a better product than the LED would produce. The LED light caused light bleaching in some of my plants and I prefer to use what's been proven to work. The new ceramic lights have been producing great yield but I think it's still to early to invest in new lights. Others like double ended lights but they require a/c and 10 ft ceilings due to the intense light and heat. You can't go wrong with a decent digital ballast and both hps and Mh bulbs.


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I got into leds and got back out and busted back out my faithful hids. Leds make good side lighting for me but didn't give me what I wanted. And yes wattage can only be compared equally. The reason leds list a higher wattage then what the light pulls is that's the max the diodes can handle. They're ran at less so they last longer. It has nothing to do with what they're equivelant too. I thought that's what it meant when I first bought an led based on what I had been told by uninformed growers but after emailing manufactures found out its not. It's just a play on advertising to sell more. Leds still put off heat into the grow that needs to be handled. I run cool hoods, the vast majority of heat from my hids doesn't ever make it into my grow.

 

go with hps long as you can move the heat

 

If you have a cool hood or cool tube that's set up correctly and your incoming temps are in range, the heat from hids is easy to handle. Problem seems to be most people who experience issues have a bad set up, underpowered fan or incoming temps that are already too high.

 

I run viparspectra LED with great results in a 2 x 4 tent doing 2 plants. Controlling heat and humidity is effortless and I had no change in power bill even while running a 6 inch inline.

 

I have the 1600w version of this light. I'm a new grower and I pulled 12 zips dried and cured from 7 plants in a 2x4x5 tent on my first grow.

 

I just ordered the 900w today, should be here tomorrow.

 

Great...enjoy! I'd like to see the progress.