i have always used hps lights with good success, but i want to try and save on energy bills and try led lights. my problem i dont know anyone using led lights, to tell me how effective they are. so if you tried them please let me know. thank you everyone.
havent tried them but.... id go with CFL's over LED's for right now because the KED's are soooo expensive for the good ones. like the UFO....its $500. but i donno ive never used LED's.
I would recommend doing some forums searches and youtube searches for LED information. Many growers on the forums have and currently use LEDs. The general consensus that I have seen thus far is that LEDs are not quite at the production level of HID alternatives currently. There are a number of reasons for this. 1) Some say that LED technology still has a long way to go before it is effective enough to compete with HID technology. 2) Many of the prefab LED panels you buy are garbage sold from China or Taiwan with low quality parts. These panels are not what you want to be growing with. With that said, I am not a lighting expert and I am similarly interested in LED grows due to the efficiency and temperature benefits -- hopefully others can shed some further light on the matter. EDIT: I agree with the above poster. CFL is a good middle ground for the time being if you don't want to make the pricy LED investment.
LED have made leaps and bound over the past few years. But they still have some hurdles left. Without knowing your setup unless you are only doing a plant or 2 stick to the hps. The led just dosnt cut it when it comes to larger grows. Not to say it couldnt be done. But who the fuck wants to wield all that shit together a lot of work for not the reward. If you really want to give it a try get a small set up from e bay. and try it on a plant. That was as far as i got and gave up on em. Like i said they do have promise to em just not yet.
thanks for the response everyone. i believe i have my answer. i use 1000 watt hps lights. just trying to minimize cost and attention. just an old hippie here
i have a first gen hid hut led ufo,not one of the many copys.i have and am using it to veg my plants.it works great for vegging.i read about how bad the yield is with led and have never actually tried to do a whole grow with it.for vegging and starting new plants i can verify that it grows very good.for budding i cant tell you but reading on here has told me if i ever do a whole grow under led that it would be supplemented by a t5 fixture.
i am planning a LED light for my grow, not sure what my results will be, but i will let you know. As far as the price, Ebay is a bargain shoppers dream, i saw an UFO(which goes for about 500.00 online), go for 152.00 on Ebay... i'll let you know ho my grow goes when i have to use a hammer to break-up my buds.