Hey guys i'm new to GC, feel honored to be part of this community which strives to further knowledge on the sacred herb we all love so much, Been growing for many years mostly outdoor and greenhouse however considering going indoor for many reasons from pests to youngsters snatching my buds out the garden when i'm away. So basically i'm conflicted on buying leds as there is so much to consider,price,warranty,spectrum,wattage,quality.PAR,light spread,life expectancy,led ratio and much more...Way too much false advertising out there I've come up with two potential scenarios #1 go for relatively good quality LED grow light such as Advanced platinum(claim a 12 band spectrum) or Kind Led, #2 Create the spectrum myself buy buying cheap leds that only have the blue and red spectrum that only target chlorophyll A &B (660nm&430nm),then adding a 115cm uvb reptile t5 a 115cm uva aquarium t5 and some IR led bulbs + two HO t5 for the fuck of it. All will be wired up to one reflective aluminium panel/sheet. RUNNING TWO 1,8 X 1,2 X 0.8 METER TENTS ,ONE FLOWERING AND ONE VEGGING.im only refering to the flowering tent in this post and wanting any where from 400 to 600 watts max actual power being used from socket for the lighting. Any thoughts or suggestions will be much appreciated, i can afford the apaches,lumitex,California Lightworks and all those super expensive brands but just don't see the purpose for a guy just growing a couple plants.Don't like HIDS for meany reasons including a bulb explosion close to my face so don't be suggesting those
Check out other peoples grows and see if you liked the results. I'm new too and I just got some cheap LEDs for the one I just started. How many plants are you trying to fit in that space?
So what'd you decide to do? If you know how to make your own light I've seen some Cob led tutorials that look pretty sweet. I actually just purchased an Amare, I should be getting it in a few weeks Sent from my iPhone using Grasscity Forum mobile app
Ive gone the DIY way lights= 2x 1m by 15cm actively cooled aluminum heatsink with 3 x cxb3590 3500k cd bin on each heatsink (6 in total) driven at 1.4 milli amps(300watts) by 2 x HLG-120H-C1400's @ 93.5% efficiency. All have lidel angelina reflectors except the middle cob of each heatsink. 2 x 115cm HO t5 uvb/uva reptile tubes (with reflectors). 1 x 1m(L) by 4 cm(W) aluminium sheet/bar with 15 far red monos alternating between oslon ssl 80's and cree xp 660's Will be doing a journal soon on RIU, people seem to be friendlier there lol.
I've also just purchased two Amare SE450+UVB LED Panels. Spoke to them a couple of times and cannot say enough about their customer service. Very excited for the upgrade. Looking forward to seeing other people's results with their HID LED panels as well as sharing my own.