Difference between high and low quality lights?

[Murphyball]

I hear a bunch of talk and complaints about low quality lighting... So I have to ask, what is the real difference between a high quality LED setup and a low quality one?

Is it just mainly in the LED's themselves? Poor quality is some no-name china import where high quality leds are brand names like Luxeon and Cree?

Is it something to do with the heat exchange system?

Frame and mounting?

What about power supplies? Are the no-name china power supplies as reliable as everything else? I heard a line in a Hollywood movie one time "Russian Components, American Components, All made in Taiwan!" There's truth to that.

Or is it something more technical in nature such as the chosen wavelengths and ratios used?

 

[hyroot]

leds low bin or high bin
fans
heat sync
pcb board
wiring
drivers
how hard or soft the leds are driven. too hard they fail due to frying themselves. softer is better. lower mA

 

[SupraSPL]

Yep the difference between top bin Cree VS no name chinese chips is the difference between awesome results and poorer than fluoro results.

 

[midgetaus]

leds low bin or high bin
fans
heat sync
pcb board
wiring
drivers
how hard or soft the leds are driven. too hard they fail due to frying themselves. softer is better. lower mA

Dont the Area 51 led run close to capacity?

 

[dtrip]

Dont the Area 51 led run close to capacity?

Well, its nothing wrong to run something close to its capacity. Its what they are made and tested for, but on this forum people are chasing max efficiancy (nothing wrong with that).
The CREE CXA3050 is made to run at 2,5mA, running it at 1,6mA is already low. Running it at low capacity means they can have passive instead of active cooling.

 

[midgetaus]

Well, its nothing wrong to run something close to its capacity. Its what they are made and tested for, but on this forum people are chasing max efficiancy (nothing wrong with that).
The CREE CXA3050 is made to run at 2,5mA, running it at 1,6mA is already low. Running it at low capacity means they can have passive instead of active cooling.

Im not worried about it running at capacity but as they are the LED im probably going to buy that makes me wonder about longevity....

 

[Mellodrama]

Dont the Area 51 led run close to capacity?

Correct me if I'm wrong here, but voltage X current equals watts, right?

I looked up the Cree .pdf for the XTE's used in the A-51 XGS. According to Cree, the XTE's maximum current is 1.5A. Maximum voltage is 3.4V. There are 72 XTE's in an Area-51 XGS.

Maximum current (1.5A) X Maximum voltage (3.4V) = 5.1W dissipated at each diode. 5.1 X 72 = 367.2W. Since the XGS only goes to 190W, then the obvious answer is "NO". A-51 doesn't drive their LED's anywhere close to capacity.

Unless I used the numbers incorrectly and came to the wrong conclusion, they've engineered a generous buffer into the light. Furthermore, unlike most of the other vendors such as topLED and etc., they're not advertising the XGS190 as an "XGS370".

I didn't bother to do the math for the SGS. I'm certain that it's also being driven conservatively.

 

[midgetaus]

Correct me if I'm wrong here, but voltage X current equals watts, right?

I looked up the Cree .pdf for the XTE's used in the A-51 XGS. According to Cree, the XTE's maximum current is 1.5A. Maximum voltage is 3.4V. There are 72 XTE's in an Area-51 XGS.

Maximum current (1.5A) X Maximum voltage (3.4V) = 5.1W dissipated at each diode. 5.1 X 72 = 367.2W. Since the XGS only goes to 190W, then the obvious answer is "NO". A-51 doesn't drive their LED's anywhere close to capacity.

Unless I used the numbers incorrectly and came to the wrong conclusion, they've engineered a generous buffer into the light. Furthermore, unlike most of the other vendors such as topLED and etc., they're not advertising the XGS190 as an "XGS370".

I didn't bother to do the math for the SGS. I'm certain that it's also being driven conservatively.

Thanks mate...

 

[IGROWLED]

Lower quality led grow lights often use inferior generic components. The catch though is lights built with top quality brands such as CREE LED's are far more expensive to produce which naturally makes them cost substantially more to buy. If the more expensive light lasts twice as long then its well worth the higher price tag. A good example is this Elite led grow light that is built with top brand components and would probably run 2-3x longer than a generic counterpart. http://www.evolutiongrowled.com/shop-evolution.html#!/~/product/category=0&id=33986597 It comes down to the quality of the components used, Which ranges from the led's to the drivers, to the heat sink to even yes the spectrum's used. Basically it boils down to getting what you pay for.