How much LED watts needed for flowering 6-8 plants.
- Thread starter dy0nz
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Montanarobert1963
Member
I am almost ready to harvest 9 plants in square 5 gal pots placed in a 4.5ft x 4.5ft grow tent with a 320 watt full spectrum led....I soon realized that 1 light would not be enough to cover the jungle that 9 plants turned into. I added side lighting in the corners and now this is more than likely overkill another 320 watt led for a total of 860 watts on the killawatt meter.....let me say that it's producing very very wellwhat the topic saysi'm looking to get into LED. hate how hot HID is.
justugh
Well-Known Member
this is easy
how much space do u have ........
what strains are growing (small 120 gram plants big 300/500 gram plants )
i personal give my plants 1 1/2 feet squared to let the plant branch out but i grow big plants mostly 6 to 8 0z per plant is my normal
now depending on the maker of the light and what watt u are looking at is the number of lights u need
(all the lights have a core footprint and par rating as the par rating goes down the buds get fluffy )
the ones i am looking at are a 3x3 core the par ratings in that 3x3 area are good so i can use 2 lights to grow 4 plants (i like the over lapping the center cola is covered but that inner core of the tent is getting the same amount of light as it would be if the light was hanging over it)......u reduced your fluffy buds to as little as possible unless u invest in side lights
how much space do u have ........
what strains are growing (small 120 gram plants big 300/500 gram plants )
i personal give my plants 1 1/2 feet squared to let the plant branch out but i grow big plants mostly 6 to 8 0z per plant is my normal
now depending on the maker of the light and what watt u are looking at is the number of lights u need
(all the lights have a core footprint and par rating as the par rating goes down the buds get fluffy )
the ones i am looking at are a 3x3 core the par ratings in that 3x3 area are good so i can use 2 lights to grow 4 plants (i like the over lapping the center cola is covered but that inner core of the tent is getting the same amount of light as it would be if the light was hanging over it)......u reduced your fluffy buds to as little as possible unless u invest in side lights
anonymous13
Active Member
Which make LED panel are you using Montana Robert?
Montanarobert1963
Member
.
I'm using agromax professional from HTG supplies which if you look around it seems to be an Apollo 10 rebranded....either way they work a lot better than they get credit for on the forums because of them being the so called cheap china LEDs I haven't finished my grow to see what the weight is going to be but it's looking great to me
jijiandfarmgang
Well-Known Member
If you cant take the heat, get out of the kitchen.
Led's produce heat as well. Generally speaking, sure if you use a low watt led setup compared to a high powered HID, the HID is going to be a lot hotter......but the led is going to put out a lot less par light.
HID will put out more par light then leds per watt.
- Jiji
Edit - I shouldn't have made that blanket par statement, read below
Led's produce heat as well. Generally speaking, sure if you use a low watt led setup compared to a high powered HID, the HID is going to be a lot hotter......but the led is going to put out a lot less par light.
HID will put out more par light then leds per watt.
- Jiji
Edit - I shouldn't have made that blanket par statement, read below
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FranJan
Well-Known Member
^^^Watt for watt? Not true. HID's advantages over LED are many but that ain't one of 'em.
http://growershouse.com/images/ALTEST_infographic_1.pdf
And poorly designed budget LED panels made with inferior diodes will always make more heat than light.
rob333
Well-Known Member
a fucken lot lol a shit load i would rather buy a inline for 60 bucks to pull the heat from a 1000w bulb then wast 800 bucks on a bucket of shit hope that answers ya qustionwhat the topic says
jijiandfarmgang
Well-Known Member
For a more accurate comparison I would like to see the data from leds compared to interpolated data from gavita 1000 watt de hps
- Jiji
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rob333
Well-Known Member
i found a wikked graph on people that grow with leds it proves right here how good they are
Attachments
rob333
Well-Known Member
as u can see 1= people that grow with hps mh and t5 10=the people that grow with leds and cfl
jijiandfarmgang
Well-Known Member
Also Just trying to set the record straight here.
If your going by their par/watts ratio the data it is garbage. I'll explain why. I'm actually surprised they published it like that, but then again who are they?
If you notice the data points on the led light panels such as the kind, in the very center is a very high par reading. What seems to be leds strong point in par. Then as you get towards the 4x4 footprint it rapidly diminishes.
Then if you look at the HPS that they compared, it doesn't diminish at nearly the same rate.
Now take into consideration that they took 33 equivalent weighted readings (8 for every ft), and 1 for the center
To get their par/watts ratio they just added up the 33 readings then divided by watts.
To get a real comparison, you would have to figure out avg of par over a set area, such as 4x4 foot print. This does not account for that.
Using their math the 8 data points at 1x1 are weighted the same as the 8 data points of a 4x4, when there is a much more area in between the 4x4 data points.
If the rate of loss is linear I suppose you could interpolate data, and it would be easy to figure out, I dunno I'm tired.
- Jiji
SnapsProvolone
Well-Known Member
LED = Not there yet. Only use imo is not cheap Chinese crap, and only in mini cabs. May as well buy weed.
FranJan
Well-Known Member
Not trying to win an argument or set the record straight actually. I agree the data I used is a bit shaky and those LED panels are shite actually. I just wanted to show that blanket statements about LEDs are usually incorrect more than anything. Data from say an ApacheTech 600 or an Illumitex DS that produce astonishingly consistent output throughout their coverage areas or data from Purdue's recent studies would of been more germaine to "winning", whatever though, I hate debating and arguing in this format and I totally see what you're saying. May I make a suggestion? You should check these threads out and talk to this grower who more closely speaks your language
. He may change the way you see LEDs and HPS relationship to one another. Or not .http://rollitup.org/t/greengenes-garden.839682/#post-10747139
http://rollitup.org/t/apache-at600-led-vs-1000w-hps-blue-dream-grow.813412/
jijiandfarmgang
Well-Known Member
I'll read into those.
Yeah I'll admit I shouldn't have made that PAR statement.
I still don't recommend leds as they lack intensity and don't have a good cost/benefit ratio.
- Jiji
Yeah I'll admit I shouldn't have made that PAR statement.
I still don't recommend leds as they lack intensity and don't have a good cost/benefit ratio.
- Jiji
kangosna745
Well-Known Member
You can get 200-250 watt panels on Amazon for less than $200 each and they will cover one good size plant or two smaller ones, good thing about them is that they haven't seemed to lose intensity over the last year which is something my HID using friends tell me they experience. I've never used HID, just been rocking the LED's since their infancy and I have to admit that even the cheap ones have come along way. I've posted some pictures in the Gage Green thread on here of a few strains all run out under LED, they are all within the last 3 or 4 pages of the post right now if you wanna take a peek. Having to hang up my gardening gloves due to temporary relocation so all I will have to do the next year is shoot the shit and grow vicariously through others so be sure to keep a good journal along the way.
purplegrower02
Well-Known Member
Not sure what piece of crap panels you guys have been looking at but good leds can not be beat. And when you see someone say they don't have good penetration they have never witnessed a good high powered led in person.
P.s. listen to nothing rob says it's all b.s
P.s. listen to nothing rob says it's all b.s
swagslayer420
Well-Known Member
For 6-8 plants you are gonna need a 4x4 area with 400 to 700 watts of led's (actual power draw) to flower with nice solid buds anything less your buds will be fluffy usually want 30-45w sqft for flower.
dandyrandy
Well-Known Member
I use 150 measured watts time 4 fixtures. Chinese. I''m 
very happy.
very happy.
swagslayer420
Well-Known Member
Led's are here to stay and progress, Cree xte, xml, cob's, 3590's, bridgelux, Osram ssl 80's, illumitex, LG to name a few. H.I.D has its place and is tried and tested but has peaked they just started rolling out DE HPS bulbs but at the end of the day when you buy led you save on power, Hvac an have leds that last 50,000 hours and still emit 90% par after 40,000+ hrs. me personally I like both can the complement each other well.