Looking for a quick answer on LED light

[JSB99]

It's been a few years since I was looking at LED lights. I'm ready to make the move, but there's too much info out there, and too many to choose from.

I'm looking for a 1000w hps equivalent to cover a 5x5 footprint.

What average priced light would you recommend?

What high-end light would you recommend?

I know it's a broad topic, but I'm looking for a place to start looking based on experience

Thanks

 

[ilovereggae]

It's been a few years since I was looking at LED lights. I'm ready to make the move, but there's too much info out there, and too many to choose from.

I'm looking for a 1000w hps equivalent to cover a 5x5 footprint.

What average priced light would you recommend?

What high-end light would you recommend?

I know it's a broad topic, but I'm looking for a place to start looking based on experience

Thanks

I am a big fan of HLG. Most of the current generation PCB board style leds that are using the Samsung LM561c or LM301b/h chips are copies of their designs. They also are a US company and have great customer service.

Are you willing to do DIY? Or do you want something you can just plug in? Here is their top premade lamp atm.

HLG 550 V2 Rspec

High Efficiency Commercial Indoor Horticulture LED grow light designed to replace a single-ended 1000watt HID with just 490 Watts. 1257 PPF @ 2.6PPF/W. Full-spectrum. Reliable passive-cooled design. Powered by Samsung LM301H LED and Deep Red LED 660nm

horticulturelightinggroup.com

You can save some $ if you build your own tho. Check out their kits page.

If you check out the DIY with Quantum boards thread on here there is all you need to know. But it is @ 700 pages long lol. I am currently building my own similar fixture but using 8 of the v1 boards on custom heatsinks w 2) 240W drivers for a 5x4 space.

 

[fragileassassin]

Yep, something like the hlg 550/600 are good options. Most things with samsung 561 or 301 diodes are good choices.
+1 for the DIY though, it is pretty straight forward to assemble if you get a kit. If you know any electrical theory and can wrap your head around the numbers, you can save a good bit of money sourcing your own parts. Lots of diy options with led boards, strips, and cobs.

but a quality 600w LED is supposed to be enough for a 5x5. I have 1300w over my 6x10

 

[JSB99]

I am a big fan of HLG. Most of the current generation PCB board style leds that are using the Samsung LM561c or LM301b/h chips are copies of their designs. They also are a US company and have great customer service.

Are you willing to do DIY? Or do you want something you can just plug in? Here is their top premade lamp atm.

HLG 550 V2 Rspec

High Efficiency Commercial Indoor Horticulture LED grow light designed to replace a single-ended 1000watt HID with just 490 Watts. 1257 PPF @ 2.6PPF/W. Full-spectrum. Reliable passive-cooled design. Powered by Samsung LM301H LED and Deep Red LED 660nm

horticulturelightinggroup.com

You can save some $ if you build your own tho. Check out their kits page.

If you check out the DIY with Quantum boards thread on here there is all you need to know. But it is @ 700 pages long lol. I am currently building my own similar fixture but using 8 of the v1 boards on custom heatsinks w 2) 240W drivers for a 5x4 space.

Yep, I'm an avid DIY'er and had designed a 16 x Cree 3950 light a few years ago. I just didn't have the money to build it at the time. I was thinking that prices have probably come down quite a bit, and maybe they were cheap enough to just buy, and save me the trouble. I'll take a look at the HLG's, and see what the difference in price is, compared to building my own.

Thanks for the feedback

 

[JSB99]

That HLG is $850, so it looks like I'll probably be building my own, LOL! I can afford the HLG, but I'm not ready to shell out that much when I know I can build it cheaper myself.

 

[twalte]

I just finished going through the research to replace a 1000 watt HID in a 5x5. I’d start by understanding the different types of LED lights.

Which LED Grow Lights Are Best for Growing Cannabis? | Grow Weed Easy

Learn how much heat, electricity and yields to expect with LED grow lights, and learn which LED companies test their lights on real cannabis plants!

www.growweedeasy.com

I ordered three of these....It’s 930 watts of power from the wall when you use three.

Run 3 of these at 930 watts

Model 3VL

This three (3) COB LED light fixture features Bridgelux Vero29 COBs and a Meanwell driver. Remote driver placement helps with managing heat and custom color temperatures are available. Designed and engineered to cover a 2 x 4 coverage area for full cycle/flowering.

timbergrowlights.com

Or 1 of these at 930 watts

Fatty VS

This high output nine (9) COB LED grow light fixture features Bridgelux Vero29 COBs and three (3) Meanwell drivers for maximum uptime. Remote driver placement helps with managing heat and custom color temperatures are available. Innovative design engineered to cover a 5 x 5 coverage area with...

timbergrowlights.com

I also liked the Nextlight Mega at 650 watts from the wall

NextLight Mega LED Grow Light

Part of the Commercial Series the NextLight Mega produces a high intensity full spectrum light designed to efficiently replace any DE 1000w HPS on the market. This bright white LED grow light was named “Mega” not for its size but for the increased product

nextlight.com

You have a lot of options in LED, and a lot of different styles to choose from.

 

[JSB99]

I just finished going through the research to replace a 1000 watt HID in a 5x5. I’d start by understanding the different types of LED lights.

Which LED Grow Lights Are Best for Growing Cannabis? | Grow Weed Easy

Learn how much heat, electricity and yields to expect with LED grow lights, and learn which LED companies test their lights on real cannabis plants!

www.growweedeasy.com

I ordered three of these....It’s 930 watts of power from the wall when you use three.

Run 3 of these at 930 watts

Model 3VL

This three (3) COB LED light fixture features Bridgelux Vero29 COBs and a Meanwell driver. Remote driver placement helps with managing heat and custom color temperatures are available. Designed and engineered to cover a 2 x 4 coverage area for full cycle/flowering.

timbergrowlights.com

Or 1 of these at 930 watts

Fatty VS

This high output nine (9) COB LED grow light fixture features Bridgelux Vero29 COBs and three (3) Meanwell drivers for maximum uptime. Remote driver placement helps with managing heat and custom color temperatures are available. Innovative design engineered to cover a 5 x 5 coverage area with...

timbergrowlights.com

I also liked the Nextlight Mega at 650 watts from the wall

NextLight Mega LED Grow Light

Part of the Commercial Series the NextLight Mega produces a high intensity full spectrum light designed to efficiently replace any DE 1000w HPS on the market. This bright white LED grow light was named “Mega” not for its size but for the increased product

nextlight.com

You have a lot of options in LED, and a lot of different styles to choose from.

Awesome! Thanks!

 

[fragileassassin]

Quantum board is just the coined name of the led boards hlg offers. It's become something of the norm to just call any boards QBs.
Meanwell drivers are pretty much the go to for any diy led application.
I run 16 boards on 4 320w meanwell drivers.

 

[JSB99]

I just finished going through the research to replace a 1000 watt HID in a 5x5. I’d start by understanding the different types of LED lights.

Which LED Grow Lights Are Best for Growing Cannabis? | Grow Weed Easy

Learn how much heat, electricity and yields to expect with LED grow lights, and learn which LED companies test their lights on real cannabis plants!

www.growweedeasy.com

I ordered three of these....It’s 930 watts of power from the wall when you use three.

Run 3 of these at 930 watts

Model 3VL

This three (3) COB LED light fixture features Bridgelux Vero29 COBs and a Meanwell driver. Remote driver placement helps with managing heat and custom color temperatures are available. Designed and engineered to cover a 2 x 4 coverage area for full cycle/flowering.

timbergrowlights.com

Or 1 of these at 930 watts

Fatty VS

This high output nine (9) COB LED grow light fixture features Bridgelux Vero29 COBs and three (3) Meanwell drivers for maximum uptime. Remote driver placement helps with managing heat and custom color temperatures are available. Innovative design engineered to cover a 5 x 5 coverage area with...

timbergrowlights.com

I also liked the Nextlight Mega at 650 watts from the wall

NextLight Mega LED Grow Light

Part of the Commercial Series the NextLight Mega produces a high intensity full spectrum light designed to efficiently replace any DE 1000w HPS on the market. This bright white LED grow light was named “Mega” not for its size but for the increased product

nextlight.com

You have a lot of options in LED, and a lot of different styles to choose from.

My design was similar to the 930 watt COB led. I'll be going back to my designs, and updating the driver and COB led's. The built ones are still pretty expensive, so I'm definitely going to be building my own.

 

[JSB99]

Those AutoCOBs look really cool! Opinions?

I'll have to compare my 12 - 16 COB array to buying the equivalent number of autoCOBs

 

[fragileassassin]

DIY Guides - LED Gardener

A collection of DIY projects and articles for the aspiring LED gardener, from selecting COBs and matching drivers to building space buckets and grow tents.

ledgardener.com

Most of that is still pretty relevant. I haven't seen much about better drivers over the last couple years. All the fundamentals are still the same. I'm sure there are some better diodes available now though.

 

[JSB99]

I was playing a lot with 3D graphics when I was designing these, so it seemed only fitting LOL

Here is my 4 x 4-COB LED design

and this is my 2 x 8-COB LED design

I probably won't make it all pretty, like I was initially going to do in the images, but I think I'm still going to build the 4 individual COBs, which I'll be able to have one of each over 4 plants, in a 5'x5' tent. If 16-COB LEDs is way overboard, I could build 4 x 3-COB led triangles, to have over each plant.

Of course, I could also build a single 12 or 16-COB LED array, but for some reason, years ago when I was designing this, I moved away from that. Probably because separating them gives move flexibility to be moved, or raised and lowered.

 

[Hust17]

The only answers here are Timbers Fatty, 2x HLG550’s, or DIY. I would go Timber and never look back. 37w/sqft with a timber at a cost of about $1.30/W. yes please. And @RainDan will get you even better than that

 

[Boatguy]

The only answers here are Timbers Fatty, 2x HLG550’s, or DIY. I would go Timber and never look back. 37w/sqft with a timber at a cost of about $1.30/W. yes please. And @RainDan will get you even better than that

Too bad we dont have an option like https://growlightsaustralia.com/products/
Definately more where pricing should be for a board
Shipping would probably make it not worthwhile. Timber is the only solid light that is close stateside

 

[Hust17]

Too bad we dont have an option like https://growlightsaustralia.com/products/
Definately more where pricing should be for a board
Shipping would probably make it not worthwhile. Timber is the only solid light that is close stateside

I’ve heard people mention BC Blondes, but I haven’t looked into them so can’t say anything more.

edit: I don’t think i’d be satisfied with 680W in a 5x5.

 

[Boatguy]

I’ve heard people mention BC Blondes, but I haven’t looked into them so can’t say anything more.

They are at a higher pricepoint. Looks like a good product though

 

[JSB99]

I'm trying to figure out the closest Bridgelux alternative to the Cree CXB3590. I'm thinking it's the BXRC-35E4000-F-23 but it looks like there are some differences in the specs.

 

[JSB99]

After more looking around, I'm considering either 4 x Spider Farmer SF-1000's (one over each plant), or a single SF-4000. They are getting some good reviews. They seem to be equivalent to the HLGs.

How do Quantum Boards compare to COB LEDs?

 

[ilovereggae]

That HLG is $850, so it looks like I'll probably be building my own, LOL! I can afford the HLG, but I'm not ready to shell out that much when I know I can build it cheaper myself.

How do Quantum Boards compare to COB LEDs?

I'll let someone with more knowledge break down efficiency differences b/t COBs and QBs. My decision was based around QBs not needing the big heatsinks and active cooling.

Efficiency goes way up if you run the QBs at around 1/2 their rated wattage. Here is the cost for my DIY setup with 8 panels @ 60w each (each 4 panel fixture is covering a 2x4 space):

- 8 ) QB288 v1 @ $29 each (-10% coupon)= $225
- 2) Meanwell HLG240 drivers @ $65 = $140
- 2) Custom 300mm x 1000mm heatsinks = $90
- Misc wiring + wagos + cables = $45

total = @ $500 inc tax + shipping

Still cheaper than the Spider Farmer and US made. Not sure about SF but basic rule is dont expect a reliable warranty from China.

 

[fragileassassin]

After more looking around, I'm considering either 4 x Spider Farmer SF-1000's (one over each plant), or a single SF-4000. They are getting some good reviews. They seem to be equivalent to the HLGs.

How do Quantum Boards compare to COB LEDs?

You can get the same quality of light from either. They are just different form factors to achieve the same goal.
boards are nice for simplicity and ease of use, cobs will give you more options to customize and position every light exactly how you want it. Both can be really good or complete ass.

if they are legit samsung 301s and meanwell drivers, those seem like they would be a decent option. They probably arent as well binned diodes, but should work fairly well.

A lot of people forget. Meanwell is a Chinese company. Their headquarters is in Taiwan and their main locations are in mainland china.