Terpenefreak
Member
I dont know about these strip lights them buds look like what i get with my hps on side branching, could anyone tell me if im not bothered about saving electric is It worth me even trying leds?
First run using strips. What yall think?
- Thread starter foreverflyhi
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Terpenefreak
Member
Hi mate would you change from led to hps if electric consumption wasnt an issue? Im looking at changing my set Up and even for a cheap knockoff solution its about 2000 € for my set Up if i go with strips about 1300€ if i go with qb's ... My question is am i better of just buying good hps bulbs or even a MH set and sticking to old school proven or do you think i Will gain yield from transitioning to led? Bare in mind i already pull about 1g /watt on my known strains. I want to get rid of my set Up because its 10 year old and by now its probably a fire hazzard but im a bit reluctant on spending so much money on lights that wont at least equal my actual yield ... Any input apreciated greetings from Spain
coreywebster
Well-Known Member
Around 60% of us using LED came from HPS and are long time growers.
Probably 90% never go back to HPS.
I would say on average 1.3-1.5gpw with some lower and some higher.
LED is not the only way to improve on light output though, with DE cmh and DE HPS available for more reasonable prices.
Terpenefreak
Member
Would you advise to get qb's instead of strips to minimize cost? I mean my only realistic option right now would be to get 10 x 240w qb's from geeklight to cover 50sq foot area would that be enough you reckon to still be able to pull it off or should I just go with a cmh for now and save up for a few strip lights?
Rocket Soul
Well-Known Member
Hello fellow spain-dweller...
Changing from hps to leds:
- First of all nobody says you can only use one of them, but it is easier due to climate: leds like heat, +26C and hps is better lower than 25C.
- yields: dont look at pics on the internet, it wont tell you anything: HPS buds have a lot more water in them (due to IR) than led buds. A pound of led bud looks like half a pound of hps buds. G/w can go up very drastically due to being able to light your grow at 60% power. Yields per m: if your already at 1/w w hps you wont yield so much more; maybe 100-150g more per meter if you have perfect grow game, and dont get stuck in the idea of growing like you were before with hps, its simply different and most people have a bit of a learning curve and dont like their first grow with leds, coming from hps. HPS is easy to grow with if you can control your temps. With leds you sorta have control your whole climate, keep temps up (no joke, temps need to be between 26-30C) and keep you RH in ranges most people wont use due to mold risk.
- id say its defo worth the hassle to try out leds, especially with heat going up every year here and how it gets more and more complicated powering a high wattage hps grow without resorting to stealing power. Currently we (soft) veg our 12m2 with about 600w and flower with about 4000w. The last guy i set up wiith leds came from similar numbers as yours (g/w) and got 1.8g/w on his first run with leds, using 600w as max power over a 4x4.
Rocket Soul
Well-Known Member
Are you inn an open space or with reflective walls? The wattage is more than enough.
Cmh and leds play nice together: they can grow in more or less the same temps. In winter we allways have a few cmh, for heat..
Terpenefreak
Member
Cheers man you really have given me the final push to order my lights I'm looking forward to the challenge, what R/H the room needs to be for LEDs? And thank you for your time by the way
Terpenefreak
Member
It's a 3metre x 3 metre room with another 2x2 room next to it ceilings are 2.1 metres high, I do have reflective walls I currently run 4x 600w hps and a 600w in the small room I suppose I could pack the room more but I like having space to move around and do my stuff, I have all the air con and dehumidifier set up already so I shouldn't think it would be a problem to keep a happy environment for the plants, any advice is welcome gromie
mauricem00
Well-Known Member
LEDs require a different growing style then HIDS but once you learn to grow with them you should do O.K
eyderbuddy
Well-Known Member
i know this is a somewhat old post, but if you wanna maximize spread and even-ness then you gotta distribute the lights opposite to what's going on in that picture.
(focus on the edges, instead of the center) Light naturally gathers in the center of the light and drops as you reach the edges... You've probably noticed the massive hotspot you should have in the center by now
Gond00s
Well-Known Member
Surprisingly it’s not really bad it’s quite even in light I would like to say the light is pretty good covers a 2x4 very good and a 3x5 good to so it’s did it’s job nice
Rocket Soul
Well-Known Member
Id probably start with the smaller room, maybe 2 x 240kits over a m2. But it being kind of roomy: you could make a strip build yourself if you are handy and like to learn. The strip builds (or lights) have a strong point: you get really good spread and you can slam down your light right onto the cannopy which means losing less light to the walls. A lot of people credit leds for the efficiency but i really think the major benefit is being able to spread the light with high and even intensity.
On environment: remember you will not really have to worry about too much heat, rather too little. You should really read up on vapour pressure deficit which is the the influence of heat and humidity on the the transpiration. Cold lights, like leds, which have little infra red have a bit of a problem with this: the plant wont drink as much as normally so you really have to tweak environment to get them to transpire properly. Lower limit on temps, 26-27c, best not to go lower when your in flower, rh: starting flower around 60-65 and taper downwards towards 40-45 in the end.
CMH is a great light aswell, i took us several runs before the leds beat the cmh per plate, even though cmh took a far bit more power.
Terpenefreak
Member
Yeah i've been reading on here and people are advising to do Led CMH combo to get round that enviroment issue and i was thinking of giving It a go, this summer has been extremely hot and its been a challenge so far to keep the temps on point plus my set Up as i say is probably a fire hazzard by todays standards , i run 600w lamps anyway too so id think id get maybe a bit more yield from the led CMH combo from similar wattage as well by what i've read on here so It looks the most atractive option i've seen Up to now, im trying to find out what are the mounting distance from canopy from both CMH and led but i havent really got a clear answer tbh i Guess ill just have to give It a go see what happens, was thinking on getting 4x 315w CMH 4x320w led for the big room and just have either a 480 or 2x 240w led in small room, i might even get away with doing 240w leds thru out instead of the 320w dont know im just now trying to figure It all out . I have looked into DIY strips but im not really an electrician and its quite a bit of money to spend without knowing exactly what It is you are buying, i was looking at greengeenes gardens chanel and was quite Up for It but once i seen what the cost would be for my set Up and products taking ages to reestock i just knocked It on the head and turned towards a plug and play, maybe in the future once i've had a few grows with led and i understand It a lot better ill give It a go but for now all i want to do is retire my old hps lamps with a sistem that i aint got to worry will go on fire and maybe improve my enviroment quality to gain a bit extra final yield if posible...
Rocket Soul
Well-Known Member
2400w of led+cmh is defo overkill.
Hanging height of cmh depends on the reflector/hood but can be quite low.
Hanging height of cmh depends on the reflector/hood but can be quite low.
Terpenefreak
Member
Yeah i've read as close as 20 inch in late flower so yeah i think im going to go with 4x 315cmh and 4x240w leds lm301h that would be 555w per 1,2 X 1,2 m leaving enough for me to get round to do some work and feed them... As for the small room i think ill Sort It out once i get some loot and ill just run a 600w hps in there that way i can compare yields as well on this Next run and take some notes as they will all be the same strain grown on a SOG system, with the reduce of Heat ill be able to really hit optimal temps too so It Will be a true Led CMH combo vs 600w hps
Terpenefreak
Member
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Terpenefreak
Member
Is this even worth looking into? Lol
Terpenefreak
Member
She sent me this with It but i dont have a clue what im looking at and she said recently they have just improved the efficency this month
Terpenefreak
Member
I cant get the PDF file on here with all the specs
