Hempstar 3 Stage LED Grow

I did email Victor, the guy selling the Blackstar to me- itshiped so woill let you know what it looks like..He says the chips are al 3 w in this model and "
Thanks for your order and your question. Yes, the LEDs are all 3w in this light, we do not carry lights that are a combination of both, it's either all 1w, all 2w or all 3w. With this light you're guaranteed the best penetration. I'm actually surprised there are "mixed" review out there on this light, lol, shouldn't be anything but good. This is a very impressive light, the important thing to keep in mind is the coverage area - 3x2 (6sf) as long as you stick to these numbers you should be happy with the results produced."
Vic
So Vic is on the hook- I am close enough to pay a visit...lol

Its a fine light, I have a couple of them...either on their own or with HID you can't go wrong.

Devilspawn said:

I did email Victor, the guy selling the Blackstar to me- itshiped so woill let you know what it looks like..He says the chips are al 3 w in this model and "
Thanks for your order and your question. Yes, the LEDs are all 3w in this light, we do not carry lights that are a combination of both, it's either all 1w, all 2w or all 3w. With this light you're guaranteed the best penetration. I'm actually surprised there are "mixed" review out there on this light, lol, shouldn't be anything but good. This is a very impressive light, the important thing to keep in mind is the coverage area - 3x2 (6sf) as long as you stick to these numbers you should be happy with the results produced."
Vic
So Vic is on the hook- I am close enough to pay a visit...lol

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Well gents I wish you many happy grows with your LED's. Maybe I should clear the air because I've ripped on Blackstar. If I had $250 to buy a light, I'd consider Blackstar and I have never made any comments that they wouldn't work, only that I wish they were straight up about their marketing. The only person I've heard do a full grow with them hasn't weighed in yet but figures he got 2.5 to 3 oz off a 240W Blackstar. I think it was his first grow and not like it was a failure or anything but hard to say what their potential is and quite frankly I'm hoping to pull way more grams per watt....but wouldn't we all like to They seem to be a cheap light and produce smokable bud and that's not a bad thing

Would really like to get a bunch of people together all running different manufacturers of LED's, pick a common strain, pick a common medium and have a grow off and see what pulls what. I know there is lots of room for error and differences and it wouldn't exactly be an unbiased, double-blind, independantly monitored...blah...blah....blah.....but who cares. Beats just bitching from behind our keyboards

Hudson, you got access to Super Lemon Haze? I'm gonna track that down for my next grow so if anyone wants to jump in the game get looking.....lol

We got buds....holy dyna.....little buds everywhere.....and check out the trichomes on these baby buds.

This is day 17 of flower.

Took a pic with the flash on to get a feel for how green the plants are under natural light

Nice pics! Lookin real good.

medicine21 said:

Nice pics! Lookin real good.

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Thanks bud, I feel the same way but I might be biased

Just picked up some Liquid Cool Bloom to help in flower....anyone tried this?

So how many watts total u have and ur room is 4x4 right? i m going with 4x 240w LEDs for my 4x4 tent..

That will be freaking awesome

Rhyma said:

So how many watts total u have and ur room is 4x4 right? i m going with 4x 240w LEDs for my 4x4 tent..

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yeah i rekon so.. going to hav 2 4x4 tents! going to have mother plants, take clone and stick in a aero propagater untill rooted under a t5 then move to a areoflo in the flowering tent under the 1k of led.. my only question atm is how many clones do i do u think? i was thinking tring to fit a 20 and 10 aeroflo units in so i fill the whole floor space... Trying to just run a cycle so i harvest every 9 weeks!

The blackstar did show up- 80 lights- bright as hell when I plugged it in. If I take the back off,any wayto confirm they are indeed the Cree chips? EE not my thing-but am dangerous with a screw driver. I stayed on the chemical side...lol I'll post pics in my journal once I have it in the cab and up and going.

Well, sales rep never returned my email..

But when looking at the Bridgelux site, there's a "buy on-line" link.. Digi-Key, Farnell, and Newark. Already know what Digi-Key has, and Farnell was by country.. so chose Newark:

http://www.newark.com/jsp/search/browse.jsp?N=401+500003+1001181&Ntk=PLS_MAN_BRAND_NAME&Ntt=BRIDGELUX&Ntx=

Cool White
Natural White
Warm White


Either they're using all whites, whites and blues.. or counterfits without knowing it. And if they are all whites, well.. not false advertising, as their site doesn't actually mention what colours or wavelengths they do cover.. just that it's 11 wavelengths, and that "in addition some white light and UV light has been generally considered to be beneficial to overall plant health (the UV spectrum prevents mould growth)."

http://357magled.3dcartstores.com/grow_marijuana_LED.html

So, "if" they are using just whites, or whites and blues.. and it works.. then why is everyone obsessed with coloured led's?

Curious, as I'm building my own, and want to know which way to go

I tried, it ends up the electrical LED components are sealed in with silicon (i suppose) sealant. There is a pretty sturdy piece of what I suppose is aluminum that acts for heat dissipation I suppose, although I find it difficult to feel any significant difference in the exhaust air's temperature compared to grow room temp. There is a screw on the side that has been filled with epoxy to keep most from opening the casing. I loosened it with a pair of good pliers if you are so intent on opening it. I can promise that nothing immediately telling is on the inside.

I don't think I'd pull it apart and risk f'ing up your light. Hudson took some pics of his apart and was very hard to see much except that there was no heat sink and there's some debate about whether that matters or not. LED's actually run fairly cool as long as they're not being overdriven so who knows!

At this point I'm of the "shut up and dance" opinion...lol. Let's put them over plants and see what happens.

As for the question about coverage. One 357 easily covers a 3 by 4 ft area and I bought two as I was planning on covering a 6 by 4ft area. The issue I have is that the strain I am running doesn't stretch much when triggered apparently. Also I didn't repot into larger pots to generate a large root structure and a bigger plant before flowering so I don't think my garden will end up that big so I am overlighting right now. Probably won't give me great grams per watt but no turning back now

My next round is Purple Kush and I know that strain well so will get it dialed in a bit better in the mean time I'll run the wheels off this one

dunit said:

......

As for the question about coverage. One 357 easily covers a 3 by 4 ft area and I bought two as I was planning on covering a 6 by 4ft area. .....

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I saw the post/email about 3 being ideal for a 4'x8'. My flower box plans are 3.5' x 7'. Do you think 2 would be sufficient for 3.5'x7' then? Or 3 just to be sure I get good coverage/overlap? I suppose I could always do 2 now and 1 later, if I feel it is inadequate.

dunit said:

I don't think I'd pull it apart and risk f'ing up your light. Hudson took some pics of his apart and was very hard to see much except that there was no heat sink and there's some debate about whether that matters or not. LED's actually run fairly cool as long as they're not being overdriven so who knows!

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If you have any electronics experience at all, you won't fuck up your light just by opening it up. Warrantee is gone, but you won't fuck it up.

There's absolutely no debate about it... these damn led's get hot! I just got my 660nm's today.. tested with batteries, and burned my damn finger.. after ONLY 1 minute!




If you want your led's to last the 50,000 hours, or whatever they're rated for... use a heatsink. Telling people "it doesn't matter" is bad advice. And if your panel has 3w diodes.. a hell of a lot more heat with 700mA than at 350mA that my 1w units use.

If you want to learn about these high powered led's, then listen to the community who have a few more years experience with them than us growers.

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=1587273


Even the guy at ledgrow.eu uses a metal panel to mount his stars.. that acts as a heatsink.



Cheers

Spuzzum

Spuzzum said:

If you have any electronics experience at all, you won't fuck up your light just by opening it up. Warrantee is gone, but you won't fuck it up.

There's absolutely no debate about it... these damn led's get hot! I just got my 660nm's today.. tested with batteries, and burned my damn finger.. after ONLY 1 minute!

If you want your led's to last the 50,000 hours, or whatever they're rated for... use a heatsink. Telling people "it doesn't matter" is bad advice. And if your panel has 3w diodes.. a hell of a lot more heat with 700mA than at 350mA that my 1w units use.

If you want to learn about these high powered led's, then listen to the community who have a few more years experience with them than us growers.

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=1587273


Even the guy at ledgrow.eu uses a metal panel to mount his stars.. that acts as a heatsink.



Cheers

Spuzzum

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Holy f Spuzzum....thank you...thank you. Everytime I mention that heat sinks are there for a reason I get slaughtered by the Blackstar boys....lol

Who make your 660nm's? Don't tell me its CREE

rasputin71 said:

I saw the post/email about 3 being ideal for a 4'x8'. My flower box plans are 3.5' x 7'. Do you think 2 would be sufficient for 3.5'x7' then? Or 3 just to be sure I get good coverage/overlap? I suppose I could always do 2 now and 1 later, if I feel it is inadequate.

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I would bet you'd be happy as hell with 2 over 3.5 by 7. For sure you would get more weight running three but there is the law of diminishing returns and you would probably get more yield just running the third one over its own grow area. Remember that these units use 60 degree lenses to get the good penetration but it means you have to hang them a bit higher to get the footprint. I'm at 12" and I think I'm risking bleaching with the intensity at the top of the plant and I think 15-18" is gonna be the sweet spot.

dunit said:

I would bet you'd be happy as hell with 2 over 3.5 by 7. For sure you would get more weight running three but there is the law of diminishing returns and you would probably get more yield just running the third one over its own grow area. Remember that these units use 60 degree lenses to get the good penetration but it means you have to hang them a bit higher to get the footprint. I'm at 12" and I think I'm risking bleaching with the intensity at the top of the plant and I think 15-18" is gonna be the sweet spot.

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Sweet, 2 of them sounds a lot more affordable than 3, if I go this/led route.

Spuzzum said:

So, "if" they are using just whites, or whites and blues.. and it works.. then why is everyone obsessed with coloured led's?

Curious, as I'm building my own, and want to know which way to go

Click to expand...

I think the point of LED's is to focus on the spectrums of light absorbed by Chlorophyll A & B which is pretty much only the blue and red portions of the spectrum. White light contains all the colors and thus there is an element of waste. I'm not a scientist by any stretch but I believe that's the idea.

HPS is actually more efficient at producing light than LED's but a large amount of their output is in the range not used by plants so their PAR efficiency (light used in photosynthesis) is lower. If you used LED's that produced the same spectrum as HID you'd be using a less efficient light producer and a less efficient light so a double whammy.