HPS VS COB VS QB

Hello, (TL;DR and company posted specs at the bottom.)

Before we get started I want to make sure we're all on the same page. I'm not comparing a single quantum board with a single cob with a single hps. I want to compare how well each would produce at the same wattage, or at what wattage would I see similar results?

I have a 4x8 that I currently flower in, a 8x8 that needs to be set up still, and another 4x8 on the way. Currently I'm using cobs from Aglex, and just ordered their newer 200w quantum boards. The cobs pull around 450 watts each, currently I'm using one cob per 4x4 footprint of the 8x4, and it's not producing enough to be frank.

Now, I'm not going to let this get me down, as I said I just ordered 2 quantum boards, and I have a third cob light that I can set up as well. My question however, is how many quantum boards or cobbs would I have to set up to compete with a 1000w single hps fixture when it comes to bud production?

The energy efficiency for LEDS is definitely appealing, but it's actually not needing to worry too much about produced heat that really sold LEDS for me. Quantum boards from the same company are claiming that they produce as well as the cobs that are about twice the wattage as well.

As a disclaimer, the quantum boards I ordered haven't arrived yet so I don't know how big they are. I'm not sure how many I can fit in a single 4x8 tent. I'm sort of hoping that I can get away with running 1000 watts in the 4x8 with quantum boards and produce bigger, or more buds than comparing with a hps at that point, or at least equal.

Anyways, thoughts?

TL;DR:
I want to find out how many lights I need to be competitive with a 1000w hps bulb per 4x4 area. I do not have specs for HPS, just trying to get an idea of how much of either I need to get what I'm aiming for, or close to it.

Specs: (Company posted)
Quantum board
COB LED

If your going to use Alibaba go check the Chinese QB thread and use the suppliers thay everyone else is or just buy genuine QBs.

Agylex are not a good brand. They are telling you a their cob system will light up a 4x4 using only 400w. That's not enough even if they were the best cobs available and they wont be.
They are saying their 180w board will light up a 4x4 , total nonsense.

You want 480w kit to equal or beat slightly a 600w hps.
You want 600-700w of top end genuine diodes to beat a 1000w se hps.

in my 5x5 I like running around 700-800 watts in total. when I was running a 4x4 I would use around 500 for the whole tent. this is taking in fact I have 301bs and cree chips. I wouldn't spend money on any of those. I would listen to what Corey said and prob check out the Chinese QB thread.

coreywebster said:

If your going to use Alibaba go check the Chinese QB thread and use the suppliers thay everyone else is or just buy genuine QBs.

Agylex are not a good brand. They are telling you a their cob system will light up a 4x4 using only 400w. That's not enough even if they were the best cobs available and they wont be.
They are saying their 180w board will light up a 4x4 , total nonsense.

You want 480w kit to equal or beat slightly a 600w hps.
You want 600-700w of top end genuine diodes to beat a 1000w se hps.

Click to expand...

I'm not familiar with brands hence why I decided to get Aglex lol. Gotta work with what I have until I can afford the good lights unfortunately. The quantum boards are mainly to put more light in the tent I already have though, not to set up a 4x4 area on it's own. I know that claim is pretty ridiculous, the lights I already have don't fill the area enough and that's kind of why I'm asking.

HLG 550

Is this the light you're talking about? Says replacement for 1000w hps, but at 500 watts and it's using samsung 301b. I did a bit of research and found 301h is apparently a better led, think it'd be worth waiting a bit and seeing if they have a new light out soon? Like I said I'll have to wait a bit before I can order any of these. I honestly thought Aglex was pretty good based on the flowering I did in my 4x4, I even had problems with bleaching and thought the light was a bit too strong lol.

Basically, I guess I'll ask in this way, in a 4x8 tent, to cover the entire 4x8 footprint, would 2 cob and 2 quantum boards be good enough? Should I add in the third cob light on top of it in the center or something? Maybe have them side by side like:

COBB QB COBB QB COBB

Or like

...COBB QB
.. .........COBB
...QB.............COBB

in something like more of a x pattern? Right now the one cobb is being used for veg, and for veg they seem to work really nicely compared to my t5's.

Justabigstonerdude said:

I'm not familiar with brands hence why I decided to get Aglex lol. Gotta work with what I have until I can afford the good lights unfortunately. The quantum boards are mainly to put more light in the tent I already have though, not to set up a 4x4 area on it's own. I know that claim is pretty ridiculous, the lights I already have don't fill the area enough and that's kind of why I'm asking.

HLG 550

Is this the light you're talking about? Says replacement for 1000w hps, but at 500 watts and it's using samsung 301b. I did a bit of research and found 301h is apparently a better led, think it'd be worth waiting a bit and seeing if they have a new light out soon? Like I said I'll have to wait a bit before I can order any of these. I honestly thought Aglex was pretty good based on the flowering I did in my 4x4, I even had problems with bleaching and thought the light was a bit too strong lol.

Basically, I guess I'll ask in this way, in a 4x8 tent, to cover the entire 4x8 footprint, would 2 cob and 2 quantum boards be good enough? Should I add in the third cob light on top of it in the center or something? Maybe have them side by side like:

COBB QB COBB QB COBB

Or like

...COBB QB
.. .........COBB
...QB.............COBB

in something like more of a x pattern? Right now the one cobb is being used for veg, and for veg they seem to work really nicely compared to my t5's.

Click to expand...

Just my 2 cents...
4 x 8 grow area, i buy 3 600 watt hid's with the convertible ballasts. Air cool them with a 6 inch fan and flexi duct.
When your vegging you could get 2 of them lower than a 1000w and be okay. Then when you flower, you go with all three. Of course you do mh then hps for flower. 600 bucks for the lights. 100 or so for fan and ducting....

Then you wont be bullshitting with led and all the false claims and twisted test results.
Give led a few more years to be proven.

When i was starting out, i tried doing the 1000w thing but it isnt worth the heat. 3 600w will do you well and honestly id probably bump it to 4 of them if you can fit the reflectors...

Ive done only 7 grows in a tent. 4x4 net 3 plants with 2 600w and i get 12 to 17 ounces dried and cured.
And honestly i could do better but those were under clandestine conditions where i only visited once every 2 or 3 days.

And now thanks to the new law i will do better in my own home....

bgmike8 said:

Just my 2 cents...
4 x 8 grow area, i buy 3 600 watt hid's with the convertible ballasts. Air cool them with a 6 inch fan and flexi duct.
When your vegging you could get 2 of them lower than a 1000w and be okay. Then when you flower, you go with all three. Of course you do mh then hps for flower. 600 bucks for the lights. 100 or so for fan and ducting....

Then you wont be bullshitting with led and all the false claims and twisted test results.
Give led a few more years to be proven.

When i was starting out, i tried doing the 1000w thing but it isnt worth the heat. 3 600w will do you well and honestly id probably bump it to 4 of them if you can fit the reflectors...

Ive done only 7 grows in a tent. 4x4 net 3 plants with 2 600w and i get 12 to 17 ounces dried and cured.
And honestly i could do better but those were under clandestine conditions where i only visited once every 2 or 3 days.

And now thanks to the new law i will do better in my own home....

Click to expand...

HPS is not a viable option for me. There's no wiggle room, no "It's not proven yet", I don't have the option of running that many dedicated circuits to fit the area I'm aiming for.

I'm already going to be running around 1250 watts of LED lights in the 4x8, possibly 1650, though I'm hoping I can avoid that much. I'm still a bit limited on electrical output for a while as it currently stands. I still have my veg tent to run as well as fans, my cloning area, and so on.

Justabigstonerdude said:

HPS is not a viable option for me. There's no wiggle room, no "It's not proven yet", I don't have the option of running that many dedicated circuits to fit the area I'm aiming for.

I'm already going to be running around 1350 watts of LED lights in the 4x8, possibly 1750, though I'm hoping I can avoid that much. I'm still a bit limited on electrical output for a while as it currently stands. I still have my veg tent to run as well as fans, my cloning area, and so on.

Click to expand...

Well best of luck to you. I just created a room myself and i went ahead and installed 3 dedicated 20 amp circuits so i should be able to do 9 600 w lights plus some pumps for my aero setup.

Youll figure it out. Maybe this article could help you when it comes to evaluating manufacturer claims. If not now then perhaps in the future..

Justabigstonerdude said:

I'm not familiar with brands hence why I decided to get Aglex lol. Gotta work with what I have until I can afford the good lights unfortunately. The quantum boards are mainly to put more light in the tent I already have though, not to set up a 4x4 area on it's own. I know that claim is pretty ridiculous, the lights I already have don't fill the area enough and that's kind of why I'm asking.

HLG 550

Is this the light you're talking about? Says replacement for 1000w hps, but at 500 watts and it's using samsung 301b. I did a bit of research and found 301h is apparently a better led, think it'd be worth waiting a bit and seeing if they have a new light out soon? Like I said I'll have to wait a bit before I can order any of these. I honestly thought Aglex was pretty good based on the flowering I did in my 4x4, I even had problems with bleaching and thought the light was a bit too strong lol.

Basically, I guess I'll ask in this way, in a 4x8 tent, to cover the entire 4x8 footprint, would 2 cob and 2 quantum boards be good enough? Should I add in the third cob light on top of it in the center or something? Maybe have them side by side like:

COBB QB COBB QB COBB

Or like

...COBB QB
.. .........COBB
...QB.............COBB

in something like more of a x pattern? Right now the one cobb is being used for veg, and for veg they seem to work really nicely compared to my t5's.

Click to expand...

301b and 301h are the exact same diode, its just the h model is aimed at growers but its exactly the same.

My guess would be you would want 3x those agylex cob set ups in an 8x4 space.

Ive seen a few vids on them and they do tend to burn plants due to their design. They are not bad value for money in comparison to other shit lights, but they are still a low end light and if your aim is to use as least power as needed to create as much light then they are the wrong choice.
Doubt they are much more efficient than HPS.

Do a bit more research, use the search bar, look in the LED section here. I just don't trust agylex claims and think for a bit more you could have a lot better lights.