Marijuana Bloom with 504W LED
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overmyhead
Well-Known Member
LED Girl, thanks for your informative thread. I am using a hybrid system now with some lgm bars. It seems that from the information I was given and my own observations that the only way to get the colors to blend together and have significant coverage is to back the lights way off the plants - at least 24". What are your thoughts on that?
potlike
Well-Known Member
it really depends on your exact lights. Are they 60 degree leds or are they 120 degree? I liked her analogy of a flashlight because the 'power' behind the light is being focused in less area w/ 60 degrees than 120 degrees. So lets say your leds are 60 degrees take out a ruler on a sheet of paper and draw a straight line. Now take a compass and spread your origin point away from your pencil maybe about 3-4 inches. Put your point on origin (let's use where the line ends on the left) and pencil roughly 90 degrees above spin the compass so that it intersects the straight line and draws an semicircle. Now put the compass point on the intersection of the ruler line and the arc you just drew and spin counter clockwise. The new intersection should be where 60 degree mark is so line it up w/ origin point and draw straight line w/ ruler. You can cut this out and use it as a visual guide to see your light coverage to determine optimal distance. Keep in mind this particular example was for 60 degrees. You can google how to draw whatever degree angle your LEDS are.
-potlike
LEDGirl
Active Member
LGM Bars were one of the first products I looked at, and I considered buying some originally, but every hydro store I talked to that stocked them, told me not to buy any lol. I talked to a rep at LED-Grow-Master several times, and he said the lights were not a stand-alone grow system, and that you would still need to run HID to supplement, so I decided to find something else.
If I remember correctly, they use 15 and 30 degree LED's in their lights. They use very low wattage LED's though, which is their main downfall. Because of the very limited spread from their LED's, they tell you to run them at 18-24", even though the LED's barely have enough light intensity to go that far... For us, all you need is 3" away from your plant before the lights blend.
LEDGirl
Active Member
Sorry about that man. I tried to respond with a link, but it took several hours before the moderators approved it, and then it was kinda buried in this thread. Glad you got it thoughI've got the link now. Thanks to the four people who sent me a PM with it.
LEDGirl
Active Member
So the pictures I'm posting now are of my own personal garden. I used to run 2, 1000W HID (1MH, 1HPS) over each of my 2' x 4' aeroponic trays, so I had a total of 4,000W. I've now switched to 756W LED over 1 tray, with my second 756W setup arriving tomorrow. The oldest plant in the pictures is 3 weeks, while most are at 1-2, and some are as fresh as yesterday. The system is now filled with 11 plants in total, meaning that I can start documenting the progress of the entire 756W grow. I'll be posting pictures of my own grow on this thread as well, from now until they harvest. This way you guys will get to see plants from literally day 2 in bloom, all the way till the end. I'll continue updating pictures from my friend's grow as well, but won't have any more for another day or two. Anyhow, enjoy the pics, and I hope you'll follow along for the progress.
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LEDGirl
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I've taken a lot more pictures since I last updated the 400W grow. I think it's pretty incredible how fast the tomatoes under LED are growing. I'm going to install glass and ducting to the 400W, as well as a fan in a few days. Once that's done, I'll lower the light and remove one of the plants from LED to place under it. I'll remove the two plants that are currently under the MH, and begin bloom at that point with two, near equal in size, tomato plants. I figured this would be the most even way of doing a bloom comparison, to reduce the 650 degree bulb temperature of the MH.
TechnoMage
Well-Known Member
So if I'm reading you right it's an open LED hood vs air-cooled MH.
I like the fact that you're trying to keep things as even as possible. At the same time, if you're running extra ventilation just to handle the heat of a HID bulb, then I think it's fair to list some "Total System Wattage" figures too.
I like the fact that you're trying to keep things as even as possible. At the same time, if you're running extra ventilation just to handle the heat of a HID bulb, then I think it's fair to list some "Total System Wattage" figures too.
eyeswideopen
Member
What do you think of the Haight Solid State LED's? Thanks in advance for your input.
LEDGirl
Active Member
Since you asked, I will provide my opinion. It will be in multiple sections only addressing the inefficiencies of the product. For this comparison, I am looking at their PPF-400, which they say has a 30" x 40" coverage area.
1) Their site says that they use 6W LED's. I have NO idea who makes these (since most MFR's offer 1W, 3W, 5W, etc...), but let's assume they're 6W.
If you talk to any LED MFR (Cree, Luxeon, Osram), and ask them whether a 3W or 5W LED has more ability to carry light energy farther than a 1W LED, they will tell you no. Secondly, if you ask them what has a higher lumen per watt value between a 1W, 3W, and 5W, they will each tell you that the winner is the 1W. While lumens are a measurement of brightness to our eyes, when we are discussing the specific wavelengths of light that plants use, they are a good way to evaluate LED's.
A 1W 630nm LED from Edison Opto produces 45 lumens at 350mA. When taken to 700mA, the output is roughly 75 - 77 lumens (1.72x multiplier supplied by CREE). Edison offers a 3W version in their same line, with the 630nm red emitting 80 lumens at 700mA. If you use 3, 1W LED's you would have roughly 225 lumens, vs 80 lumens with a single 3W. It is always more efficient to use 1W LED's, vs higher power units, as there has been much more research and development towards the efficacy of 1W LED's. Their choice of using 6W LED's, means less lumen output, and less total light available for your plants.
2) Spectral output. Marijuana has peak absorption points for photosynthesis at 439nm, 469nm, 642nm, and 667nm. That's 2 blues, 2 reds. Haight states that they use Red, Blue and White. Since there are only 15 LED's on the board, and they don't divulge what colors they use, it makes it difficult for the consumer to judge what they're actually getting when they purchase their product. It also makes it impossible for you to know if you're getting enough spectral variety to carry out all processes of photosynthesis.
3) Blending. Because of the positioning of the different colors of LED's, it doesn't appear as though there is a good mix, or equal spread of the available nm's throughout the board. There is a blue on each end, and some red throughout, but those blues are going to have a rough time getting their light to all of your plants. They also fail to divulge what viewing angle their LED's use, but it's likely 120 degrees. 120 degree LED's don't have much penetrative ability, which is vital during flowering.
4) No cooling. LED's lifespan is greatly effected by the temperature at which they operate. They may be using a small # of LED's, but they are high wattage units and still produce heat. Failing to use an appropriate heatsink and fans can lead to reduced life of your LED's. Maybe that's why they only offer a 1 year warranty? Most LED grow lights have at least a 2 year warranty, and many a 3 year warranty. I would want more than 1 year if I'm going to be paying $475 for a 90 watt light.
irishboy
Well-Known Member
is that a MH light runing in the back ground with those other plants?
LEDGirl
Active Member
Yep. I used to have another 1000W, but sold it recently to make way for the new LED's (plus, there's only about 5 plants in the other tray right now). It will be coming down tomorrow after I get in my next 756W of LED.
irishboy
Well-Known Member
so they are going to be veg with mh and flowerd with ur new leds? and ur going to be running 1260w of leds tomorrow?
LEDGirl
Active Member
Ya, right now my veg garden has a 250W MH and 250W HPS over it, as I haven't had enough money to afford more LED's. Starting tomorrow, I'll have 1560W of LED in my bloom room, covering two 2' x 4' trays, spaced 1 foot apart.
irishboy
Well-Known Member
here are those ph bottle pics from my 3 weeks of 180w ufo use.
more them half of this grow was a 90w tri-ban, and these last three weeks i have only used a jumbo 180w ufo. no co2, soil grow. i also have been having 95-100F* their whole life.
not too bad from only using 180w for 3 weeks.
i used a 90w tri-ban from prosource from start to 5weeks of flowering, then i switch to the new prosource 180w 5-ban for three weeks and took out the 90w tri-ban. total watts used now= 180w of led.
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