New LED

oldtimer54

oldtimer54

Well-Known Member
Well I finally did it ! After months of reasearch. I decided to go LED.
I have been growing outside for more than 3 decades but as my age started to catch up to me I felt the need to make the move to inside to make it easier on myself and finally got the wife onboard too. Just wanted to thank everyone here at RIU who supplied me with the knowledge to make my first purchase which should be here today...:clap:
 
Jonny Fly

Jonny Fly

Member
oldtimer54 said:
I got the blackstar140 ufo. Wanted to start small and work up to something bigger as I became more comfortable with the whole set up...
Click to expand...
Is your light the 45 x 3W (90 watts max.) UV? If so, I have one and I like it. It definitely pumps harder than my 4 100 watt Blackstars (60 watts) using 50 x 2W LED's or diodes, but my 2 240 watt Blackstars (135 watts- "wtf?!?!" yeah, that's with three fans too) put out the most light which is what you would expect since they are 80 x 3W. Just for fun, I used one of those rather inexpensive HydroFarm powerless candlestick or lumen meters on them. At six inches from center the100 watt ufo's read in at about 2500 lumens, the 135 watt or 140 watt, as you like to call it, read around 4000 lumens and the 2 240 watt models pegged the meter way past 5000 lumens, the meter's maximum range. What does this mean? Well at the very least I guess it means you get what you pay for. I paid $120 for the 100 watters, $170 for the 135 watter, and $270 for the 240's. As far as LEDs go it is my opinion that you are best off sticking with LEDs that use 3W diodes, but you probably already know that. I did my research too before I invested. If you are going to buy more Blackstars I would suggest the 240 watt model. The light is quite a big bigger with more tightly places diodes which makes for a more intense light, I think, I could be wrong, don't quote me on that one. You probably know this too- Blackstars are assembled in China, but the individual LED's are American made by Cree. BridgeLux is another American LED that is popular in LED grow lights. That being said, I started really digging through LED suppliers and came across a Chinese based company which represents 1000's and 1000's of wholesalers and retailers selling all kinds of stuff called Alibaba. Give the place a shot, and let me know what you think. When I put in a search for LED Grow Lights, I think I had something like 140,000 hits. You just have to find wholesalers or retailers who have a minimum purchase of 1 light and make sure they are using Cree and or BridgeLux diodes. Epistar is another LED company that I noticed mentioned a lot but I don't know anything about them. Maybe you do. Maybe the idea of sending more US money directly to China when they already have us by the balls, financially, horrifies you. Wait, your Canadian aren't you???Any way it goes, I'm new to this forum and would by curious as to your thoughts.
 
Jonny Fly

Jonny Fly

Member
It would probably be a good idea to include the name of that company, Alibaba.com.
sorry, no sleep makes Jonny not so smart
 
Jonny Fly

Jonny Fly

Member
No, I allready mentioned it in the first post. Wow, insomnia seems to be the one thing I can't seem to find the right stain for. Suggestions???
 
oldtimer54

oldtimer54

Well-Known Member
Thanks for the info jonny fly.. and you were right it was a 135 watt .This is what I was refering to in my inital post. All the info from people in the know is right here. You just need to do some reasearch to find what works best in YOUR situation
and to answer your question about insomnia.. I have a friend who grows Canatonic and whenever I smoke some of his shiznit I sleep like a drunk baby on valium you might want to give it a try hell it cant hurt!
 
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