Why I should try LED's on my next grow.

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travisivart190

Member
Anyone got any opinions on the matter. I plan on doing a sog in an 8x8 space with 4 300w Led's. Something with the 660 band, as well as the 630. One thing I was trying to figure out was how much spread i would likely see with each light? Would each be able to cover a 4x4 tray well? Right now I'm growing with a 600, but I feel like a change might be nice. Please no flaming, if you want to try to convert me to going with 1000's and a different setup do so respectfully. Thanks
 
THT

THT

Well-Known Member
I say go for it man, I've seen others do very well with 300+ watts of led. Not sure how much spread it will really give you, but I'm sure someone will know from experience. From my own experience with a 90 watt UFO, LED lights are nice. I'd look into 3 or 5 watt diode LED's if money is not an issue
 
THT

THT

Well-Known Member
I assume IR light is similar to micro nutes, its not necessary but its part of the spectrum they receive in nature. Just a guess.
 
breakneck

breakneck

Calyx LED
I use 300 watt panels from Desert Hydro. Each one covers very easily a 4x4 tray. I have never looked back since switching to LED. I use mine for veg and flower with improved results over HPS by about 25%.
 
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travisivart190

Member
I want to throw them into straight flowering. Do you happen to have a light meter on you? I'm wondering what "real" LED lm/m2 when the light is actually adjusted to cover a whole tray.The caveat of the project is I want to try and use conventional amounts of lighting, but a different source, ala Leds. I'm wondering if I can use similar wattage to a hps grow, if I can see that much of a difference.
 
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gobbly

Well-Known Member
The spread is usually determined by the degrees of the optics (basically they diffuse the light by an angle). 120 and 90 degree optics are common. High powered LED's you probably want 120 degree optics. PAR testing on Cree's showed that 3 1w with 90 degree optics will penetrate better, even when spaced to provide a 120 degree field of coverage. Though most horticulture applications seem to be using 3w LED's with 120 degree optics.

Also, don't neglect the 455 & 475nm, photosynthesis peaks at all 4 wavelengths, the red's are just slightly more efficient, so maybe a 60/40 mix... Also UV has been linked to THC production in at least some strains, so might be worthwhile to get a small amount of UV going as well...
 
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travisivart190

Member
gobbly said:
The spread is usually determined by the degrees of the optics (basically they diffuse the light by an angle). 120 and 90 degree optics are common. High powered LED's you probably want 120 degree optics. PAR testing on Cree's showed that 3 1w with 90 degree optics will penetrate better, even when spaced to provide a 120 degree field of coverage. Though most horticulture applications seem to be using 3w LED's with 120 degree optics.

Also, don't neglect the 455 & 475nm, photosynthesis peaks at all 4 wavelengths, the red's are just slightly more efficient, so maybe a 60/40 mix... Also UV has been linked to THC production in at least some strains, so might be worthwhile to get a small amount of UV going as well...
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Any lights you know of that have specs like that?
 
breakneck

breakneck

Calyx LED
The guys over @ DH have their own design. Nobody else has it...for a reason. Don't spend $1000 on some 3w diode unit. It is unnecessary when you can create the proper "spectrum recipe" with the 1w diodes at 90 degrees. I have used 4 different branded units, these are the ones I am recommending.
travisivart190 said:
Any lights you know of that have specs like that?
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travisivart190

Member
breakneck said:
The guys over @ DH have their own design. Nobody else has it...for a reason. Don't spend $1000 on some 3w diode unit. It is unnecessary when you can create the proper "spectrum recipe" with the 1w diodes at 90 degrees. I have used 4 different branded units, these are the ones I am recommending.
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It looks like a seriously nice unit, and their prices are really unbelievable.

People are always talking about LED's being able to produce more dense nugs, is there any truth to this? Does anyone have sog style top cola dry weights with leds?
 
breakneck

breakneck

Calyx LED
From my experience with these 300 watt units... the bud density is right on par with HPS, maybe slightly tighter when you feed the piss outta your plants in the later weeks. =) The great thing about the LED is the amount of USABLE light they emit. Almost 95% PAR. You simply cannot get this with any other HID lighting system...
 
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travisivart190

Member
What do you think the equivalent of a 300 watt LED would be? Due to waste light, loss of strength going to plant, etc? I like the idea that I can basically place the LED's directly on top of the plants. Get the most out of my light, save my electricity too :D
 
breakneck

breakneck

Calyx LED
I would say the 300w does more than my 600w HPS - BY FAR! So I would say if they made like an 800-850 watt HPS that would be it's equivalent.



This lil guy is 14 days from seed. :D
 
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gobbly

Well-Known Member
travisivart190 said:
Any lights you know of that have specs like that?
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sorry, don't use them myself, still too pricey to get what I would want. I have just done a lot of research on them, communicated with a lot of people who have built many and PAR rated them, and am very familiar with spectrum. Most of the people I know who have gone led built their own.
 
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travisivart190

Member
breakneck said:
I would say the 300w does more than my 600w HPS - BY FAR! So I would say if they made like an 800-850 watt HPS that would be it's equivalent.



This lil guy is 14 days from seed. :D
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Looking great. Led's seem to provide really lush green flowering plants. Maybe less water loss through leaves than HPS?

gobbly said:
sorry, don't use them myself, still too pricey to get what I would want. I have just done a lot of research on them, communicated with a lot of people who have built many and PAR rated them, and am very familiar with spectrum. Most of the people I know who have gone led built their own.
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Do you have any idea of what type of investment they put into their lights to build? Know anyone who has built any high wattage LED's?
 
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gobbly

Well-Known Member
travisivart190 said:
Do you have any idea of what type of investment they put into their lights to build? Know anyone who has built any high wattage LED's?
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Everyone I know who has built them did group buys, so they were able to get a good price on the components by ordering in bulk. Most of them have been slightly more than a similar HID system, but they had to put them together themselves, as well as getting things like heatsync's, soldering tools, drivers, and fans. They also all swear by Cree's which are on the expensive side, but supposedly provide a much higher PAR rating than other brands. Many of the people I know using them spent thousands of dollars and a year or longer experimenting and testing before they had a system they were happy with. There is so much variety, and so little specific info that it can be rather intimidating.
 
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