Do LED UFO & Other Work (you look here)

[Hick]

calm down guys , i will rip both of you soon lol , il be running 1 - 350watts LED board on the top , and 2x 600watts HPS , 1 in each side
and for the other sides 2xT5 + 2xT5 @ 54watts

tell me about the yeild of that lol , im not being a nazi against all , but im in the race , so are you readyy ready for the race are you readyyy! o o o oooyooo are you ready Vrymmm Vrymmm..

after all that if my grow sucked i will really hate myself.

I'm curious, how you plan to keep the leds close without it blocking the "real" light???

 

[stonedrone]

I keep seeing people say that LEDs somehow save money. I do not understand this at all.

First of all you need multiple LED panels at what $400 per or more. You only need one mh/hps for less than $300. How many panels do you need to penetrate the canopy after a month or so of growing, I'll say three?

Second a 400w HID will cost less than $30 a month to run at 18 hours a day plus a new bulb or two every year at ~$40 per. Aren't 300w of Leds the same amount to run as 300w of HID?

Lastly if and when you need to replace LEDs you have to buy a whole new panel, according to Blancolighter that's every five years.

So, in conclusion, let's add it up.

HID..................3LEDs
$300................$1,200
1yr elect.
~$360..............$200ish?
Replacement bulbs/panels
$80..................$240 (1/5 of total cost)
Total annual damage
$750.................$1,600

Obviously I'm missing something here. Please don't insult me here. If I am wrong go ahead and let me know how so.

 

[Macktheknife]

Well at the risk of getting my head shotoff in this thread I think I will add my two cents.

There was a great article in Maximum Yield in March 09 about a website called Greenpinelane which you all might find useful to look at to settle some of these issues about LED grow lamps. The article is online at Maximum Yield in the March section.

Greenpinelane is a website run by this hobby grow guy named Steve out on the east coast who has been testing all the LED lights out there to see how they stackup against each other.

He has tried the UFO, the Procyon 100 and the Smartlamp 600 and the Smartbar 1000 and a few other panels and stuff I think.

Basically what he did was grow tomatoes in a 3 ft x 3 ft area and log his grows from beginning to end so everyone can compare the yields and grow times. There are tons of photos and commentary.

You can all checkout his tests by googling greenpinelane and following the link.

There is also a forum there for people with questions for him about LEDs and aeroponic growing (which is how he grows).

Overall, the tests show that there seem to be two breeds of lights out there. The UFOs and panel types can do a certain amount of growing, but the leader is the Smartlamp 600 which kicked butt. It got like 4 to 8 times the yield of the other lights growing tomatoes. The guy says that this light in his experience is like growing with a 600 watt HPS.

In the Max Yield article they show that with those kinds of results once you calculate the savings in electricity and bulbs, it costs something like 40% less to own and run this puppy compared with HPS even though the cost to buy is higher at first. The guy apparently pays 13 cents for his electricity which is cheap compared to what I am paying.

So you all might find it good to check out the article and the online tests to figure out what lights work and which ones don't.

So that's my two cents.

 

[Shawn69]

Maybe i could shed some light on the subject.I have grown and am still growing(a very small project,4 plants)and have a very good friend growing large quan with LED's,yes blue high powered 2nd gen LED's are the good for veg,but through extensive exp have added cfl's to the mix,you see the blue LED makes ur plant bushy and ur leaves over sized,but has no reaching abilities(in other words the plant won't be very tall w/just blue LED's) but with cfl's it will grow nice and tall and very bushy(quickly).then its to the HPS to do the flowering,I also use the red ufo 2nd gen during flower(I feel it helps bud's get bigger and helps a little w/light bill)It's all trial and error.Most peolpe who dont know always criticisize what they don't understand,LED's work very well..I will be putting some pics of my friend and I's projects so u can see what I'm talking about...

 

[Shawn69]

And you deffenitly save an assload of $$ using LED's and you don't need as much ventilation as the heat is nonexistent,you people really need to do ur research when you speak,maybe Mr. stonedrone used the 1st gen LED and feels burnt.....................

 

[Hick]

And you deffenitly save an assload of $$ using LED's and you don't need as much ventilation as the heat is nonexistent,you people really need to do ur research when you speak,maybe Mr. stonedrone used the 1st gen LED and feels burnt.....................

Always talk, but seldom any "pudding".. "I" want to see these led grows tht are superior. Then.. and only then, will I start believing all of the propaganda.
I think that we've already said that leds are advancing, they're 'getting' there. And may well be the next 'big thing' in indoor cultivation.
But to date, I've seen only "one" grow of proclaimed, solely leds, that was worthy of true praise. And that is bf74s in this thread.
I am not profoundly fond of a brand spanking new poster coming in condemning the memmbers in his very first post. It puts a "bur under my saddle blanket"..

 

[Head_Down_Under]

Thanks for the pics of your first Grow bf74. Besides the commercially assembled panels I see you also used 12 ww and 12 cw LEDS. Did you wire them up yourself, or did they come assembled? I'm interested to know as I hope to include them to round off spectrum in the rig I'm planning

 

[Growdude]

blue high powered 2nd gen LED's are the good for veg,but through extensive exp have added cfl's to the mix,you see the blue LED makes ur plant bushy and ur leaves over sized,but has no reaching abilities(in other words the plant won't be very tall w/just blue LED's) but with cfl's it will grow nice and tall and very bushy(quickly).then its to the HPS to do the flowering

Why promote them when you dont even like them?

 

[stonedrone]

And you deffenitly save an assload of $$ using LED's and you don't need as much ventilation as the heat is nonexistent,you people really need to do ur research when you speak,maybe Mr. stonedrone used the 1st gen LED and feels burnt.....................

Can you tell me what exactly about my math was wrong? I never claimed to be an expert in the field or to have used LEDs myself. I clearly stated that I thought I must be overlooking something. I would like to know what I'm missing here as I haven't seen anybody else do much of a cost comparison.

 

[bf74]

hey guys, and gals, I'm not here to say whats better, more efficient, less costly-whatever.Currently I have a led/cfl grow and I'm having a blast with it.I'm not a cash cropper, just a little guy with a little tent and some little plants- heres a couple pics first at day 1 of 12/12 and then a couple more from today- day 25 that is.Blast away-

 

[bf74]

actually the last pic is of day one but you get the idea.peace

 

[bf74]

Thanks for the pics of your first Grow bf74. Besides the commercially assembled panels I see you also used 12 ww and 12 cw LEDS. Did you wire them up yourself, or did they come assembled? I'm interested to know as I hope to include them to round off spectrum in the rig I'm planning

No man, I'm not at all experienced with wiring up these things-the 12 watt white bulbs you can grab off of e-bay for like 35 bucks-they're made with cree 1w diodes and have fairly decent coverage.

 

[bf74]

Can you tell me what exactly about my math was wrong? I never claimed to be an expert in the field or to have used LEDs myself. I clearly stated that I thought I must be overlooking something. I would like to know what I'm missing here as I haven't seen anybody else do much of a cost comparison.

In all fairness to Mr stonedrone these units are unreasonably expensive atm- to the point where I dropped the cost comparison thing, but that never mattered to me in the first place-or anyone else that seriously gets into this tek.It's not for everyone, and I can clearly see the reasons why. This is extreme experimental tek-still in it's infancy, and appeals to the tinkering type-like me.Hey, any grow system that provides YOU satisfying results cant be all that bad.So lets just have fun, and see what happens.

 

[bf74]

Always talk, but seldom any "pudding".. "I" want to see these led grows tht are superior. Then.. and only then, will I start believing all of the propaganda.
I think that we've already said that leds are advancing, they're 'getting' there. And may well be the next 'big thing' in indoor cultivation.
But to date, I've seen only "one" grow of proclaimed, solely leds, that was worthy of true praise. And that is bf74s in this thread.
I am not profoundly fond of a brand spanking new poster coming in condemning the memmbers in his very first post. It puts a "bur under my saddle blanket"..

aw shucks Hick you actually made me blush, thank you- I'm actually extremely flattered.Dont be a stranger my friend.

 

[crozar]

I'm curious, how you plan to keep the leds close without it blocking the "real" light???

your right hick , but i planned alot of things and 1 of it is to get LED but now im prosponding that for the end of next year , right now i have only my HPS600watss with 24 T8 tubes for my tent , and my plan faileled because of space problem
the only idea i come up with in using my 24 - T8's is doing a clone box 80x120x48 and have all the T8's 36 watts use for cloniing

 

[bf74]

heres my hps grow guys, and gals,the difference can be clearly seen.

 

[bf74]

yep, proofs in the pudding, I have more pics of this grow in my thread, and as you can see-leds by themselves are NOT going to produce HID results-at least I couldnt do it.

 

[Cannabiscotti]

I use to love the idea of LEDs. but i'm beginning to think it's a moot point in the future of grow lights. have you guys checked out the plasma bulbs? just check out youtube-search: plasma light bulb. i wrote a paper in my college class about LEDs. i figured the number of tons of CO2 that would be prevented from going into the atmosphere if every house swithced over one bulb to LED. don't remember it too well now, but i did get one of the 2 A's that were given out

 

[bf74]

Ohhh yeah I saw that video-and wow-did ya ever see something that small,that bright? Have you heard anything about commercially available units-I need another project!

 

[Cannabiscotti]

LG makes one- not sure where to get it but heres the specs in brochure form:

http://www.nlites.co.uk/PSH07_brochure.pdf

googled and found this one for sale for $3,210.17....thats what it converts to USD

http://cgi.ebay.at/Mikrowellen-Schw...-LG-PSH07_W0QQcmdZViewItemQQitemZ350109557675


BF-let me know how that project goes!