whats up with the leds?

[wesley]

i have a friend that is thinking or getting a led cause it uses so low wattage are the the scrop come out thanks for the helpame as a 400 watt an how does your

 

[Hick]

i have a friend that is thinking or getting a led cause it uses so low wattage are the the scrop come out thanks for the helpame as a 400 watt an how does your

.. "What?"... :hairpull:

 

[Timmyjg6]

LOLOLOL, too high for that right now...

 

[wesley]

lol sorry bout the post it was late an i was high lol how good are the leds do they work good or do they ****

 

[Hick]

wes.. type LED into the search engine here.
Thee are a cpll of documented led grows.. or attempts I think

 

[bombbudpuffa]

If you're rich...which most of us aren't, you could use leds. You could probably get a 400w hps AND a cooltube for it for under the price of that led though and you're guaranteed some nice buds.

 

[goddog]

i use a 400 watt hid and a fan, im happy, but i may get a led bulb to keep the grow going in the closet while the sisters bloom.

 

[Jhonny]

if you going to use LED you have to know a thing or 2 about electronics, you'll nedd an LED circuit board and depending on voltage a transformer and or a few resistors

 

[thc is good for me]

if you going to use LED you have to know a thing or 2 about electronics, you'll nedd an LED circuit board and depending on voltage a transformer and or a few resistors

The leds everyone are talkingabout come pre wired for 120volt.

they cost about $40 for a 13 watt board with 225 leds on it.

From what i have read leds work good for veg but not very well for flower

 

[Timmyjg6]

Exactly what he said ^^^^^^^^

 

[AlienBait]

From what i have read leds work good for veg but not very well for flower

That has been my experience as well.

Spend the money on a HPS to get started and if you have some extra cash you can always try them later.

Most importantly: Do not believe the claims of the manufacturers.

 

[md.apothecary]

yes, Good veg, and even that can be stretching it a bit (PUN intended). also RED/BLUE LEDs are NOT all the colors you need for proper growing spectrum. So, do the research on some of the posts on here in which alienbait has posted as well as myself. In some of my posts I posted an image showing light penetration through the canopy of a small plant with an LED right above it... was NOT impressed at all!

 

[Cannabiscotti]

just a few things about LEDs.

first, not all LEDs are created equal. If you were to decided to put in the extensive research to build your own LED--lets say you decided on a specific high power LED a CREE Xlamp. When purchasing not all XLamp LEDs will have the same rating. When a manufacturer does a run and say makes 100,000 LEDs they get sorted into different "Barrels" with a different rating. the most expensive being the most efficient. This does help to cut down on the price as you could imagine if they only sold barrel A and threw out B and C. Also, an LED may be rated for say 160 Lumens per watt. However this efficiency is usually achieved with much less amperage than the LED is rated for. So when you actually use the LED, the amperage that will be going through the circuit we be greater and thus have an effect on the efficiency(in a negative way of course). please ask questions if i seem to confuse anyone--you know how it is when you get to writen then like 15 mins later you're trying to re-read what you wrote and understand it...good times.

other than the increased efficiency in watts when compared to HPS there are still additional advantages. The lights put off much less heat. A more basic/smaller set up can be utilized for exhaust, also using less electricity. because of less heat, CO2 setups can flood the room longer. one of the greatest advantages is how close the LEDs can be to your plants. with adequate ventilation i've read light scan be 3 inches above the canopy! this would increase the light intensity greatly and it would penetrate very deep. The problem i see in this is the very small foot print and much less area to grow. if they were to spread out the LEDs i think it would work better. I also think LEDs would have a great place in a flowering chamber when used as additional lighting. I think this would be a perfect place to add a little bit of lighting but have it so close to the plants that it more intense. (everytime you divide the distance of the light by 2, the light intenisty is 4 times stronger. this effect works both ways.) Not only is the light more intense, but all of the light is in a spectrum that will entirely be used by the plant and less reflective. (given you did your homework and used the correct LEDs and mix of colors in the correct spectrum of light.)

I have even thought of creating a screen with strings of LEDs throughout. Use it to grow a scrog with random high power LEDs within the canopy. LEDs spread out would not get very warm, especially with moving air.

beware cheap LEDs. know what LEDs a product uses before you buy. there is a 1' X 1' LED light with 220-somthing amount of LEDs on it-said to cover one square foot for like 35$ this could be great to stand up around your plants. the cheaper less power LEDs, but the leaves can actually be up against them and not burn, they are very low heat. if selecting a main grow light be prepared to spend some money upfront. the UFO everyones seen doesn't seem like a very good buy IMO. i'd check out the procyon 100. It uses namebrand LEDs. It runs at 100 watts but is supposedly the same as 400 watts HPS. think of cutting your electric bill for your lights into one/quarter.

there is also a 300 and 600 watt LEDs for $1800 and $2500 US dollars. the 600 watt is supposedly compaired to 3000 watt HPS with a 10' by 10' coverage. I doubt the light having the same intensity as 3000 watt HPS when hanging high enough to cover this area. However it has the same capacity to be more intense than the 3000 watt HPS if used in a smaller area and much closer to the plants.

if you want to know how and LED works check out :
howstuffworks(dot)com and search how LEDs work.

all questions are welcome. im read-up a lil bit on the topic. let me know what you guys think. i'm not in a position to grow myself right now, but could help with a DIY correspondance if anyone wanted to try something....