Invasion of Red and Blue LEDs: Humble Beginnings

PetFlora

PetFlora

Well-Known Member
Since the what to buy led thread seems to have failed, I thought this might be a good place for those in the know to post why R/B dominant panels is a bad idea

The mantra (programming) being it's all about Chlor A & B

Somehow, someone (a con man, ala aspartame and fluoride) said hey it's probably good for mj too, and thus the invasion began

Overlooked is the fact that MJs lighting needs is different than growing leafy greens

From my own view of leds humble beginnings, red and blue were easy to make compared to white, which were also extremely inefficient

Today, whites can do just about anything red and blue can do, plus being in the catalyst (IMO) for both red and blue spectrums

Several free thinkers on RIU are growing using only ~ 3000k from start to finish. Be aware that not all 3000K, or whites for that matter, are created equal

Hope to see intelligent contributions instead of "What do you think abut this panel?" (99% of the time chinese junk)
 
medicinehuman

medicinehuman

Well-Known Member
Personal experience : White is great, Red and Blue sucked. They can be mixed but heavy on the white side because the correct White has some red and blue in it. CXA3070Z4 is my favorite for now. Avoid Chinese if possible, they just want your cash. They really don't have to back there product if they don't want to. They are protected by the Chinese government. I also found that it is a money loser, try to sell a used China light. You almost have to give it away. That's my 2 bit's worth.:peace:
 
Swiller

Swiller

Well-Known Member
My mind goes to the "technical" world that acquired most modern medicine from plants. Synthesized the main active ingredient, patented it, and lost the synergistic effect that every plant has with it's environment, especially when applied for healing, which is nothing more than restoring the human body to a state where it can heal itself. Whew.

Same idea from the "technical" world. Plants technically can live on just red and blue light wavelengths, so again, man tries to find the most "effective" way, when the natural world already shows us, we just need to find a way to replicate it. Natural sun. Last time I went outside to tend plants, it wasn't a weird purple color like a science fiction account of another planets atmosphere.
 
Swiller

Swiller

Well-Known Member
medicinehuman said:
Personal experience : Avoid Chinese if possible, they just want your cash. They really don't have to back there product if they don't want to. They are protected by the Chinese government. I also found that it is a money loser, try to sell a used China light. You almost have to give it away. That's my 2 bit's worth.:peace:
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Since almost all Chinese companies and the boom associated with them is backed by U.S. Corporate money and interests, I will re-write this so y'all know where to direct the hate.

"Avoid Chinese (U.S. owned Chinese manufactured products) if possible, they just want your cash. They (U.S. owned Chinese manufactured products) really don't have to back there product if they don't want to. They (U.S. owned Chinese manufactured products) are protected by the Chinese (and American) government. I also found that it is a money loser, try to sell a used China (U.S. owned Chinese manufactured products) light. You almost have to give it away. That's my 2 bit's worth."

How's that stock party going for all you rich people?!?!? LOL.
 
puffenuff

puffenuff

Well-Known Member
Red or blue dominant lights are not necessarily a bad idea. They can achieve great results if quality leds are used. The hans panel, plant photonics, and apache rb do not suck and are predominately red and blue. Advanced is releasing a new panel with what looks to be mainly red and blue crees and osrams, doubt that will be a bad light either.

it's the red and blue cheap leds that are a bad idea. Even the red and blue chinese epistar panels are decent at growing, reliability is the issue there. From my experience, the most important aspect to a light is intensity.
 
ficklejester

ficklejester

Well-Known Member
Swiller said:
Since almost all Chinese companies and the boom associated with them is backed by U.S. Corporate money and interests, I will re-write this so y'all know where to direct the hate.

"Avoid Chinese (U.S. owned Chinese manufactured products) if possible, they just want your cash. They (U.S. owned Chinese manufactured products) really don't have to back there product if they don't want to. They (U.S. owned Chinese manufactured products) are protected by the Chinese (and American) government. I also found that it is a money loser, try to sell a used China (U.S. owned Chinese manufactured products) light. You almost have to give it away. That's my 2 bit's worth."

How's that stock party going for all you rich people?!?!? LOL.
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It's working out great, thanks. I bought a new house and a new car this year :-D
 
Yodaweed

Yodaweed

Well-Known Member
TOTALLY agree I am so happy we have someone bringing these topics up from what I have seen the "blurple" spectrum works good for veg but in flower makes your buds airy and fluffy the white/red spectrum or white only seems to be the way to go right now.
 
Mechmike

Mechmike

Well-Known Member
I couldn't agree more, Pet. Those of us that drank the red/blue Kool aid early in the led grow revolution and then 'discovered' whites get it. Not that predominately blue/red was a complete failure it's just that predominately white grows more and better. My overall yields have improved by ~10-15% by going to predominately white which tells me my efficiency is better. Also, led failures have been rarer than hens teeth since I began using high quality cobs and monchromes. I do agree that supplementation of those whites with discreet reds and blues to hit those chlorophyll A&B peaks makes good sense so I do that. One good thing that all those failures of Chinese made panels gave me is a good understanding of how they work since I got plenty of practice repairing them!
 
C

churchhaze

Well-Known Member
I think in the future, monochromes will make a come back, but right now, whites and r+white are clearly performing better than R+B.

Assuming efficient leds, I think red+amber+blue leds would work well. I don't think anyone makes amber leds more efficient than white, so it'd be pretty pointless to try now. (other than to see how the wavelength combination works)

low pressure sodium + red + blue leds. Somebody try it so I don't have to!
 
C

churchhaze

Well-Known Member
Imo, Hans wouldn't really have a product anymore if it was all whites, so if he made an all white panel, it's likely nobody would take notice. (just as nobody is noticing his new panels have whites)
 
Greengenes707

Greengenes707

Well-Known Member
To me, a supporter of white based panels... since white's origins are still blue...blue quantities should be obtained by a chosen temp based on how much/what kind of red supplementation you're planning on. So if planing on heavy red enhancement use cooler whites...and if little red enhancement, than use a warmer white...or all WW as we know kills it. The only reason I would use a monochrome blue is if it was in the <440nm range for spectral qualities.
Red's I am up in the air about lately, 630 or 660. It's at the point where we can use either for near the same price/efficiency. RQE is still higher for 630 so I would probably give it a slight dominance if going with a mix.
 
vitamin_green_inc

vitamin_green_inc

Well-Known Member
I concur^ I have been doing a lot of research and your name and several others who have posted here have been on this forum awhile and always willing to try and help others even when a lot of the time they go completely against it...whew, its like a full time job it seems like for you sometimes!:clap::bigjoint:
 
subb

subb

Well-Known Member
And it's a huge deal what light you use. That's part of the problem of LEDs getting a bad rap.. people go out and buy cheap LEDs and they end up sucking, or they are misinformed about how much to use, etc, and then just chalk it up to "LEDs suck" - so this information is invaluable, and any steps we get to furthering the use of LEDs for growing cannabis is great. If it weren't people like PetFlora and many other members here and other forums who are spending their hard earned money testing lights, seeing what works, finding out the best light wavelengths, etc, we wouldn't be at the stage we are today, which I think is a pretty good stage to be at, and can only get better from here. I mean just look at the awesome grows people are doing with homemade LEDs.
Well that and all these companies out for money preying on the ill-informed, not giving out information about their products, non-transparency, etc... I hope we can get past all that. I suppose that is how things go, though, especially in it's infancy.

Anyway I'm rambling.. but.. knowledge is power.
 
vitamin_green_inc

vitamin_green_inc

Well-Known Member
I just recieved an email back from grow northern about their new units....idk what they are smoking tbh...said a 75w unit but its more powerful than their old units and an initial price of 330! That's not in USD either....oh, and they don't know when they will be having the voltage conversion meter fixed for us either...it will apparently release at the end of this month
 
PSUAGRO.

PSUAGRO.

Well-Known Member
vitamin_green_inc said:
I just recieved an email back from grow northern about their new units....idk what they are smoking tbh...said a 75w unit but its more powerful than their old units and an initial price of 330! That's not in USD either....oh, and they don't know when they will be having the voltage conversion meter fixed for us either...it will apparently release at the end of this month
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The fact they wont have a 120v option on release makes it dead in the water IMO==== Ignoring the largest indoor hobby/recreational growing market(USA) is stupid .

Commercial growers(240v) won't use a 75 watt led fixture either............IDK what the hell GN is thinking.
 
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