Think ive been led astray

L

leds420

New Member
Hi there

has anyone else had the misfortune to fall for spectrum king light like me?

I bought one of these lights after been told they would outperform my gavita no problem, the videos looked legit to me on the website where they show them having more light than gavita.

But after 3 months of growing the results were to say the least extremely poor.

Then my buddy tells me that these are just cheap warehouse lights from china and thats what the problem is that they dont have enough light for plants or in the right spectrum.

Please help me, should I try and get a refund or try the grow again, I really dont want to lose 60% of my next crop like I have this time and I gave my gavita away to a buddy when I got my led.
 
BigYellowCob

BigYellowCob

Well-Known Member
After reading some of the Spectrum King website I wanted to gouge my eyes out. We have growers on RIU building lights with CXB3590 cobs that are 65% efficient. I don't know WTF they are using in the Spectrum King lights, but I'm sure they are nowhere near 65% efficient, and are probably not even 45% efficient like my Vero 29 light. See their comments below regarding COBs.
If you can get a refund I'd do it. If not you could DIY some supplemental COB lighting like others have in this forum to bring your yields back up. Cree CXB or Bridgelux Vero COB lights will outperform their shitty lights any day of the week. Or if DIY isn't your thing their's a lot of quality COB build lights just hitting the market (Area 51, Pacific Light Concepts, etc). Others on this site are more knowledgeable about the lights coming out now.
Or you could find out where the Spectrum King marketing department is located and throw your light through one their windows. It wouldn't help your plants grow but I'm sure it would make you feel better.
____________________________________________

C.O.B Myth and High Wattage LEDs

Another point of confusion for customers is the constant advertisement of a new unheard of C.O.B. (Chip On Board ) LEDs and how they will dominate the market. As a Commercial lighting manufacturer we are here to tell you that is 100% FALSE!!


C.O.B. LEDs have been around for over 10 years. There are only three reasons to choose a C.O.B. LED:

  1. To reduce cost of materials to make the LED
  2. To save companies money by eliminating the need for circuit boards
  3. To group more LED diodes into one small area.
Standard self contained diodes are the leading LEDs in the Industry and have performances that are double that of C.O.B. LEDs. Every LED that claims to be 10, 20, 50 or even 100 watt is a C.O.B.

DON’T BE FOOLED BY COMPANIES THAT CLAIM TO OFFER HIGH WATTAGE CHIPS!!!
Additional downsides to C.O.B. is the relatively lower efficiency and overall light output. By adding and cramming more diodes into a tight array that share the same substrate; heat becomes an issue and C.O.B. diodes run hotter and thus output less lumens, have a lower efficiency, and shorter life. 100 Watts of C.O.B. does not equal to or perform the same as a cluster of individual diodes mounted on a circuit board. Not opinion, fact.
 
Abiqua

Abiqua

Well-Known Member
They are using Xml-2's, not sure which bin though, last time I bothered to check...

They use a multichip on board process kind of re-engineering of the way the 1st gen of "cob's" were made....

I don't remember any of the bins they were touting, pushing near 40%....thinks change, but they don't [seem to]......
 
PSUAGRO.

PSUAGRO.

Well-Known Member
Abiqua said:
They are using Xml-2's, not sure which bin though, last time I bothered to check...

They use a multichip on board process kind of re-engineering of the way the 1st gen of "cob's" were made....

I don't remember any of the bins they were touting, pushing near 40%....thinks change, but they don't [seem to]......
Click to expand...
i think their still using cree xbd? chips...........................GG knows their deal better (group/bin)

yeah OP, return that overpriced highbay, you will NEVER hit gavita #s with it no matter what you do === take the lost restock fee/S&H as a lesson learned unfortunately

good luck grower
 
cdgmoney250

cdgmoney250

Well-Known Member
I think this is my first post ever.. been watching the forums for a long time.

So.. Which model did you choose?
300, 400, 400+ maybe?
Which reflector angle did you use?
60, 90, 120 maybe?

What area are you trying to cover? What wattage Gavita are you running?

I'm not defending Spectrum King as I've yet to see one person, but i've seen all wattage of HID single and double ended, CMH phillips bulbs, and assorted blurple LED lights all in person. I've even had the oppurtunity to put a cheaper par meter under all these different fixtures. And I have a DIY COB set up and and I plan on setting up a much larger DIY space for my flower room in the next 2 weeks. I'm no lighting expert but I have been around some lights, and Spectrum King, at least from their videos and 3rd party videos actually putting their lights up to other lights with meters, seems like they are the most forthcoming commercial light on the market. Yeah the guy is cocky, but his lights outperform other lights that cost twice the retail price. Where are any other leading brand name LED's putting up side by side grows to show what their lights can do with impressive results? GG side by side was one of the only ones I can think of where I was impressed with the yield and the quality, but you still have to pay over $2000 per light (Apache Tech/ Area 51)
"Their lights are made from shitty parts"
Isn't Cree and Meanwell the Standard for quality DIY builds?
Aren't those the same components used in Spectrum King Lights?
The principle behind his lights is just a larger scale of a Vero COB in a Ledil Reflector.
I've watched all their videos multiple times, and I can't recall a time where they said their lights would "beat"
a 1000W Hortilux HPS. Maybe their yield G/W was what was beating the HID lights.

I'm all about COBs and doing things cheaply, but if had more vertical space I would be willing to try their lights out. Great spectrum and if the intensity is there then what is there to argue about. No offense to any of the guru's on this forum as there are many, but I have seen way more bad mouthing about companies without people providing factual information for their bad experience.

Sorry for the rant. I just can't stand how subjective a lot of these threads can get.
 
1.21 Gigawatts!

1.21 Gigawatts!

Well-Known Member
This is your first post, yet you signed up in 2008?

Not all Cree are created equal, for one. And two, show me a $2000 Area 51 LED, I thought all their lights were less than $400?

Spectrum King is full of shit. They got caught lying. https://www.rollitup.org/t/spectrum-king-false-claims.869358/#post-11551598

Their "side by side" tests, you can bet they're all lies too. If they lied about their light's efficiency, why not that too?

The lights they sell can also be bought factory direct for like 1/4 the price.

http://www.alibaba.com/product-detail/China-wholesale-high-quality-meanwell-Cree_1995534212.html

Cree XBDs are not that impressive. They are really cheap though, like $0.50-$0.60 each.

http://www.digikey.com/product-detail/en/XBDAWT-00-0000-000000CD1/XBDAWT-00-0000-000000CD1-ND/3926839

1000pcs for $560. And that's USA prices, I bet you can get them from some China seller for $0.40 each.

Anyways, as you were...
cdgmoney250 said:
I think this is my first post ever.. been watching the forums for a long time.

So.. Which model did you choose?
300, 400, 400+ maybe?
Which reflector angle did you use?
60, 90, 120 maybe?

What area are you trying to cover? What wattage Gavita are you running?

I'm not defending Spectrum King as I've yet to see one person, but i've seen all wattage of HID single and double ended, CMH phillips bulbs, and assorted blurple LED lights all in person. I've even had the oppurtunity to put a cheaper par meter under all these different fixtures. And I have a DIY COB set up and and I plan on setting up a much larger DIY space for my flower room in the next 2 weeks. I'm no lighting expert but I have been around some lights, and Spectrum King, at least from their videos and 3rd party videos actually putting their lights up to other lights with meters, seems like they are the most forthcoming commercial light on the market. Yeah the guy is cocky, but his lights outperform other lights that cost twice the retail price. Where are any other leading brand name LED's putting up side by side grows to show what their lights can do with impressive results? GG side by side was one of the only ones I can think of where I was impressed with the yield and the quality, but you still have to pay over $2000 per light (Apache Tech/ Area 51)
"Their lights are made from shitty parts"
Isn't Cree and Meanwell the Standard for quality DIY builds?
Aren't those the same components used in Spectrum King Lights?
The principle behind his lights is just a larger scale of a Vero COB in a Ledil Reflector.
I've watched all their videos multiple times, and I can't recall a time where they said their lights would "beat"
a 1000W Hortilux HPS. Maybe their yield G/W was what was beating the HID lights.

I'm all about COBs and doing things cheaply, but if had more vertical space I would be willing to try their lights out. Great spectrum and if the intensity is there then what is there to argue about. No offense to any of the guru's on this forum as there are many, but I have seen way more bad mouthing about companies without people providing factual information for their bad experience.

Sorry for the rant. I just can't stand how subjective a lot of these threads can get.
Click to expand...
 
BigYellowCob

BigYellowCob

Well-Known Member
cdgmoney250 said:
I think this is my first post ever.. been watching the forums for a long time.

So.. Which model did you choose?
300, 400, 400+ maybe?
Which reflector angle did you use?
60, 90, 120 maybe?

What area are you trying to cover? What wattage Gavita are you running?

I'm not defending Spectrum King as I've yet to see one person, but i've seen all wattage of HID single and double ended, CMH phillips bulbs, and assorted blurple LED lights all in person. I've even had the oppurtunity to put a cheaper par meter under all these different fixtures. And I have a DIY COB set up and and I plan on setting up a much larger DIY space for my flower room in the next 2 weeks. I'm no lighting expert but I have been around some lights, and Spectrum King, at least from their videos and 3rd party videos actually putting their lights up to other lights with meters, seems like they are the most forthcoming commercial light on the market. Yeah the guy is cocky, but his lights outperform other lights that cost twice the retail price. Where are any other leading brand name LED's putting up side by side grows to show what their lights can do with impressive results? GG side by side was one of the only ones I can think of where I was impressed with the yield and the quality, but you still have to pay over $2000 per light (Apache Tech/ Area 51)
"Their lights are made from shitty parts"
Isn't Cree and Meanwell the Standard for quality DIY builds?
Aren't those the same components used in Spectrum King Lights?
The principle behind his lights is just a larger scale of a Vero COB in a Ledil Reflector.
I've watched all their videos multiple times, and I can't recall a time where they said their lights would "beat"
a 1000W Hortilux HPS. Maybe their yield G/W was what was beating the HID lights.

I'm all about COBs and doing things cheaply, but if had more vertical space I would be willing to try their lights out. Great spectrum and if the intensity is there then what is there to argue about. No offense to any of the guru's on this forum as there are many, but I have seen way more bad mouthing about companies without people providing factual information for their bad experience.

Sorry for the rant. I just can't stand how subjective a lot of these threads can get.
Click to expand...
1.21 Giga covered the reasons why their LEDS are not good - just because it's Cree doesn't make it good. < 30% efficiency is not good, considering HPS is over 40% efficient. In my previous post I stated that Spectrum King claimed their 400 watt light could BEAT a 1000w HPS. This was a slight error on my part - what they do state on the site in the FAQ section is that their 400 watt light was COMPARABLE to a 1000w HPS.

Capture.PNG

It's this kind of bullshit that makes people like OP give away their HPS and start growing with a Spectrum King with the belief that they are going to get the same results, only to find out they've been ripped off. Do you seriously think this sort of thing is OK? WTF man. And to make matters worse, 90% of the LED grow light manufacturers do the same bullshit, and it's the very reason so many growers don't believe LEDs can grow buds, since they or someone they know has been ripped off by one of these bull shit artists. I was seriously considering buying a Mars light before I was fortunate enough to find this site and with the info here I built my own. This is why these threads are so hard on crappy light manufacturers - if they want to build websites full of lies and misrepresentations, we are going to call them out on it.
And I'm not sorry for my rant.
 
ttystikk

ttystikk

Well-Known Member
BigYellowCob said:
1.21 Giga covered the reasons why their LEDS are not good - just because it's Cree doesn't make it good. < 30% efficiency is not good, considering HPS is over 40% efficient. In my previous post I stated that Spectrum King claimed their 400 watt light could BEAT a 1000w HPS. This was a slight error on my part - what they do state on the site in the FAQ section is that their 400 watt light was COMPARABLE to a 1000w HPS.

View attachment 3483757

It's this kind of bullshit that makes people like OP give away their HPS and start growing with a Spectrum King with the belief that they are going to get the same results, only to find out they've been ripped off. Do you seriously think this sort of thing is OK? WTF man. And to make matters worse, 90% of the LED grow light manufacturers do the same bullshit, and it's the very reason so many growers don't believe LEDs can grow buds, since they or someone they know has been ripped off by one of these bull shit artists. I was seriously considering buying a Mars light before I was fortunate enough to find this site and with the info here I built my own. This is why these threads are so hard on crappy light manufacturers - if they want to build websites full of lies and misrepresentations, we are going to call them out on it.
And I'm not sorry for my rant.
Click to expand...
...and this is exactly why I listen to you guys before spending dime one on LED. I'll get there, don't worry. And when I do, y'all will be the first to know!
 
testiclees

testiclees

Well-Known Member
Here's a message i received from SK.

"Show me ANY LED Grow light with actual data showing the PPF and Lumens and show me the price of it ..

Show me any 1000 watt comparable LED grow light for cheaper than our light.

In fact , if show me a grow light with certified data that is brighter than ours and cheaper, ill give you a free grow light.. Hows that!!!"

I invited them over here to defend their product.
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top