What's the interest in growing with retail store LED bulbs?

[neW Doctor'C]

I am familiar with pll, but never grew with them.

Time for me to move on. If you have more questions use my threads

Sounds like you all have pretty good insights on led's! i recently inherited a lumi grow 325 haven't recevied my 4x4 tent yet but really wanted to increase lighting and was curious about adding retail led's or cfl's, Thanks in advance

 

[CobKits]

not sure why people dig up 4 year old threads. 100% of this information is completely outdated.heres one from the last year:

https://www.rollitup.org/t/got-my-ge-brightstiks.896869/

in short, the $5-$7 15W LEDs you can buy are around 120 lumens/watt of directional lighting and there is zero reason to use toxic inefficient CFLs except for UV supplementation

 

[nfhiggs]

Well, I want to look at this with numbers, and I'm about to make some assumptions. Let's assume that these LEDs are more efficient in getting the light to the plant where it is needed so only 75% of the lumens is needed. Looking on Home Depot's site, an average 13w LED spot or flood light (Philips) is ~$35, and puts out 850 lumens. The same company's CFLs cost around ~$3 a bulb for 23w, with 1655 lumens. Let's say I build a fixture with 8 23w CFLs, that would be a lumen output of 13240 and a bulb cost of $24. To get 75% of that from LED, I'd need ~12 LED lamps with an initial investment of $420!

Rated life of CFL is 12k hours, LED light is 25k hours, so a little more than twice as long. So I would have to replace the CFLs once, let's go twice...and it would cost me a total of $72. That's still no where near the original estimate of the LEDs of $420.

Even if we assume 50% lumens needed, that's still 8 LED lights at an investment of $280. Still being beat by CFLs at $72.

So I'm trying to wrap my head around this, what is the appeal?

$35 for a 13W LED Spot/Flood is ridiculous. Get out of Home Depot. Try looking at Batteries+Bulbs. $9.99 for 16W 1500 lumen bulbs:
https://www.batteriesplus.com/light-bulb/led/a-shape-(a)/e26?facets=Watts:12.5~16~17
And when you remove the diffuser, the intensity increases significantly as it's much more directional.

B+B also frequently has rebates on the multipacs - last summer I got 2 pacs for 1.99 per bulb after the instant rebate.

Edit: LOL, didn't realize this was a 4 year old thread...

 

[Flanigan]

I'm just wandering can anyone tell me if the 60 watt with 800 lumens times 4 bulbs will do okay for starting pants a few weeks?

 

[CobKits]

sure but the "100W equivalent" 14-15W/600-1700 lumens are 5 bucks a piece and more efficient per watt. make sure to pop the covers off

 

[Flanigan]

sure but the "100W equivalent" 14-15W/600-1700 lumens are 5 bucks a piece and more efficient per watt. make sure to pop the covers off

Thank you very much

 

[Flanigan]

Thank you very much

Do the 60 Watts have covers? In sending a picture.

 

[CobKits]

yeah theyre all the same. jam a screwdriver straight thru that plastic globe and out the otherside and pop it off. the leds are on a flat plate down in the base

 

[NoTillPhil]

A squeeze clamp or vice is the easiest way I've found to pop the covers. CFL are no longer even comparable IMO.

 

[NoTillPhil]

Those are two 50 watt floods as side lighting.

Below the seedlings in red cups to illustrate stretch. They are currently 30" away from the lights.

 

[Frank Nitty]

Well, I want to look at this with numbers, and I'm about to make some assumptions. Let's assume that these LEDs are more efficient in getting the light to the plant where it is needed so only 75% of the lumens is needed. Looking on Home Depot's site, an average 13w LED spot or flood light (Philips) is ~$35, and puts out 850 lumens. The same company's CFLs cost around ~$3 a bulb for 23w, with 1655 lumens. Let's say I build a fixture with 8 23w CFLs, that would be a lumen output of 13240 and a bulb cost of $24. To get 75% of that from LED, I'd need ~12 LED lamps with an initial investment of $420!

Rated life of CFL is 12k hours, LED light is 25k hours, so a little more than twice as long. So I would have to replace the CFLs once, let's go twice...and it would cost me a total of $72. That's still no where near the original estimate of the LEDs of $420.

Even if we assume 50% lumens needed, that's still 8 LED lights at an investment of $280. Still being beat by CFLs at $72.

So I'm trying to wrap my head around this, what is the appeal?

CFLs for me all day

 

[Flanigan]

Those are two 50 watt floods as side lighting.

Below the seedlings in red cups to illustrate stretch. They are currently 30" away from the lights.

View attachment 4124618

What types of lighting ?

 

[Flanigan]

What types of lighting ?

Sorry I just read lol

 

[Flanigan]

So if I pop the covers off how can I expect my little plants to do with 240 Watts?led like I took picture of?

 

[Flanigan]

A squeeze clamp or vice is the easiest way I've found to pop the covers. CFL are no longer even comparable IMO.so what can I expect from these lights with cover popped off with 240 Watts? In 2-3 weeks? Do you have a picture because next week ill have my seedlings under them in peat moss?

View attachment 4124611

 

[Frank Nitty]

But how far do the lights penetrate

 

[Flanigan]

But how far do the lights penetrate

Kinda I don't understand. In planning to put the 4 plants in peat pots inside a small bowl to catch runoff inside a small cage,not like the one im using for protection outside after the 2-3 weeks trial and placing the 3-60 watt lights about a foot or a little less above the peat pots using the cage to have som

 

[Flanigan]

Something to hold the lights on top of and i think I said 240 but its 180 watts

 

[Frank Nitty]

Kinda I don't understand. In planning to put the 4 plants in peat pots inside a small bowl to catch runoff inside a small cage,not like the one im using for protection outside after the 2-3 weeks trial and placing the 3-60 watt lights about a foot or a little less above the peat pots using the cage to have som

What I'm meaning is how do the sides and bottom of the plants get light???

 

[NoTillPhil]

Penetration should be better based on the directional output of the led alone. They are essentially 15 watt cobs that get about 120 - lm/w. The real penetration comes from the fact that more light sources provide many overlapping light cones. So more light finds its way into the lower plant zone.