Big Perm
Well-Known Member
I like both. I like LED's, too. lol.
I am quite sure that I am going to have a cooling problem this summer. I will be leaning towards LED grows during the hot months. Time will tell.
600W vs 1000W - Bud QUALITY
I am quite sure that I am going to have a cooling problem this summer. I will be leaning towards LED grows during the hot months. Time will tell.
no you wont. i run 550 actual watts of COB led in my 3x3. my temps are very controllable. with just a 4" inline and carbon filter of a fan controller i can control my temps from ambient air temp all the way to 95+.
only time i have issues is if ambient air temp is in the low 50s. i get my temps fine but the ventilation is a little low IMO. Thats only we we get cold snaps of -30
GROWMAN420420
Member
you just adjust height or dimmer for ppfd reading! you can do it! best thing is to get full spectrum led or stay with cfl like me, cfl is very healthy for plant hear in india
MichiganMedGrower
Well-Known Member
Your second paragraph explains my situation. My ambient air can be lower than 50.
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how many watts of hps are you running?
MichiganMedGrower
Well-Known Member
At least 2 600’s and add a 315 usually in winter in a small spare converted room.
Why are you all trying to prove i need led in this guys thread?
I have been running a successful medical grow for years. I just got 2 solis tech ballasts for only 211 shipped. They are normally $189 each. So please dont tell me about the cost factor fantasy. I plan to upgrade when tech advances and cost reduces.
Here is the flower room.
Perpetual harvest every 10 days on average. 5-8 oz dry per plant plus some loose buds and bud trim for mrs. Mmg’s coconut oil for tincture and edibles.
im not trying to convince you to go led.
just saying if you matched 1200 actual watts of LED allowing the heat into the grow area and vented the room separately you would be fine.
you vent your lights VIA cool hood into your house?
grow what ever works for you.
MichiganMedGrower
Well-Known Member
If i matched watts it would be a lot of light for a little space and i would not get any power savings. Might even need more ceiling height for that much light. And since they are not air cooled i might need more ventilation as well.
And yes. I run my exhaust under my living room in winter. And out a chimney in summer.
GROWMAN420420
Member
i am running 2 x 28 cfl currently my friend
Old Thcool
Well-Known Member
Dude my original comment wasn’t supposed to convince you per se, more the op. You both mentioned complications with your situations - height and heat. A cob light takes up more height than a SpydrX for instance, plus with Led you can safely have the light 6 inches off the canopy- that gives you even more height from container.
You don’t have a problem with heat but the op does- again an efficient LED fixture will reduce heat over a gas lamp. A full spectrum LeD is cheaper to operate than a gas lamp too. Guys that are in small tight spaces can avoid excessive summer heat buildup with LED it’s that simple.
If you like street lights that’s also great! I’m not going to try to convince you that LED is better, even though testing has proven that they are now at least comparable and in some cases superior.
There are many claims that suggest a 340 watt full spectrum LED is equivalent to a 600 watt HPS because 260 watts of the HPS is heatin your living room. If you don’t mind the extra costs of venting that heat in the summer that’s cool! I weighed all those criteria to make my decision and went with LED. If I already had gas fixtures I probably still would have thrown them on the scrap pile. Not because you can’t grow nice plants with them because clearly you can, but for all the other reasons. That said, blurple lights make me sick!
MichiganMedGrower
Well-Known Member
Here is the quality from the “streetlights”. Lol
Hortilux super hps and phillips cmh.
So much hype
Full spectrum led’s are made for the retail industry. They are designed to light things up for the human eye to see bright vivid colors on a showroom floor or sales display.
They are re purposed for the much smaller grow industry just like hps was many years ago.
And their cost is still way out of line in my opinion.
Oh and the university of utah chose the phillips 315 cmh as the best single source full cycle grow lamp available. Not led.
Still a little too much blue in my opinion for stand alone flowering. Grows much leafier buds than when mixed with hps.
Led tech is being tested at the university of michigan presently. But single discrete colored diodes tuned to specefic crops are the future. I think in 3-5 years there will be specific lamps for specific plants just like specific fertilizer.
They have already started adding red and uv to boards and strips.
End rant.
Hortilux super hps and phillips cmh.
So much hype
Full spectrum led’s are made for the retail industry. They are designed to light things up for the human eye to see bright vivid colors on a showroom floor or sales display.
They are re purposed for the much smaller grow industry just like hps was many years ago.
And their cost is still way out of line in my opinion.
Oh and the university of utah chose the phillips 315 cmh as the best single source full cycle grow lamp available. Not led.
Still a little too much blue in my opinion for stand alone flowering. Grows much leafier buds than when mixed with hps.
Led tech is being tested at the university of michigan presently. But single discrete colored diodes tuned to specefic crops are the future. I think in 3-5 years there will be specific lamps for specific plants just like specific fertilizer.
They have already started adding red and uv to boards and strips.
End rant.
Old Thcool
Well-Known Member
Very nice looking buds! No need to get upset dude. Civility is a sign of intelligence. As I said, high end LED are worthy contenders that have many positive attributes such as lower heat, low operating costs with respect to HVAC and better efficiency over gas, no bulb replacement , take up less space ( depending on configuration) above plant, produce good weed.Here is the quality from the “streetlights”. Lol
Hortilux super hps and phillips cmh.
View attachment 4268501
View attachment 4268496
So much hype
Full spectrum led’s are made for the retail industry. They are designed to light things up for the human eye to see bright vivid colors on a showroom floor or sales display.
They are re purposed for the much smaller grow industry just like hps was many years ago.
And their cost is still way out of line in my opinion.
Oh and the university of utah chose the phillips 315 cmh as the best single source full cycle grow lamp available. Not led.
Still a little too much blue in my opinion for stand alone flowering. Grows much leafier buds than when mixed with hps.
Led tech is being tested at the university of michigan presently. But single discrete colored diodes tuned to specefic crops are the future. I think in 3-5 years there will be specific lamps for specific plants just like specific fertilizer.
They have already started adding red and uv to boards and strips.
End rant.
Cons, pretty expensive to get into.
Not to be a dink here but you say full spectrum LED is for retail? Yet more and more commercial operations are scrapping gas lamps for them, there are hundreds of videos of large operators using them, that doesn’t seem retail to me?
There is a greenhouse in Norway that likes them so much the scrapped all their gas lamps and don’t even use the sun anymore! Hardly sounds retail there? You do know that LED has made some massive advances in the last couple of years right?
Old Thcool
Well-Known Member
This took 5 seconds to find. 
Couch_Lock
Well-Known Member
Fine bud indeed, MMG.
I'm a CMH fan boy, myself. But HPS added during flowering is always a smart idea. Potency is king, who cares if the electrical bill goes up a bit? I know I don't GAFF, its all about flower POTENCY.
I'd rather have a QP of dank then 2 lbs of mids.
I'm a CMH fan boy, myself. But HPS added during flowering is always a smart idea. Potency is king, who cares if the electrical bill goes up a bit? I know I don't GAFF, its all about flower POTENCY.
I'd rather have a QP of dank then 2 lbs of mids.
MichiganMedGrower
Well-Known Member
I do. And for a big money operation the electrical savings alone have to be considered. They are looking at savings over many years. And they will upgade again when tec surpasses todays stuff.
But most production uses de hps now worldwide.
Thats why i say choose the right tool for the job.
Just cause i called my post a rant doesnt mean im really upset or anything.
If you buy an led now it will be outdated almost immedietely at this time of advancement. Why rush into it? No huge benefits at my size.
Am not arguing about the future being led.
But they still make vacuum tube guitar amplifiers even though digital modeling has advanced 20 years. Cause the tubes sound and even feel better to play.
Isnt there something about burning gas that seems more like real sunlight? The 315 sure feels like that on the back of my neck. But not the cobs my friend uses.
His plants are not as good as mine. But which light used has almost nothing to do with that. Maybe.
MichiganMedGrower
Well-Known Member
Thank you. In our side by side blind testing with patients. No one could reliably tell what bud was grown with what.
And when i removed the cmh for summer. The weed was still just as potent and tasty.
You have to work the lights for best potential regardless.
MichiganMedGrower
Well-Known Member
Problem with these tests is the lamps are usually at fixed distance. You have to work the lamp with the plant to keep it happy as possible for best results no matter which lamp you use.
But when i worked with a dispensary and my stuff was tested adding mh to hps gave 2% more thc than just hps alone.
With 2 hps there was higher yield.
Plants were more compact and leafier with the added blue.
xtsho
Well-Known Member
Well of course an LED manufacturer like Valoya is going to have results that show LED's are better than HPS. They're trying to sell their product. They also don't say what wattage was used. Was it a 250 watt or 1000 watt hps they compared against? I don't put much value in studies conducted by manufacturers. If that was an independent study conducted by an impartial entity it would have merit.
Big Perm
Well-Known Member
I see in that comparison that they were all grown the same way with different lights.
IMO the grower has so much more control than simply flipping on a light. If techniques like running a flat canopy with some LST, the light could be used more efficiently when talking about yield. I only say this because I look at that HPS grow, and it looks pretty pitiful. They could have gotten so much more out of that plant. So when I think of that, I can't help but look at the others and wonder what their results might have been had they grown them more appropriately. I mean, we are already splitting hairs on the lighting, right? But no one splits hairs on methods. Both I think have a very significant impact on the final result, and the method is free.
MichiganMedGrower
Well-Known Member
Yes! That was my point about working the lights.