NEED HELP CHOOSING A LIGHT

mauricem00

mauricem00

Well-Known Member
.Smoke said:
Get what you're saying here, but still don't understand how people are like, "$1000 LED? Or $200 HPS? Well, the HPS is $20 a month more in electricity, so let me drop $1000 on a light instead..."

That's a loooooooot of months worth of getting great buds with hps....if you can deal with the heat HID still wins in my book.
Just my 2 cents.yield
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n my area electricity cost..09/KWH so a 400 watt hps run 12 hours a day cost$7.20/month moe than a spider2000 and produces 30% more radiate power and more yield. I can get a 4H/HPS light on amazon foe $125 Acmh light cost about $160 and uses an extra $5.40/mo in electricity during flowering and 20% more radiant power and plenty of blue and UV for incresed flavor and potency and less heat than a 400 watt HPS.if someone wants to spend $1000 on a light because it "looks" cool when a $160 light would grow better lt is their choice
 
D

Datcoldboi

Well-Known Member
Guys, ive come down to 3 choices really unless someone can offer something better... Its gonna be between these three:

Solarxtreme 500
Timber 4VS
HLG 300L

I think they all have about the same output... which one should i use??
 
Flatrate

Flatrate

Well-Known Member
I would choose the Timber 4VS or the HLG. I am biased and would go with Timber, yea its $90 more than the HLG but is packing 155 more watts than the HLG. The HLG I am sure is a fine fixture, I don't have any experience with them yet.
 
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Datcoldboi

Well-Known Member
Flatrate said:
I would choose the Timber 4VS or the HLG. I am biased and would go with Timber, yea its $90 more than the HLG but is packing 155 more watts than the HLG. The HLG I am sure is a fine fixture, I don't have any experience with them yet.
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3000k or 3500k?
 
J

JonCreighton

Well-Known Member
if u want a commercial quality setup ina 3x3 i think ur going tio have to build it yourself.... small area... i just went thru this process

get 4-6 HLG96v2s put them on 2 320-54a meanwell drivers... and u got a commercial quality setup just downsized....

If u really want to produce the way u say u will need to add co2.... without adding co2 u ight aswell get 3 lights and 1 driver cuzx the rest of the light will be wasted.... id say 90percent of growers are over liughting and under co2ing.... everything has to match up... u can run 1000w of the best light in the world in ur 3x3 and if ur just at ambient co2 ur not using 70% of that light... think of it this way... i got outdoors growing right now... no supplimtal co2 yet... those plants are only using half that light... without added co2 they cant use the rest of the light to photosynthesis...

so whats the best light for u... im not sure help me out and answer these ...

what are your plans w co2? ie is this a closed or open system.... if u want to do what u say it will need to be closed w added co2

are you planning any wattage for HVAC... then u can push them hard...

Theres two ways to do this... gear up w all the uquipment HVAC, CO2, LEDs blah blah blah.. very high lightand push out the yield.. max yield...

or

no co2, no hvac, open or closed system.. low light.. kinda small yield but better grams per watt... theres nothing wrong w growing this way just most people who do it are way over lighting...

why i reccomend the HLG96v2 is they give u a ton of flexability to do it however u want..
 
J

JonCreighton

Well-Known Member
.Smoke said:
Get what you're saying here, but still don't understand how people are like, "$1000 LED? Or $200 HPS? Well, the HPS is $20 a month more in electricity, so let me drop $1000 on a light instead..."

That's a loooooooot of months worth of getting great buds with hps....if you can deal with the heat HID still wins in my book.
Just my 2 cents.
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actually the energy cost are about half w good leds running efficiently.... so 600 a month down to 350 a month.... efficiency, light distance from canopy... all make a huge difference in poweringn the light

but that not the point.. the point is in tertiary costs.... spend more upfront for an efficent enough LED setup and u dont have to buy the $2000 minisplit.... and u dont have spend the money powering the mini split every month....

so" OMG u spent 2k on ur lights thats crazy"...... says the guy who soend 1k on light 1k on a minisplit (2k)... then has to pay to power a less efficient light setup 2 ft away from the canopy AND THE MINI SPLIT in perpetuity.... then replace the bulds every 2 years....
 
.Smoke

.Smoke

Well-Known Member
JonCreighton said:
actually the energy cost are about half w good leds running efficiently.... so 600 a month down to 350 a month.... efficiency, light distance from canopy... all make a huge difference in poweringn the light

but that not the point.. the point is in tertiary costs.... spend more upfront for an efficent enough LED setup and u dont have to buy the $2000 minisplit.... and u dont have spend the money powering the mini split every month....

so" OMG u spent 2k on ur lights thats crazy"...... says the guy who soend 1k on light 1k on a minisplit (2k)... then has to pay to power a less efficient light setup 2 ft away from the canopy AND THE MINI SPLIT in perpetuity.... then replace the bulds every 2 years....
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Yeah.
Show me a 500w LED that stands toe to toe with a 1000W HPS.
Not there yet buddy. Maybe next decade. Or will they already be making the next "new light" to compete against HID...
 
chiefbootknocker

chiefbootknocker

Well-Known Member
.Smoke said:
Yeah.
Show me a 500w LED that stands toe to toe with a 1000W HPS.
Not there yet buddy. Maybe next decade. Or will they already be making the next "new light" to compete against HID...
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I'm with you dude. I mean I bought an LED because it seems HID's are getting harder to find, but I'm shitting bullets of what this thing will produce. With HPS I was hitting 1.5 - 2.0lb every pull no problem in a 4x4. I don't know what to expect with LED. I have 3 totaling over 700w at the plug, but I can only use 2 because I can't control my temps with 3. So when I flower it will be with 470w at the wall. If the grow sucks I will just get the fucking iPower. It gets somewhat bad reviews (which is why I didn't buy it) and just buy a better bulb. Damn I miss my 1k cool tube.
 
J

JonCreighton

Well-Known Member
.Smoke said:
Yeah.
Show me a 500w LED that stands toe to toe with a 1000W HPS.
Not there yet buddy. Maybe next decade. Or will they already be making the next "new light" to compete against HID...
Click to expand...
Im certainly not an expert... tyhis is just the math i went thru building my latest setup

when i rig up what i got speced ill see what kinda ppfd is coming down at 500w.... gimme a week....

my point was more of the other costs... ur 1000w hps is going to require more wattage for climate control if ur trying to push high light... a 1000w LED rig thats run efficiently is a 1000w setup... a 1000w HPS is going to require cooling costs... u need to buy the AC unit... then u need to power that unit.. every month... so a 1000w HPS is really a 1500 watt setup plus the 1k for the minisplit... probable need to run an extra 7" inline to push air past it aswll... where does that air come from and where does it get cooled for recycle?

So u can spend $1k on a 1000w LED setup... 1k investment 1000w run cost
or
$500 on 1000wHPS + 500 on an AC.. 1k investment 1500w run cost..

but efficiency aside... its more about control w the LED... how do u manage ur DLI w HPS??... u can move the plants up and down and switch ur ballast 50-75-100 but thats it... i adjust my DLI twice a week... U can also photoaclimate w the LED saving power aswell...

if ur fifhgting for every watt... like i am... my math figured here in mass at .22c kwh.. a 2000w LED DIY would pay itself off VS HPS in just over a year... and im factoring in UV suppllimenting
 
J

JonCreighton

Well-Known Member
chiefbootknocker said:
I'm with you dude. I mean I bought an LED because it seems HID's are getting harder to find, but I'm shitting bullets of what this thing will produce. With HPS I was hitting 1.5 - 2.0lb every pull no problem in a 4x4. I don't know what to expect with LED. I have 3 totaling over 700w at the plug, but I can only use 2 because I can't control my temps with 3. So when I flower it will be with 470w at the wall. If the grow sucks I will just get the fucking iPower. It gets somewhat bad reviews (which is why I didn't buy it) and just buy a better bulb. Damn I miss my 1k cool tube.
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Im confused... cant u just spread the 700w over the 3 lights... running them each more efficiently therefor generating less heat.... If i need heat i pop a V2 off the driver.. and just a string of 2 instead iof 3 off the same wattage... generates a few degress in the tent if i need to add heat for the VPD if i dont want to run the dehu
 
J

JonCreighton

Well-Known Member
im sorry the same DLI... so lets say 12QBs pushing out 1000k watts will generate a few more degrees in the tent than 18 QBs pushing out 1000k... the lower u run the LEDs the more efficient they are... heat basically being light ineffieciency... can u do that w ur lights or no? i would reccomend checking into adding a few 96V2s to make up for that lost wattage... they are pretty cool lights
 
truepunk87

truepunk87

Well-Known Member
JonCreighton said:
Im certainly not an expert... tyhis is just the math i went thru building my latest setup

when i rig up what i got speced ill see what kinda ppfd is coming down at 500w.... gimme a week....

my point was more of the other costs... ur 1000w hps is going to require more wattage for climate control if ur trying to push high light... a 1000w LED rig thats run efficiently is a 1000w setup... a 1000w HPS is going to require cooling costs... u need to buy the AC unit... then u need to power that unit.. every month... so a 1000w HPS is really a 1500 watt setup plus the 1k for the minisplit... probable need to run an extra 7" inline to push air past it aswll... where does that air come from and where does it get cooled for recycle?

So u can spend $1k on a 1000w LED setup... 1k investment 1000w run cost
or
$500 on 1000wHPS + 500 on an AC.. 1k investment 1500w run cost..

but efficiency aside... its more about control w the LED... how do u manage ur DLI w HPS??... u can move the plants up and down and switch ur ballast 50-75-100 but thats it... i adjust my DLI twice a week... U can also photoaclimate w the LED saving power aswell...

if ur fifhgting for every watt... like i am... my math figured here in mass at .22c kwh.. a 2000w LED DIY would pay itself off VS HPS in just over a year... and im factoring in UV suppllimenting
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I run 1000w in tents..... And I don't need the extra a/c your speaking of. If you vent your lights and your tents separately then you shouldn't have any need for a "minisplit". Never been over 79° and only run a central air system.
 
J

JonCreighton

Well-Known Member
truepunk87 said:
I run 1000w in tents..... And I don't need the extra a/c your speaking of. If you vent your lights and your tents separately then you shouldn't have any need for a "minisplit". Never been over 79° and only run a central air system.
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OK.. but if im pushing a 1000w thru a HPS vs 1000w thru a LED the tent like 10 degrees hotter w the hps.... HPS r hot because they are not nearly as efficient... heat and light are unrelated... anytime ur light is putting off heat its inefficiency... HPS run way hotter because they are less efficient light... I havent teted this i have the meter and ill do it in like a week and come back and let u guys know... but my point was if ur trying to push high light... w hps u can run 1000w to 86 degrees lets say 1000ppfd.... if u got LEDs u can probable push 1750w to get to 86 degrees say 1500ppfd... giving u 1.5x the yield.... my friends running LEDs w a minisplit.... i keep my big mouth shut but im basically like dude if ur running LEDs w a AC ur basically just paid a bunch of money for HPS w far red supp....
 
Nizza

Nizza

Well-Known Member
"1 watt of electricity produces 3.412 British Thermal Unit (BTU) of heat per hour regardless of light type incandescent, HPS, CDL, LED, fluorescent, induction, etc. Therefore, a 1,000W HPS grow light (1,060W with ballast loss) generates 3,617 BTU per hour heat"

The hps will output heat just like an LED. LEDs heat mostly goes out of the back of the LEDs and lacks infrared heat so there's that. Also If you use a cooltube on HPS you are getting less light because the glass acts like a screen and I think you lose about 30% going off the top of my head

1000w of led will be the same heat output as 1000w of HPS. The difference is the efficiency of the light especially over time.

Hps requires bulb changes so take that into account when comparing. High quality LEDs will last a long time and will most likely need a driver change before a board goes bad
 
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