Can someone recommend a 600-800 watt LED panel that actually runs cool

U

unkn0wnentity

Member
I have a friend I want to move into LED lighting since he's having so many major heat issues with VHO's and side lighting (fluro's). I'd like to see him get a 600-800 watt panel. I was looking at the Diamond Series 600w. It's $1,395.00.

Does anyone have this light and if so can you tell me about the temp. swing from off to on this thing has?

Also if anyone else has a good recommendation on an LED panel that kicks 600w of light and stays cool please let me know.

People automatically think LEDs run cool and that's not really true. I've had busy bee panels and those things kick out some serious heat, very much so like the VHO light at my friends.

I wish I could find a 600-800w LED panel where the 3-5w diodes were cranked down to 1.5w each to reduce heat output. It sucks these things don't come with dimmers, I could get an 800w for coverage and dim it down to reduce heat output.
 
IlovePlants

IlovePlants

Well-Known Member
Anytime you use any form of diode to create light, you will invariably create heat. The best thing you can do is to reduce wattage. LEDs do this by having NM wavelength specific lighting, cutting down on wasted light, which if for each watt of light produced you are going to get some heat. The best thing you can do to cool down any light is to separate where the heat is going versus where the light is going. Think about creating a type of "cool tube" system for your LEDs and you will notice a vast increase in efficiency. I feel like this is the most neglected phase in LED cooling, we don't separate the heat sinks eventual output from the rest of the room.

With that being said, leds still produce less heat watt for watt than HID lighting, it's just not as nice as people like to think. Another thing to think about is this, your fans create heat, not a lot, but they do, their primary function is simply moving the hot air away from the surface of the heat sink, providing a cooler area for the diodes to work in. If you really want a light with higher cooling efficiency you would need one that has large enough heat sinks that fans are unnecessary. This would reduce wattage and ultimately heat output. My room is 84'f where my thermometer is, but where the plants are it's closer to ~74'f, the room used to run 80'f all over before I added the fans, the true temperature throughout the room was cooler before I had the fans, but flowering plants don't like high heat. It's all about wattage, so with a 600-800watt light you are going to be pumping out heat, not as much as a 600watt HID but definitely a fair amount of heat.

During winter if you still need to cool down your room, buy a mobile A/C (they're really cheap during winter), move it into the room, and have the heat pumping into your house. Now all the heat that all that wattage produces will be pumped into your house.
Happy Growing,
ILovePlants
 
tenthirty

tenthirty

Well-Known Member
Here's the problem,
When you feed a watt to a led that watt has to be dissipated, either through light or heat.
The expensive leds do pretty well, as good or better than HID. Google XP-G2.
Most led fixture manufacturers do not use these efficient leds, or very few of them, and if they did the fixture is going to be really expensive.
600 watts is a shit load of power.

Just for example, I'm in the process of covering a 3x3 tray with between 234-312 watts of led to replace 500-600 watts of hps.
Though these fixtures are home made and built with top quality and top bin leds.
The cost per fixture is about $250 and I have to make them myself.

Hope that helps.
 
U

unkn0wnentity

Member
tenthirty said:
Here's the problem,
When you feed a watt to a led that watt has to be dissipated, either through light or heat.
The expensive leds do pretty well, as good or better than HID. Google XP-G2.
Most led fixture manufacturers do not use these efficient leds, or very few of them, and if they did the fixture is going to be really expensive.
600 watts is a shit load of power.

Just for example, I'm in the process of covering a 3x3 tray with between 234-312 watts of led to replace 500-600 watts of hps.
Though these fixtures are home made and built with top quality and top bin leds.
The cost per fixture is about $250 and I have to make them myself.

Hope that helps.
Click to expand...
Yes, I know there will always be loss of energy into heat. That can't be helped.

Well, since that's the case, I decided to replace all of the bulbs in my VHO to the Spectralux 3000K RED VHO tubes, 4 foot, quantity 8. I have side lighting for that grow area that's HO white. That VHO fixture pumps out some heat, not as much as an HID and not as low as LED but I can handle that since it's nearly fall/winter here. It should start to cool outside very soon so when its time to flower it should be dead winter and not a problem to keep the area cooled down.

I'll wait a year or two before upgrading that system to LED. I have LEDs elsewhere and I can tell they are the future but they aren't 100% there yet IMO, but they are very close. I also want to give them time to come down in price. I can get 8 red VHO tubes for 100 bux. That's around 760 watts of fluro.

I've seen that VHO fixture do some amazing things. The main thing I disliked was the heat output but I can avoid dropping another $2000 on LED for a while.
 
sine143

sine143

Well-Known Member
Pair of Cidly apollo 10's for around ~700 bones. about 700 watts total. pretty baller if you ask me.
 
U

unkn0wnentity

Member
sine143 said:
Pair of Cidly apollo 10's for around ~700 bones. about 700 watts total. pretty baller if you ask me.
Click to expand...
I'll go take a look at them. I know LEDs will drop in price big time soon. There new tech and as with all new tech its expensive. The price of LEDs should drop 10 fold in the next three years.
 
U

unkn0wnentity

Member
Those Apollo lights peaked my interest. I can specify the beam angle which is really cool. I'd probably go with all 90 degree lensing.

So in a GrowLab 80L, 2'7" x 4'11" x 6'7" tall, would two Apollo 10's work? Or should I spend the extra bit and go with two Apollo 12's?
 
sine143

sine143

Well-Known Member
2' 7" x 4' 11 could probably be covered easily by a single apollo 12. 2 and you'll be rocking some rad tight buds. why not use the 60 degree angle with that footprint? its quite small.
 
Brokeoldbloke

Brokeoldbloke

Active Member
I'm not a LED guy but like to keep an eye on the tech while I wait for the startup costs to drop. Since most of the heat is out the ass end of the fixture why not just make a exhuast like ILP suggested above. You could make some type of box to cover the fans footprint out of whatever; sheetmetal, a plastic dishpan or even a cardboard box. Then hook ducting from it up to your room/tent exhaust fan and vent the heat directly out.
 
U

unkn0wnentity

Member
sine143 said:
2' 7" x 4' 11 could probably be covered easily by a single apollo 12. 2 and you'll be rocking some rad tight buds. why not use the 60 degree angle with that footprint? its quite small.
Click to expand...
Light blending improves with 90 degrees but I'll consider some 60 degree lenses.
 
Endur0xX

Endur0xX

Well-Known Member
no LED lights run cool, they all generate enough heat that you still need an inline fan if you go above 300Watts...
 
U

unkn0wnentity

Member
Endur0xX said:
no LED lights run cool, they all generate enough heat that you still need an inline fan if you go above 300Watts...
Click to expand...
That statement is invalid. I have two 357 Magnum Plus LEDs in a small room and the temp is 79F. With the Busy Bee 400 watt light the temp was 91F.

The two 357's put out over 700 watts and barely do anything to the ambient temps.

It's all in the design. It will increase the heat but it shouldn't be a drastic increase. These 357's are just expensive panels. Hopefully the price will come down so I can just buy more of those.
 
S

StennyH

Active Member
unkn0wnentity said:
That statement is invalid. I have two 357 Magnum Plus LEDs in a small room and the temp is 79F. With the Busy Bee 400 watt light the temp was 91F.

The two 357's put out over 700 watts and barely do anything to the ambient temps.

It's all in the design. It will increase the heat but it shouldn't be a drastic increase. These 357's are just expensive panels. Hopefully the price will come down so I can just buy more of those.
Click to expand...
Nope, a watt is a watt. The heat will be the same.
 
E

Eraserhead

Well-Known Member
So heat sinks and/or fans do nothing to keep the panels cool? :rolleyes:

Panel A: 300w draw, nice aluminum circuit board .75" heat sink, 2x 120mm fans
Panel B: 300w draw, cheap circuit board, really thin and crappy heat sink, 1x 80mm fan

Panel B will heat up the grow area much faster, meaning "a watt is a watt", is not true.

Any other great wisdom you'd like to bestow upon us?

StennyH said:
Nope, a watt is a watt. The heat will be the same.
Click to expand...
 
Endur0xX

Endur0xX

Well-Known Member
unkn0wnentity said:
That statement is invalid. I have two 357 Magnum Plus LEDs in a small room and the temp is 79F. With the Busy Bee 400 watt light the temp was 91F.

The two 357's put out over 700 watts and barely do anything to the ambient temps.

It's all in the design. It will increase the heat but it shouldn't be a drastic increase. These 357's are just expensive panels. Hopefully the price will come down so I can just buy more of those.
Click to expand...
how small is your room?

You are telling me that you have no air exchange ...?

I am surprised to hear those numbers, I know in time LEDs will be running cooler and cooler and this is true that my statement was invalid with nothing to back it.

You should have a inline fan and a scrubber regardless, if you have 300+ watts because that means you are growing anywhere between a QP to a 1/2+lbs and it will stink!

I have never tried running my newer LEDs without the inline fan, but I see no reasons to.
 
U

unkn0wnentity

Member
Endur0xX said:
how small is your room?

You are telling me that you have no air exchange ...?

I am surprised to hear those numbers, I know in time LEDs will be running cooler and cooler and this is true that my statement was invalid with nothing to back it.

You should have a inline fan and a scrubber regardless, if you have 300+ watts because that means you are growing anywhere between a QP to a 1/2+lbs and it will stink!

I have never tried running my newer LEDs without the inline fan, but I see no reasons to.
Click to expand...
Yes, I have a scrubber, a blower, and air exchange. It doesn't help when you scrub and exchange warm air. It's hot out and the A/C can't keep up with it all.

Ha, I've never seen QP from any of my LED grows. I think they are over rated with quantity. Every grow I see an HPS out yields the LED but the LED produces better quality/THC content. I'd love to see a single 300W LED with no other lighting pull in a QP or a 1/2 a pound.
 
sine143

sine143

Well-Known Member
if I can purchase my apollo 10 I will def pull a qp. I hope to pull a half, but I'm only running 2 plants, mainlined for 8 heads.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top