Blackstar 270w Led - beginners Choice?

Ghettobird209

Active Member
Hi peeps, Just came across this thread and thought i'd put my opinion in, I have owned a LED module light from a UK based company for the about 9 months now, I too come from a traditional growers background and have grown various strains using ballasts and bulbs etc.. (mainly old school strains, cheese, pyschosis, kila Watt, etc.. as i gave it up 3 years ago due to costs, me at work all day etc..).

When LED's came out we were all interested but knew through personal and friends experiences with them that they werent powerful enough, noisy, hot, when one led blew the whole lot went, didnt have sufficent cooling in them, even the LED's themselves were just glued onto a huge PCB board and soldered across it, voltage problems overclocking the LED's themselves resulting in life expectancy issues, all sorts.

One suprising thing though is that plants did grow under them, no way near the results a conventional bulb setup would get but at least they did something which gave us hope enough to follow the development of better LEd lights over the next few years.

That was rougly 3 years ago, now here we are and the LED market has gone wild, all i can say is there are an awful lot of older LED technology out there still and china has millions of them.
Cree, BridgeLux and Epistar seem to be the Leaders in the correct LED spectrums and Designs but watch closely and you'll see other companies designing their own LED's soon and not having to rely on oversea importing of parts. WHICH probably is the biggest put off for anyone who wants to purchase a light in the UK,................................................................................................................................................... ..................................................................................................................................................................................................... ........................................QUOTE]

jesus that was one long ad lmao
 

roguetrooper

Active Member
Hi peeps, Just came across this thread and thought i'd put my opinion in, I have owned a LED module light from a UK based company for the about 9 months now, I too come from a traditional growers background and have grown various strains using ballasts and bulbs etc.. (mainly old school strains, cheese, pyschosis, kila Watt, etc.. as i gave it up 3 years ago due to costs, me at work all day etc..).

When LED's came out we were all interested but knew through personal and friends experiences with them that they werent powerful enough, noisy, hot, when one led blew the whole lot went, didnt have sufficent cooling in them, even the LED's themselves were just glued onto a huge PCB board and soldered across it, voltage problems overclocking the LED's themselves resulting in life expectancy issues, all sorts.

One suprising thing though is that plants did grow under them, no way near the results a conventional bulb setup would get but at least they did something which gave us hope enough to follow the development of better LEd lights over the next few years.

That was rougly 3 years ago, now here we are and the LED market has gone wild, all i can say is there are an awful lot of older LED technology out there still and china has millions of them.
Cree, BridgeLux and Epistar seem to be the Leaders in the correct LED spectrums and Designs but watch closely and you'll see other companies designing their own LED's soon and not having to rely on oversea importing of parts. WHICH probably is the biggest put off for anyone who wants to purchase a light in the UK,................................................................................................................................................... ..................................................................................................................................................................................................... ........................................QUOTE]

jesus that was one long ad lmao
Erm im not him, thanks anyway....but Yup, I do agree about its long but calling my review an AD? ok fair enuff it is advertising a good product but isnt that what reviews are for? If its to be told then its worth telling well. :mrgreen: ...... Anyway Well done for getting through it all. Now sit back and inhale......now exhale aaaaaaah.....now feel the rush of pure information lol
 

Ghettobird209

Active Member
Erm im not him, thanks anyway....but Yup, I do agree about its long but calling my review an AD? ok fair enuff it is advertising a good product but isnt that what reviews are for? If its to be told then its worth telling well. :mrgreen: ...... Anyway Well done for getting through it all. Now sit back and inhale......now exhale aaaaaaah.....now feel the rush of pure information lol
you thought i read it all? lmao syke you lost me at paragraph 3 after you repeated your brands name for the 5th time.
 

roguetrooper

Active Member
you thought i read it all? lmao syke you lost me at paragraph 3 after you repeated your brands name for the 5th time.
Ok, judging by your intelligent reply im surprised you could read it that far! lol SYKE. Troll Alert!! lol
either take my information as useful or not at all.
Seems someone is scared of maybe a little truth telling about certain companies eh? Newbie. Shame, this is an exciting time for growers with this new tech coming in, seems your against it, oh well, best of luck to you anyway and thanks for your input.
 

Ghettobird209

Active Member
lol if u were to look up my name you culd see i actually am growing right now with 2 blackstar led's, i was just making a joke about your advertisement bro relax. its just funny how much you see companies do this thats all.
 

roguetrooper

Active Member
lol if u were to look up my name you culd see i actually am growing right now with 2 blackstar led's, i was just making a joke about your advertisement bro relax. its just funny how much you see companies do this thats all.
Advertisment? oh and i am relaxed, anymore relaxed and id be in a coma, so, advertisment? i mentioned the light i was using ONCE again i mentioned the supplier ONCE. Cant you count aswell as read?
Keep ya blackstars mate but dont go bitching when one LED pops and takes out all the other ones, then your gonna wait a lonnnng time thats if you dont already live in america. Not much good to us UK dwellers
Dont go around making statements that im advertising then eh? if you dont like the reply.

But....I will agree, you do see companies doing it but not ones that are willing to post grow journals or pics on here eh? well here ya go, heres one of mine, BigBang in its 11th Week (took the head off cos it was nicely trichomed and i like taking parts at different stages plus gives the buds more time to fatten up, this is one of the grows, i have a Tangerine Dream next to it in the same cabinet plus i have just finished off a Berry Bomb and another Tangerine Dream that finished earlier cos it was a pheno.

Just let the LED companies fight amongst themselves, us growers shouldnt be bickering about who's is best blah blah blah..but sharing our experiences so that others can make the right choices. Nuff Said.
 

Ghettobird209

Active Member
Fair enough my friend fair enough.

no offense but whats wrong with that nug? one side looks good the other side looks mutilated like Bmeat grew it (pun intended)

The plants growing look nice those with the Leds you speak of?
 

roguetrooper

Active Member
Fair enough my friend fair enough.

no offense but whats wrong with that nug? one side looks good the other side looks mutilated like Bmeat grew it (pun intended)

The plants growing look nice those with the Leds you speak of?
No offense taken, erm i cant see whats wrong with it, i hadnt trimmed off the dieing leaves from it and it was mutant looking anyway lol, all lumpy and round looking, solid to the touch. Perhaps you can see something i cant, its been drying now for 3 days and still looks lumpy ball shaped lol. Mutant big bang pheno probs.
Yeah they are the lights indeedy. 270 Watts total.
 

Ghettobird209

Active Member
hmm maybe im just blind today :P on pic 2 the bottom half of the nug looks more purpish and looks like fire, the top of the nug looks more greenish and looks kinda different?

You say it was mutant any how, why was that?
 

roguetrooper

Active Member
hmm maybe im just blind today :P on pic 2 the bottom half of the nug looks more purpish and looks like fire, the top of the nug looks more greenish and looks kinda different?

You say it was mutant any how, why was that?
No offense taken, erm i cant see whats wrong with it, i hadnt trimmed off the dieing leaves from it and it was mutant looking anyway lol, all lumpy and round looking, solid to the touch. Perhaps you can see something i cant, its been drying now for 3 days and still looks lumpy ball shaped lol. Mutant big bang pheno probs.
Yeah they are the lights indeedy. 270 Watts total.
Hang on i think i know the nug your talking about is it the one still growing? yeah, lol, they have suddenly gone into third phase of growth cos i took off the top cola the bottom ones are going bonkers, they are a lot lower then the tangerine dream tho, i miscalculated the growth spurt and the big bang doubled but the tangerine dream 'sativa' pheno tripled, the other tangerine dream stayed the same size as the berry bomb and big bang but this one rocketted, still doing fine tho, got a lot longer to go then the big bang which has only got a week on it tops. Going for the Couchlock CBN.
 

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roguetrooper

Active Member
Mind you, ive got it out now and am looking at it with a 40x loupe, i think it was just discoloration as i was a right lazy git and didnt trim off any of the smaller leaves and a few of them were left yellowing on the bud. No bud rot thank fook
 

Ghettobird209

Active Member
No offense taken, erm i cant see whats wrong with it, i hadnt trimmed off the dieing leaves from it and it was mutant looking anyway lol, all lumpy and round looking, solid to the touch. Perhaps you can see something i cant, its been drying now for 3 days and still looks lumpy ball shaped lol. Mutant big bang pheno probs.
Yeah they are the lights indeedy. 270 Watts total.
Hang on i think i know the nug your talking about is it the one still growing? yeah, lol, they have suddenly gone into third phase of growth cos i took off the top cola the bottom ones are going bonkers, they are a lot lower then the tangerine dream tho, i miscalculated the growth spurt and the big bang doubled but the tangerine dream 'sativa' pheno tripled, the other tangerine dream stayed the same size as the berry bomb and big bang but this one rocketted, still doing fine tho, got a lot longer to go then the big bang which has only got a week on it tops. Going for the Couchlock CBN.
God damn bro lookin good. the plant on the right looks a little tall for a stealth? But the plant on the Left... Shit bro im tryna pull somethin like that what you thinkin you gonna pull on that? what did you do there topp?(to get the 4 fat ass colas?) lookn good!!

Mind you, ive got it out now and am looking at it with a 40x loupe, i think it was just discoloration as i was a right lazy git and didnt trim off any of the smaller leaves and a few of them were left yellowing on the bud. No bud rot thank fook
 

roguetrooper

Active Member
God damn bro lookin good. the plant on the right looks a little tall for a stealth? But the plant on the Left... Shit bro im tryna pull somethin like that what you thinkin you gonna pull on that? what did you do there topp?(to get the 4 fat ass colas?) lookn good!!
Cheers mate, i appreciate the compliments, those i like,,,,:bigjoint:
yeah the one on the right is the Tangerine Dream Sativa Pheno, tripled in height, am gonna get another cabinet and move her into it.

Stealth can never be too tall, i specialise in building stealth cabs, wardrobes dressers, whatever looks normal, is quiet and doesnt smell. Thats stealth. Got a mate who can hand make anything, own workshop etc,,, my other mate whos been growibng for 30 years stood right next to it when it was closed and asked me, wheres ya tent then bro? lol good to see a old school grower totally shocked! lol

The big bang was just left to her own devices, i didnt top cos i havnt got the width, she was sharing with three others including the other one you see in the pic.
The only ferts she has had is whats in the compost! lol. pretty bare bone growing. No need for a flush and they Nitro and Mag from a mixture of Spring water i make.
Im into survival and wilderness camping aswell so i try to keep it as natural as i can.
Funny thing i dont really weigh it, i just go on how much i need to get me through my next grow, Cash cropping is for the brave or foolhardy but mainly greedy.
Its all just for the toking my friend, but....i reckon ill get about 3 dry off her. If not more with all the trim, sugar leaf, etc..
 

roguetrooper

Active Member
oh and im diggn the fan by the way just bought the same 1 yesterday haha. How long has it been working for you?
yeah the fans a life saver, i took the clip off and just hung it from a screw with a bit of paracord! lol i got a extractor intake fan at bottom and just a small hole at top, science being that cold air is dense and pushes all the hot air out, it works well! you can feel the hot air coming out of it, so only two fanbs going plus the LED fans.
That fan has been going for the last 9 months! lol im amazed at its still running, being a 7 quid cheapy from Ebay.
 

bmeat

New Member
270watts will be good for up to 4 plants.

make sure you follow the directions, and put the led the correct distance away from the plants, becuase the bulbs are at a certain angle.
 

navyfighter04

Active Member
270watts will be good for 4 plants.

make sure you follow the directions, and put the led the correct distance away from the plants, becuase the bulbs are at a certain angle.
That gives you about 4000 lumens per plant if you grow 4. Honestly, thats not enough. So once again bmeat is wrong. 4000 lumens might get you through early veg, but you will need much more for later veg, and flowering...
 

roguetrooper

Active Member
270watts will be good for 4 plants.

make sure you follow the directions, and put the led the correct distance away from the plants, becuase the bulbs are at a certain angle.
you can custom order your own angles, 60, 90 or 120. most stick with 90 degrees.

Distance is correct, the closest ive had it from the top of my plants is 1 inch, it bleached the bud white, dried and cured it and it smoked beautifully, it was afghan kush ryder but i fooled all my so called Pro Gro Bros by calling it my new strain 'The Snowman' lolol was funny for a short time until they realised.:eyesmoke:
 

althor

Well-Known Member
Give LED another 5 or so years and they will be the grow light of choice.

As of now, you pay MUCH MUCH more for a LED that does the SAME as a MH/HPS combo...

Common sense tells normal people (those who arent potheads) that buying LED now is not sensible.

When they dial in the LEDs and they actually PRODUCE BETTER than hps/mh for NEAR the same cost, they will be worth having.
Until then LED just seems to be an ego stroke to some people.
 

roguetrooper

Active Member
Give LED another 5 or so years and they will be the grow light of choice.

As of now, you pay MUCH MUCH more for a LED that does the SAME as a MH/HPS combo...

Common sense tells normal people (those who arent potheads) that buying LED now is not sensible.

When they dial in the LEDs and they actually PRODUCE BETTER than hps/mh for NEAR the same cost, they will be worth having.
Until then LED just seems to be an ego stroke to some people.
Yup i agree, they are very expenisve and they are improving all the time so time will tell. But they are workig well enough to use in replacement of 'bulbs' but you do need a lot of them, i dont yet agree with the comparisons that a 400w LED is comparable to a 600W HPS nor do my bros that still use bulbs as the growth and yield are a lot better.
But the pros of LED's are still very attractive to some, ive seen 4 600W modular units hanging in a tent, replacing two 600W bulb setup, and the results were shocking, comparing Wattage tho, LED = 2400 W to 1200 W HPS in a 3m by 2m area.
He still found them cheaper to run aswell then a conventional two 600w bulb setup as no light is wasted. His lenses are at 90 degrees aswell for a lot better coverage for his height of tent.

The guy bought his from china and they are them UFO shaped ones, he's already had 3 modules blow but as hes got 4 of them he can wait and his plants dont suffer, he has totally converted over to LED now and will be on here to do some journals soon.
 
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