How good do the led's work?

Hi i was looking around and found some ufo 180w led light sets for veg and flowering. I was just curious how they would stand up vs cfl and low watt HID's HPS (250w-400w). I have 1 sometimes 2 plants at a time max so i dont need the huge coverage of a HID and they give of a fuck ton of heat but i want to buy what ever is going to work best. Also some info on my set up its in a decent size closet 3feet by 4 feet by 8 feet with 1 oscillating fan and one air cleaner with a carbon filter. any advice greatly appreciated.

don't buy them cheap Chinese Ufo`s from E-bay

buy some quality (Area-51 or Apache or Hans panels) or attest some standard/budget (Cidly, Apollo, diamond, black star)



Area-51 cost +500$ will cover your room and is of the best quality:

http://area51lighting.com/specs.html



blackstar, cost is less then 300$ do the job, will probably also cover you room pretty nicely, at least for two plants and maybe with some CFLs at the corners late in to flowering

http://www.gothamhydroponics.com/led-grow-lights/lighthouse-hydro-blackstar-240w-led-grow-light-uv-505.html




a pic from my room 3x4 ft



I cover 4-6 plants with two panels side by side

Slipon said:

don't buy them cheap Chinese Ufo`s from E-bay

buy some quality (Area-51 or Apache or Hans panels) or attest some standard/budget (Cidly, Apollo, diamond, black star)


Area-51 cost +500$ will cover your room and is of the best quality:

http://area51lighting.com/specs.html



blackstar, cost is less then 300$ do the job, will probably also cover you room pretty nicely, at least for two plants and maybe with some CFLs at the corners late in to flowering

http://www.gothamhydroponics.com/led-grow-lights/lighthouse-hydro-blackstar-240w-led-grow-light-uv-505.html




a pic from my room 3x4 ft

View attachment 2997787

I cover 4-6 plants with two panels side by side

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those are some happy led plants right there!

thanks

one from my last run




made like 6-7 grows with em so fare and Im happy, in total I run 473 true Watt and get similar results as I got from the old 600W HPS with next to no heat, its all about keeping em happy and green

shit so the 130-150$ 180w UFO's would not be a good option thats sucks on a small budget (about 200$) and trying to get the most bang for my buck.

Sorry to change the tread but as have not even close to 500$ to invest in a small closet grow i was curious what would be my best bet on a 200$ budget for a decent crop in terms of light?

use the 289$ on a black star, safe up for another month or two maybe, it will grow you two nice plants for sure

I use blackstar LEDs and they are good, the ion 8 is very good. I'm not a fan of the new area 51 light,as it only has one spectrum of light and a lot of grows on this forum using that light have shown stretching in flowering and have had to add supplemental lighting. I can tell you from using blackstar LEDs you wont need anything else with these lights and they work from veg to end of flower. I only use mine for flower but I have used my 240w panel to veg plants too.

Jw what kinda yield should i expect from the led of that wattage and is it true its the lights not the number of plants that dictate the yield you will get more then less?

You have $500 total for just lighting or $500 for seeds, pots, nutes, medium, exhaust fan/filter, oscillating fan, & lighting?

I got 200 for lighting i already bough the fan and filter ect.

$200 you can forget about a decent led rig, ur lookin at T5 or hid for that amount. I personally would put a digital/dimmable 600 cooltube in there, im not a fan of cooltubes but they stay cool and theyre cheap, throw 4 plants in there and let em go. After a harvest or 2 you will have enough for a good led if you still wanna go that route. Iv run a 600 in a 30x36 closet once and it worked great but iv been running 600's for a while, heat isnt an issue if you have a decent inline fan and can duct it out of the room. Veg with it at 300 and turn it up to 450 or 600 for flower, works great.

I'm not an LED guy myself but I do know that they have a high initial start up cost attach to them. If on a Budget HID's will cost less to start up but heat may be a problem in a closet grow. I use HID for several reason including it being the industry standard and I need the heat since it gets really cold where I am at and I have to either run a space heater or get the heat and light from the same source. Also, not to start an argument, but from what I have learned about LED's is that although they work well, they tend to lack in the penetration of the light they emit. Although I'm sure in a few more years the technology will be even better than it is and will take another look at them since electricity isn't getting any cheaper. Happy growing and that picture of those buds looks like they are getting even better than they were 5 years ago!!

Got4m2e0 said:

but from what I have learned about LED's is that although they work well, they tend to lack in the penetration of the light they emit. Although I'm sure in a few more years the technology will be even better than it is and will take another look at them since electricity isn't getting any cheaper

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we are already there, why most new/quality LED panels have double/secondary lenses on em, I have one of each, and according to my cheap light meter (measure in Lumens) the LEDs with the secondary lenses on em put out as much (5,000 foot candles at 20") as the 600W HPS did and the Bud´s get at least as compact and frosty as with the HPS, maybe 20% smaller in size, but over all yield/weight is about the same, with 30% less power used and next to no heat

LED's work great and are an improvement over CFL. I started growing with CFL like allot of people, and did get decent yeilds by pouring on the watts. The quality of the bud was good too. The only thing I didnt like was that the buds were a little loose and airy in structure. Heat also became a problem as I moved bigger meaner CFL's into my tiny stealth vegging grow space. So I bought one of those 135 watt UFO grow lights. Immediatley my heat issues were solved, and the daily chore of repositioning some 8-12 CFL's was eliminated! My Ufo penetrated deeper into the plant, and I began to see better, tighter, longer, and sticker bids on my second harvest with the LED UFO. I have since replaced my UFO with a couple of Kessil H350's. These I believe to be of even higher quality, and my yields have improved even more. However I think you will be very pleased with the results of a 135-180 watt UFO. It is perfect for a small two plant grow.

Slipon said:

we are already there, why most new/quality LED panels have double/secondary lenses on em, I have one of each, and according to my cheap light meter (measure in Lumens) the LEDs with the secondary lenses on em put out as much (5,000 foot candles at 20") as the 600W HPS did and the Bud´s get at least as compact and frosty as with the HPS, maybe 20% smaller in size, but over all yield/weight is about the same, with 30% less power used and next to no heat

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Sounds pretty good, someday I will part with my MH and HPS just still have a hard time giving them up, that and I need the heat this time of year anyhow. Thanks for the info, it has peaked my interest more into the LED's. I looked into induction lights. They seem to be nothing more than a long lasting CFL. And I would consider one for veg but short of that I wouldn't use one to flower.

Gorgeous work, slipon! There is a near painless way to build a light set, and that is a few household LEDs at a time. Not as clean as a dedicated grow light, but effective. Seedlings and young plants don't need much light. I built my set up sans planning $16 per bulb and $8/fixture at a time. My plants yield plenty for me. I have a total of 215w over 2 plants. Its a mix of mostly 2700K and some 5000K. My product is smaller than the really great stuff you see here, but not by much. And a bonus to multiple individual fixtures is the ability to custom position side lighting. I surround my plants with light, rather than blast them from above, and they do well.

TokenTime7070 said:

Hi i was looking around and found some ufo 180w led light sets for veg and flowering. I was just curious how they would stand up vs cfl and low watt HID's HPS (250w-400w). I have 1 sometimes 2 plants at a time max so i dont need the huge coverage of a HID and they give of a fuck ton of heat but i want to buy what ever is going to work best. Also some info on my set up its in a decent size closet 3feet by 4 feet by 8 feet with 1 oscillating fan and one air cleaner with a carbon filter. any advice greatly appreciated.

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If you're only going to have one or two plants going at a time, you don't need that much coverage. I would suggest you look at a 65 W Hans Panel if you want a quality panel which you can use in different modes. It is about $290 with shipping though and might be out of your price range. If you want a cheaper route, look at contacting Cidly directly. You could probably get an Apollo 4 or 6 with your own custom spectrum for about $200 with shipping. The disadvantage is that is ships directly from china and although they have a 3 year warranty...it's in China. Don't go cheap and buy some crap off Ebay would be my main advice!!!

Otherwise, I would look at a MH/HPS set up cause you already got the fan and carbon filter (which I'm assuming is hooked up to an extraction fan - you say air cleaner) for the heat. With just two plants, I don't think you'd even need a very high wattage to grow 'em, so the power bills would be minimal. I know Leds are the future but think of it like looking at cars - yeah that Maserati is a nice looking machine and I'd love to have it but it's not really possible if I have a Hyundai budget.

This should be vg for vegging http://www.ebay.com/itm/Free-Shipping-200W-LED-Grow-Light-3W-LEDs-Flower-Veg-Integrated-COB-Lamp-Panel-/191034691912?pt=US_Hydroponics&hash=item2c7a8e1148

I ordered 2 single cob lights to supplement my all-white ufos for flowering.

Now, R/B diodes are not the be all end all they are made out to be, but I got 2 @ 75w for $77 each (plus free shipping), so I went for it

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Reflector-Cup-Square-UFO-75W-LED-Light-Grow-Panel-Integrated-3w-COB-Flower-Lamp-/190951524750?pt=US_Hydroponics&hash=item2c7599098e

Father Ramirez said:

Gorgeous work, slipon! There is a near painless way to build a light set, and that is a few household LEDs at a time. Not as clean as a dedicated grow light, but effective. Seedlings and young plants don't need much light. I built my set up sans planning $16 per bulb and $8/fixture at a time. My plants yield plenty for me. I have a total of 215w over 2 plants. Its a mix of mostly 2700K and some 5000K. My product is smaller than the really great stuff you see here, but not by much. And a bonus to multiple individual fixtures is the ability to custom position side lighting. I surround my plants with light, rather than blast them from above, and they do well.

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thanks, and yes if you maybe already got the sockets and wires from your CLFs and don't mind all the work/mess the LED bulbs can work great (seen a few in here who use em with great success)


similar to them:




you can also get em with E14 and E27 fittings, was considering to make a panel for Veg at some point, but actually found this the other day at the local hardware store for around 40$ and just had to try it out for my seedlings (still not pop`d yet)




20W/6000K if it works out I might get two more to replace my T5HOs for Veg