IF you are new to LED and want help choosing what to buy, POST HERE!

Plenty of complete grows on RIU showing leds are also great at flowering, but the panels are not the china made knockoffs. If you need some ambient heat, buy a water bed heater, or a small ceramic heater

Bongboy00 said:

Hey guys I've been trying super hard to find this answer.
Just looking for a ballpark. A cheap eBay china led says its 300w I believe it's only 230w from what I read. Isn't calling this 300w the same as using the equivalent wattage of a cfl. ie a 150w 5500 cfl is really only 80w and you have to go by the 80w to see how many you need per plant. How do you figure this out for led. I am trying to build the most efficient system of equal wattage and equal price wether it be cfl, led or t5. I have no problem comparing the t5 and the cfl wattage for how many ill need but I can't figure out for an led if It says it's 300w and I go by that I'm good for 3 plants

Btw this is only or vegging I'm going 400w hps to bloom

Click to expand...

Thanks for the reply but what about the wattage question? I'm not understanding how a 300w led is using less energy than 300w hps. 300w being used is 300w correct? Or is it bc we go by the equilvilent wattage for led unlike cfl or floros

So will this cheapo china knock off suffice to veg 4 plants? Someone said they had like 6 plants under it? I don't have the cash for a legit led light so I'm going with hps

Bongboy00 said:

Thanks for the reply but what about the wattage question? I'm not understanding how a 300w led is using less energy than 300w hps. 300w being used is 300w correct? Or is it bc we go by the equilvilent wattage for led unlike cfl or floros

So will this cheapo china knock off suffice to veg 4 plants? Someone said they had like 6 plants under it? I don't have the cash for a legit led light so I'm going with hps

Click to expand...

Its 300 potential watts maximum, but if its driven to the max, the diodes will burn, thats why they're driven between 0.3 and 0.7, meaning its from 1/3 to 2/3 of the power announced, depending on the companies and leds. Other companies will indicate the actual draw and not the potential maximum like Hans panels: potential 33 diodes x 3 watts = 99 watts but 56 real watts in use, 65 total power consumption with fans...

Awesome thanks. So that 65w would be the same as a 65w(actual wattage) correct? Would that be ok for vegging 1 plant? How many clones would that work for

Depends on physical dimensions of the panel. One plant yes. Rectangular panels cover a wider area than ufo type, but ufo prices are dropping to where you can afford 2 and put them side by side

I also retrofitted a standard T8 shop light fixture for 2 led tubes. It is great for vegging a lot of clones. It might show up in the foreground

OMG 12/27. The 2 taller are in my hot5 tent, the 2 shorter under the leds



1/17/2014

LED

HOT5

Bongboy00 said:

Awesome thanks. So that 65w would be the same as a 65w(actual wattage) correct? Would that be ok for vegging 1 plant? How many clones would that work for

Click to expand...

well, I've been experimenting....purchased one taotronics tt-GL14, 2 G8LED 240 watt and a Calif. Lightworks 200w (Full Cycle). I have the CaliLiWorks 200 and the TaoTronics in a 3x3 flower tent and the 2 GL14's in a 2x4 flower tent. I had a 600w HPS in the 3x3 and a 400 w HPS in the 2x4. Am I going to see a drastic reduction in yield?

Bongboy00 said:

Awesome thanks. So that 65w would be the same as a 65w(actual wattage) correct? Would that be ok for vegging 1 plant? How many clones would that work for

Click to expand...

Yep, correct. Hans panel's cover area is 60/40 cm, 60/50 cm at best. Thats about 2 ft / 1.5.
I have one panel covering a small propagator and 6 x 2 liters pots. More than enough to veg 1 plant, you could do even more if they're bonsai mothers.
If only clones, I'd say it covers at least 40-50 pieces, and probably more, depending on what you root it in.

Has anyone but picograv had a chance to play with any of the bridgelux vero series? Specifically the vero-18?

Could I get comparible results to an Area-51 XGS-190 with 5-6 vero 18's driven at 1050ma and a 22" Arcadia D3+ 12% UV-B T5 HO bulb?

I'm still learning, I have a lot of questions. I'll try to keep it simple, how do you estimate the number of uMol's a light puts off? Is there any way to conceptually predict how the light from emitters with diffrent spectrum outputs will mix? Short of actually getting LED's and actually messuring it I mean.

Thank you.

dukeofprunes said:

well, I've been experimenting....purchased one taotronics tt-GL14, 2 G8LED 240 watt and a Calif. Lightworks 200w (Full Cycle). I have the CaliLiWorks 200 and the TaoTronics in a 3x3 flower tent and the 2 GL14's in a 2x4 flower tent. I had a 600w HPS in the 3x3 and a 400 w HPS in the 2x4. Am I going to see a drastic reduction in yield?

Click to expand...

Well what was your yield like before with the h.i.d.s?

I think you'll see a drop in yield but not too drastic.

dukeofprunes said:

well, I've been experimenting....purchased one taotronics tt-GL14, 2 G8LED 240 watt and a Calif. Lightworks 200w (Full Cycle). I have the CaliLiWorks 200 and the TaoTronics in a 3x3 flower tent and the 2 GL14's in a 2x4 flower tent. I had a 600w HPS in the 3x3 and a 400 w HPS in the 2x4. Am I going to see a drastic reduction in yield?

Click to expand...

Well what was your yield like before with the h.i.d.s?

I think you'll see a drop in yield but not too drastic.

Thanks for the response. my yields were pretty good with the 600w...any issues I had w yield were due to heat, spider mites...and small pots. Now I'm using smart pots, have no heat issues and given less heat, I have been able to defeat the mites (so far)

What I am really asking is if a solar flare 200w (full spectrum) and a taotronics gl-14 will be enough light for a 3X3 tent. I had a 600 watt and it was very, very bright. I can't find the mmols specs for the taotronics. I have 9 plants in 3gall pots in the 3x3.

Also, I have two g8led 240's side by side in a 4x2 tent. I had a 400W hps in there. I've been reading and reading...and think that two smaller leds side by side are better than one bigger led. I have 8 plants in 3gal pots in that one. too many plants? Should I add a bloomboosting all red ufo? I just spent over $1,000 and don't want crappy yields.

Keeping my fingers crossed.

Check out my grow journal

https://www.rollitup.org/grow-journals/753440-perpetual-joy.html

dukeofprunes said:

Thanks for the response. my yields were pretty good with the 600w...any issues I had w yield were due to heat, spider mites...and small pots. Now I'm using smart pots, have no heat issues and given less heat, I have been able to defeat the mites (so far)

What I am really asking is if a solar flare 200w (full spectrum) and a taotronics gl-14 will be enough light for a 3X3 tent. I had a 600 watt and it was very, very bright. I can't find the mmols specs for the taotronics. I have 9 plants in 3gall pots in the 3x3.

Also, I have two g8led 240's side by side in a 4x2 tent. I had a 400W hps in there. I've been reading and reading...and think that two smaller leds side by side are better than one bigger led. I have 8 plants in 3gal pots in that one. too many plants? Should I add a bloomboosting all red ufo? I just spent over $1,000 and don't want crappy yields.

Keeping my fingers crossed.

Check out my grow journal

https://www.rollitup.org/grow-journals/753440-perpetual-joy.html

Click to expand...

Well the clw 200 is rated for a 3x3 so with the added tao tronics it should be enough.
The 4x2 unless you are going for donkey dicks too many plants in there. I would do 4 in there or flower them small to keep it maintained.

The CLW 200 (162 watt) is only good at flowering a 2'x2'. I wish it could do more 'cause I own one as well. http://www.californialightworks.com/info/CLW_Brochure.pdf

all if you are gonna go led and fork out your hard earned money make sure they have violet also named uv at around 400 to 430 range 430 is where the sweet spot is. and a 7000k also so this light can veg flower and bloom. they are allot of choices. just get the spectrum coverage 430 and 660 are 2 most important ranges. i dotn see the clw 200 hits the 430 uv range. so i wouldnt buy it i found one i liked allot let me see if i can find it again.
here is an example of the ranges ect it should have.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/300W-Full-Spectrum-9Band-LED-Grow-Light-IR-Veg-Flower-Hydroponic-Panel-Lamp-New-/181254420890?_trksid=p2054897.l4275

wyteberrywidow said:

Well the clw 200 is rated for a 3x3 so with the added tao tronics it should be enough.
The 4x2 unless you are going for donkey dicks too many plants in there. I would do 4 in there or flower them small to keep it maintained.

Click to expand...

awesome....thanks for the response!!!!

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Hydroponic-LED-Grow-Light-300W-3watt-Plant-Flowering-Veg-Greenhouse-Lamp-Panel-/181306434710?pt=US_Hydroponics&hash=item2a36b4a496 has a 90 day satisfaction refund policy. and covers the bands needed. Uk and usa customers are local shipped.

Hey Dcobeen, I was actually looking at both those LEDs to veg with and use a 400w hps to flower. Are those lights good to veg or not really bc it's a full spectrum. Im setting up a perpetual harvest so I need a seperate veg/clone and flower light. I'm going to be flowering 4 plants at all times, short 3'-4'max and I will be vegging 2 at all times short also and than however many clones.

i am glad im not the only one who has desacrated a vanity fixture. i have decided to replace it with a power strip and some light socket to wall adapter plugs. simple and easy to move in my grow box.

Shwagbag said:

It makes sense that some costs may be cut in order to make them so affordable. Pretty nice price for a 2 sq foot footprint and a nice little evaluation run. Lenses should be replaceable with a trip to the hardware store and a couple basic tools I would think though.

Please share your journal and/or post pics in this thread. This thread is seriously lacking in that regard. Lots of advice and people buying lights, very little feedback and pictures to support and warrant the purchases.

Show'em if ya gottem!

Click to expand...

Got my $100 Apollo LED Grow Light in from Amazon (Awesome 2-day Prime with Sunday Delivery--Yay!). Here's my first-impression review. I'll continue to update on it's efficacy as time goes on.

Build:
The light is super solidly built. Actually it has 3 fans instead of 1 (it says just 1 fan on the product page). No loose parts, no metal shavings, and good construction.

Noise:
It's just a tiny bit louder than the Area 51 XGS-190, but still way quieter than the oscillating circulation fan I have in the room. If sound is critical, I'd probably go with the Noise-free Hans panel instead of this.

Heat:
Hand-testing, it feels about the same temp just below the LEDs as the XGS. Average ambient temp in the closet was unchanged after 24 hours of use. I'll be getting a thermometer here soon to do a more accurate measurement.

Brightness:
When placed next to the A51 light, the Apollo UFO puts out a serious amount of light for the price.

I have no doubt it will work great for vegging plants up to about 18 inches--and looks like it could even flower out a decent-sized single plant on its own. I don't have a light meter, but plan to add one to my setup soon.

Coverage:
Product page claims this will cover a 2'x2', and it appears to do exactly that. Once again, I'll report back on this once a light meter is in hand.

Warranty:
2 Years. For only $100, even if it only lasts 2 years I'll still be happy.

Conclusion (tentative):
First impression is 4.5 out of 5 stars. I'll give it a solid 5 if it can at least get 4 young plants vegged to about a foot. Provided this light doesn't end up causing a ton of stretch or failing on me somehow, I'll surely recommend it to others. So as it turns out, you may not need to go with one of expensive, "high-end" lights usually recommended in this thread. At the moment, there doesn't appear to be any significant drawbacks to these Apollo units from Amazon. The light could still fail on me, or produce shitty results, so only time will tell.

A fellow grower friend just received his Mars II 900 and I can't wait to get up to OC and see it. He's already reported that the light seems solidly built and there are no signs of metal shavings in the unit. To be honest, I wonder about these claims of metal shavings anyways. The member who claimed this seems to have been banned already for having multiple accounts. Is it possible he was a plant by a competitor? Sounds completely paranoid, but you'd be surprised how many prospective LED customers come to these types of forums before making their purchasing decisions. Please don't hesitate to correct me if my information is inaccurate.

I writing this to alert anyone in the market for an LED light that they should be careful to fully vet any recommendations given out in this thread with multiple information sources prior to their purchase.



I should state that I believe RIU to be the best canna forums out there, but that doesn't mean this place is completely free of guerrilla marketing. I haven't read every post on the forum, so there is also a high possibility that I am still missing information which could change my view entirely. Call me paranoid, call me an asshole. I don't care really. What I do care about is accurate information. Every single canna forum out there seems to be infiltrated by LED marketing folks, or people who may be receiving perks to help with marketing. There's also certainly some fanboy-ism going on. Either way, you can't truly trust anything you read on the internet anyways.


Why am I so skeptical about this thread you ask? Well the same 2 or 3 people always seem to chime in (usually within minutes) when asked for an LED recommendation here, and they almost always recommend Area 51 panels. This seems a bit fishy to me--especially since these same people don't seem to have any really good grow journals of their own to back their claims. In fact, I've noticed the same people can also be found throughout the site chumming it up with the owner of A51. I'm not making any accusations, but perhaps there is more going on here...

This thread is jock-full of recommendations that regularly trash LED panels as being "Chinese", when in fact there are almost zero LED panels that are 100% USA-made. Almost everything you buy is made or assembled in China these days. Panels aren't automatically bad just because they are Chinese made, ship from China, or don't have "Top-bin" CREE-brand LEDs anyhow. A lot of this is pure marketing BS directly from LED manufacturers. Performance gains from supposed "Top-bin" LEDS are usually only significant enough to be noticed with some sort of digital measuring device, and will not have a huge impact on your harvest results. To be clear: Some really good stuff can and does come out of China, and USA-made doean't always mean best-made either.


Anyhow I'm disregarding earlier recommendations and am purchasing a Mars II 400 for myself today. I'll be putting it up against the XGS-190 with some measuring equipment and a small grow-off of sorts (they'll unfortunately have to be in the same room together). To me the $200 is totally worth risking to settle this issue, and find out definitively if you can grow good canna with a light at HALF the price of these 'Tesla-quality' lights.


Truth has a way of surfacing eventually.

Peace.