LED Flowering questions +rep

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iscrog4food

Active Member
I searched but I really cant find much on LEDs. I would like to flower a 4x4 area and i am thinking of using leds. My questions are:

1) how many LEDs would i need for this area. It says that a 90 watt led is equivelent to a 600 watt and that it does a 4x4. but i know that a 1000 says it does an 8x8 and really it is best to just do a 4x4 with it.

2) what color spectrum is best for flowering under leds? The 4 band or the complete red?

3) if i use 1 90 watt red spectrum could i use a few t5 blue bulbs to supplement the additional spectrum?

Thanks in advance
 
Dr.RR

Dr.RR

Active Member
400w or 600w (max!) in that space, a 1000w in a 4x4 area is too much unless you're running some extreme cooling. The claim that a 90w LED unit performs as a 600w HID system is absolute crap, seriously. A 90w unit is lucky to compare with a 250w HID unit. The 180w Jumbo UFO would be the closest to a 400w HID system, and would probably be enough for a 4x4 area. That's still cutting it close since LED's don't have much light penetration when comparing to HID lights. Cheapest would be to get a 400w or 600w Cooltube and hook up some vents to control the temps. You'll have to spend close to $800 if you want LED's to cover that whole 4x4 with good penetration.

Two 126w units would also be an option, but I don't know how much they run at the moment. Mixed spectrums are always a plus but with LED's the new 4 or 5 band UFO's seem to have the right combination of lights to be good from vegging all the way to flowering. A pure red LED unit would only really be good for flowering, and probably useless for vegging.
 
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iscrog4food

Active Member
I only need the lights strictly for flowering. The space is quite small and in order to keep it stealth i would prefer to use the leds or floros. I priced the warm spectrum bulbs for the t 5 fixture i am currently running and replacement cost is close to $100 for 8 t 5 bulbs. I can get a 90 watt led for circa $225 so i was gonna go with that if one could do that area. If it will take 2 i dont know if it is worth it. ANyone else with more experience on this matter? Btw i repped you
 
HTJ

HTJ

Member
I use 4 GlowPanel45 LED units in a freezer.
Its 25 cubic feet but really only 2'x6' sq ft.

It doesnt get hot and the plants seem very happy.
I am working on my first grow but so far so good.
Just realized I am dealing with Ph issue though so thats the next thing I gotta check.
Its at like 7.5 which I know is WAY too high.

I used my DJ LED lights to grow so dont get too caught up in which one works the best.
The 4 units were $500 total and I only use 133watts, thats fans included.

Check out the Glow Panels and my LED Stealth post.
 
orzz

orzz

Well-Known Member
I spoke with a person about their LED's at "UNKNOW" (name withheld per store request) in San Francisco. She wasn't very happy about the results they were getting in flowering. She said the buds just don't get as big or as heavy with LED's as they do under HPS.

The grow LED's she said were performing well but that they weren't better T5's.

The LED industry is working at getting the spectrum right and they may in the future but I would not use them in my garden yet.
 
S

shizz

Well-Known Member
they def not yeild as much as hps. but they do work and they do produce good yields. as long as u keep ur plants small. larger then 2 feet tall but never more then 3. and i recommend 1 90 led ufo per plant. i have about the same size room i run six 90 led triband the older ones. i get about 4 onces a plant max. i also run cfl between the leds. heat will be a issue. in that small of a space u have to have some kind of venting.
 
LEDGrowKing

LEDGrowKing

Active Member
iscrog4food said:
I searched but I really cant find much on LEDs. I would like to flower a 4x4 area and i am thinking of using leds. My questions are:

1) how many LEDs would i need for this area. It says that a 90 watt led is equivelent to a 600 watt and that it does a 4x4. but i know that a 1000 says it does an 8x8 and really it is best to just do a 4x4 with it.

2) what color spectrum is best for flowering under leds? The 4 band or the complete red?

3) if i use 1 90 watt red spectrum could i use a few t5 blue bulbs to supplement the additional spectrum?

Thanks in advance
Click to expand...
Hey! I grow with LEDs and have for the last 4 harvests.

Before you buy anything, there are a few things that need clearing up. First, DO NOT LISTEN TO LED ADVERTISEMENTS. A 90w LED comes no where close to equaling a 400-600w. However, a 600w LED can yield as much as a 600w HPS.

For a 4x4 space, you should probably go with a 300w, 450w, or 600w panel. The 300w LED will run about $450-500, the 450w about $600, and the 600w about $700-800. Try ebay and surf around. If you're uncertain about a model, post it here and I'll take a look at the link.

As far as spectrum is concerned, 4 band would work just great. Don't buy all red, you need a small amount of blue as well as trace amounts of other lighting for plant growth and flowering (that's why people often recommend adding CFLs with the old models of LED, since they include no white LEDs). The new panels with white, red, blue, and orange will work well for flowering. I have 6x90w LED UFOs that I've flowered with, and I'm currently running a 450w with 2 weeks to go.

What is your cost limit on your setup? LEDs are great because the low heat and no ballast. The yield (as i stated earlier) is about equal to HPS, but only watt for watt. No 90w panel can outperform a 400-600w hps.


Here is a tent rigged with 2x300w panels. 600w yielding 540 grams dry, all LED, in soil. Hope that helps.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zNfm7XSxVPs&feature=PlayList&p=FED96BB29C9976D5&playnext_from=PL&playnext=1&index=7
 
G

growingforfun

Well-Known Member
i use a 600 watt led 8:1 red blue. i really like it but this is what you need to know... while its a very powerful light it does have its problems, the biggest imo is the footprint. since leds have poor light pen its best (imho) to trim off all lower buds leaving only the top few flowering sites that will be getting full light. back to the footprint issue... since leds run so cold imo they should be about 1 inch from the plant, that only gives me room for about 3 plants under it. those 3 plants grow VERY well, id say even better then those under my 1000 watt hps. that doesent mean its better tehn the hps though. lets say the 1000 watt hps can flower 8 plants at 100%, 600 watt led flowers 3 plants at 125% if you get what i mean.... hps is great with more plants, led maybe slightly better but only works (imo) on less plants
 
LEDGrowKing

LEDGrowKing

Active Member
LEDGrowKing said:
Hey! I grow with LEDs and have for the last 4 harvests.

Before you buy anything, there are a few things that need clearing up. First, DO NOT LISTEN TO LED ADVERTISEMENTS. A 90w LED comes no where close to equaling a 400-600w. However, a 600w LED can yield as much as a 600w HPS.

For a 4x4 space, you should probably go with a 300w, 450w, or 600w panel. The 300w LED will run about $450-500, the 450w about $600, and the 600w about $700-800. Try ebay and surf around. If you're uncertain about a model, post it here and I'll take a look at the link.

As far as spectrum is concerned, 4 band would work just great. Don't buy all red, you need a small amount of blue as well as trace amounts of other lighting for plant growth and flowering (that's why people often recommend adding CFLs with the old models of LED, since they include no white LEDs). The new panels with white, red, blue, and orange will work well for flowering. I have 6x90w LED UFOs that I've flowered with, and I'm currently running a 450w with 2 weeks to go.

What is your cost limit on your setup? LEDs are great because the low heat and no ballast. The yield (as i stated earlier) is about equal to HPS, but only watt for watt. No 90w panel can outperform a 400-600w hps.


Here is a tent rigged with 2x300w panels. 600w yielding 540 grams dry, all LED, in soil. Hope that helps.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zNfm7XSxVPs&feature=PlayList&p=FED96BB29C9976D5&playnext_from=PL&playnext=1&index=7
Click to expand...
Just realized I didn't post the link, I edited the post, link is added.
 
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