LED Strips vs T5 LED bulbs
- Thread starter tombsy
- Start date
CobKits
Well-Known Member
they usually use cheaper strips in the T5s to meet federal efficiency standards as cheaply as possible
they may or may not have top-bin diodes (prob not- no incentive), but youd have to hack them apart to lower the current per diode to increase efficiency
if you want to control your design, the strips are where its at
they may or may not have top-bin diodes (prob not- no incentive), but youd have to hack them apart to lower the current per diode to increase efficiency
if you want to control your design, the strips are where its at
Hybridway
Well-Known Member
T-5's can't come close to matching the good strips. I'm now accomplishing 440w of T-5 production w/ 100w of strips in my SunCloak Horizons.
The LED T-5 replacement bulbs won't touch the strips either but are more efficient then the bulbs. Weather or not they match the output, I'm not sure. You could probably find out by checking the lumen output on the box. Even then, ones directional while the others 360• w/ refector. You'd have to use a light meter to determine for real id imagine.
Better spectrum from the LEDs too.
This is all strips.
CobKits
Well-Known Member
t5s are actually directional you can bust the tube cover off, or some on ebay have clear tubes
Hybridway
Well-Known Member
No, I didn't build them.
Hybridway
Well-Known Member
T-5 floro bulbs.
stone111000
Active Member
hi,bro,can i know how you will fix the LED strips in your greenhouse???
frica
Well-Known Member
T-5 LED bulbs most likely already have diffuser losses factored into the lumen output.
Ballast/driver losses probably not but the same goes for the strips.
The best philips/osram/other quality brands "premium" products should be very close to the best LED strips. Unless new diodes have just been released and the tubes haven't been upgraded yet.
Though T5/8 tubes have a diffuser which you may want to remove (improves efficiency by a bit)
I think the biggest difference between LED strips and replacement tubes is that the strips will have way better thermals when mounted on a proper heatsink and the ability to just use the reliable meanwell drivers instead of whatever ballast/driver
Ballast/driver losses probably not but the same goes for the strips.
The best philips/osram/other quality brands "premium" products should be very close to the best LED strips. Unless new diodes have just been released and the tubes haven't been upgraded yet.
Though T5/8 tubes have a diffuser which you may want to remove (improves efficiency by a bit)
I think the biggest difference between LED strips and replacement tubes is that the strips will have way better thermals when mounted on a proper heatsink and the ability to just use the reliable meanwell drivers instead of whatever ballast/driver
Hybridway
Well-Known Member
Check em out next time you go to the grow store. Pretty sure you'll see they barely (but are close) match the T-5 floro tubes & a lot more juice is used to power them then the good, mounted strips. My strips are 12.5w each & outperform the 55w Floros. Got almost double the ooooohmoles from the fixture compared to new 65k bulbs.
Hybridway
Well-Known Member
Wish I had a greenhouse. But if I did & relied primarily on the sun, I wouldn't use strips in that application. Rather, small, high powered units hung high, so to not block to much Sun & deliver supplemental light on rain/cloudy days.
frica
Well-Known Member
What LED tubes do they have in the grow store?
Suncloak Horizon claims 18240 lumens.
182 lumen/watt
Philips claims 156 lm/w with their 6500K master LED tube
http://www.leds.de/out/media/Datenblatt_75048.pdf
Osram has numerous tubes that are 150lm/w.
Efficiency should be close if the plastic is removed.
The Philips will still have some driver losses but those are probably less than the losses caused by diffusing the light. (assumption)
Osram has a mid-power diode that's about as efficient as Samsung's LM561C so they should release LED tubes that are around 180 lm/w soon.
Differences isn't that big when you compare the suncloak to the best LED tubes.
But cheap ones do get destroyed yes.
Still would recommend getting LED strips.(H series Gen 3 on digikey)
But the difference is not as big as you may first think, provided you don't buy garbage tubes.
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Hybridway
Well-Known Member
The grow store led tubes are not top-tier, as you said. As far as the good ones matching the strips, I don't see why not. And if the OP is getting free or dirt cheap T-5 fixtures then the good ones may be a decent option for him. As long as he's not exceeding 100w over 8 tubes & $300 to buy them, then sure.
MXW3LL
Well-Known Member
you have to factor in how long the t5 will last vs the led.
might be able to factor in the money saved on electricity too.