LED vs HID

Rurumo

Well-Known Member
No question about it. My Timber Redwood VS outperforms my old 600w eye hortiluxe HPS w/xxl hood. Produces bigger buds, deeper penetration, and denser lower nuggets. The bottom buds are as dense as the tops which equates to more weed curing in the jars. Under the HPS we used to get a lot of loosey larf buds & popcorn better suited for concentrate/edibles. With COB LEDs more of the bottom growth is viable as everyday smoke. The quality of the trichomes is also impressive.
That being said I’m really not saving much on power; Redwood VS uses the same 600w from the wall as the old HPS. It is dimmable though so in early stages of bloom or for vegging you can turn it down around 70% to shave a little off your energy bill. That’s really the only advantage for power efficiency. I run it perpetually so there’s plants in different stages of development in the bloom room all the time; it’s pinned at 100%. I am saving up for a smaller unit from Timber to veg under and replace my old 400w MH which tbh I’ve not seen a better veg light for getting tight nodal stacking. Panel style leds just don’t penetrate deep enough in my exp.
I'm on my first run with a Fold-8, bar type LED on 80% which is about 550 watts. I won't know how much exactly until I harvest in a few weeks, but it's definitely outperforming my 630 (670 total) watt DE CMH-a light which I dearly love. I'm actually seeing better lower nugget development with this light over the HID-I think the whole "penetration" thing is overblown, and the better development on lower nugs is due to the very high and even PAR. I love my CMH and I'll probably use it during the winter just for the heat aspect, but my new LED is outperforming it using 120 watts less.
 
Growing in colder climates the heat given off by HPS is actually a positive ............i like to use HPS supplemented by a few 1000 watt LEDs which only pull 100w at the wall ...........1X 600 watt HPS and say 4 X little 1000w leds imo is much better than say 2x 600 watt HPS ......... just for light distribution if nothing else..... for e.g ...can place the little LED lights in strategic places when growing tall sativa plants
 

Fiete

Well-Known Member
I Growing with Cob LEDs for 4 Year's and couldn't be more Happy. I don't think a 220 Watt HPS can Beat by 4 x 55 Watt Cob LEDs. 1g/w is minimum I harvest. And they are running relativ Cool not a big up in temperature just a few degrees.
 

Star Dog

Well-Known Member
I can get my 660w hps closer than a 240w led because of bleaching and I've no heat issues from the hps.
From what I've observed led light appears to be harsh compared to hps light, led's will readily bleach your plants that's something I've never managed with HID, I'm sure some of you will have seen plants growing into a bulb, burnt yes bleached no.

Over the weekend I put up 780w of led between 3 lights over a 3x4ft canopy +/- 6" it'll be interesting to see what the result is, with a Mars Tsl2000 + 150w of led I was happy enough to spend my money on the above... But I've question mark about the light quality versus the light intensity?

I like everything about growing if it was purely for weed I'd keep the hid and get parabolic shades for it.
 

bk78

Well-Known Member
Just pulled this out of a 4x4 using a combination of CFL's and some old shop lights. Had so much that I threw a block party. It was a big smokefest. Everybody got stoned. Did some cooking with cannabis and roasted a couple whole hogs as well.

Infused hogs? Nice work
 

Bookush34

Well-Known Member
I went from HID to LED about 3-4yrs ago. Really like the cobs I have. I can grow year round without heating or cooling anything. Just move my ducting around in the winter to keep some heat in.
Quality leds beat HID in everything except price.
Bucking the LED hate trend will take a while. As people buy cheap crap leds and hate the results.

kinda like a the stigma around autoflowers. Todays autos are nothing like 10yrs ago
 

zzyx

Well-Known Member
No guru just some guy who grows dope here. Hid vs led.... There really is no answer to your question. It really all depends on your growing style, space, environment, and personal preferences. Hps are hard to beat for yeild and initial investment costs but bulbs should be changed every 3 grows or so or the efficacy drops significantly. They also run hot and draw a fair amount of power so of coarse more effort must be made in ventilation. Some leds can get you there as well and last far longer without much decrease in light output, but unless you build your own higher powered higher end LEDs can cost a pretty penny. Just weigh all your pros and cons and take the option that works best for you in your own personal situation. Personally I run cmhs and smds together sometimes cobs as well/instead. Sometimes I'm running all smds and cobs no CMH. All depends on the factors of that specific grow. Just don't buy cheap fixtures and expect the same results as hid. 600w hid be looking around 450w of led to even be on the same planet as hid yeilds wise.
Note I said yeilds wise
What this guy said!
 
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