The Role of Lighting in Cannabis Cultivation

Bookush34 said:
Depends on what you are buying.

You can buy cheap LEDs on amazon and you an buy cheap HID light ballists.

You can also buy either in high end.
High quality HIDs and High quality LED are not that far apart IMO.

HID you need ballists, bulbs and a reflector.

Can’t compare cheap Chinese crap HID to high end LEDs. For cost purposes
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I'm not talking about running crap in a grow room, I'm talking about hydrofarm hoods, phantom 2 ballast, horti bulbs. All together they come to like $400. Those items are already a sunk cost. That's why I'm asking: what's the argument for the hobby grower to throw out perfectly functioning HID lights for pricey LEDs?

Bookush34 said:
Hortalux bulb 80-100$
Quality ballist 200-250$
Quality aircooled hood 150-200.

For argument sake say he leds last 5yrs. And you replace a hps bulb every year.

400$ in bulbs
200$ for a ballists
200$ for a hood.

800$ cost.

700-800 watts of COB will easily be on par with a 1000watt HID.

Timber grow lights. Fatty VS is 950watts. 1200$.

Build a comparable light for 800$ all day long.


Anyway. To each their own.
LED fit my situation much better. Plus I don’t need any extra cooling and I did with HPS. So factor that in as well. We are arguing over a few $
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The decision may be a little different if one is just getting into the hobby but your math seems to check out; 4-5 years of HID use to break even with a LED purchase. I'm still not sure I go LED in that case.
 
Bookush34 said:
Forgot to put in guys that switch out HPS and MH bulbs.

Double the cost for bulbs
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But i see quad quality and quantity in flower .
Now in veg I do like led as it keeps squat busky plants .

But im not spending 1000 when 250 of t-5's do the same thing .
 
homebrewer said:
On a commercial scale that savings adds up but there is also a MUCH higher upfront cost to LEDs. For folks just running a few thousand watts, electricity is cheap.

I'd love to see the numbers for HID hobby growers making the switch to LED in terms of the upfront cost while factoring in electrical and replacement bulb savings. Some quick math puts me at nearly 4 years to break even for a single fixture.
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at .15c/KWH it is $200 more per year to run a 1000W HPS vs a 700W LED. not including costs of cooling if required, or bulb replacement
 
CobKits said:
at .15c/KWH it is $200 more per year to run a 1000W HPS vs a 700W LED. not including costs of cooling if required, or bulb replacement
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Nextlight has a 650w for $1500

Spectrum King has a 640w for $1450

Black Dog has a 600w for $1700

If one is just saving money on electricity then it makes no sense to swap out a perfectly good HID for any of the above as the break even point is 6 years (.12/KWH - national average).

I'm assuming COB kits is a DIY kind of vendor, how much would it cost to build a 700w light?
 
I get personal preferences about using hid lights but actually promoting them at this point in indoor grow light “evolution”?

They are a fire hazard, they are bulky, they put out shit ton of heat (may be an advantage in some cases), spectrum is not as good as leds, electricity cost, cooling cost etc etc.

It just makes sense to go with leds. 50000+ hours and you are still good to go (like at 80%). That makes 5.7 years (68 months) non stop. With 12/12 10+ years. So lets call it 8. As long as you keep them cool these figures will get even better.

As one guy calculated lets say it takes 4 years to break even (worst case scenario). Then you got 4+ years of savings.

If you want to buy a new light and don’t have money to invest into leds at the moment ok go for an hid setup, they are cheaper of course but you keep buying bulbs and burn lots of electricity.

When growing in tents or in an enclosed space with reflective walls, you don’t need to keep it close. Keeping any type of light high creates better penetration as all the light that gets reflected off the surfaces creates a sea of light around your plants. Equal distribution of light is also important. It feels counter productive to pull those lights a bit higher but it lets the lower leaves to contribute better to the photosynthesis.

Well anycase, my .02

Love my leds.
 
crimsonecho said:
I get personal preferences about using hid lights but actually promoting them at this point in indoor grow light “evolution”?

They are a fire hazard, they are bulky, they put out shit ton of heat (may be an advantage in some cases), spectrum is not as good as leds, electricity cost, cooling cost etc etc.

It just makes sense to go with leds. 50000+ hours and you are still good to go (like at 80%). That makes 5.7 years (68 months) non stop. With 12/12 10+ years. So lets call it 8. As long as you keep them cool these figures will get even better.

As one guy calculated lets say it takes 4 years to break even. Then you got 4+ years of savings.

If you want to buy a new light and don’t have money to invest into leds at the moment ok go for an hid setup, they are cheaper of course but you keep buying bulbs and burn lots of electricity.

When growing in tents or in an enclosed space with reflective walls, you don’t need to keep it close. Keeping any type of light high creates better penetration as all the light that gets reflected off the surfaces creates a sea of light around your plants. Equal distribution of light is also important. It feels counter productive to pull those lights a bit higher but it lets the lower leaves to contribute better to the photosynthesis.

Well anycase, my .02

Love my leds.
Click to expand...

Ah also i should add. Diy is the king when it comes to leds.
 
560 watts or so from the wall. An oscilating fan is blowing from above for cooling and to create draft in the room. At the back of the diodes it gets to about 35C which is good i think. Without the fan 45C or so. 18 cxb1830s. 6 per slab. Driven at 700ma.

3507BA23-370A-4F03-856D-F000737BC787.jpeg
 
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