walmart led vs cfl

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canary420

Member
I've had good results with cfl lighting but am considering switching some or all to led type bulbs typically found at big box stores like walmart, home depot, lowes etc. These would be identical in lumens and kelvin as my current cfl bulbs. This would improve my grow room temperature, bulb life and electricity bill just to mention a few reasons why this is under consideration. My questions to my community:

A) are they a equal swap
B) height distance above SOG to led bulbs (remember, big box variety) same as with cfl bulbs
C) any thing else I should consider
D) anyone else had success/failure trying this

I would truly appreciate input from those willing to share their wisdom.

Thank you.
 
ISK

ISK

Well-Known Member
I like to mix CFL and LED bulbs, especially in the winter, as I need the extra heat from the CFL's

I would recommend using 100 watt equivalent LED bulbs...typically 16 actual watts
 

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Sir72

Sir72

Well-Known Member
Invest in a proper grow light or just stick to cfl's, those led bulbs don't work that great and they cost a lot more than cfl's
 
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growingforfun

Well-Known Member
Sir72 said:
Prove me wrong? Last time I checked those led bulbs at Home Depot aren't that great for growing plus they're $20 or so per bulb
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Check again, they are $2 each for 9 watt bulbs, and around $6 each for 15 watt bulbs.

I'd leave the diffusers on.

They are hands down better than CFL.
 
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grow1620

Well-Known Member
I've had really great success with led bulbs. I use fiet omni 13.5w led bulbs and have pulled a gram a watt with them. They are a bit more expensive but they are much higher quality(use to be found at lowe's). A good way to tell quality is by the weight of the heatsink...most of the cheepo bulbs at box stores are gonna have a plastic housing that will be really lightweight. I feel I get about 2x as much light, watt for watt. IMO paying a dollar a watt is still very cheep considering you should be able to grow 5x as much $ worth of weed the first harvest. I mean why nit-pick over a few dollars when your first harvest will be worth 100's of dollars.

still...even the cheap plastic led bulbs will out perform cfl bulbs watt for watt. I recommend removing the diffusers. A lot of the info and love for cfls is based on outdated info and threads. The tech on led bulbs has advanced so quick in just the past few years that it has made all the cfl grow threads outdated....which sucks because there was alot of work put into them and it can be misleading to new growers. Don't get me wrong I grew for about 3 years under flouro/cfls and had good results... but after switching to led bulbs I immediately had great results. There's no way I'd go back...I think I have a pile of 30+ cfls under my sink that will never get used.

Distances seem about the same..maybe an inch further from the led bulbs if the diffusers are removed. I can get about 2 inches from my led bulbs before I see bleaching/burns. With cfls I would run about 100-120 watts per square foot to see optimal bud growth. With led bulbs I can run about 60-70 watts per square foot to see the same results with slightly less heat. Also I used to change out my cfls every 2-3 flower cycles (4-6 months) .. I've had these led bulbs for about 2-3 years now and I've never needed to change one and I've never had a burnout. I had a few random burnouts with cfls within their 4-6 month period of use....just that fact right there covers the slightly higher cost of an led bulb.
 
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growingforfun

Well-Known Member
grow1620 said:
I've had really great success with led bulbs. I use fiet omni 13.5w led bulbs and have pulled a gram a watt with them. They are a bit more expensive but they are much higher quality(use to be found at lowe's). A good way to tell quality is by the weight of the heatsink...most of the cheepo bulbs at box stores are gonna have a plastic housing that will be really lightweight. I feel I get about 2x as much light, watt for watt. IMO paying a dollar a watt is still very cheep considering you should be able to grow 5x as much $ worth of weed the first harvest. I mean why nit-pick over a few dollars when your first harvest will be worth 100's of dollars.

still...even the cheap plastic led bulbs will out perform cfl bulbs watt for watt. I recommend removing the diffusers. A lot of the info and love for cfls is based on outdated info and threads. The tech on led bulbs has advanced so quick in just the past few years that it has made all the cfl grow threads outdated....which sucks because there was alot of work put into them and it can be misleading to new growers. Don't get me wrong I grew for about 3 years under flouro/cfls and had good results... but after switching to led bulbs I immediately had great results. There's no way I'd go back...I think I have a pile of 30+ cfls under my sink that will never get used.

Distances seem about the same..maybe an inch further from the led bulbs if the diffusers are removed. I can get about 2 inches from my led bulbs before I see bleaching/burns. With cfls I would run about 100-120 watts per square foot to see optimal bud growth. With led bulbs I can run about 60-70 watts per square foot to see the same results with slightly less heat. Also I used to change out my cfls every 2-3 flower cycles (4-6 months) .. I've had these led bulbs for about 2-3 years now and I've never needed to change one and I've never had a burnout. I had a few random burnouts with cfls within their 4-6 month period of use....just that fact right there covers the slightly higher cost of an led bulb.
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Good post.
I've noticed a range of quality like you mention. I tested around 6 brands and some are crap compared to others. Ironically the price tag has zero to do with quality from what I experienced. It seems logical to remove the covers, but I think I get better results from them on because of the spread of the light instead of the focus, but I'm sure it's differant based on the chamber and how you do it. I'm using them above and beside. If I was strictly top down I'd remove the diffusers.
 
whitebb2727

whitebb2727

Well-Known Member
Sir72 said:
Prove me wrong? Last time I checked those led bulbs at Home Depot aren't that great for growing plus they're $20 or so per bulb
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Dude you can get a box of 4 bulbs for $5-20 depending on watts and how many years they are rated for at Walmart.

Even the Philips brand are about $20 for four bulbs.

They provide more lumens per watt and shine in one direction. With cfl only one side of the bulb is shining on the plant.

Led bulbs are better than cfl. Cfl still grows.


There are several threads here with people growing with them.
 
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