Grow Room L.E.D lights

realcarlos

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Hello everyone.
Lately I've been hearing mixed reviews about l.e.d lights. Some great things and some not so good things.

At the moment my closest specs are
Height: 5 Feet
Length: 4 Feet
Depth: 2 Feet.

I'm using 1000 watt systems (mh for veg and hps for flowering) first attempt didn't go to well too much heat. I'm thinking of selling the system and putting that money into an l.e.d system. What do you guys think? Which l.e.d system would be good enough for that spec? How much should I sell the system for?
 
I am not sure how much to sell your system for... but for LEDS i personally went with four of the blackstar 240 watt lights for my 4x4 space. I just talked to a rep at HGL they have a new line coming out but its EXPENSIVE. i think i am going to pop on it thou in the near future, i still need to do some thinking about it because its not a small chunk of change that is for sure.

http://www.hydrogrowled.com/Penetrator-336X-PRO-P87.aspx Comes out August 1st and they are now taking pre-orders That HGL light will cover a max of 5x5 area with no supplemental lighting needed (so they say)

Dam that's super expensive! $1.799 for a 550w LED,that's just bonkers.are they really that much better than other 500w LEDs that sell for a fifth of that price? You could purchase 5 500w LEDs for that price from other companies,that's 2500w of LED and if your space is big enough your laughing,you can configure them to suit your needs and get maximum coverage to the plants
 
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i read i believe in 420 or similar magazine that a ninety watt led light is sufficient for a 4x4 vegetating space and 2x2 flowering space
 
I would have to disagree with that assessment. I use my 180 watt LED in a 2 x 2.5' space and it does great. I've tried it in a 4 x 4' area and the results were not nearly as good. And my unit uses 3 watt LEDs, 90 degree lenses. While a 90 watt unit, especially one using 120 degree lenses, would cover a 4 x 4 area, there would be very little penetration.

i read i believe in 420 or similar magazine that a ninety watt led light is sufficient for a 4x4 vegetating space and 2x2 flowering space
 
I as well, my lights use 120 and 90 degree lenses (BlackStars) but one by itself (the 240W) caused stretching in a 3x2 cabinet. Once I put another BlackStar (180W) in and angled one (240W) somewhat slanted everything straightened out.
 
I would have to disagree with that assessment. I use my 180 watt LED in a 2 x 2.5' space and it does great. I've tried it in a 4 x 4' area and the results were not nearly as good.
like i said that was just what i read in the magazine. Were you growing ur plants completely out in the 4x4 area or did they start stretching in veg? You have to keep in mind that, leds are different from regular lights in that they give off minimal if any side lighting. the light goes straight down where they are aimed. so it wouldnt matter how bright the lights are if the light is the same surface area pointing down it will not cover anymore side distance. this is why there is no need for reflectors around the led lights. my grow space is exactly 2ft by about 20in and my two plants have shown no signs of stretching under my 90watt 6 spectrum led.

also how many spectrums does your blackstar put out because i have heard the blackstar line is not nearly as efficient as other brands. they are not calibrated for cannabis which is why they are so much cheaper. im not trying to offend anyone i would really like to know because i paid more for my 90 watt then the 180 watt blackstar goes for. if anyone has done a comparison i would definetly love to hear about it. i am planning on expanding my grow space soon and will save my money if the blackstars are just as effective. but from what i have seen the blackstars are still operating on 3 spectrums and every site i have been to say the 5 and 6 spectrums make the 3 spectrums seem obsolete.
 
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I don't veg under mine. I have a separate area with MH/CFLs. They generally go under the LED at week 4 so at that point I still want some stretch. Stretch is pretty easy to control just by raising and lowering the light. I could see within a week that inside the 4 x 4 area it wasn't strong enough, so put my HPS back in. I was waiting for some plants to finish vegging and would have moved in back in another week or so anyway. I just wanted to see how well it would do in the bigger area.

LEDs do best when you grow within their core penetration. Even though mine is rated to cover 4 x 4, it's core is 2 x 2.8. My small area is 2 x 2.5 so I'm completely within the core. Since the lenses are 90 degree, there is a lot of reflection off the walls, which really helps.

I do want to replace that HPS system and was considering another GLH. But the $1,300 price tag on their 500 watt unit has put me off. I'm thinking of putting in two Blackstar 240s instead. Their new lights are using 60 and 90 degree lenses and are full spectrum with red, blue, orange, white and UV. I can do that for $600. While they might not be a fine tuned as the GLH, I just can't justify spending that much.
 
Most manufacturers seriously over estimate the capacity of there lights i have ordered 2 blackstar 240's for and 80cmx80cm tent and they are recommended to cover a 3'x2' area but that is general coverage and core coverage is what is required. Most grow lights might light up the area advertised but the light intensity at the fringe of the area covered will be pathetic.
The blackstar is not the most efficient of led lights but it is proven to work and compared to the more expensive market leaders like Hydrogrow, Growledhydro and magnum they are cost effective and work.

Hydrogrow have had some bad rep before but i have heard of a lot of uk growers buying from them now with no probs. Grow led hydro i have heard some bad stuff about their equipment like leds lenses being burnt after 1 grow and generally not performing in grows.
The magnums get a good rep from all the people who use them and they are shortly gonna release a new line with greater coverage etc but finding the outright best led light is a complete minefield.

There was a guy doing a side by side on youtube with a magnum 357 126x penetrator and a t5 growlight but somehow his account was shut down after his first update. I feel that some capitalist interest might have played a part in that!

Basically if your gonna go led spend the money on decent equipment as chinese import models are proven to give out lower par reading than most other proper makes. before buying leds do plenty of research and from all accounts a couple of smaller panels will always out perform larger ones because you have greater control over the light intensity of each part of the canopy.
If buying an led light make sure it uses either cree, epistar or bridgelux leds as these are regarded as the best and it is recommended to have at least 5 spectrums of light from the light.
Viewing lense angle will make a big difference aswell with 120 giving poor penetration but good coverage and 60 giving the opposite good penetration but not much spread. The new x range of penetrators has a custom designed 60 degree lense designed to give a mix of penetration and coverage. The magnum uses a range of 60 , 90 and 120 i think the new light to be released is meant to have some 30 degree lenses in which will be interesting. The blackstars and glh light use a mix of 90 and 120 so don't have massive penetration and are more suited to smaller plants rather than trees.
This post is now a serious essay so i'm gonna stop rambling but i hope what i havce said helps.
 
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