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shopping looking to buy LED light, opinions?

They want you too dish out the $ to BETA TEST their product....

So you get to buy it then be free advertising too?
Gee,what an opportunity...jump on it..., LOL
So it's good from 3ft. 9in. above your plant/plants-seems like it probably only can cover about 9 sq. ft. or so going by the size of the light(24X16 +/-).
What a deal at $7500.
Wonder how long the upgrades etc. last for the computer stuff if they go out of biz(if nobody/pot/high end $ growers don't like it).
I see pics on the net of pot growers basically growing buds(clones) rather than full sized plants,but that's a lot of $...
If your growing a bunch of buds,how much poundage does a 3X3 area produce?
Maybe this vendor is counting on some growers getting REALLY high and liking to brag about their $7500 light.
Nobody spending that kind of cash is going to bad mouth what they bought...to advertise what a sucker/fool they were or whatever.
But then again,I don't grow or sell pot.
Even using it for growing reaper or Morouga seeds to sell wouldn't justify the cost I don't think...
BUT If I had a grant(research),had other peoples $ it might be an option.
New toys ARE fun,especially if they are free,like most of my LED stuff was. :)

It better grow some killer buds or it would be hard to make your investment back before it fries or whatever.
 
I just went through this topic, and it was quite an interesting read. I was not much into grow lights before, because I can grow outdoor April to October, and I have a lot of outdoor space.

I only used one or two 6500K/2120 lumen CFL bulbs from January to March to give the plants an early start. I use phillips tornado bulbs that don't produce much heat.

This season is very frustrating for me, because weather here is giving a lot of headache to the hot pepper growers. it seems that we wont get much sun through the whole April, and I'm forced to keep my plants in the house till May. God knows what will the weather be like then. My 2 CFL bulbs are not enough any more and I'm looking into other solutions.

I'm not fond of HID or HM lights since they produce a lot of heat and they can make electricity bill very costly, so it will be more CFL bulbs or LEDs.

LED lights look appealing to me, since they produce little or no heat and will cut down my electricity bill, plus somebody said that the plants started under LEDs dont need hardening off when exposed to full sun.
I was looking into some commercial LED panels, since I don't have know how or time to make some myself.

What do you think about this panel?
http://dx.com/p/17-1...c-90-240v-93170

Would it be sufficient to provide enough light for, let's say 20 plants, in the period from January to March?
I would buy up to 3 of them, if one would not be enough for 20 plants (peppers and tomatoes). I'm not looking into making monster plants, would like to provide them a good and healthy start before I transplant them outdoors.

Or this one:
http://growace.com/product_info/14-watt-advance-spectrum-quad-band-led-grow-light-panel.html
 
5mm LEDs are too small for much more than verticle lighting on larger sprouts to get them to branch out earlier.
I don't think you would be happy with those panels.

I use 5mm LEDs only for sprouts,then for verticle lighting.
You don't know how bright those panels are either.
A LOT of 5mm LEDS are pretty dim.

My 3 1/2in.X 4 1/2in. perf boards have 100-120 5mm Leds on each one.

This is 2000+ 5mm LEDs.

http://s403.photobuc...ml?sort=3&o=277

1600 5 mm LEDs.

http://s403.photobuc...ml?sort=3&o=231

1200 5mm LEDS

http://s403.photobuc...ml?sort=3&o=204
 
Dont waste your time with the cheap-o panels. Get some HO T5's instead for that number of plants. You can get units online or build them from home depot now. Alphahydroponics sells Fluorogrow units and they're very well built. For LED, unless you're willing to spend big bucks on a unit thats been used in commercial circles, you'll be disappointed. The DIY panels are cool experiments, but without cut and sealed PCB boards, I'm not a big fan of all the wires where water is used. Not to jab at what Smokemaster's work (thats pretty impressive knowledge droppage) but I am a safety lunatic. The 7500 dollar panel link I posted is more of a scientific device and I was inserting some sarcasm. The most I'd spend is on the Lumigrow units. The Lumigrow ES330 is no joke. It produces the PAR of a 600w HPS or MH, and I imagine the pro650 is a monster since its tested to produce 1800 PAR at close levels, which is about 2 times a 1000w HPS. For the real power, it does produce heat, just not as much as any HID system and you'll have to contend with fans that can be loudish if the light is used in a common space. I'm not even running my 330 right now because all my peppers are in my dining room and I'm using wire racks (no tent)...not to mention the light pollution and your neighbors asking why there is a eerie purple glow emitting from the windows LOL. You can't look at the light without some serious pain. Its a very unique color. I'll be looking into a pro 650 in the future. LEDs can be VERY VERY intense. Single mode fiber optic signals are produced with LED laser tranceivers that transmit over long distances and those will damage your eye.

Other ideas would be HTG supply's agromax units. Its sort of their house brand though others do sell the same units under different names. I have never seen them deployed anywhere, but they're interesting for an Asian knock off, but the footprints of any LED is usually small. You can cover a lot more leaf space with 4' HO, get replacement bulbs from your local hardware store, and repurpose the light as a garage fixture or whatever if you dont need it for your plants. Its just more practical.

On that note - Smokemaster, you should look into getting some circuit boards cut for your wire channels and puck mounting. It would be nice to neaten up the fixtures.
 
I'm only using 5mm leds because I have them.
I started out using them to experiment with wave lengths.
I am waiting for them to fry.
Not going to replace them when they do.
They have been running pretty much 24/7 for a few years and shouldn't last much longer.

Can't see spending $1.00 to mount a $.05 or less 5mm LED...

Looked into boards for the stars.
unless I wanted to sell panels it's too costly.
 
I'm so sick of hearing people give misinformation on LED's. Even some of the most seemingly experienced people on this thread do not really understand what certain ratings mean. Let me clear this up without getting into detail.
 
You cannot compare Watts to Watts on any different platform. This was a useful measurement when everything was filament based but has lost it's meaning when we moved to fluorescents, HID, and LED. Want to talk about efficiency of say, 10w LED = 60W incandescent? Read below.
 
Efficiency cannot be compared when judging an LED vs HPS, MH, Fluorescent. This is because this is measured in lumens/watt. Read below.
 
Lumens mean (almost) NOTHING. Comparing a 500 lumen LED panel to a 1000 lumen XXXX light means nothing. Lumens are based on visible light brightness. You are saying to yourself, but visible light is what plants use!!! Yes and no, the PAR region is comprised of mainly blues and reds, which are the DIMMEST to human eyes, this is the region plants use. If you had a light that was 500,000,000 lumens of green light it would do almost nothing to help plant growth OR flowering. Accordingly, a good portion of energy goes toward non useful light in most lighting systems boasting of high lumen output, and/or the energy goes toward heat.
 
There's so much more to it and I could go into more detail, but I've got a cold and feel like crap right now.
NorwegianChili said:
so this is useless ?
 
http://www.ebay.com/itm/180W-UFO-LED-Grow-Light-8spectrum-LEDs-Hydroponic-Plant-Pro-LED-Grow-Lamp-Panel-/271054428832?
 
from what i read.. with IR but 3w leds
Click to expand...
 
That is a decent light but I'd be careful, IDK about coverage with a UFO light, and the power draw is only 100W for 180W of LEDs. I'd look for something that incorporates an UV LED (~390-410nm) and draws around 65-75% of the LED potential. Look for a vendor that can give you the number of each LED and the beam angle of those LEDs. These numbers will help you decide if your light is suitable for your application, either large area vegetative growth/over-wintering or smaller scale growth and fruit production.
 
DISCLAIMER: I am by no means an expert in anything mentioned, as I have not grown a plant before :). I am relying on my skills as a researcher and my engineering background regarding the efficiency and misrepresentation of LED grow lights. On those facts, I am 90% sure my statements are correct, take what you want from this comment.
 
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