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Very Very Cheap LED Grow Panel
- Thread starter Dazastar
- Start date
I have been looking at them. Are they wired and ready to plug and go?? And are they safe
??Very interested in them if they work as they are very cheap for seedling starter option
I had a play with these a while back and the results were less than impressive I thought. I read all the blurbs and got a couple to use for propagation in my heat tank , they are also available as a par38 floodlight globe, I got much better results using the 100w cfl lights as I use now , bit of a hassle with the shade etc , but the heat is very small and actually helps by heating the top of the growing mix rather than just bottom heat from my heat pad .
are you putting them inches above the plants? I know LED is great for light with less power, I was acutally picking up
a fluorescent ballast with 2 grow bulbs in a few days, to put my seedlings under for right now.
I'm very interested in picking up some of these.
I know there probably getting them off alibaba I know a few buddies that get phone chargers and stuff there cheap. Always a bit worried about ordering off them though.
The two problems I've seen with commercial LED panels are usually with Lumens or they are overdriven to boost the Lumens or get the wavelength they want and burn out fast.
Some are just the wrong wavelengths or combination of only a couple.
For $30. it's worth a try.
You can always use it with other light sources...
I pay $6.00 just for a 7inX12in.Perf board,resistors are up tp $.40 each , and 10mm Leds are about $50.eacyh and up.
Add in time and solder with wire you can't make one for $30.
Some are just the wrong wavelengths or combination of only a couple.
For $30. it's worth a try.
You can always use it with other light sources...
I pay $6.00 just for a 7inX12in.Perf board,resistors are up tp $.40 each , and 10mm Leds are about $50.eacyh and up.
Add in time and solder with wire you can't make one for $30.
Everything (or almost) is from china , doesn't automatically make it crap.
Sure a lot of it is, but a good deal of the stuff you buy at a local store now is made in china as well, so you may as well get it at half the price and cut out the middle man by buying on E-bay for some products.
Remember when Japanese stuff was considered total trash?
Some of the newest Tech comes from there now,India is heading that way too among other places.
Made in the U.S.A. these days doesn't mean much,the parts are probably from elsewhere and they are only assembled here.
Buying U.S a lot of the times only means you kept some Union happy so the company has to raise their prices or start buying products/parts from elsewhere or move out of the U.S..
Some of the newest Tech comes from there now,India is heading that way too among other places.
Made in the U.S.A. these days doesn't mean much,the parts are probably from elsewhere and they are only assembled here.
Buying U.S a lot of the times only means you kept some Union happy so the company has to raise their prices or start buying products/parts from elsewhere or move out of the U.S..
I'm skeptical too, but not everything from China is crap.
Chinese designs are usually crap, but most worldwide manufacturers are sending their designs to China for cheap manufacture.
So the Chinese don't have to design anything, just copy. There's two types of copies they make after they get the design, a cut price verison where they've cheaped out on everything, and a decent replica where they just removed the branding.
Depends on what factory you are buying from, some factories just keep making more than what was ordered by a worldwide manufacturer and sell for themselves, so you get the same item cheap from Chinese reseller as you would a name brand. Other factories just cut down and skimp on products and make an inferior copy on the sly, these are the crap products.
But some stuff from there can be OK.
Edit: Also a lot of the stuff can be factory seconds. Made for a worldwide manufacturer, but slight defects, so nothing skimped on materials, but not approved by the name brand company that made the order. Still going to be reliable and do the job and worth it if it's cheap.
Chinese designs are usually crap, but most worldwide manufacturers are sending their designs to China for cheap manufacture.
So the Chinese don't have to design anything, just copy. There's two types of copies they make after they get the design, a cut price verison where they've cheaped out on everything, and a decent replica where they just removed the branding.
Depends on what factory you are buying from, some factories just keep making more than what was ordered by a worldwide manufacturer and sell for themselves, so you get the same item cheap from Chinese reseller as you would a name brand. Other factories just cut down and skimp on products and make an inferior copy on the sly, these are the crap products.
But some stuff from there can be OK.
Edit: Also a lot of the stuff can be factory seconds. Made for a worldwide manufacturer, but slight defects, so nothing skimped on materials, but not approved by the name brand company that made the order. Still going to be reliable and do the job and worth it if it's cheap.
LED's work for veg, but flower, they are extremely wimpy:
You must be using the wrong combination of LEDs.
My plants do just fine with growth and budding.
Galopagoense covers itself with buds as does the Red Savina.
My plants do just fine with growth and budding.
Galopagoense covers itself with buds as does the Red Savina.
Nope. I never have problems with MH/HPS and chili peppers. My LED is a multi-band HO LED (430, 460, 630, 660) with white and infrared. I get plenty of blooms, but the fruits are tiny. LED's aren't ready for indoor production.
You can assume things about my setup, but you haven't put any pics up of your LED grow.
There are several pics around this site of the two plants I mentioned above.
Some are probably on LED posts,shouldn't be hard to find.
I use
red in
620nm,625nm,627nm,630nm,635nm,650nm,655nm,660nm,665nm and 670nm.
Blue in
430nm,435nm,440nm,445nm,450nm,460nm,465nm,470nm and 475nm.
Playing with adding 400nm,590nm,730nm,850nm,.Haven't seen any positive or negative effects yet.
White Leds didn't seem to work well for me.
Most were below 3000k or above 6000k according to the data sheets for the ones I played with.
Plants just wouldn't grow for me under them.
I wish they would have.
I can get much brighter ones for a lot cheeper...
Don't know why the 6000k-7000k ones didn't work well.I have 6500k fluoros that my sprouts love.
I used 5000k-6500k fluoros before the LEDs.
I've only been playing with LEDs for about 3 yrs. so far.
Still learning and looking for the best combinations of red and blue etc.
Some wavelengths they just don't make yet.
Though a couple wavelengths (in 100lm. or more) a supplier had made for me but I had to buy them in quantity at the time.
I had 125, 10mm white LEDs on a 7in. X 12in. panel.
Leds were supposed to be 150LM. each with a 40degree angle.
From the source, that should have been 18,000lm. at the source,decreasing the farther away from the sweet spot I got.
They pegged the one light meter from 20in. away (3,800lm.)
I forget what the Lux was on another meter...Didn't matter,the sprouts wouldn't grow very well under them.
The 6500k ones might have done slightly better than the 3000k ones(similar 10mm LEDs).
Mixes of as many wavelengths of blue and red between 430nm and 670nm seem to work best so far.
Some plants like Manzanos and the wilds liked more upper red than Chinense.
Annuums,Baccatums and Frutescens aren't picky at all so far.
Different varieties do seem to like a little different amounts of certain wavelengths.
I think the varieties from different climates are geared to growing under different light and that might be why some like more higher red where others like more lower red or whatever wavelengths in the places they are native to.
Peppers ,in general,seem to like a ratio of 6:1 red to blue.
Peppers didn't do well for me with only red or only blue.
I mostly use my LEDs for starting plants and isolating a few indoors for seed.
I keep a few of my wild or rarer stuff indoors too.
All are on shelves(2ft. X 4ft. X 18in.),I don't have much room in my 1 bedroom apt.
In your first post I thaught you meant your plants grew ok but wouldn't bud.
Not that your pods weren't cool as you latter wrote.
I don't have a problem with pods being stunted except from the mite invasion I have now.
I wasn't trying to insult you.I just get different results from the panels I make for myself and am using.
My only problem with bud set is I had to put a box fan on my plants to blow the pollen around/shake the plants.
I got tired of picking buds and rubbing them together or using a small paint brush.
I went from Fluoros to LEDs because it got too hot to get buds to set with my indoor plants in the summer because of the heat from my ballasts keeping the room at 80 degrees minimum and in the summer it was even hotter.
I only grow non bell peppers,nothing else.
Other plants might not grow as well with the LEDs I have made,I don't know.
All I know is about growing Peppers under the LEDs that I put together.
Any of the store baught panels I've seen didn't do as well as the ones I have for one reason or another.
I read that certain Herbs and plants won't grow well or bud without specific wavelengths at certain stages of growth or whatever.
A guy I know says his orchids need specific wavelengths and lumens at specific times or all you get is flowerless plants if that.
Some he says you have to give them total dark for a certain amount of time then light then dark again in set cycles or they won't bloom.
But he has some $$$ in his greenhouse equipment,humidifiers,de humidifiers,heaters,air conditioner and whatever else he needs to grow the stuff he does.
I hear some of the stuff he grows is worth some big bucks though when he sells the plants and flowers.
I'll stick with my Chiles.
Edit was because I just got some 430nm,435nm and 460nm LEDs I'll be swapping out on my panels.
Also if an LED is rated as 660nm it only means that is the dominant wavelength.It puts out lesser amounts of other wavelengths.I don't know what the other wavelengths are.If they are only above and below the dominant one or any wavelength like other light sources can be.
I found this a while back:
a mixture of the colors of the visible spectrum. Here is a summary of wavelengths (nm). If you are building your own LED Grow Lights it may be of help when selecting LEDs for your project.
200 - 280 nm UVC ultraviolet range which is generally harmful to plants. LEDs in this spectrum are non-existant or very expensive.
280 - 315 nm Includes harmful UVB ultraviolet light which causes plants colors to fade. UV LEDs in this range are now available and coming down in price.
315 - 380 nm Range of UVA ultraviolet light which is neither harmful nor beneficial to most plants.
380 - 400 nm Start of visible light spectrum. Process of chlorophyll absorption begins. UV protected plastics ideally block out any light below this range.
400 - 520 nm This range includes violet, blue, and green bands. Peak absorption by chlorophyll occurs, and a strong influence on photosynthesis. (promotes vegetative growth)
520 - 610 nm This range includes the green, yellow, and orange bands and has less absorption by pigments.
610 - 720 nm This is the red band. Large amount of absorption by chlorophyll occurs, and most significant influence on photosynthesis. (promotes flowering and budding) The ratio of red (660nm) to far red (730nm) in sunlight is about 1.2:1
720 - 1000 nm There is little absorption by Chlorophyll here, but Phytochrome uses a nice portion. Flowering and germination is influenced. Near and above the higher end of the band is the Infrared spectrum, which can also be heat and could cause elongation or affect water absorption/transpiration.
Many of these plant pigments have dual wavelength peaks that can be activated with led light combinations:The visible colors of light from shortest to longest wavelength are: violet, blue, green, yellow, orange, and red. Ultraviolet radiation has a shorter wavelength than the visible violet light. Infrared radiation has a longer wavelength than visible red light.
Beta-carotene 450nm 480-485nm dual peak
chlorophyll a 430nm 662nm dual peak
chlorophyll b 453nm 642nm dual peak
phycoerythrin 590nm single peak
phycocyanin 625nm single peak
Some are probably on LED posts,shouldn't be hard to find.
I use
red in
620nm,625nm,627nm,630nm,635nm,650nm,655nm,660nm,665nm and 670nm.
Blue in
430nm,435nm,440nm,445nm,450nm,460nm,465nm,470nm and 475nm.
Playing with adding 400nm,590nm,730nm,850nm,.Haven't seen any positive or negative effects yet.
White Leds didn't seem to work well for me.
Most were below 3000k or above 6000k according to the data sheets for the ones I played with.
Plants just wouldn't grow for me under them.
I wish they would have.
I can get much brighter ones for a lot cheeper...
Don't know why the 6000k-7000k ones didn't work well.I have 6500k fluoros that my sprouts love.
I used 5000k-6500k fluoros before the LEDs.
I've only been playing with LEDs for about 3 yrs. so far.
Still learning and looking for the best combinations of red and blue etc.
Some wavelengths they just don't make yet.
Though a couple wavelengths (in 100lm. or more) a supplier had made for me but I had to buy them in quantity at the time.
I had 125, 10mm white LEDs on a 7in. X 12in. panel.
Leds were supposed to be 150LM. each with a 40degree angle.
From the source, that should have been 18,000lm. at the source,decreasing the farther away from the sweet spot I got.
They pegged the one light meter from 20in. away (3,800lm.)
I forget what the Lux was on another meter...Didn't matter,the sprouts wouldn't grow very well under them.
The 6500k ones might have done slightly better than the 3000k ones(similar 10mm LEDs).
Mixes of as many wavelengths of blue and red between 430nm and 670nm seem to work best so far.
Some plants like Manzanos and the wilds liked more upper red than Chinense.
Annuums,Baccatums and Frutescens aren't picky at all so far.
Different varieties do seem to like a little different amounts of certain wavelengths.
I think the varieties from different climates are geared to growing under different light and that might be why some like more higher red where others like more lower red or whatever wavelengths in the places they are native to.
Peppers ,in general,seem to like a ratio of 6:1 red to blue.
Peppers didn't do well for me with only red or only blue.
I mostly use my LEDs for starting plants and isolating a few indoors for seed.
I keep a few of my wild or rarer stuff indoors too.
All are on shelves(2ft. X 4ft. X 18in.),I don't have much room in my 1 bedroom apt.
In your first post I thaught you meant your plants grew ok but wouldn't bud.
Not that your pods weren't cool as you latter wrote.
I don't have a problem with pods being stunted except from the mite invasion I have now.
I wasn't trying to insult you.I just get different results from the panels I make for myself and am using.
My only problem with bud set is I had to put a box fan on my plants to blow the pollen around/shake the plants.
I got tired of picking buds and rubbing them together or using a small paint brush.
I went from Fluoros to LEDs because it got too hot to get buds to set with my indoor plants in the summer because of the heat from my ballasts keeping the room at 80 degrees minimum and in the summer it was even hotter.
I only grow non bell peppers,nothing else.
Other plants might not grow as well with the LEDs I have made,I don't know.
All I know is about growing Peppers under the LEDs that I put together.
Any of the store baught panels I've seen didn't do as well as the ones I have for one reason or another.
I read that certain Herbs and plants won't grow well or bud without specific wavelengths at certain stages of growth or whatever.
A guy I know says his orchids need specific wavelengths and lumens at specific times or all you get is flowerless plants if that.
Some he says you have to give them total dark for a certain amount of time then light then dark again in set cycles or they won't bloom.
But he has some $$$ in his greenhouse equipment,humidifiers,de humidifiers,heaters,air conditioner and whatever else he needs to grow the stuff he does.
I hear some of the stuff he grows is worth some big bucks though when he sells the plants and flowers.
I'll stick with my Chiles.
Edit was because I just got some 430nm,435nm and 460nm LEDs I'll be swapping out on my panels.
Also if an LED is rated as 660nm it only means that is the dominant wavelength.It puts out lesser amounts of other wavelengths.I don't know what the other wavelengths are.If they are only above and below the dominant one or any wavelength like other light sources can be.
I found this a while back:
a mixture of the colors of the visible spectrum. Here is a summary of wavelengths (nm). If you are building your own LED Grow Lights it may be of help when selecting LEDs for your project.
200 - 280 nm UVC ultraviolet range which is generally harmful to plants. LEDs in this spectrum are non-existant or very expensive.
280 - 315 nm Includes harmful UVB ultraviolet light which causes plants colors to fade. UV LEDs in this range are now available and coming down in price.
315 - 380 nm Range of UVA ultraviolet light which is neither harmful nor beneficial to most plants.
380 - 400 nm Start of visible light spectrum. Process of chlorophyll absorption begins. UV protected plastics ideally block out any light below this range.
400 - 520 nm This range includes violet, blue, and green bands. Peak absorption by chlorophyll occurs, and a strong influence on photosynthesis. (promotes vegetative growth)
520 - 610 nm This range includes the green, yellow, and orange bands and has less absorption by pigments.
610 - 720 nm This is the red band. Large amount of absorption by chlorophyll occurs, and most significant influence on photosynthesis. (promotes flowering and budding) The ratio of red (660nm) to far red (730nm) in sunlight is about 1.2:1
720 - 1000 nm There is little absorption by Chlorophyll here, but Phytochrome uses a nice portion. Flowering and germination is influenced. Near and above the higher end of the band is the Infrared spectrum, which can also be heat and could cause elongation or affect water absorption/transpiration.
Many of these plant pigments have dual wavelength peaks that can be activated with led light combinations:The visible colors of light from shortest to longest wavelength are: violet, blue, green, yellow, orange, and red. Ultraviolet radiation has a shorter wavelength than the visible violet light. Infrared radiation has a longer wavelength than visible red light.
Beta-carotene 450nm 480-485nm dual peak
chlorophyll a 430nm 662nm dual peak
chlorophyll b 453nm 642nm dual peak
phycoerythrin 590nm single peak
phycocyanin 625nm single peak
I'd guess it either didn't work or he's lost in the pepper forest they grew and can't find his computer. 
Omri said:Photosynthetic Activity
The light receiving photosynthetic pigments in the plant are at the thylakoid membrane in the chloroplasts. The most common pigment in his quantity and is present in all green plants and alga is ‘Chlorophyll a’. Other pigments are called secondary pigments and include ‘Chlorophyll b’ and carotenoids. To every photosynthetic pigment a typical absorption spectrum, meaning a different absorption ability of light in different wavelengths.
Chlorophyll a – 420nm, 663nm
Chlorophyll b – 453nm, 645nm
Carotenoids – 420nm-480nm
The light receiving pigments array constructs a type of antenna that is used to transfer light energy to the reaction center (Chlorophyll a), which drives the light process in Photosynthesis. The quantitative ratio of different chlorophylls varies in different plants, organs at the same plant, different exterior conditions and different periods.
- Chlorophyll absorption - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Photosynthesis activity -
The absorption by the chlorophyll is mainly obvious in the red and blue-violet area, although absorption lines in other areas do exist. Chlorophylls a and b are separated by the wavelength at which maximum absorption occurs. The absorption lines of Chlorophyll a at both the blue and red ends of the spectrum are farther away than the absorption lines of Chlorophyll b. Chlorophyll quantities in a green leaf vary between 0.05%-0.2% of the fresh weight. The ratio between Chlorophyll a and Chlorophyll b is 2.5/1=a/b, although it is not permanent because Chlorophyll a is more easily destroyed, meaning the quantitative ratio varies under different conditions.
I use one of these panels and two cfl's to overwinter my 5 Thai plants. The plants are now 25 months old and still doing well. I get some flowering during the winter but nowhere near what I get during the summer. The main thing is that it keeps the plants alive and growing over the winter.
When you say a "Very Very Cheap LED Grow Panel" you certainly mean it. It can't do more than basic overwintering for a higher initial price than HPS or MH that will never be saved in energy. I don't mean to be a griefer, but the technology seriously isn't there. You must have more dollars than sense.