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Yet Another DIY LED thread

im not runing mine at full power that board only uses 12 watts not 46 watts the 2 boards togither uses about 15-16
 
the led caluclator does not take power in to acount so it might be less but it doest matter any way as the leds are working well the plants are growing well so may be less
 
But according to the specs (and not what was said in the headline for your LEDs), the power consumtion for the blue ones is 0.34W and 0.2W for the red ones under normal circumstances. That will give a power consumption of about 26W when driving your panel at normal rate (I assume you have 48 of each colour).

Anyway, I think you can drive those at normal power without compromising the lifetime. You'll get 100k hours, which is 17 years with the lights on 16 hours a day :)
 
well thats the way they have been riged up any way and they are giveing off alot of light as they are so dont fix some thing when it is not broken lol
 
BillyIdle said:
Should have had a little more cash than I have atm., cause then I could order the LEDs you use, and compare to those I have now :) According to the calcluations you did on my LEDs earlier in this thread, my new layout will output 210 lumens, while yours was 50000+. Thats in the 250x brighter ballpark, even though you have 96 LEDs compared to my 224. My consumes 14W, while yours uses 48W according to the specs. Something's not right here. That said, those you use are still much brighter per LED than mine.

Something doesn't sound right. 50,000+ lumens from 15-16 watts of power. My calculator says that is 3,125 lumens per watt and there ain't no such bulb.

Most line powered LED lighting products other than Cree LR-4 and LR-6 units as of June 2008 achieve anywhere from under 20 to as high as 52 lumens/watt. A laboratory prototype of a white LED achieving 161 lumens/watt has been announced on 11/19/2008.

Mike
 
Yeah, I know. Not accusing you or anythng. Just saying there is something that is not correct. I think I've seen the formula they use, and the numbers are correctly calculated. So I think there is something about the way the LEDs are meassured for the specs that is not correct. Or something.

In the end it's the result we get from these LEDs that count, and not the numbers. Looking forward to the fatalli comp, to get my board properly tested. If it gives me fruits, I'm happy. Started some other fataliis recently, that just sprouted, which gives me the opportunity to compare under otherwise equal conditions.
 
BillyIdle said:
Yeah, I know. Not accusing you or anythng. Just saying there is something that is not correct. I think I've seen the formula they use, and the numbers are correctly calculated. So I think there is something about the way the LEDs are meassured for the specs that is not correct. Or something.

In the end it's the result we get from these LEDs that count, and not the numbers. Looking forward to the fatalli comp, to get my board properly tested. If it gives me fruits, I'm happy. Started some other fataliis recently, that just sprouted, which gives me the opportunity to compare under otherwise equal conditions.


thats a good way to put it
 
Gary and Billy,

I agree. It's easy to get bogged down with lumens, CRI, temperature, watts, etc., but all that counts is getting results. There is no magic bullet that will work for everyone. I personally prefer the LEDs over the CFLs over the HIDs but there is no way I can afford $1,000 for lights alone this year. But who knows, next winter maybe I'll have a 300 watt LED overhead, the side walls lined with CFLs and MH flood lights on the ends. But if I do, I better have a solar power generator installed or I'll be on Duke Energy's VIP list.

Mike
 
its the running cost thats why i started with leds so i didnt have to pay to run hundreds of watts so thats why i would not buy a 300 watt led light
 
For me, power consumption is neglectible. Why? The climate here requires us to use power to heat the houses maybe 10 out of 12 months of the year. The surplus heat from lightning will just be welcome anyway. And the months we don't need additional heating, the electricity is very cheap :D

This is the only positive thing I can say about the cold climate though :lol:
 
Gary18 said:
its the running cost thats why i started with leds so i didnt have to pay to run hundreds of watts so thats why i would not buy a 300 watt led light

Gary,

Trust me, if I could light 72 sq. ft. with 200 watts, I would jump on the bulb. But the reality is that there is a relationship between watts and lumens, and lumens and lux, and lux and growing area. I don't see a difference using 300 watts to power 3 100-watt CFL bulbs and using 300 watts to power one LED. If they all supply the intensity and spectrum I need and cover the same area, plus cost the same and have the same lifespan, it's a coin toss which one I buy.

Mike
 
I am quite sure that 300W of LEDs that only produce red and blue is far more intence than the same rating for 300W CFL. Large amounts of watts are wasted on reproducing light we don't need for our growing. That is what makes the LEDs so special. And that's the same reason I don't think you can compare lux/lumens measurements between CFL/HID/whatevere else with LEDs. It's apples and pears.
 
Yeah, I guess so. I live in a large house out by the coast, and we use approx. 30-40.000 kW/h a year, mostly for warming. Needs to be somewhat cheap then :lol:
 
BillyIdle said:
I am quite sure that 300W of LEDs that only produce red and blue is far more intence than the same rating for 300W CFL. Large amounts of watts are wasted on reproducing light we don't need for our growing. That is what makes the LEDs so special. And that's the same reason I don't think you can compare lux/lumens measurements between CFL/HID/whatevere else with LEDs. It's apples and pears.

Billy,

You nailed that on the head! Two LED panels, both 14 watts, both with the same number of bulbs and the same size. One produces a lux reading of 900, the other 2400. One was all red, one all blue.

Mike
 
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