Lighting Hps or LED?

[Sunny747]

MY 2 pennies.. I recently switched to LED as an experiment. My plant absolutely loves it so far and I am so relieved to not have to worry about heat output. I was so stressed about heat all of the time that it made growing a little unenjoyable. I save 150w of power just because I don't have to run my vortex fan.

There are a lot of Good LED's out there for a decent price. Area 51 seems to make the best hobbyist light and Mars Hydro is also a good one for the price. There are a ton of crap LED's out there. They just markup and rebrand cheap chinese lights.

You know what's really crazy? People are using Cree floodlights from Home Depot and getting really great results. 30 true watts per sqft is the target for LED.

 

[gmgeoff]

I like my A51's ,although I only have my Apollo UFO's to compare them with. They are light wt. and build/component quality is very good. Also good warranty, reasonable price,and upfront stats. Only problem is they are a small American co. and they seem to be frequently back ordered.
I have read multiple small units are generally better, as it does give one the ability to more finely tune positions for better light coverage, and can give you the ability to angle lights when necessary, which I am presently doing. (I think there is a little controversy though about angling LED lights, but so far, it is working for me.)
Maybe someone can chime in on this, but I suspect the majority, if not all LED fixtures have SOME or all Chinese components..?
I haven't read every post here, but a hybrid set up is another good option using both. You can even use a few cfl's in the mix to get at some lower buds. I think this practical, and maybe will add more spectrum.

 

[Balarama]

You know what's really crazy? People are using Cree floodlights from Home Depot and getting really great results. 30 true watts per sqft is the target for LED.

Actually cree(or any other) warm white floodlights have better spectrum for growing than Hps lamps, so no wonder people use them.
Even better is to make one of your own, many different cobs are available, cree and osram are top quality but also cheap chinese cobs do the deal well, not far behind.
A combo of cool+warm white floods is good for the whole cycle, people usually get a yield around 1g/W easily with diy cob and flood lights which is better than average hps growers.

 

[Hapa]

"Munch..munch..munchaloha everyone~
I just bought an LED through MarsHydro~Tina and am expecting it on Monday.

I was trying to read up on customizing the lights but couldn't nail down exactly how to ask, let alone what to ask for so...
I'm gettin them as is.

If someone could give me a general idea of how to customize them, I am ordering another in a few weeks and can ask if this is something I can do.

I have been reading as much as possible and have decided that I like those (expensive) LED's that allow you to replace the individual LED's (as needed) pretty easily, and show you step by step how to do it; they make it look pretty easy even for an electronically challenged individual like myself. Except those were all over $1500.-$2000. +. Well beyond my price range. anyway...

what are your thoughts on those types of units?
and can you suggest a custom spectrum for a 1200 watt'er? don't know if Mars does that but I can certainly ask, yes?

thanks so much for all the info., its a great read!

aloha

 

[MisterHarpy]

I know they do customize spectrum, but it might be an extra charge, also because it's customized it has to be made in the warehouse from China abd brought over so it's extra time also. I would though love someone to chime in on the spectrum, as is there a better spectrum then their default spectrum? And if so what benefits as I wouldn't mind purchasing another light

 

[thetreeman]

Its easy to do a custom spectrum via cidly, on any of their lights for no additional charge. Their units have 15 led's per module on the apollo series and I would get the aquarium series (which allows as many white/blue as you want) with
7 - 660 red
2 - 460 blue
4 - 3k white
2 - 12k white

This would give you approximately this color distribution
Blue (400 – 499nm)21%Green (500 – 599nm)20%Red (600 – 699nm)57%Far Red (700 – 750nm)2%

 

[9bear]

http://www.luminigrow.com :tiphat:

 

[Balarama]

The chinese adaptation of lumigrow's light
I'm interested to know the prices, once they start selling them.

 

[81camaro]

I just got into a ceramic metalhalide setup and it has some of the advantages of both. Low heat, low wattage foroutput PPF is double HPS, no noise or even hum, no glass to block UV rays,respectable footprint, low to canopy, small light hood. It’s been up a week,flowering day 9. A couple more weeks will tell for sure if I made the rightchoice, but so far I’m really happy with the decision. I’ve got a thread herein the lighting forum; Ceramic Metal Halide. Stop by and take a look. FWITW LEDs are really close. Definitely the future of lighting. I would buy LED over HPS if that was where I was at. Factoring in the added costs of lightbulbs ventilation electricity and more complex setup and maintenance make it a simple choice I think. The GrowNorthern holographic is really impressive looking at some of the grows here. Smoke em if you got em.

 

[Ram003]

The chinese adaptation of lumigrow's light
I'm interested to know the prices, once they start selling them.

not the same as Lumigrow, but I suggest you try it out, a strong model, I wanna their wifi controller:smoking:, but very expensive