LEDs?

[kdub]

What about these guys? Led UFO -http://www.hydroponicsfarming.com/product-612.html Claims of better than 400wtts less than 600wtts-$600 usd worth it yea or nay? Seem pricey to me

later

kdub

[Pam]

I saw that one in High Times.... Not worth it at half the price to me.

LED's have come a long way fast, but they're still not there yet IMO. Not for intensity, maybe color, my big reds shine bright for a full meter and have a good wide spread, but I wouldn't try using them alone to flower I'm thinking of putting them on ebay, let someone else have a go with em.

[Cleptow]

I have seen some fairly cheap mixed RED/BlUE panels on ebay they are about a square foot in size going for as low as $50 US, and I have also seen some daisy chaning them together. I agree with Granny though they are getting better, but I'm not sure I wanna risk buying them just yet.

[Cleptow]

Well I recieved my medi card today and one of my "caretakers" wants to go with the LEDs. Dam you HighTimes!! Anyway he is willing to put up the cash for them so we are going to try them out. We are going to use the UFOs as they seem to be the most advanced. (and they look cool too ) I plan on making a journal so we shall see.

[evon610]

I'm getting my 150W LED setup sorted out now. Virtually no heat, compares well to my 400W HPS

[Cleptow]

Where did you get this set-up? I still have some time before I buy, and I'm still on the fence to tell the truth. I have seen a few differnt types on e-bay as well as the UFO system.

[evon610]

My system consists of 11x14W lights purchased from Homegrownlights.com.

 

These are actually a lot better than the systems on e-bay as I have researched things fairly well. These have a high LED concentration to provide maximum intensity and reports show this system to work very well. The UFO is overpriced for what you get in my opinion and I needed the flexiility of using several lights for my clones/mother as well as flowering. My opinion is that you need 80-100W of LEDs to work properly. I'd allow around 20-30W per square foot of foliage.

[Al B. Fuct]

LED's are absolute crap.

 

yep. I've spent more than enough time commenting about attempted LED pot growing- and that sums it in a sentence.

 

I reckon anyone getting suckered into trying to grow with current tech LEDs will be adequately punished for ignoring better advice on the topic with a prematurely empty wallet and no buds to show for it.

 

Incandescents might be phased out, but HID lamps certainly won't be. It's about efficiency, not power, and the HID's are much more efficient that their incandescent cousins.

 

What do you think they'll do for street and flood lighting? Halogens?

 

yesindeedydo. I live on something of a hill... I have a city lights overview from my front verandah a bit like aircraft get on landing at Kingsford-Smith. Easily 95% of the street and security lighting you see are the familiar dull pink-orange HPS.

 

Not until LEDs are commonly pounding out 55K lumens to replace all those 400W HPS streetlights and doing so at the same or lower purchase/maintenance/pwr consumption cost will HPS go away.

 

Like Luke says, HPS is not going to be a target for phasing out anyway- it's about the most efficient lumen/watt lamp around, aside from Low Pressure Sodium. LPS isn't suitable for horticulture due to a very narrow spectral output. They make 'traffic signal yellow' light and not much else. You may have seen some used as streetlights for a spell over the last 10 years, but they've been all but phased out in Sydney due to drivers confusing them with traffic signal lighting.

[evon610]

yep. I've spent more than enough time commenting about attempted LED pot growing- and that sums it in a sentence.

 

I reckon anyone getting suckered into trying to grow with current tech LEDs will be adequately punished for ignoring better advice on the topic with a prematurely empty wallet and no buds to show for it.

 

 

You may well be right.... but at 5000 lumens / sq. foot I should see some results from my LED's. For me, there are times when I am not around for a couple of days at the time and I dont fancy running HPS totally unattended. During those times LED's will pick up the slack. I'm not ditching the HPS yet but I think it's a worthwhile experiment if you dont spend a fortune on it.

[Pam]

LEDs are causing such a stir that High Times magazine has an issue dedicated to them this month.

I need to get a copy when I go to town.

Seems ppl are growing with them with great results and not just in veg like I did. Make way for a new group of "lighting experts" to tell us all how soon.