[Lizardking]

I need some help...thinking of switching over to led,but I haven't got a clue about them!!
Can someone try and explain how good they are compared to hps? Obviously I would have though that they don't use as much power as a hps bulb? Can I get an led panel that would match my 600watt hps bulb,I've seen some led panels that produce 900watts worth of energy,but only use 600 watts worth of energy...if that makes sense?? Surely the plants are gonna love that,if they are getting 900w for the price of 600w??
Do they produce bigger buds? I've read that they produce better trich coverage than hps,but whether you get a bigger harvest...I dunno?
Anyone out there who can give me a dummies guide on led,and try to explain the pros and cons in a non biased way??
Cheers 😊

[Ken Erbis]

maybe a 400w hps with 200w led as supplement. I use both but if i had to choose i would favour my hps

[Missginger]

I can't offer anything to this thread really apart from hearing a few people say that led creates tighter nodes and denser buds.

I'd like to try led one day so this thread will be a quite intresting read.

[Lizardking]

Oh,so you would choose hps over led then? Ideally I would like to go full led,but only to reduce the energy price of a full hps grow.do you find you get better quality huds from led?
And then I have the heating issue.i grow in a brick lean-too joined to the outside of the house.and this time of the year I struggle for temps,so have to supplement the heat by using an oil filled radiator! So if I went full led...I would surely struggle with temps even more??
Basically,I was hoping for an led panel that would better my harvest that I get from hps,whilst saving money on electricity.

[2scoops]

@symbol 22 seems to know his lighting specs on Led menu, i`m not sure if he`s selling one of those Led lights he`s just been using either . But have you looked at CDM lighting that @Viz uses in this thread here, and knows more about them, but check out his diary they seem to rock few grows i seen about with them also with better coverage than Led`s, but their seems to be 1 or 2 using these  on here, i think Roy Cropper uses them now too.

[Lizardking]

@symbol 22 seems to know his lighting specs on Led menu, i`m not sure if he`s selling one of those Led lights he`s just been using either . But have you looked at CDM lighting that @Viz uses in this thread here, and knows more about them, but check out his diary they seem to rock few grows i seen about with them also with better coverage than Led`s, but their seems to be 1 or 2 using these on here, i think Roy Cropper uses them now too.

Cheers Jimmi mate,but like I said,I haven't really got a clue about then.ill have a nose through Viz diary.
So do led gove better coverage than hps?? I'll have a good old read up online about them...but it's the lack of heat that comes with led that concerns me...I rely on the hps to heat my tent up 👍🏻

[Budgie]

Some peeps swear by them, and you can successfully grow with them all the way through. Get it right and the buds do grow dense with lots of trichome coverage.

 

But they are a lot more expensive, they don't have the same spread of lighting coverage as HID's, they do kick out heat, but it's upwards from the fans/cooling fins not from the bulb/ballast. This could be why the buds directly under are denser. You can't get them too close to the plants as they bleach out with the light intensity. You need to make sure that the diodes are powerful enough (5w min really) and have a good mix of spectrums. The new Cree/Cob additions improve the basic LED but push heat downwards.

 

900, 600 blah blah, not really relevant although there is some improvement on wasted energy coverted to heat as opposed to lumens. I would love to see a 900w led getting a gpw while drawing only 600w, but not happened yet. It's like how cheap hi-fi's state that they are say 400w power.....but thats peak noise, not actual listenable music, the same applies to the LED power claims. 

 

@revert, @symbol 22 and @Forest seem to be up on LEDs more than anyone just now (sorry if I missed anyone else), so I'm sure they will pop their nebs in and give us some more info.

 

[2scoops]

Cheers Jimmi mate,but like I said,I haven't really got a clue about then.ill have a nose through Viz diary.
So do led gove better coverage than hps?? I'll have a good old read up online about them...but it's the lack of heat that comes with led that concerns me...I rely on the hps to heat my tent up 👍🏻

Coverage is wank with Led, imo plant needs to be directly under them to get best out of the panel and plant. But what i found with led is well i think small led panels say 150 to 250 watter actual power draw out of the wall plug socket used over each plant woould be better thnan a 600power drawn from wall having 4 plants under, My 600watter was ok but coveragew was shite, i just know i would have done better with 3 or 4 x 150 watters and one over each plant and tbh i was just defeating one of objects of growing with led which is cheaper running costs.

 

Really check out the 315 watter CDM lights, cheapoer than Led and thery do great jobs on growing weed. Viz should help out with any questions if you got any, he seems a cool bloke, but Roy Cropper and S22 are both using them too now.

[Lizardking]

Cheers for the reply Budgie 👍 I've got a little more information from your post.bigger buds and more trich coverage is exactly what I'm after,but I don't really want to be chucking silly money about lol.
I like the idea of the newer LEDs pushing heat down,instead of up,coz I really do think I would struggle to get the right temps in the tent with led!
Thanks for looking in mate,I'll wait to see if any of the names you've put down have anything to say on the subject.im fine using my 600W hps...just was hoping for better/bigger harvest from led,and at a fraction of the bill that's brought on by hps 😊

[Lizardking]

Coverage is wank with Led, imo plant needs to be directly under them to get best out of the panel and plant. But what i found with led is well i think small led panels say 150 to 250 watter actual power draw out of the wall plug socket used over each plant woould be better thnan a 600power drawn from wall having 4 plants under, My 600watter was ok but coveragew was shite, i just know i would have done better with 3 or 4 x 150 watters and one over each plant and tbh i was just defeating one of objects of growing with led which is cheaper running costs.

Really check out the 315 watter CDM lights, cheapoer than Led and thery do great jobs on growing weed. Viz should help out with any questions if you got any, he seems a cool bloke, but Roy Cropper and S22 are both using them too now.

I like ya thinking Jim...an led panel for each plant would be the way to go,but I think I've already talked myself into sticking with the hps...I do ok from the bulb,and it helps maintain decent temps in the tent.
I'll wait to see what the other guys have got to say bout it mukka...cheers 😉