LED lights are everywhere....

Discussion in 'Beginner Lounge' started by greenthumbwhitethumb, Sep 9, 2017.

  1. greenthumbwhitethumb

    greenthumbwhitethumb down w the moral majority

    Hey folks! So I noticed something recently with your standard shop light/flouro light that you get at Home Depot. I use 4' shop lamps for my little girls in veg, and every spring when I start seeds for my veggie garden. I just recently noticed a lot of these standard old bulbs are LED, vs the T5, etc that's always been. Have they been out for a while, and I'm just really daft and oblivious? (very possible...)

    Re: growing, will these be comparable to the ol' flouro standard? I didn't realize the box I just got was LED. Poached some from work, and found out those were LED as well.
     
    HeadCase likes this.
  2. AlienBait

    AlienBait Custom User Title

    LEDs have come a long way.
     
  3. ResinRubber

    ResinRubber Civilly disobedient/Mod

    Never seen the LED flouro replacements used in a garden. Methinks I'd not trust them to do the job in anything but a "test" situation. Regular old four foot flouro T5's and T8's and Twhatever's are still on the shelf at any Homie DePot or similar whateverboxstore. Usually about $10 apiece or a pack of 15 for $90.
     
    greenthumbwhitethumb likes this.
  4. greenthumbwhitethumb

    greenthumbwhitethumb down w the moral majority

    Yeah, I have kinda kept my eye on latest/greatest grow lights, and seems like the LED ones are not so shabby. Was wondering about those shop lights, tho, I don't know anything about any sort of spectrum or all that jazz. I've got a dozen little clonies under a 4' light of 'em, but I'm also augmenting the sides with some bastardized cfls, because I'm nervous the LED wouldn't be enough....
     
  5. Green Goblin

    Green Goblin Cannabis Connoisseur

    By chance, anybody know what wavelength LEDs to look for?

    I found some led strips that are 660nm red and 445nm blue and are labeled for grow lights but not sure what to look for

    :pimp:
     
  6. CREATIVE GARDENER

    CREATIVE GARDENER Cured Fat Sticky Bud

    I use the T-8 and T-5 a lot. They're affordable and easy to find in the spectrum for vegg. I noticed the led replacement bulbs but couldn't find the right ones for growing that didn't require a special fixture or rewiring to bypass the ballast. Hopefully someone will come up with an affordable setup soon. Good Luck!!
    Be cool, CG
     
  7. Justcheckingitout

    Justcheckingitout GK Old Timer

  8. GrowKing

    GrowKing Member

    I always used nice metal halide or HPS, now I am switching to LED, I believe its deep penetrating power is going to be useful. ill keep you posted. They will burn your plant just like any other bulb, found that out the hard way.
     
  9. Green Goblin

    Green Goblin Cannabis Connoisseur

    Growking, have you used the ones mentioned here? The ones that appear similar configuration as a t5 fixture?

    Any reports yet GTWT? How do your plants look under these?
     
  10. GrowKing

    GrowKing Member

    I have seen that from 4 feet away they produce a dense indica strain, then we saw it die when we moved the light to 1 foot away in one day. rookie mistake, I'm rusty.
     
  11. greenjah

    greenjah A Fat Sticky Bud

    Here in michigan everyone is saying that led's are not cutting it for flower but are decent for veg.
    The 3 hydro stores i go to will not cary them in stock even.
    They say low yield and not enough light penetration.
    In my own opinion i also dont like them because the light has no spread, by the time you cover an area that a 1000 watt bulb does you are at almost 1000 watts anyway.
     
    nippie likes this.
  12. ducrider

    ducrider growing your mamas weed

    Let’s not get too far off track here. No one is flowering plants with the T-5 replacement LED tubes that GTWT was asking about.


    Duc
     
    GrowKing likes this.
  13. nippie

    nippie preachin' and pimpin'

    I absolutely agree with this. I'm involved in ohio medical and not a single plan i've seen or heard of has depended on led for flower. I did hear of one that plans to have dedicated areas for led plasma and led cmh grows for testing, but I think that's more for seeing if they can manipulate different profiles from the same strain, not so much for production value.

    As far as LED ability to veg, i think that's been proven and it will has a great value for that and other leaf crops in an urban environment.

    The newer LEDs may have in smaller grows if they really do not produce heat like the first generation ones, but I think everyone is just going to do double ended hps with plasma for spectrum
     
    GrowKing likes this.
  14. GrowKing

    GrowKing Member

    Thanks
     
  15. GrowKing

    GrowKing Member

    I have not
     
  16. GrowKing

    GrowKing Member

    Have a 5x5x72”.

    What’s the absolute best lighting for me to use. I have 2 pricey good spectrum leds, throw them out and go to a 600w his in a cool tube? So many mixed reviews.
     
  17. Green Goblin

    Green Goblin Cannabis Connoisseur

    IMO, if you have adequate cooling and aren't bent on efficiency, I'd go w a 1kw. If either of those two are a problem I'd go w no smaller than a 600

    Happy Growin' :pimp:
     
  18. GrowKing

    GrowKing Member

    just to clarify, no one would use the new flowering LED lights that are 1000w themselves?
     
  19. nippie

    nippie preachin' and pimpin'

    What i think most are saying is to get same amount of coverage and weight of a 1k hps youre going to need 1k of led.

    The main advantage of led is supposed to be less heat, but theres so many manufacturer now of led its hard to say whats good and bad as even i have led that i dont use anymore because it was as hot as using hps. Its a different heat though, because it doesnt create hot spots more so raises heat in general area if that makes sense.
     
    GrowKing likes this.
  20. Green Goblin

    Green Goblin Cannabis Connoisseur


    SHOULD BE THE BEST BANG FOR THE BUCK IN A TENT, OH MY GOD I AM NOT YELLING...DO NOT PUT A 1K IN A TENT

    but I'm lazy so...I'm curious where the heat is generated in the LED setups. If it's from the driver, I'm thinking if the drivers were mounted in the a plenum tied to the exhaust, or maybe an RV battery and a big charger mounted out of the room, perhaps, if they are 12/24volt anyway. If it's the diode itself perhaps a water cooled heat sink...

    Happy Building :pimp:
     
    GrowKing likes this.

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