hey guys it's me again. i saw this on hg420.I have heard very little about the LED setups.And here is someone trying it.It definitely has my attention.Especially since it is only using a total of 45 watts!!!! http://www.hg420.com/showthread.php?t=16360
that's pretty impressive. mikey always finds ways to grow that aren't the "norm" this actually looks like a really good idea!
Did you read his post though? He said he vegged the plants under a 250W MH bulb before placing them into flower under the LEDs. Veg is the time when you use the most wattage, so I don't really see the advantage here... ?? Unless the LEDs produce some ridiculos buds...
once the price falls significantly I will likely replace my entire gardening light array with LED's. I don't imagine this happening for at least another decade. LED is definitely the future of grow lights for several reasons. They require replacement every 5-10 years, and create miniscule amounts of heat. They also are specifically formulated wavelengths of light which are almost 100% absorbed by the plant (which is why the plants appear purple/black, this means the plants are absorbing all the light versus shining it back at you. This also means easier control of light leaks, and not so obivous grow operations) If you look here: http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2001/ast09apr_1.htm you will see that NASA uses the LED lights to grow on the space shuttle. Needless to say, I will wait until a NASA-like system is available (there must be 1200 LED's on that array) With the rising cost of energy, the LED will likely save you money in the long term. I would rather pay a large initial investment, and then pay for a insignificant electrical bill. But like I said, I don't plan on making the switch for quite a while. It would be possible to build your own light array, I should look into that. LED's are simple and easy to wire, I suppose the cost of the individual diodes is still quite high however. -NOLY
energy savings I would like to say that yeah he did veg under the 250 mh,but he is flowering under the led's.Even though he hasn't used them for veg yet,if his yeild comes out heavy,he has still won on the deal.Just in the amount of electricity he saves.hmm 45 watt to flower compared to 250 watts...if it works i would spend the money on them.Even if it as just to flower.
thats pretty crazy stuff like to see how it turns out, i wonder how many lumens those things put out i'm going to have to look into that.
LED's are still a pipe dream. Don't get too excited over it, they still have a LONG way to go. Edit: I don't know how scientific you all are here, but try and remember the law of conservation of energy. Energy cannot be created nor destroyed, only change form. LED's will not get you something for nothing.
i agree glucoma and as anyone should know energy is heat and you can't expect a lot of energy from something that doesn't even disperse heat unless some how all the energy it takes to create the light is some how inverted endothermicly, i don't know what it would atke to absorb the heat that readily but i would have to think that the only thing LEDS realy have going for them is a really high amplitude of the lights wave, cause LEDS are bright but the light doesn't travel very far, it can been seen from a good distance due to the high amplitude but it just can't put out the candle power. not sayy\ing this isn't possible it is but it's going to ake some time to figure out how to manipulate this technology to meet the requierments to sustain all plant life not just a few species, cause if it could do that NASA wouldn't be paying all these scientist to try and figure out which plants are best suited for this type of light.
let me play devil's advocate....what if it's using more of the energy put out by leds...that is to say,...like mentioned earlier,...the plants absorb more of the lumens as apposed to reflecting them. A lot of the light produced by HIDs is wasted. That's why we use reflectors and such, to try to use more of it. What if leds lumens are lower, but more are absorbed?...isn't that possible?
just a question..but.. What if this LED flower grow does work out??It may change everything we thought we knew about growing plants in general,as far as lighting is concerned.The reason it isn't bright in the room and the plants appear purple is becase they are using all of the available light and not reflecting it back. I hope this works, and if it don't at least Someone can say they had the guts to try.Sometimes breaking with tradition can lead to goo things.
by no means am i saying its not going to work i just find it very unlikely at this day in time, ya now. also i can't really find any good info on them, the best thing was the article about nasa's research and the fact that they are spending so much time and money on researching plants that can be supported by this system tells me that for one it's just not as capable of producing as much as our available lighting but give it some time i can see them figuring something out to make it way more effiecient but i'm just not sure they have harnessed the true potential of the LED yet.
with the power problems in our country you would think that if this was THAT possible it would have been thought of years ago, especially before digital ballasts i can't wait to see the end result though!
If a grow light manufacturer rates his grow light output in Lumens he's only telling you how bright his grow light will appear to you and light your room, not how well it will grow your plant. - something new to me!
i just ordered a bar to add to my room. i have tall white widow that is on the side, and needs some more lighting, about 150 watts would do it in addition to the 600 watt HPS i currently have. no heat added, yet i can still bloom the widow really well. you should call and talk to the tech support. he is very knowledgable with plant life in general, as well as having much experience with converting ppl over successfully, meaning after it's installed he walks you through what is needed to be done to take advantage of the technology. one PRO bar (33% mroe white light, greater blues) was $199 and he gave me a deal on shipping. i'll post some pics once it is installed.
My friend bought a led set up and he said it was in no way shape or form worth the $. Maybe someday just not now
yeah but 33% percent more white light than what though? cause that could be compared to other LEDS, HID, incandescent, flourescent. Also, its not like they haven't produced lights that follow the absorbtion spectrum of chlorophyll. Also what the intensity of the LEDS compard to an HID cause the high intensity and mixture of spectrum is what gives the MH its color, as the amplitude increases the light becomes brighter and if amplitude increases enough it will wash the color out almost making it seem kinda like white light with a little color added to it even though this doesn't look like the same color due to the high increase in the amplitude it is and its know that the plant knows it the right light but the chlorophyll a and b molecules have threshold energy to creat the action potentials to transfer electrons by excitation to the primary electron acceptor or reaction center which is located in both photosystems P 680 P700,light dependent and independent. these photosystems are named to correspond with the type of wavelength of light they utilize the best 680 and 700 nm both being in the red spectrum with chlorophyll b which absorbs 480-520 being in the violet-blue spectra and having no thing to do with action potentials, thats why with the balanced spectrum using an HPS and MH the results are pretty damn good. but as for the LED just how strong is the light it will be able to produce the light correct but as for the amount it puts out thats what matters is like giving a fat kid 1 hotdog when you know he could easily eat 10, yeah the hotdog will give him a little energy and easy his hunger a little but he's still going to be craving those other 9, with the plants you are feeding the chloroplast with the energy needed to sustain the electron flow and the chloroplast themselves but they could still more than likely up take some more and utilize that energy. I mean i think the LED has enough to sustain life but i want vigorous life i dont want the sluggish growth like the guy said seemd like to him. that would suck spend that much on nothing.
33% more than the standard (pro). like i said, i am adding to give some needed light to 25% of the room that is lacking just a little bit. it's going to give me more positive than negative, especially since i can't have any more heat in the room, and i don't want to add more to my electric. 200 bucks is fine for my application since it is supplmentary lighting. don't be so negative everyone!!!!
This guy has upsated on the flowering under the LED's I think that i am going to go with the LED's to flower when i build my new grow room..I know they are $$$$$but hopefully i'll have it by then..His plants are frosting up sooooo nicely it's looking gooood to me. http://www.hg420.com/showthread.php?t=16360&page=2&pp=10
It doesn't surprise me that LEDs will someday replace HIDs for growing. Its a new technology that they will continue to improve upon. The only thing is that with any new technology, you pay alot to have it while its in its infancy. Before you know it we will have LED headlights on cars! The only thing is (if I read this right) it is 45 watts per bar and you need several of them to cover the same area an HPS can cover, I don't know if I see any real energy savings.
