70w hps + 17w LED grow

[alphacat]

General Question: are the wired-up PCBs more or less of a fire hazard than an HID light?

Here's something that may be useful for people sourcing LEDs for a home project... You can see that you get a lot less bang for your buck from 3000K-5000K and a lot more from 5700, 6200, 2500, and 2700K in that order. Given the degree of specialized output available in LEDs (more than >50w CFLs right now it seems) this may be a good way to go.

 

[HolidayHawk]

im wondering how manny watts of leds you would need to equal using a 150hps, this would make my micro grow alot easier due to space constrictions but i dont want to sacrifice budd quaility and yield for this.

another thing i was thinking is in the amount of space it takes for the 150hps light i would have another 6 inches of growing room due to the absence of reflector, ventilation, ect, to increase yield.

 

[alphacat]

re: power use - Supposedly 1/5 the electricity a CFL uses for the same output is what I think I read.

I take that w/ a grain of salt 'cause it's not really an apples-to-apples comparison (unless qualified by things like the LED light angle/direction; some emit light in a straight line, others in a radiant 360* like normal bulbs, some are in between)...

The other thing is that I haven't really seen a big array for growing except NASA's prototypes for space gardens. Wiring individual resistors in series on each array is apparently a huge pain in the ass, and getting bigger resistors rated for the cumulative power load starts to make the whole shebang more pricy than it's worth. Most people who I've seen using LEDs to grow anything are using multiple smaller arrays. Here's a cool DIY LED array link- http://www.dabblings.net/subpage2.html

Apparently NASA said the ideal Red/Blue distribution is 92%/8% for chlorophyll, though no further specifics were given...

 

[LED_experiments]

not cool at all
btw - that chart you put in your previous post is near to useless to me. when i start my next project, you will be able to see 100W led setup for the very first time in your life. and if the link you posted in your post you find cool, i can't find a word you can use for what you will see when i post my photo.

holidayhawk: don't be affraid of loosing the quality. i'm sure greg can tell you his experience and the difference between indoor, hps and led stuff. i tested it and i can only say that you would be very surprised. for changing your 150hps to led, they say you have to use arround 40 W of leds. but if using 70W, i'm sure there is no question about quantity or quality.

edit: for my next project, a friend of mine will run 70W hps vs. 70W led grow. i know you will all be surprised when you see the results.

 

[Guest]

led grown mj is the same quality as your growing skills.if you're a decent grower who's allready grown high quality weed you will continue to do so under leds,thats a fact.no quality loss in any way,shape or form.

 

[alphacat]

This:

Plus this:

=
Ultimate Grow Pods...?

Hmmm...

 

[LED_experiments]

not good imo.
it says rgb (1/3, 1/3, 1/3). you dont need g, there also is a question what wl are r and b, light intensity,... i wouldn't buy that stuff, specially not for that price.

 

[Jam Master Jaco]

So when can we see these LED experiments like 70w hps vs 70w LED? I've been anticipating a test grow like that for quite a while. Also, what stores sell LED lights? And which ones are best for growing?

 

[alphacat]

Sorry for the lack of clarification - I meant the LED column shape itself, not the actual model with those LEDs on it. Rather, a column w/ the proper diodes on it...

 

[dude06version]

man once these things become mainstream and the technology is right. its going to revolutionize cannabis cultivation as we know it.def for micro growers, and its going to make commercial opps unstopable.cannabis is going to be growing everywhere.i honestly cant wait till those days are here.what do you guys think another year or 2? i figure ppl are constantly making advancments with this type of lighting.. hopefully comparable to hps by the end of 07. peace.

 

[Guest]

Does anybody care anymore?

Does anybody care anymore?

aaaaaaaaaaallrighty then,here are a few pics










love this last photo,makes me feel like it's snowing outside

anyway,it's week 7 out of 9 planned.I added a week 'coz the of the unholy spider mites and trimming&pesticide. It's going to be a litlle smaller harvest than previous one, but i hope the potency is higher.I'm glad i could finaly borrow a better camera but i have to return it today.Hopefuly they will let me keep it for one more day to take more of those close-up pics.What do you think guys and gals?

take care,g

 

[Jam Master Jaco]

Those buds are looking real tasty man.

Man oh man LED lights look extremely intriguing. I mean no offense when I say this, but I am still very skeptical about them. If you guys have any links to other LED grows I would greatly appreciate seeing them.

Oh and greg, on the grow that you started this thread with, what did you end up yielding?

 

[Guest]

hello,

tuesday was harvest day and here are some pics:










theres was a weed crisis in our area and the resoult of that was looting of my baby,so there was little left to harvest.

i'm forced to disassemble my box but am lucky enough keep my led box. if anybody is interested, check my gallery once in a while for pics or even pm me.i hate monologue threads so i will not open a new thread



THAK YOU FOR YOUR KIND WORDS EVERYBODY!!!

 

[Truth]

I think you could of maximized your yields in a few ways...

150w HPS if you wanna keep it small and power consumption low, but add a little more power.

Closer LED's and more of them

it is better to have LED's like spotlights over just the buds, you know those desk lamps that have the tentacle like adjustability? well try implementing that in LED. you can create 2-4 inch LED panels and mount them on the wall of your grow area, that will be assigned to each branch, or even a few for each branch. it is best to have the lights parallel on either side of the bud so that the other light can reach the tops, to put them directly over the top would block out the HPS light. I've included an example..

also next time I would try to keep the plants at half the height, and prune early on in veg to help this. that way you aren't creating a lot of excess lanky stems. 80% of the height is just stem and not bud, im sure you pruned those to maximize yield in certain areas (or harvested buds from those areas already?), but pruning earlier makes for shorter fatter stems. also go for a 100% indica to keep it as short as possible because the lower areas are receiving low levels of light, as LED's have a limited range for them to be effects, it is a matter of inches with them, rather than a foot or so with HPS lighting. you can clearly see the difference in your buds that were closer to the light, and the one on the lower right which is less than 1/3 the size of the others.

 

[Guest]

led spot lights would require alot of work and/or money (i didn't build this system). i will benefit much more from changeing the growing method to scrog or sog.also the 150w hps is desired but it is well beyond my reach at the moment.what you said about positioning leds is absolutly true,but it's all led from now on so no positioning reqiured.those empty stem use to be full but due to my weak self-control they are allready consumed.keeping the plant lower was my priority but i failed.as for 100% indica, i started germination of deep chunk seeds for my next grow.

p.s.good work on the pic.come to think of it,my led panels are 10*16 cm protoboards (rough translation,hope it correct) and there are 8 of them,so maybe it could be done.

thank you for your constructive input

 

[Truth]

how much you pay for them? most I see are pretty expensive when store bought. I saw another guy on here that made his own, and it is pretty cheap/easy, thats why I suggested the spot light type.

 

[mikeraach]

I think playing with LED's is a super cool idea. Once it gets figured out to a science I can see them eventually replacing HPS lights.

However, your setup is not optimized for either your LEDs or your 70w HPS.

If you take a look at this chart:

You can extrapolate what a 70w light would be. The optimum distance your plant should be is 3-7" with this light and I'd imagine LED's would be about the same. The only way to fully utilize your setup would be some LST.

Here are some pics of my current 70w grow that I've been tying down constantly.

 

[Guest]

i know this grow was not optimized at all. i had alot of problems during this last grow,i had made alot of mistakes. about distance, i usualy had a 5 cm (2") distance from the bulb to the top of the plant and had no problems. in this last pic there vas 4-5 inches. as for lst,this is what i wanted (but got murdered by spider mites)




was this what you had in mind?

 

[Truth]

LED's can be closer, much closer. place a household box fan at the opening at it's lowest setting facing towards the plants, and place your LED/HPS as close as you can, use your hand and lower it until you can't feel warmth anymore and the air is a little cool. that is your sweet spot.

 

[Guest]

lights were raised for the pic...i know that with leds fan leafes can touch the lights.furthermore, this box is no longer functional , i am now running a very small, leds only box and the plant is closer to leds