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Between Sun and Moon HPS/LED comparison grow.

VerdantGreen

Genetics Facilitator
Boutique Breeder
Mentor
ICMag Donor
Veteran
So we need to send you another 308W worth of LED's... The 345W is about the closest thing to it at roughly 290W consumed. So a 205W + 345W (550 - 1W LED's) still draws less power than the HID by a few watts. Would you rather have a 345W or a 205W and a 126W to throw in there Hazy? I want to see a watt for watt bloom test ;)

not my decision but i would have thought the 205 + 126 would be better as it would make the watt/sq foot more consistent over the whole canopy - whearas a 345 would be twice as bright as the light hazy already has and he may have to hang then at different heights etc.

nice one hazy this has been awesome. look forward to what you do next.

VG.
 

one Q

Quality
Veteran
The 1000W HID setup you talked about cost $1900 + at least $3011.25 in electric for 5 years, for a total cost of $4911.25, not to mention you'll still need to replace the bulb every year.

$1900 you mean: ballast, reflector, bulb, vent fan, and A/C. Not sure.

I think that it's great that HID only won by margin. I think that most ppl would not notice the difference as much as well seasoned smokers that can tell strains by taste and shit... lol

Keep it up LEDGirl!!
Keep it up Hazy!!
 

hazy

Active member
Veteran
Actually, LEDGirl, Cateros did factor in electric costs. That's what he means when he says the cost of 'hydro.' Canadian thing? Meaning hydro-electric power.

I'm in complete indesicive mode here on which setup. VG is very much right, but idk.
thinking.
 
B

Bud Bug

But you forgot to factor in the fact that led's last like 5 years and over 5 years your gonna spend around 500$ on new eye hortilux bulbs if you use them like I do and another 300 on good mh bulbs in a 1000w system so adding in that amount of $800 to my initial investment which was $1100 for a sun system air cooled

Thats the LED themselves not the power supply. There's no guarantee that the power supply will last that long or even the vent fans on the power supply.
As for the HID bulbs Philips/GE HPS/MH bulbs are only $40 CDN If you replace bulbs every three crops than thats only about $500 for bulbs in those 5 years.
 

skotty

horticulturist
Veteran
so would a 600 watt led give off more heat than 2 x 300 watt cfls??

the reason i ask is im seriously thinking about getting some of these led lights and i love reading up on them but if i can get hps results for the same price of running my cfls then yeah im game

currently getting around 78 degrees from 2 x 300 watt cfls which is awesome and my tent is 120 x 80 x 180

top grow by the way really impressed with all the grows done by these

peace
 
B

Bud Bug

Well I'm just gonna compare this to my last set up which I got 22 oz out of 64 plants in a 4x4 area. There was no veg time and the whole crop was 52 days.

HID

DR 120 Tent $250
Lumatek Ballast $300
HPS Bulb $40
6" Vortex $220
Mountain Air Filter $150
Air Cooled Tube $95
2x 8" Honey Well fans $50

Total $1105 after taxes $1237.60

LED

DR 120 Tent $250
LED array 300W $1400 (Most manufacturers seem to compare the 300W to 1000W HID)
6" Vortex $220
Mountain Air Filter $150
2x 8" Honey Well f600ans $50

Total $2070 after taxes $2318.4

You save $1080.80 over the LED vs 1000W HID

Hydro usage per crop for HID

Ballast 1000W/ (12/12 cycle) $.08 per KW = 28.80 per 30 days or $49.92 for 52 days
Vortex 130W (running 24/7)/ $.08 per KW = $7.48 per 30 days or $12.97
Honeywell fans 20W? (its not listed on the fans)(running 24/7) $.08 per KW = $1.15 per 30 days or $1.99 in 52 days.

HID total hydro cost for $52 days = $66.88

Hydro usage per crop for LED

LED 300W/ (12/12 cycle) $.08 per KW = $8.64. per 30 days or $14.97 for 52 days
Vortex 130W (running 24/7)/ $.08 per KW = $7.48 per 30 days or $12.97
Honeywell fans 20W? (its not listed on the fans)(running 24/7) $.08 per KW = $1.15 per 30 days or $1.99 in 52 days.

LED total hydro cost for $52 days = $29.93

HID = $66.88
LED = $29.93
LED would save me $36.95 per crop.

Now my last crop I got 22 OZ and made $2200 out of it $1600 for the 1 full lb and 600 for 4 other ounces and two I gave away.

Now having grown with a 300W LED about a year ago I wasn't impressed (1 os out of 4 plants) but I'll give the LED a generous 1lb in the same setup and now way in hell would I get 22 OZ in 52 days of the the 300W LED.

So with the LED I would have made 1lb = $1600.

I would have lost $600 and $1080.80 on the price difference on the LED crop BUT I would have saved $36.95 in hydro usage. This is also being really generous with the LED crop.
 
B

Bud Bug

so would a 600 watt led give off more heat than 2 x 300 watt cfls??

Hard to say as the CFL's also give off heat from the gas in the bulb and the ballast in the base. If you mean a 300W power which they call 600W HID equivalent then the LED would only be one 300W power supply compared to 2 x 300W for the CFL's
 

iSMOKE.KUSH

Active member
Veteran
22 ounces off of a 1000 watt isn't that bad at all esp. with no veg.

still don't know what to make of these leds..actually found a friend who has them and they actually do get pretty hot in enclosed spaces. also...yeah you save money on the energy bill and bulbs. but when it the difference of a 17% larger harvest than shit...i'd take the larger harvest any day.
 
B

Bud Bug

I'm all for LED's and will switch to them once I see people pulling 1+lb out of a 4x4 area with max of 10 weeks in veg and flower but I refuse to pay and give my $1400 to companies making false statements with hardware that is a long way from doing what the company claims it can do.
 

WizeWizo

Member
I'm all for LED's and will switch to them once I see people pulling 1+lb out of a 4x4 area with max of 10 weeks in veg and flower but I refuse to pay and give my $1400 to companies making false statements with hardware that is a long way from doing what the company claims it can do.


In the 2x2 area that I currently have the 205w from HGl I feel fairly confident in saying that I will pull 6 oz out of the area that it occupies... Multiply that by 4 and you most certainly pull those same numbers. I would use 4 of the 205w panels to cover my 4x4 aero tables, so I'd be using roughly 300w or so less than your 1000w HPS with far less heat issues. Now you might not have any heat problems in your area where you grow but here in Cali's central valley its hot as shit so these LED's are super sweet.
 
B

Bud Bug

In the 2x2 area that I currently have the 205w from HGl I feel fairly confident in saying that I will pull 6 oz out of the area that it occupies... Multiply that by 4 and you most certainly pull those same numbers. I would use 4 of the 205w panels to cover my 4x4 aero tables, so I'd be using roughly 300w or so less than your 1000w HPS with far less heat issues. Now you might not have any heat problems in your area where you grow but here in Cali's central valley its hot as shit so these LED's are super sweet.

I looked at your last grow and you vegged for 22 days which to me is a no go (that be almost half way through the crop for me) as I'd rather not veg (faster crop finish), get less of a yield but get more crops per year.
 

WizeWizo

Member
I looked at your last grow and you vegged for 22 days which to me is a no go (that be almost half way through the crop for me) as I'd rather not veg (faster crop finish), get less of a yield but get more crops per year.


I wanted to do a true sog grow in my current grow as did HGL but PS wanted me to do a month long veg with just 2 plants to show the veg capabilites of their light. I tried to find a good middle ground and feel that I have.

The next grow I'm under no such obligations and would like to a sog run with 6-9 plants under each light with essentially zero veg time.

You wont find any arguement from me at all that sog is the way to grow. I spent the first 2 years growing a sog style got bored and started growin trees for a while to experiment and learned real quick I could turn over so much more herb with a more plants less veg over the course of the same amount of time. I'm not tryin to debate that at all with ya, I'm here sayin that LED's do have their place in the industry
 

hazy

Active member
Veteran
Bud Bug and Skotty:​


I refuse to let this thread turn into one of these argument threads. Take it to your own thread to do that.

 
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hazy

Active member
Veteran
Guys, we all have our own growing styles and this thread is not for you to debate SOG or trees. Anyone who thinks the tree guys are pulling wimpy yields needs to read up on some tree grower threads.

22 oz from a 1k. Nothing wrong with that imo. My first run with a 1k i got a little less than that. less the next time and last time with a vert setup did pretty good for 4 plants. This time I'm back horizontal with a hood and expect to do over 20.

I know that's shit though.

A lot of us are only .5 gram a watt growers. Getting that number up is something we work on, but we have to work within our skill set and space. Listen, I can't get 64 clones going at one time no matter how hard I try. I'm not set up for taking clones in that kind of numbers. I'm lucky to get 10 clones going at once. I have a sort of perpetual clone taking going on. I don't have a great success rate and so 5 of those 10 might not make it. Can't SOG with that.

Also friends, a lot of us have a separate veg area so we're not having to take up a month or two vegging under bloom lights.

I've been veggin under floros forever. But LEDGirl wanted to see some vegging under the LED so right now I have a group vegging under the 400 and the LED. I'm going to be adding in a few more new clones over the next week or so. So I'll not get the super fantastic results you super growers get, but I'll do OK.

I'm leaning to the 345 instead of the 205 and the 126. I guess I'm liking the extra intensity the 345 must have with all those leds packed in the same size box. Hashy1 says that'll make one side too much brighter than the other and I should go with the 2.
I'm getting a space ready, give me a day or two to decide which setup is going to work best.

 
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WizeWizo

Member
Great post Hazy... Sorry if I jumped in or threw any gas on the flames, wasnt my intentions at all. Much respect for you and this great grow man!
 

Hashy1

Member
Ya hazy with the 345. I would think one side would be allot brighter then the other side but I'm sure you can simply rotate the plants so they all spend about the same under each light. that should keep you from having one side of the room bigger then the other. But would that be a bad thing? for the 345 side to grow bigger you may get more then if you rotated them and got them all to a even size. the 205 did do nice on its own. i am sure you will get more out of the 345.

I think 2 126 and 1 345 would be the way to really go. use the 2 126 on the sides to make sure the girls on the edges get some good light on the sides. but you already got that 205 to work with and she didn't offer a 345 and 2 126. just a 345 or a 205 and 126. thats kind of a hard choice
 
B

Bud Bug

But LEDGirl wanted to see some vegging under the LED so right now I have a group vegging under the 400 and the LED. I'm going to be adding in a few more new clones over the next week or so. So I'll not get the super fantastic results you super growers get, but I'll do OK.
\

Well vegging under the LED was good but any benefits I got in the veg with the nice tight nodes were diminished once the plants where flipped. Wish I kept a better log on the LED grow.

Here are some photos of the grow. I vegged 20 under the LED and 16 went under a 600W and 4 I left under the LED.

https://www.icmag.com/ic/album.php?albumid=15141

LED's have always vegged good even ones 5 years ago but its always been a problem with flowering and this is what they have a long up hill battle for proper production.


By the way I grew Basil in a Botanicare aero system and under that LED light the basil was bigger then the basil growing outside. Unfortunately I had to give the LED back after the trial run so couldn't go any more experimenting and wasn't about to spend $1200 to grow soma kick ass basil. :biggrin:

I'm working on getting my hands on one of the AN Stealth grow LED's to run a side by side comparison in a 3x6 tent but having a hard time convincing them to led it to me for a crop. :) I can't do the test till the end of the year so have some more convincing time.
 

hazy

Active member
Veteran
OK, time for a font and color change.

What brand of led was that BB?
I wasn't disappointed in the buds this led light made. The vegging doesn't really concern me, because I use a separate veg space, and except for a few days to a week of vegging under bloom lights, I chop one crop and flip the next within days to a week because they're already vegged up.
That said, after 10 days of vegging under the hps and led, the leds are ahead. Much more lush.
Watch this next run, it's going to be much better.

About the next run, some of these clones vegged under floros for a while before going under the 400 and LED. I'm not using LST this time. Well, some, but mostly I'm just smashing stems and bending them over. Mainly the LED side. I'm having some lousy cloning luck, but will add any more that I think are needed to fill the space. If I think it's needed, I'll keep the younger clones for new moms and flip my moms. I don't really have moms, so I'm referring to my biggest vegging plants that are in my veg space.
I'll flip soon, when i think they are the right size. Well, not until I get the new light.
Still leaning to the 345 in spite of good advice from hashy1 and VerdantGreen. Probably what I'll choose unless LEDGirl convinces me otherwise.

By the way, all critics need to understand what it's going to take for me to pull this off.

Here's the setup. I have a 5x8 room that has a 28 x 5 closet at one end. That's where the grow you saw in this thread is. The rest of the room, about 5x-5, is currently filled with my girls from the 4-20 flip. Some of the ones under that light were started a while back and will be chopped in a week. That will open up a little space and I'll move the big light over and all the girls of the 4-20 flip to one side. This will cramp them more than I care to cramp them, and I'll try not to mess up what looks to be a bumper crop by jamming them too close and losing my bud mass. This is what has to be done in order to make room for the LEDs to have a 28" x 58" space to match the one in the closet where the 400 will be. I'll have to use a piece of sheetrock or paneling or something to divide the space so the big light is contained. Oh, and take the divider out of the closet of course. Big pita. Oh, and before I can move those girls over, I have to remount my fan and change the ducting a bit because the fan's still on the floor taking up room. Was vertical last run. And move the filter. And add a new support so i can turn the hood for it's new smaller area. see, the whole PITA thing just keeps coming.
:tiphat:
 
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