LED Growers Unite, Who makes the BEST LED and how long has it lasted ? Cast Your Vote!!!

[acespicoli]

***If you don't see a brand here and you would like it added comment to have it added ***
Also id be grateful if support your votes by dropping your links to your led grow threads, if you have some to share
This thread is part of a series that started with the IC communities top picks for lights HERE
CONVERSIONS

Photone - Grow Light Meter

growlightmeter.com

^^^ CALC^^^

Sheet scrolls left right hit a dead end on led and driver brands little
Have to go to several of the vendors and inquire so if you see blanks its due to lack of data
some are not clearly disclosing the details easily... if you have info for sheet blank space please post
will add it asap.. thx

DIRECT SHEET ACCESS < CLICK TO COLLAB/VIEW FULL SHEET
This is in the process of being populated we need votes and details
Was considering giving each maker a page on the spread sheet to compare models
Feel free to point out anything that would improve our data

Let there be light - What's the best grow lights, growing ?

💡 Let there be light 💡 https://www.icmag.com/threads/led-growers-unite-who-makes-the-best-led-and-how-long-has-it-lasted-cast-your-vote.18132107 nugzz https://docs.google.com/document/d/1LH4V1AuXVsMoDmwFp3_AKUzquW4ieJBt8w-GfAYXE60/edit?usp=sharing 💡 OK SO REALIZING THAT DUE TO GROWTH STAGE...

www.icmag.com

^^^ This is the thread where the top voted lights were LED and HPS/MH ^^^

OLD DIY

DIY LED CXB3590 2700K 32VDC X 6 (grow light)

DIY LED CXB3590 2700K *36*VDC X 6 (grow light) I was looking for some community support Q&A for the DIY construction and use of High Power LED, the one im building just happens to be CXB3590 2700K 36VDC X 6 History I used two (2) Area 51 RW-150 LED Grow Light for the last 2 years Now im trying...

www.icmag.com

TODO ADD TO SPREAD SHEET
POSTERS DIY SPECS
SPECS FOR BRIDGELUX AND Samsung LM301B

LM301B | SAMSUNG LED | Samsung LED Global Website

Samsung LM301B - Mid Power LEDs. Find out more tech spec and documentation about LM301B in Samsung LED global website

led.samsung.com

2024 Growcraft X-Series | American Made LED Grow Lights

ChilLED Growcraft Commercial LED grow lights - High efficacy - Made in USA. DIY LED Light Kits & Parts. Triple cooled design: ducted, fan & liquid cooling, water cooling options.

chilledgrowlights.com

*Plant Photobiology and Implications for Cannabis Production .pdf

drive.google.com

Journal White Papers on Grow Lights

Yield_and_turnover_of_illicit_indoor_can.pdf

drive.google.com

This author maximized yields from the graph in the previous study

 

[Frosty Nuggets]

HLG.

 

[foomar]

How do you define best ?

 

[acespicoli]

How do you define best ?

For me its ROI return on investment, Its a open canvas for you!!! Show me the method you follow ?
Best Vibes

 

[ZOnaVerde]

Blackdog Led!

 

[Rocket Soul]

For me its ROI return on investment, Its a open canvas for you!!! Show me the method you follow ?
Best Vibes

This makes it very hard to answer. Return on investment is a good criteria at first look but now you depend on too many factors:
- the local market will determine your returns. If the market leans towards higher prices and high quality then maybe a more upscale light may be the best.
- But in a market where prices are low or quality dont matter as much theres a lot of low budget lights that fit the bill, due to the initial investment being so low. Ive seen 800w lights for 289; if you pull 1000g from that the ROI is great, even though imo opinion a 600w light for 1200 making 1000g would seem a lot better to me.
- Also, one manufacturer may make many different light models which have diffrent price points. Vipar has that xs1500 light which has a fantasticly even spread but also a few that arent as nice.
- So many growers are personal stash growers, how do you define ROI for them??

I think you need to think about tightening up the criteria for this to have more of a point. Most people are just going to say "my lights the best" and argue to no end, when in the end its just about the ego boost of feeling like "i make the best choices".

Brands i would add in any case:
- HLG +1 even though i never tried them but theyre the OGs of modern leds. Great
- Growlights australia - worked with them and they grow fantastic and expect them to last longer than anything else i have.


DIY: if ROI is the criteria the diode type is less important than you think: ive looked at numbers a lot and its surprising how close everything is if you factor everything in including costs. Efficiency is what were after when we compare two brands/models, right?
And efficiency is a product of quality of diode and how hard you drive it. So two cheap diodes on low power may have the same efficiency as one expensive deluxe diode driven at the same total wattage as the two cheap ones, right? Funnily enough, when i looked at numbers some years ago i found that in most cases the diode/board/strip that gave the high performance would often cost twice as much as the lower quality diode that could match its performance on half power. So both strategies seem very viable, just depends on how you like the design and what prices you can get your leds for, this will vary a bit thru the world. I did these numbers before covid so the story may be different now.

For DIY my favorite build would be low K high cri + 660 + uv. Using whatever brands makes sense to your situation. Generally i only see bridgelux selling strips of this spec. Theres plenty of cobs you can get with this spectrum, last time i saw someone testing cobs for efficiency it looked like bridgelux and citizen had the best bang for buck but that was years ago. Interested parties may find the tests in Cobkits thread over at RIU but youll have look thru plenty of pages of ooooold thread.

Blackdog Led!

What gen and at what price point? theyre all over the place. Though id probably admit that they have the best looking led spectrum on the market their older models have dogshit efficiency, which means higher operating costs and possibly lost profits/returns due to lower yields per watt than other offerings. But for the thread please add it and let people choose

 

[foomar]

As a personal grower the best value has been the cheapest off amazon , trailing edge tech at low cost.
Been useing leds for 12 years and there is still no concensus on even the best specrum , not spending a lot till they improve further.

 

[hillbil]

HLG has been among the elite few
They also have been around since 2016

Horticultural Lighting Group

 

[negative37dBA]

DIY has been my best full size LED light. I have 2, HLG 60 watt boards that I use for vegging. My flower light is a DIY spine set up using Pacific Light Concepts strips. They are not in business anymore. 660 watt 2 driver beast that has been working perfectly for me since May of 2020.
Not the best pictures of it but her she is.

Spine with adjustable arms is nice because you can move them about a bit for optimum coverage for your space. I have them pushed a bit towards the back end to keep light where it hits the plants best. Drivers are mounted off the light in a cabinet outside the room. The chips are Samsung LM301b for the white and Cree 660 nm reds.
DIY felt good to me because I know how every part works and how to replace it should I have issues. I have a feeling DIY will be very low on the list. Less and less people do their own thing and pop for the convenience factor of plug and play. Cost for me to build from scratch was around $800.00 US.
I did a build thread on this on the forum here if you want more details. Link to it here.
https://www.icmag.com/threads/diy-660-watt-pacific-light-concepts-led-build.373579/
Have a sweet day all.
Peace, negative.

 

[acespicoli]

DIY has been my best full size LED light. I have 2, HLG 60 watt boards that I use for vegging. My flower light is a DIY spine set up using Pacific Light Concepts strips. They are not in business anymore. 660 watt 2 driver beast that has been working perfectly for me since May of 2020.
Not the best pictures of it but her she is.
View attachment 19045137 View attachment 19045138 Spine with adjustable arms is nice because you can move them about a bit for optimum coverage for your space. I have them pushed a bit towards the back end to keep light where it hits the plants best. Drivers are mounted off the light in a cabinet outside the room.
DIY felt good to me because I know how every part works and how to replace it should I have issues. I have a feeling DIY will be very low on the list. Less and less people do their own thing and pop for the convenience factor of plug and play. Cost for me to build from scratch was around $800.00 US.
Have a sweet day all.
Peace, negative.

Great DIY, thanks for taking the time and sharing this with us
Very Impressive clean looking build

 

[Grow44DE]

Started with a Niello 2000W ( early version/ to much red) not very good at all.
bought a Viparspectra p2000 1 year later. wich finally got me 100% into led growing.

now im proud owner of a mars hydro fc e4800. but to be fair i need to say that i only testeted the light.
the first full grow will start at october - november this year.

 

[Rocket Soul]

DIY has been my best full size LED light. I have 2, HLG 60 watt boards that I use for vegging. My flower light is a DIY spine set up using Pacific Light Concepts strips. They are not in business anymore. 660 watt 2 driver beast that has been working perfectly for me since May of 2020.
Not the best pictures of it but her she is.
View attachment 19045137 View attachment 19045138 Spine with adjustable arms is nice because you can move them about a bit for optimum coverage for your space. I have them pushed a bit towards the back end to keep light where it hits the plants best. Drivers are mounted off the light in a cabinet outside the room. The chips are Samsung LM301b for the white and Cree 660 nm reds.
DIY felt good to me because I know how every part works and how to replace it should I have issues. I have a feeling DIY will be very low on the list. Less and less people do their own thing and pop for the convenience factor of plug and play. Cost for me to build from scratch was around $800.00 US.
I did a build thread on this on the forum here if you want more details. Link to it here.
https://www.icmag.com/threads/diy-660-watt-pacific-light-concepts-led-build.373579/
Have a sweet day all.
Peace, negative.

Same pcb type is available from cutter electronics in Oz, but with more different spectrums and flavors. I run the same but different white base over one section and its usually the best looking tray of the room. Agree on all the DIY sentiment, best thing is to be able to sort everything yourself onsite. That lights been running for 4 years with no probs.

 

[negative37dBA]

DIY gets little love but I think it is the best way. You get to be proud you built a fully functioning light. You know how to fix it. You did not use a light that has been assembled by kids in a 3rd world country... You also get to customize it how you want. The best way. The ONLY issue I have had is with ME hitting a strip or two while moving around and broke some of the diodes on 2 strips. Nice thing is I bought a couple extra in case I had any problems. Super easy replacement to fix.
Peace, negative.

 

[Rocket Soul]

DIY gets little love but I think it is the best way. You get to be proud you built a fully functioning light. You know how to fix it. You did not use a light that has been assembled by kids in a 3rd world country... You also get to customize it how you want. The best way. The ONLY issue I have had is with ME hitting a strip or two while moving around and broke some of the diodes on 2 strips. Nice thing is I bought a couple extra in case I had any problems. Super easy replacement to fix.
Peace, negative.

Being able to customize means you can try things out and get something better than yield, the knowledge of how to grow better. But the addiction just grows stronger, i was half depressed when i didnt have a build for a year and a half.

 

[Mitsuharu]

I have little experience with LED lights... bought a Mars Hydro TS100 (100w) almost 2 years ago and it's doing pretty good and lasts but i'm only using it a few months in the year, now doing my 4th run with it and i'm happy till now...

Btw, there is a german brand called 'Pro Emit', they are doing high quality LEDs, some german growers here are using it. Maybe not so popular in other countries, don't know!?

 

[Rocket Soul]

I have little experience with LED lights... bought a Mars Hydro TS100 (100w) almost 2 years ago and it's doing pretty good and lasts but i'm only using it a few months in the year, now doing my 4th run with it and i'm happy till now...

Btw, there is a german brand called 'Pro Emit', they are doing high quality LEDs, some german growers here are using it. Maybe not so popular in other countries, don't know!?

A bit expensive (2E per watt for very low diode count, and running high power per diode, 240w thru what looks like 1.5qbs worth of diodes) but looks full on german quality, likely all made in De.

 

[acespicoli]

I have little experience with LED lights... bought a Mars Hydro TS100 (100w) almost 2 years ago and it's doing pretty good and lasts but i'm only using it a few months in the year, now doing my 4th run with it and i'm happy till now...

Btw, there is a german brand called 'Pro Emit', they are doing high quality LEDs, some german growers here are using it. Maybe not so popular in other countries, don't know!?

Same pcb type is available from cutter electronics in Oz, but with more different spectrums and flavors. I run the same but different white base over one section and its usually the best looking tray of the room. Agree on all the DIY sentiment, best thing is to be able to sort everything yourself onsite. That lights been running for 4 years with no probs.

Added to poll choices thank you for the information!

Did a DIY LED will add a picture of it here got some parts from https://rapidled.com/
RAPID LED TREATED ME REALLY WELL SO THEY DESERVE A MENTION
THEY WILL DO EVERYTHING BUT TURN THE SCREW DRIVER FOR YOU

was considering this as a future project are CXB3590 DATED OR ANYONE STILL ROCKING EM ?
SAW MASS MEDICAL RUNNING SOME STILL THE MICRO LEDS SEEM LIKE CURRENT TECH
COMPLAINTS I HAVE HEARD IS HOW HOT THE OLD LEDS RAN


Did this one below Dec 18, 2016
just say now that the articulating bulbs seemed like a good idea at the time.... didnt work out so great

DIY LED CXB3590 2700K 32VDC X 6 (grow light) had veg and flower chips to swap​

https://www.icmag.com/threads/diy-led-cxb3590-2700k-32vdc-x-6-grow-light.335508/

• Dec 18, 2016 time flies...

Not bad LED's the drivers never missed a beat had some connection issues with the cobs
I still need alot of LED DIY practice

I then got a single highbay Cree CXB 3590 all had meanwell drivers

and a 2nd improved model 2024
take pics soon of the new improved model and add them to this post

LED Driver Power Supply Solution - MEAN WELL

Finding suitable LED drivers for LED lighting? A complete range of 8~1000W drivers featuring dimmable, IP67 with global safety certificates and ship from stock.

led.meanwell.com

https://www.mouser.com/c/optoelectronics/led-lighting/

Running the FCE4800 keep it cool so you dont burn out leds, alot of people im hearing
run at less than 100% power for this reason it keeps it cooler
there is a temp threshold not to cross in led specs, learned this the hard way...


CHILLED IS MADE IN THE USA AND HAS A LIMITED 7YEAR WARRANTY...

@negative37dBA your DIY has me considering this​

Parts & Components Archives

chilledgrowlights.com

if it was not for all this info here might have never found them have to have positive customer reviews
not sure I trust in house reviews... the products look nice, BUT when they have a pile of refurbs for sale
that scares me a little
https://www.icmag.com/threads/diy-660-watt-pacific-light-concepts-led-build.373579/
just started reading your thread

 

[ZOnaVerde]

@Rocket Soul,
Gen 2 200W(in use), the quality is exceptional with the most optimal spectrum. Gen 1 did not impress me and I did not use 3. The result was over 1g/W.

For the autumn season I want to use gen 4, 750W 0-10V, a correct result would be g/kW for those who use dimm.
Without much DIY experience, I pay for quality and safety.

 

[Rocket Soul]

I still need alot of LED DIY practice

You can always hit me up, for pre design or build advice

I then got a single highbay Cree CXB 3590 all had meanwell drivers

and a 2nd improved model 2024
take pics soon of the new improved model and add them to this post

LED Driver Power Supply Solution - MEAN WELL

Finding suitable LED drivers for LED lighting? A complete range of 8~1000W drivers featuring dimmable, IP67 with global safety certificates and ship from stock.

led.meanwell.com

https://www.mouser.com/c/optoelectronics/led-lighting/

Running the FCE4800 keep it cool so you dont burn out leds, alot of people im hearing
run at less than 100% power for this reason it keeps it cooler
there is a temp threshold not to cross in led specs, learned this the hard way...


CHILLED IS MADE IN THE USA AND HAS A LIMITED 7YEAR WARRANTY...

I doubt they give you that on the whole build, its the meanwell driver that has 7 y warranty. You can buy those from any distributor, the important thing is to figure out if chilled or other distributor will repair (send to chilled then they send to meanwell) or if they do a straight replacement. And if the years of use matter to this (maybe replace 1 y, rest is rma reapair.)

On the pcbs i doubt if youll get 7 years, i dont know anybody who warrants their gear for that long. With cheaper gear your boards/strips are best seen as something that you replace with a spare when it stops working. I bought qbs for 10-20a$, less than a bulb costs and some replace those every grow. The best is to simply be able to replace with a spare onsite. Drivers is the only thing id claim on warranty.

@negative37dBA your DIY has me considering this​

Parts & Components Archives

chilledgrowlights.com

Chilled has nice quality and top bin chips but the spectrum is the standard 4k + 660. Grows decent weed but not great imho. Efficiency is great but all it does is decide how many watts you need for your grow. If your on personal stash the how much does it matter if you run 250 watts or 275? If you like Negatives style strips you can get them here:

SSK-1560ZGE-XX-2835CR Midpower Led Strip - Cutter Electronics

The SSK-1560ZGE-XX-2835CR Board has 100 leds spaced on 0.5mm pitch for beautiful blending and maximum utilisation of the PCB. Solderless terminations

www.cutter.com.au

They have an abundance of different grow gear in different sizes. Have a look if youre after diy. The only warning id give is that they make to order: this meams you cant expect shipping immediately it will take a bit of time. Make sure to hit them up before by email and see what response time you get, ive had times when they were not consistent in fast replies. Seems to be that depending on which email you get you may get the service staff or someone else, Mark the boss there seems very busy so maybe not the best to be dealing with directly but also the one that can give discounts. I know they got discounts codes, it should be forum10 or similar, there may be some more details on rollitup where they were advertising before.

This other outfit from australia is also really good: growlights australia. Really creme de la creme, check them out in the advertiser section here on icmag. Nichia diodes (better than sammies in real tests) custom spectrum from uv to far red. Their boards are sealed and water proof, which also protects from heavy grow environment. They also have a few discounts. Say hello from me

 

[Rocket Soul]

@Rocket Soul,
Gen 2 200W(in use), the quality is exceptional with the most optimal spectrum. Gen 1 did not impress me and I did not use 3. The result was over 1g/W.

For the autumn season I want to use gen 4, 750W 0-10V, a correct result would be g/kW for those who use dimm.
Without much DIY experience, I pay for quality and safety.

Gen 4 is 2.1 efficiency, gen 2 1.6, so expect a loooot more light. Though i think with a different design you could probably push those numbers to 2.6-2.7; thyre kind of stuck in their way with higher power diodes which tend to be less efficient, you could also use different whites for savings on the red side of spectrum.
Did you pist grows?