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Off the shelf retail store screw-in LED and CFL bulb comparisons

I've decided to replace my dinosaur.
The 4' flouro.

I'm thinking of simply unplugging it and removing the bulbs.

Then I want to glue two 4' LED strips right to the metal flouro housing, using it as a heat sink and reflector.

The two fluorescent grow bulbs in there now are $10 each and the two daylight bulbs are $10 a pair and I'm willing to spend some money on an LED strip replacement.

I'm having a hard time sourcing the parts.

Any help is appreciated.


View Image


Thank god you're finally ditching that 1975 shop-light monstrosity. :biggrin:


Looks like led gardener for the plans and parts list and digikey for the supplies.



Actually sounds like a cool project. :tiphat:
 

Hookahhead

Active member
Inda please check out post 3139 and 3140 of this thread for my harvest pictures. It was a personal grow and staggered so I didn’t get an actual weight. This was the first and only time I’ve flowered with this setip. It’s only 4.15 sq ft and I live in the tropics so I usually veg indoor and flower outdoor. However, I can’t flower outdoor in the rainy season and this thread gave me inspiration to try. Also keep in mind this plant was from bag seed of brickweed I got here.
 

indagroove

Well-known member
Veteran
Inda please check out post 3139 and 3140 of this thread for my harvest pictures. It was a personal grow and staggered so I didn’t get an actual weight. This was the first and only time I’ve flowered with this setip. It’s only 4.15 sq ft and I live in the tropics so I usually veg indoor and flower outdoor. However, I can’t flower outdoor in the rainy season and this thread gave me inspiration to try. Also keep in mind this plant was from bag seed of brickweed I got here.

Not bad. How many cubic feet? Would be interesting to see a side by side of that vs the 150w hps.
 

indagroove

Well-known member
Veteran
Dunno...what is it? Anyone can post a random picture.



Everyone you ridiculed has put up plenty of pictures of nice grows and full jars by the caseload.

Everyone has? Where are your pics? You asked for a pic from me so I posted one, now I ask you to return the favor.
 

PCBuds

Well-known member
:biggrin: Way cool.

My 1st thought 2was that you had used distilled water...
It's still useful to see the bulb run in an adverse condition until the point of failure.


Did it trip a power strip or a circuit breaker? or did it just die quietly?

It just died quietly with a fizz and a pop.

But the bulb did survive happily in distilled water.

If the circuits are clean, and coated with that ceramic paint right up to the sides of the LEDs, You could seal the LED strip in water and use it as a heat sink.



Then you could crank the Amps past max.

Heat is the enemy.

Liquid-cooled LED strips.

(I have been drinking.... And toking)
 

PCBuds

Well-known member
I'm in the process of cleaning out the phosphorus from and old flouro tube.



I want to install LED strips inside them, so they just fit right back into my fixture.

I don't want to fill them with distilled at this point, for fear of making them too heavy and breaking the glass and cresting a flood.

Does anyone know what LED strip or strips will fit and fill the tube?

 

f-e

Well-known member
Mentor
Veteran
Physics tells me that the heat will be the same with a 100 lumen/watt LED and a 100 lumen/watt HPS, assuming that the same wattage is used in both scenarios.

70w will radiate off the HPS in the infra red spectrum, and you can't extract infra red. 10w will radiate off the LED. To the plants below, this 700% difference is an actual thing. The extra headroom required to accommodate the HPS due to it's heat and the fact it's a single point light source, stops it being a micro grow. But micro or not, 700% more IR is a hotter plant. No fan I have seen pictured on this forum could change that. While a fan cooled led could be very little above ambient.

I don't think you can of tried led's properly. Or you wouldn't be trying to use physics to support an opinion you would know to be false


Edit: I think the reported 70w figure is too high, and that an older figure of 50% is more accurate. Still 500% more radiant heat though
 

f-e

Well-known member
Mentor
Veteran
Retrofit led tubes? They just fit, though the fitting may need slight modification (wires moving perhaps, or a false starter)
 

indagroove

Well-known member
Veteran
I don't think you can of tried led's properly. Or you wouldn't be trying to use physics to support an opinion you would know to be false

Well maybe you're right about the properly part, because in my mind a proper setup will cost over $500. However, that said I have tried multiple LEDs from years before this thread was ever created up until today. I do have a LED "grow light" that I sometimes use to veg with, however in my experience it's really not up to par with HID grows.

I will admit that I don't do micro grows, so I can't attest to first hand experience with that. I flower in a 4x4 tent under either 600w HPS or 400w CMH. I veg under T5 flouros with some occasional CFL suppliments. Occasionally I will add 200w of LED in veg from a cob unit I have. I've tried to flower with that same unit, and while it will produce acceptable buds, both the yield and quality suffer substantially.

I've also tried veg from over the counter LED's (before this thread existed), and found that plants simply respond to flouro (cfl or T5's) better. I've tried different brands of LED bulbs over the years. They are ok, just not as good in my observations.

At the end of the day, over years of trying many different light sources, I find HPS produces the best.

If you want to try this LED experiment, go for it. However I'm concerned that noobs will waste time and money thinking that household LED bulbs will give them great results, when they could just go out and get a real light.

Sure if you have real headroom issues, then I can see that LED may be the way to go for you, but I really think that unless you are ready to invest serious money on quality LED fixtures you are better off with flouro or HID.
 

Hookahhead

Active member
If you want to try this LED experiment, go for it. However I'm concerned that noobs will waste time and money thinking that household LED bulbs will give them great results, when they could just go out and get a real light.

You keep repeating this, but you have done nothing to “prove” your point.

I’m using the HTG supply website for reference just because it’s easy to find the info quickly. I am comparing the same manufacturer on the same website.

AgroMax 4 Foot T5 Bloom Bulbs – 3000K
54w @ 5000 lumen or 150w = 13889 lumen
AgroMax-Spectrum-3000K-Bloom-T5-Lamp.jpg



AgroMax 4 Foot T5 LED Bulbs – Bloom
41w @ 4600 lumen or 150w = 16829 lumen
AM-Bloom-T5-LED-Spectral-Chart.jpg


AgroMax 150 Watt HPS Bulb – Medium Base
150w @ 16000 lumen
The spectral chart for this bulb is not provided

And the most efficient bulb is... LED! You’re not “saving noobs” by spreading misinformation.

Also since you asked my cabinet is 23x26x41... so 4.15 sq ft or 11.46 cu ft. Ambient temperature is 75-95 day and night. I am running without AC and using a small 6in Walmart fan for extraction, and 2 120mm computer fans for movement. I would NEVER be able to accomplish this with a 150w sitting in there, not to mention I would loose at least 6” of head room because I have to keep the plants away from the bulb.
 
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Boocoodinkydow

Active member
Thanks for the update. Any idea on the cost and lumens of the floodlight? Did you have to wire in your own cord?


I wholeheartedly agree with you on removing barriers for someone that's starting on a small budget.

With the LEDs and micro grow, I think it's very easy to get started for $100 or less. That's amazing compared to the usual $500 it would take to set up a 400w hps grow.



It's kind of nice slowing down a little and doing a KISS style grow.

Buy some nice soil, maybe add a few amendments and water mostly with just plain water.
No reservoir or pH checking or nute levels and TDS meters etc.



Much more relaxing and enjoyable this way.


So what did you do with the 20 LED tubes?
Is it a 4ft wide by 2ft deep and a vertical arrangement?

The floods are 60w with 6000 lumens advertised. They cost $17 each then. I think they’ve gone up a bit to compensate for trumps tariffs. I did a lux comparison between these, 150 Hps and some SILs but I don’t remember the results. I’ll look it back up when I return home next week.

They came with a raw pigtail but I had to add a plug.

The pic of the led tubes is skewed 90 degrees. The bulbs are mounted vertically in close order, a bit more than 1” apart. Each of the three frames will accommodate 7 bulbs. Using all three would give me an array of 21 bulbs arranged about 40” wide and 4’ high. Since I’ve only got a single plant at the moment, I’m only using 10 tubes. It’s being equally lit from top to bottom in hopes the lower buds will be more productive. At 4” from the plant I got some mild bleaching overnight. I left them at 8” when I left. I’ll post some pix when I return home next tues. that will be 19 days unattended. A bit apprehensive, admittedly.
 

indagroove

Well-known member
Veteran
You keep repeating this, but you have done nothing to “prove” your point.

I’m using the HTG supply website for reference just because it’s easy to find the info quickly. I am comparing the same manufacturer on the same website.

AgroMax 4 Foot T5 Bloom Bulbs – 3000K
54w @ 5000 lumen or 150w = 13889 lumen
View Image


AgroMax 4 Foot T5 LED Bulbs – Bloom
41w @ 4600 lumen or 150w = 16829 lumen
View Image

AgroMax 150 Watt HPS Bulb – Medium Base
150w @ 16000 lumen
The spectral chart for this bulb is not provided

And the most efficient bulb is... LED! You’re not “saving noobs” by spreading misinformation.

Wow, congrats you compared something totally irrelevant to my post which you quoted.

If you look at what you quoted, you will see that I was clearly talking about "household LED bulbs", but you're over there comparing AgroMax grow lamps, which are engineered for a spectrum desired by plants. Household bulbs, not so much.
 

Hookahhead

Active member
You don’t do any additional reading/thinking on your own do you? So far I have provided multiple examples and information, and all you’ve shared are your opinions and one bud pic. The burden of proof is on you now, I’ve done my job.

Although they are specifically grow LED, they are just white LED strip with some 660nm diodes included. I used this for comparison because you want data, and that was the easiest way for me to compare the 3 bulbs since you refuse to do your own research. If you do the math their LED advertised efficiency is only 112 lm/w, so I think that would actually be a good comparison with my 111/w Osram “domestic” bulbs.

Honestly though it doesn’t matter what information I post, you won’t ever be “convinced” that I’m telling you the truth. The internet is full of fools.
 

Hephaestus

Member
I'm in the process of cleaning out the phosphorus from and old flouro tube.

[URL=https://i.postimg.cc/65b52Tk4/20191031-020851.jpg]View Image[/url]

I want to install LED strips inside them, so they just fit right back into my fixture.

I don't want to fill them with distilled at this point, for fear of making them too heavy and breaking the glass and cresting a flood.

Does anyone know what LED strip or strips will fit and fill the tube?

[URL=https://i.postimg.cc/K87qpgmR/20191031-022029.jpg]View Image[/url]

You know home depot sells 2$ polycarbonate protectors that slide over typical t8's right? :comfort:
 

Hookahhead

Active member
C’mon bro, I used a little trick called reading and understanding.. I posted the product info, just look it up. Again it’s just a waste of time to continue providing you this info.

The AgroMax Bloom 4′ T5 LED bulb is a direct plug-and-play replacement for standard 54-watt T5 bulbs. With a brighter 4,600 lumen output and a power draw of only 41 watts, the AgroMax T5 LED bulb is more efficient than standard fluorescent bulbs. Use this T5 LED grow light to easily equip standard 4′ T5 grow lights with LED technology for reduced power consumption, improved spectrum, and longer lamp life. By using full-spectrum white chips alongside supplemental red LEDs, this bar is designed specifically to enhance the flowering of your plants.

– 3500K + 660nm red enhanced output for blooming plants
– Convert your existing T5 fixture into a new LED grow light with a simple bulb swap
– 41 watt power draw with a 4,600 lumen output

https://www.htgsupply.com/products/agromax-4-foot-bloom-t5-led-bulbs/
 

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