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

Tbonegrower

Member
@Tbonegrower
I think we should, because it's about the LEDs, so all knowledge about them is here in one place :)

Then bring on some pics!! If Dr. Banner is down, I can't say I disagree. I don't think it would be about distance from the lights, as I keep every thing within 2-3 inches (if not closer). The clawing and what not could be temperature related, but I will stick with my first assessment of too much/little water until a picture shows up.

:)
 
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Chevy cHaze

Out Of Dankness Cometh Light
ICMag Donor
Veteran
I still wonder how the brand name bulbs do compared to the no name knockoffs.
There seems to be a 1521 lumen bulb, that draws 13w,114w or 15w depending on what brand name it bears.
In the UK, Morrison's supermarket sells the 15w 1521 lumen no name bulb for 4 pounds atm, the philips bulb with the same lumens but 13w goes for around 8pounds and an osram version is 12,99 (?). The no name bulb has the same housing as the osram , both being different from the philips...
Might give this a try
 

igrowone

Well-known member
Veteran
i am real curious on how the 'predicted' reliability turns out on leds
i know how they worked out on cfls, complete bullshit between claimed reliability and actual
 

brown_thumb

Active member
i am real curious on how the 'predicted' reliability turns out on leds
i know how they worked out on cfls, complete bullshit between claimed reliability and actual

I suspect many LED (and CFL) failures are due to poor power conditions. The power to my trailer is really lousy. The voltage drops below normal with relatively little power consumption. We often lose power completely and usually it flickers on/off rapidly for a few seconds before dying completely. I'm sure there's tons of noise and voltage spikes in addition to the voltage swings. Until I added a 'line conditioner' to the UPS I always use on my computer I was losing an average of one computer per year here. The damage was extensive making repair pricier than replacement. Since I added the 'line conditioner' I've had no more computer damage.

I use a line conditioner on the LEDs to my plants. When I switch to 315w CMH lights I'll be using 220v line conditioners and UPSs on those to prevent damage to the ballasts.

I don't use protection on simple devices such as space heaters and fans because there's no need.
 

igrowone

Well-known member
Veteran
no argument with poor power conditions, that will not be good for unprotected equipment
that said, i get very good power conditions, no problems and not much fails
i've had some very good cfl's, my homedepot bulbs from 2009 i'm still using to veg!
but all the rest, not in the same ballpark, no even close
 

brown_thumb

Active member
clf are gasses
led is just a chip

cant even compare the two..
besides that, clf life is lowered by turning on and off led isnt

I wasn't trying to compare dissimilar lamp technologies. The electronics is what becomes damaged during extreme power conditions. Incandescent lamps can handle nearly any bad power condition unscathed. Often, CFL and LED cannot.
 

brown_thumb

Active member
no argument with poor power conditions, that will not be good for unprotected equipment
that said, i get very good power conditions, no problems and not much fails
i've had some very good cfl's, my homedepot bulbs from 2009 i'm still using to veg!
but all the rest, not in the same ballpark, no even close

I think some brands/models are better designed than others regarding handling poor power conditions. My trailer has all CFL lights and I've lost about a dozen due to failure in the last five years. I think there are thirty light sockets so that's in excess of thirty-five percent failure rate... and some lamps are very seldom used. So I'm guessing the failure rate is closer to fifty or sixty percent of the lamps that are in daily use. Some 'bulbs' are five years old, are used fairly regularly and are still working. Others fail in weeks or months.
 

BruceBanner

Well-known member
Veteran
I still wonder how the brand name bulbs do compared to the no name knockoffs.
There seems to be a 1521 lumen bulb, that draws 13w,114w or 15w depending on what brand name it bears.
In the UK, Morrison's supermarket sells the 15w 1521 lumen no name bulb for 4 pounds atm, the philips bulb with the same lumens but 13w goes for around 8pounds and an osram version is 12,99 (?). The no name bulb has the same housing as the osram , both being different from the philips...
Might give this a try

I think the biggest difference between for example Philips and no names is that no name bulbs have almost no quality check (or even lesser worth materials), because I have about 12 no name bulbs (S Light 10w), and 1 of them didn't worked from the start, and the second one fucked up after a couple of days when I already removed the plastic diffusor so now I can have no warranty replacement (although they have 3 years warranty, but in our case of plastic removal it means nothing), and I have 20 Philips (13w) and all are okay (I just checked them but didn't grow yet full time, but I think they will be okay).
 
S

sillyhead123

Can somebody post a tutorial how to take these apart and mount to a small piece of aluminum?
 

Sport Farmer

Active member
Veteran
I made a whole lighting rig with store bought LED's and its been working KILLER for me... I want to make a better design where the bulbs are flush to the wood once you remove the plastic bulb, but it's been working great for now and when a bulb goes out its an easy fix. I love that part! I alternate soft white and daylight on each outlet and my plants love the full spectrum at all times. Running 8 x 60 watters for a virtual 480 watts :D

Thanks to this thread as it was my inspiration for the whole idea...

picture.php
 

Sport Farmer

Active member
Veteran
8- 60 watters- 480watts.. = NOT :laughing: nice try tho your right around 75 or so true watts_ nice setup i got got sumthing similar to your setup going

Oh I know its not 480 watts worth of light... Hence the "virtual" part... lol

Thanks man! It works great for me although I think I might buy an LED strip for the lower half of my cab to supplement the lack of canopy penetration.
 

pANicModE

Active member
Oh I know its not 480 watts worth of light... Hence the "virtual" part... lol

Thanks man! It works great for me although I think I might buy an LED strip for the lower half of my cab to supplement the lack of canopy penetration.
you need to cut all that bottom undergrowth and thin out your fan leaves and you will get good penetration, level out your canopy ;)
 

Chevy cHaze

Out Of Dankness Cometh Light
ICMag Donor
Veteran
I had the no name 15w 1521 lumen bulb running for a while now, with dome chopped off (wasn't easy to get the bugger off as it was firmly seated and glues into the housing, a nightmare !) and it runs really hot. definitely too hot to touch when on.
Not sure how hot exactly and if it could harm let's say... plastic. The housing is made out of aluminium. Will try to measure with IR gun in the near future.
 

Art Vandelay

Active member
When buying the LED bulbs they are priced a lot by longevity 20 year Feit branded bulb say versus a 10 year Ace branded bulb Feit is energy star rated Ace not. To bring down costs in LED,companies are using lesser quality materials to bring costs to be more inline cost wise to CFL and even close to incandescent. if you want some savings on LED bulbs depending where you are ACE stores are switching to ACE branded bulbs and are closing out the FEIT bulbs. Just take a look at the hour/year ratings and don't be fooled by packaging same package at Home Depot to Ace in the Feit line of bulbs half the life and nearly same costs.Feit is a great brand great warranty save the caps and super glue them on and return them if they burn out super fast unless you've completely destroyed the lense.
 

Samuel Caldwell

Well-known member
Huge thanks to blynx and all who have contributed to this thread!

I had to give up my garden for a couple years but I'm finally able to get back into the game. (all organic btw) I'm in an apartment for now so I need small and stealthy. I bought a tent and built an LED array--159.5 watts, 11 bulbs in 3 rows with the bulbs offset 4-3-4. I used 2700k 14.5w bulbs but added a 4-pack of 5000k. I've always liked the idea of mixed spectrums.

I'll be hanging around, posting when I can add something of value, show some pictures when I get enough posts. See ya around.
 

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