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Thread: Led buyers guide

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    Default Led buyers guide

    I’ve been answering questions about which LED to buy,how to use them and which company is best for the past year.Also,I’m not going to debate LED vs. HPS, CFL, MH etc… They all are capable of growing quality cannabis. This is written with the premise that the buyer has researched the other light systems and decided that LEDs are the way to go for their situation.

    I have been using LEDs for the past 5 years and prior to that 20 years of using hps lights and have 13 successful led grows under my belt,i find that cannabis thrive and respond better to LEDs then conventional lighting.

    When it comes to purchasing an LED lighting unit you should do your research and know what you’re goals are. Let’s start with a quick checklist of information you need to compile before you start the search for the “perfect” lighting system for your grow:

    Pre-purchase checklist:
    1) Budget
    2) Size of grow space (both foot print and height are factors to consider)
    3) Style of grow (SOG, SCROG, LST, Bush, tree etc…)
    4) Cooling requirements

    Once you know what your requirements are.Although LEDs are slightly more expensive than other types of lights,they do have some offsets that help make up for the price gap. They require little or no cooling (depending on your space), they have a lifespan that is several times longer than other lights (CFLs are a close one though), they use less electricity, and they have a low profile (perfect for height restricted spaces). If after you’ve looked at all of your data you’ve decided that an LED is in your future it’s time to decide on which unit is going to be best for you.

    First let’s look at the foot print. Just about every manufacturer lists their “core coverage” numbers on their sites. Take most of those numbers with a grain of salt. Here are my recommendations:

    Foot Print Light Size

    2x2 a single 180-240 watt unit should be adequate for this space
    2x3 a single 300-400 watt unit
    2x4 two 180-240 watt units
    4x4 four 180-240 watt units, a pair of 300-400 watt units or a single 600+ unit
    4x6 three 300-400 watt units or a pair of 600+ units

    For spaces larger, just take the recommended numbers and apply them, for example a 4X8 tent would use twice the lights of the 4x4. Also when planning your grow there is a “third light effect” when using two lights. They way that works is the space between the two lights has the effect of having a third light over it. Let’s say your core coverage is 2x2 and the are outside that is dropped down to 50% effective (say out to 30 inches) , if you have the light from another LED unit covering that with its “outside” coverage as well, you have 50% from each light hitting that spot and effectively having the power of a third light covering that gap increasing your overall foot print. So, when laying out you lights, take that into consideration. If you core coverage is 2x2, place your lights about 30~ inches on center from each other, your eight above canopy will be a factor in this. Place your lights into the space and adjust them prior to putting your plants in.

    So you know you are ready to purchase an LED, and you know how many and what size you need, now which one to buy?

    What watt is what?
    This is usually the first question I am asked; how many watts do I need? First you need to understand that all watts are not created equal (will actually a watt is a watt). Watt isn’t equal is how manufacturers label their units. You should look at the watts a unit actually uses and not the “watts on the board”. Let’s take for example a unit that has 288 3watt LED chips on the board, 288x3=864 so I have an 864 watt unit right? Nope! You have a unit that is capable of 864 watts if driven to its capacity. When you drive a unit to its max you are going to produce a lot of heat and shorten the lifespan of the unit considerably. So most manufacturers only drive their units to a fraction of that and balance the fine line of performance and reliability. So that same unit that has a board wattage of 864 may be marketed as anything from a 360 to a 800 watt light. The key here is to forget what the name is, look at the actual power draw of the unit. In my experience these units have about a 10% overhead draw for fans and power supply (so a 360 unit draws about 400watts). Beware of lights that purport to be 90watt units but only draw 18watts!

    1watt vs. 3watt
    LED chips come in several wattage outputs, from less than a watt up to 100watts (very expensive and experimental). The common sizes you’ll see in a grow light are 1 and 3 watt chips. 3 watt chips are better suited for applications that require more penetration. If you are doing a low profile grow, or cloning then 1 watt chips will be fine. For anything else a 3 watt chip is the only way to go. Now not all 3 watt chips are made alike. There are companies that manufacture them in the US, Europe and China (we’re talking the LED chip, not the light unit). It is widely accepted that the better quality chips are going to be US made, names like CREE and Bridgelux are the leaders in LED research and manufacturing)

    Wavelengths:
    What is best? 11, 9, 7 4 wavelengths of color? Is UV required, what about white LEDs? What is the PAR rating? All good questions, I’m not a scientist so I can only base my opinion on my own observation. I have found that the 11 bandwidth units I use do a fantastic job; they don’t use white LEDs, but do have UV. They claim to have peak PAR values and without the proper test equipment I can’t give quantifiable data (if anyone wants to send me a PAR meter, I will be glad to run an exhaustive series of tests on several lights).

    Buy chinese MADE
    There is a lot of rhetoric about “don’t buy cheap Chinese LEDs”, well that is true, to a point. Almost every LED grow light is assembled in China, but where their design and parts come from is the important part. Are they using high quality powers supplies (the part most likely to fail), what type of heat sink are they using, are they using all US made chips, or just a few, or none at all?

    Drop shippers vs. brick and mortar:
    In the world of the internet, anyone can become a vendor. All you need is a website and a point of contact in China to accept orders and ship them for you. IMHO about 80% of the vendors in the industry (to include hydro companies) never even carry inventory. They take you order, accept your payment and then place your order with their supplier who in turn sends it to your address—all from the comfort of their college dorm room. I’m all for the entrepreneurial spirit and if your buying low cost items that won’t break (net pots, nutrients etc…) then why not put some spare change into a starving college kids pockets. If you are buying something that may break and you need to call customer support and have it replaced, there is no substitute for an actual company with a real warehouse and a customer support line (that will actually be answered).

    There are a bunch of "one-man" operations out there drop-shipping lights from China, and some of them are OK units. The issues will start when the unit breaks, has a faulty driver, fan stops etc... If they ask you to send the light back and THEN they will send you a replacement, that is an issue, they should send the replacement out immediately and allow you to return the light in the box the replacement came in--postage paid!

    Unless you are prepared for the potential headaches, DO NOT buy LEDs from drop shippers. If they don’t have them in stock and can have them to you in 3~5 days, they are most likely a drop-shipper (unless they just happened to sell out their entire inventory—which happens).

    What’s the word on the street?
    Check out other people’s diaries, look for reviews, Google the name of the company and if possible the name of the owner of the company. There is a whole internet full of information out there and if you don’t take the 5 minutes to research the company that you are about to send between 120-100 pounds of you hard earned money to, shame on you. There is at least one company out there that is known to have reputation of poor customer support and going as far as calling the local sheriff’s office on one of their customers because they weren’t happy with the result of a customer service dispute (avoid any company that has threatened to put additional charges on your credit card, or that they will call LEO and report your “illegal” grow, sounds odd, but it has happened).

    Read grow diaries that have the lights you are interested in, when possible look for comparison grows. Beware of company’s own website testimonials unless they’re linked to a known grower. Check out YouTube as well for grow information, but again, be aware that some companies are posting their own videos and passing them off as satisfied customers.

    Research the company. How long have they been in business, check out the who is.net to see when they registered their company site, where they’re located etc…

    Do you own research and make your own decision. At the end of the day you are the one that pulled the trigger and spent the money and the one that will have to live with the results if your decision was made in haste.


    When you do decide to make a purchase, here are some questions you want to ask the company:
    1) How long is your warranty?
    2) What is your replacement procedure?
    3) Are your units in stock, or do you drop-ship them from the factory?
    4) How many employees do you have? (some companies claim to have in-house scientist, ask for their credentials if they are making that claim. Some one-man operations are fine, but then one person is taking, filling and shipping orders and handling customer service)
    5) Ask for details on the light, number and type of chips, actual wattage, recommended core coverage and height above canopy etc..
    6) When will this unit ship, and when can I expect to have a tracking number?

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    Great to have you back mate!

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    Over the coming days and weeks I'm going to build the most comprehensive guide to LEDs on any forum.Led growers please feel free to add any of your findings and pics and lets keep it informative.

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    Great post mate, thank you very much. Just to clarify (and I don't mean for this to sound stupid) regarding the foot print light size section. The measurements are in ft or m? I only ask because I have a 1.2m x 1.2m space (4x4ft roughly) and you mentioned i would be fine with a single 200watts. Sorry if that sounds dumb, but just ordered my light a moment ago and a little nervous after parting with the cash. Many thanks.

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    Not meters feet,don't worry you've got enough footprint,there the average based on testing 50 different lights.

    I will post more specific footprints for various makes in the coming weeks and heights.

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    Quote Originally Posted by CocoSteel View Post
    Over the coming days and weeks I'm going to build the most comprehensive guide to LEDs on any forum.Led growers please feel free to add any of your findings and pics and lets keep it informative.
    cant wait to see it COCO. ive been thinking about using a LED for veg since i heard they grow great in veg and can save you some vertical space.
    how many watts would i need to keep a mother and get 2-4 clones through 3-4 weeks of veg till they hit the the flower tent?
    THANKS COCO

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    Coco its me you whiley old fox.I know your hurting mate but do your two weeks bird,i read what happened and thats so unlike you,i bet your fall of regret swearing and loosing your head.Im hurting too mate but your like a son to me and still the most skilled grower i know.I was always the one holding the ladder when your old boy was swiping those street lights out.Thought id find you lurking on a forum somewhere.Remember those trips to mexico with your dad and bringing that bush weed back in the camper.You know i love you mate you were growing better plants then me at 13.

    We made it what it is today and you should be proud,your still the funniest fucker i know.Miss you mate PM me i need to get in touch.

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    morning coco,great info mate.had a evening with an old mate tonight,and out of the blue he said what do you think of leds?.i asked why,and he said these can be made very easy.and would i like to test some for him.i came straight home to do some homework and read your post,he a very very clever bloke to say the least,and defo on the right track,hes not a grower due to reasons.but talked a lot about diff quality leds bulbs ie china.he is going to make me a custom board of my choice,i just need to pick your brains or any ideas you could surgest for a tent 3.0x1.5x2.0m .am growing in a iws dwc 8 to 10 pot fd system.my friend has most parts and diff bulbs already and can start today £notes not a problem,also do you think it would be a good idea to hang some panels on the sides or would that be over kill.cheers coco keep up the good work on this site.

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    Just browsing the site there and found this, had an LED called a 300w "spectrabox" couple of years back. The claim was that it could give the same growth as, think it was a 900w hid/hps, it was an excellent vegger, then 1 of the "drivers" went leaving me with 2 of the longer strips out, had a nitemare tryin to replace it, so gave up in the end, but i never dismissed the theory behind them and still think that sooner or later they will be the future of indoor growing.

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    Quote Originally Posted by CocoSteel View Post
    Over the coming days and weeks I'm going to build the most comprehensive guide to LEDs on any forum.Led growers please feel free to add any of your findings and pics and lets keep it informative.
    What are you doing mate,you contribute like this and TOKEITBITCH walks when he clearly broke forum rules.Reason,because he said what those that cant have wanted to for a long time.

    *snip*
    Last edited by marmalade dreams; 14-09-12 at 10:51 AM. Reason: I'm not leaving that there for all to read. Please close the door on your way out.

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