LED light help

[cZm]

Hi all

Please could somebody suggest the best full spectrum LED light for my small grow tent, my tent is 120x120x200cm. My budget is £200 max.

So which one should I go for?

Only do 4 plants at a time

Also on another note will I only need 1 x LED light for the canopy or will there be a case for having some throwing light on the sides of the plant?

[mrchang]

why led?

[cZm]

Heat

Running costs

fire hazard

Noise

Longevity

[Tony Montana]

Heat

Running costs

fire hazard

Noise

Longevity

Why led?

[cZm]

I am getting the impression people are not too keen on LED growing methods

[cZm]

Is it really a bad idea to be looking at LED

[Tony Montana]

A watt is a watt, they cost the same! 600w cost the same if led or HPS! Led do run cooler but heating your grow room is far more expensive which you will need to do 24hr with led during cooler months! HPS lights are safe if used with contactors and correctly setup, the same with any type of lighting! Bulbs are not noisy longevity, replace a bulb once in a while

[K-B]

No one has really got a particular problem with led lights, it's just HID lights are tried and tested, they are much cheaper to buy and give proven results. And as Tony said, a watt is a watt so they ain't gonna be any cheaper to run.

I personally don't have a problem with led lights at all, but I just can't see any benefits that warrant paying what you will for a well known led brand. It's makes sense to buy a hid mate, at least until led technology is more proven and cheaper.

[Guest]

I use a panel which draws 250>300 watts depending if veg or flower.manufacturer says it replaces a 600 sodium,I replaced a 400 sodium with it.I have to heat the room now though.did not before as the HPs's did that..I also have cal mag def due to the led( must be this as led is the only change.)

I reckon it will be on par with the 400 sodium as veg growth was great.now three weeks in with a mother being flowers and two clones.lots of bud sites..

Will see what happens as another set up elsewhere is identical to mine including nutes clones ect but 400w hps.so I will compare the end products hopefully before the silly season

Edited October 28, 2014 by zippi23

[cZm]

Great thanks guys, if I went down the HID route what/which one would you recommend

[mrchang]

replaces a 600w sodium

lumatek digitals are good

[Abe Froman]

600 watt setups are the most efficient - not certain how , i think they give the most lumens per watt or something

there's a choice of digital or magnetic ballast to consider, the digitals cost more but run a bit cooler.

Edited October 28, 2014 by Abe Froman

[pedrovski]

People are having great success using the cree cxa 3070 leds. These are very versatile leds, you can run them cool at say 60w or can crank it up to 100w+ and these have so far been the only real led I can say stands out and out performs a hps. Only downside is its diy only there are no prebuilt paneled with these leds on.

[Abe Froman]

cheers pedrovski ,
if i was to try LEDs it'd be a setup i built and they sound interesting
as a rough guide they appear to be 25 quid a piece which isn't too bad.
the main work would be constructing the driver circuit/s
for those of a technical nature here's a bit of info about the cxa3070

Size (mm x mm)
27.35 x 27.35
Product options
High-CRI
Maximum drive current (A)
2.8
Maximum power (W)
117
Light output (lm)
9000 – 11000
LES (mm)
23
Typical forward voltage @ 1.925 A (V), 85°C
38.5
Viewing angle (degrees)
115
Binning
85°C, ANSI White, 2- and 4-Step EasyWhite®
RoHS and REACH-compliant
Yes
UL-recognized component
Yes – Level 4 Enclosure Consideration

didn't know what "binning" refers to so this might help

(*cree is the company)

Cree* bins individual models of LED on the basis of total flux or light output, typically measured at 350mA. Bin numbers might be P4, Q2, Q3, Q4, Q5, R2, R3, R4, and R5 with each bin being about 5% additional flux. The P4 is 80 lumens, a Q5 would be 107 lumens, and the R5 bins are 137 lumens. At higher amperage than 350mA, the brightness goes way up, with the XP-G producing 3 times as many lumens at a maximum current of 1500mA.
Cree classifies tints of white LEDs as being warm, neutral, and cool, but has recently added "outdoor white" in between and overlapping neutral and cool (4000-5300K). Tints are binned using a system based on the ANSI White standard. Cree's tints subdivide and expand on the ANSI regions giving bins such as cool 1B, neutral 5B1, and warm 7D2, though many other tints and subdivisions are available. Click on the graphic at right to see all of the bins, though not all bins are available.
In addition, Cree produces High CRI LEDs, with CRI values of 80, 85, and 90 represented by bins H1, P1, and U1 respectively (separately, L1 represents normal CRI white LEDs, and O1 is outdoor white).
Below are output numbers for different currents for the various brightness bins of LED models. There is more information available with the Cree Product Characterization Tool, an online calculator that allows you to look up output based on more factors. The numbers on this page, like those given by the PCT, are based on charts in the LED datasheets.

http://flashlightwiki.com/Cree

[cZm]

Thanks again for all the help

However I think I may have been bamboozled with all the marketing/sales gumpff on the LED lights.

I have been looking at various companies

When you look at their products on their sites they have a lot of scientific and real life grows that show their LED technology produces as good a results as the other forms of lighting.

I understand that it is all a sales pitch however they tell a good story and I am still contemplating the LED route.

Edited October 29, 2014 by Owderb
Spam removed