Led lighting

[I30N]

Hey guys, would like opinions on LED units? Always used MH/HPS but thinking of switching to LED. 

Would love to hear from people that use LED. How good are the results, are the more expensive units any better and worth the extra? 

Thanks in advance

[tokenroll]

Check the sponsors link ukdiyled. 

For grows using led look in the led sub section 

[ursus1000]

@I30N have you seen this mate ?

 

[robchenski]

As above.. adding (rambling)... the Samsung diodes in the strips and quantum boards are amazingly efficient when run cool. And will last for many years. The current lm301 chips are the most efficient right now.

 

There are other strip manufacturers too using different diodes not just the Samsung ones.

 

From what I understand the more expensive purchases does not necessarily mean better light. Usually they have a tailored spectrum of light output using high power individual coloured diodes, whereas most strip fixtures will be a white spectrum diode and maybe 1000's of them. 

 

Strips are very good in general imho! And folks also love their cob led lights.

 

Strips give great coverage and less hot spots and possibly less cooling needed than if using cob leds. Maybe even zero fans for cooling if you run em low enough and have enough strips to give required light output. 

 

Building your own is quite straight forward. Save loads of cash. E.g. ledgardener style plenty of other info online. There's good options for buying prebuilt units in the uk. Most/a lot of led light fixtures seem to utilise Meanwell HLG/ELG led drivers (very good). You can also take a gamble with cheaper Chinese products. Some growers swear by them but you never really know if you're getting genuine leds. Always opt for genuine leds!

 

I'm only new growing with leds but I can promise dense sticky flowers are gonna happen. All depends on your style of grow what kind of yield you'll get. Baseline recommendations are 30-50 watts of led power per square foot of grow space. And I'm fairly sure 1g per watt is not unreasonable. Possibly much more with the right genetics and environment. 

 

I am a bit of an led fan though  

 

just saw this is an old question how did you get on?

Edited March 5, 2019 by robchenski
Old topic realisation

[netbuddy]

I tried DIY once, gave up, it can be more costly than buying a set of half decent lights, that was my experience, interested to know myself.