I am looking to see if a led light would do my plant any good and if so what color would be best

depends man. led is really no better than HID take it from me ive used both.
all the hype behind leds is just that hype. when shopping for led they always say "comparable" to..... look at a 48w cfl it says 200w "equivelant" BULLSHIT!
same with led. yeah they have a higher PAR rating but if you spend the money on a good HID bulb you get the same par. if you use led you'll still need the same amount of wattage as an hid dont go for this "oh its 500w led ".... bullshit it is not a 500w led growlight it is 500w equivalent. if you were to test it on a kill a watt or any other electricity meter you will see i am right and its more in the 25o/300w range. still not really comparable to hid. the cool thing about led is the tailored spectrums(nm) at its peak points. led should be used as supplimental lighting not a stand alone.

what the dank one said reverberates through my brain. I would add to his excellent analysis that I personally found them to be a wonderful supplemental lighting source but until a time when the have either been perfected enough to be economical, I would not employ them as my main light source. We did a big thread on this subject where many points of view were expressed. It is actually really great reading. You ought to go and read this http://forums.cannabisculture.com/forums/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=1719710&page=1

I just wanted to point out that the comparison being made, or the "equivalent" thing, is not a comparison to HIDs, but rather to incandescent light bulbs.

I've been reading up on consumer labeling requirements on the DOE web site and in order to get the consumers mindset off of watts, as a brightness comparison, and onto lumens, a CFL package will state some thing like "65 watts, 300 watt equivalent" while leaving out the "300 watt incandescent bulb equivalent" part.

This is being done for several reasons, one being that consumers have, in the past, purchased their incandescent bulbs based on wattage as a measure of brightness. This worked for incandescent bulbs when there was no competition, but wattage is only a measure of the power consumed by the bulb in question and not a measure of brightness.

A problem was created as newer technologies came along with bulbs or diodes that put out the same number of lumens as an incandescent bulb but with much lower power consumption. You yourself made the same wattage comparison when you stated "if you use led you'll still need the same amount of wattage as an hid", which is not true. You can get the same amount of lumens as an incandescent bulb using far less watts, and someday you will get the same amount of lumens as a HID while using less power i.e. wattage. That day is not here yet.

And Dawg, that was good reading, though it was started four years ago and has continued until this year. A lot has happened in the LED industry during that time and the prices have fallen, though not yet low enough for my wallet. I'm still waiting for an inexpensive high output (lumens), low power consumption (wattage) LED that has been doped for the perfect spectrum or PAR for our favorite plant, with a little UVB tossed in. It can be done and will be done someday.

Two questions for Ayos, who said "I am looking to see if a led light would do my plant any good and if so what color would be best?"

First, how many plants are you working with here and, second, at what stage of development are you referring?

Disclaimer: I'm not trying to start a LED vs. HID vs. CFL discussion, only trying to clarify statements already made.

I hope this helped... 52.

good info you are correct led gets better everyday..i on the other hand have ran side by side comparisons with led/cfl vs cfl/led. the set up was one blackstar 240 and 2 cfl's vs ufo and 8 cfl same wattage's same fans everything matched give or take 5 watts. the cfl/led combo out performed the led/cfl. what made it sting even more was the grower who ran the other grow...(in the same room as mine) was her first time growing weed ever!! and she beat me in the end when the scale came into play. good job on your research man i really like that you are taking the steps most other peeps cringe at...reading! i have been contemplating jumping back on the LED wagon but.... not yet i'll give it a lil more time and all the quirks will be worked out and led will finally be at its perfection.
now that im back on hid i can tell you ...it still wins even though it does cost more to ....(cool) but hey i get more weight so which is really the win win situation?
btw i ran 55w full spectrum led panel and in no way shape or form was it even comparable to a 400w hid light like they claim..not even close! id like to see that one panel pull 8 ounces never ever ever ever ever gonna happen. all i can say is other than ranting is... buy one and run a side by side and see what wins.shit even run it against cfl.
in no way shape or form was my response ment to be insultive or degrading what "they" say isnt always true.only through side by side comparrison will the truth be learned.

The reason I ask is that you mention your plant, not plants and the stage of development will determine what spectrum you would want to be using.

I think you've gotten some good suggestions here, but as usual, in order to give a more complete and correct answer, you'll have to give up a little more information.

As I see that this is your first post, welcome to CC forums but understand we can't do anything without information, just guess. I grow with CFLs, others grow with HIDs and some have grown with LEDs or combinations of any of these. You have attracted attention with your one line post, make the most of it by providing more information.

Hey lads, long time since ive been on here. I have a question that fits in with all this. I am moving house and have a small shed to grow in, 6-8 small plants. I want to use LED but looking for a light that can take me through the whole grow and doesnt cost the earth. Any advice anyone?

Yeah a small HID Harry

I don't know shit. But as far as I'm concerned there is no such thing as a good cheap LED... I still flower under a couple of LumiGrows. Not cheap though.

lumi just announced a couple new ones nutogrow
and they mentioned you - although they called you Australia!
they are keeping the price hid (as i look at my right nut)

Holy Happy Days, it's Harry Houdini !!
Glad to see you back bro. Why not pick up a few CFLs ? Trust me, cost-wise these are the way to go, and you can always use them around the house if you later purchase HIDs and/or LEDs.

If you need any help with setting up a CFL grow, just ask myself or 52. Nice to see you again

Cheers

Hello Harry,

I was glad to read your post here yesterday, as it was very similar to what Ayos was asking when he started this thread. He is a newbie... a stranger actually, and this is his first post. I'm still waiting for more information from him, but am willing to help you and him both, in any way I can. A friend of DB's is a friend of mine, and I agree with his post above.

Feel free to contact me via PM and I will respond with details.

It's a pleasure meeting you and best regards, 52.

Disclaimer: I'm not trying to start a LED vs. HID vs. CFL discussion or hijack this thread.

Leds will work for flowering...if you sog only and cut the suggested footprint in half. In 3'x3' i once grew 8 oz with LED, but it took $1000 worth of lights to do it. On the up side I had no heat and ventilation costs were cut to less than $100. I have also used them for supplemental lighting with decent results. There again, to expand a 4'x4' to 5'x5' will cost over $1000 to do it properly.

Any opinions on the magnum 357 or the magnum plus?

Or is the penetrator series better?

As you can see Ayos, everybody wants to help you but you need to talk to us or this thread will become a LED vs. HID vs. CFL debate.

I agree with you Gbud, small foot print and initially expensive.

I'm sorry JumpinLow, while I've done some reading on these LED units, as well as Apollo10, and others, I still need to do more before commenting further.

One of the reasons I've grown with HIDs and now use CFLs and am waiting on LEDs is cost. Let's hope Ayos will get back soon or we'll hijack and start the debating.

But, I'll be back... 52.

The one thing I disagree with in this whole led debate and sales pitch is the heat issue. The fans blow plenty of heat off the heat sinks and there is no way of sucking it out of the room like you can with a hid hood.

Nutogrow,

I agree with your comment regarding heat, as all forms of converting electricity into light are inefficient to some degree (pun intended) and thus give off heat as well as light, although I believe in this case, you are referring to the power supply and it too has it's inefficiency, as does the ballasts on HIDs and CFLs. It comes under the conservation of energy section of thermodynamics and is a fact of life, with the exception being super conductors.

Where I respectfully disagree with you is your comment that this is a "led debate and sales pitch" as the original statement from Ayos was "I am looking to see if a led light would do my plant any good and if so what color would be best".

I asked Ayos for more information and stated twice that "I'm not trying to start a LED vs. HID vs. CFL discussion or hijack this thread" and once stated "As you can see Ayos, everybody wants to help you but you need to talk to us or this thread will become a LED vs. HID vs. CFL debate."

That being said, I'm willing to give Ayos two weeks to respond (he started this thread on Monday, the second of July) and then we will start debating.

Best regards to all,

52.

I am with you all the way on this one. I presently have 2 x 600 hps in a 4x4 tent. Each light has a 500 cfm fan pulling through a carbon filter and then ducting straight out of the room. I also have another 4x4 tent right next to it with a 1000 hps in it doing the same exhaust, an in room portable 11,000 btu ac, and the interior of those tents run right at 72f 24/7.

AND I GUARANTEE I GET MORE YIELD THAN ANYONE USING LED!!!!!! 1 TO 2 LBS every 4 to 5 weeks and still stay within legal limits in my state.

what is hid short for ??





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led bulbs wholesale

High Intensity Discharge lamp, like an HPS (High Pressure Sodium) or MH (Metal Halide).

Personally,

I don't flower under LED's anymore my TI Smartlamp is used to veg clones after they come from under the CFL. That Pro Series 650 by Lumigrow looks real interesting. I'll probably grab one of those for chrstmas and see how the stand up to the 1000W OptiReds.