Led Users Unite!

[dunit]

Spectra lights have a 5 year warranty and they've been proven to grow all over 420magazine.com They put a lot of work into extending the life of these lights too. Finned heat sinks, no PCB board LED lights sit directly on heat sink, LEDs running at the right wattage for grow power and longevity/heatlevels. They also have fail safe bits so if one LED dies it doesn't take out a whole row or column, and supposedly its designed so LEDs can be easily replaced (but I'm not sure if we can order those bits ourselves?)

The website is slowly getting updated, pictures are out of date, here are what they look like now (you can see the fail safe bits too) http://www.420magazine.com/forums/journals-progress/132192-irish-boys-480w-720w-grow-led-hydro-land-clovers-49.html

Thats the difference between crap lights that will fail or perform poorly and proper engineering and that's why it pays to do some research. It's all those things that helped me make the decision when I ordered my ISIS and Magnums. Same set up as Spectra and Stealth Grow, finned heat sink, LED's mounted directly to heat sink, fail-safe wiring to stop individual LED failures from crashing a whole spectrum or row. They also have the added bonus of delayed start up circuitry to help with heat control in case of power flickers. It isn't a huge issue but I liked it. I used to wire the same set up into contol panels when I did the 9-5 thing and in my opinion as many safeties as you can get just saves headaches. Plug and play power supplies instead of hard wired (super easy to change if there is a failure). Seperate power supply for fan circuits.

As for the selectable spectrums. I think that's just a preference. Not sure if I'll use them that often but nice to have the option. On the Purple Kush I'm vegging right now I killed the red for a while to get them to bush out. As for failures, it's just a manual switch like the light switches on your house so nothing electronic in there to fail.

In the end budget is a major constraint for a lot of people and the cheaper panels give them an option to avoid the issues of HID. When I first was on disability I bought a Saturn, it was all the budget would allow and it got me to physio and managed to live for exactly three months after the warranty expired

 

[joe macclennan]

just sent kessil an email regarding the recent light failures experienced by some of you guys.very curious as to his response as i also was dreaming of a 15+kessil gro. i was wondering anyone know when kessil first became widely available? it seems like if they have been around awhile and these are the first negs we've heard maybe it was just a bad batch.
any thoughts guys

joe

 

[budlover909]

the hydro shop near me has ppl returning kessils for burnout too

what could be doing it theyre only 36w they got a crappy fan or what?

 

[660nm420]

just sent kessil an email regarding the recent light failures experienced by some of you guys.very curious as to his response as i also was dreaming of a 15+kessil gro. i was wondering anyone know when kessil first became widely available? it seems like if they have been around awhile and these are the first negs we've heard maybe it was just a bad batch.
any thoughts guys

joe

A person unaffiliated with Kessil explained it to me like this, "warranties are there to catch these things as factory defects become apparent early on. What it comes down to is a bad batch and when defective units occur it doesn't point to any long term malfunctioning problems with the unit." He doesn't work for Kessil and builds his own music gear Now that all my Kessils are hung mixed with other units. This will not be a scrog. I'm week 3-4 on the cotton candy and at least 3-4 weeks from flower. I haven't decided how many plants I'll flower or if i'll use 3-4 kessils in a 3 x 3 or all 5 in 3 x 4.5 tent. Leaning toward the latter. I currently have three strains for a total of 16 vegging in three different stages with more available. I'm in no hurry to begin the flowering. Sitting on a good sized previous harvest. By that time I want to have the 357 magnum to do a side by side flower comparison with the KEssils.

 

[dunit]

here are my gdp under LEDs from start to finish..they get chopped on Sunday.

Can't wait to see how this one weighs in. Those are the Stealth Grow 602's right? 700 actual watts of LED over a 4x4 area. Now that's some power. I figure I got about 12 days to go with 360 actual watts over 4x4 so will make for an interesting comparison.

 

[Carboniferous C6]

Hi all, I have read all of this thread over the last week and I must say I am quite impressed with some of the info on here. Thank goodness this thread is still going, I am glad that people out there have been doing these tests on LED so everyone can see how they go. I have asked in Australia for LED lights and I get the same answer everytime. Our customers have tried them, they don't work!
I have been interested in LED for the last year due to rising electricity costs and the heat factor.

I have a 4 x 4 x 6 ft tent and it seems that from reading 2 of the lower wattage lights would be better, would this be correct?
Should I be worried about shipping to OZ from the countries in the northern hemisphere, will the LED lights survive the shipping?
Another question, are there any OZ growers in here who know of where to get some of these LEDs in Australia?
How are your girls going now dunit? I am interested in the weights you get and you are getting closer every day.
Thanks again all.
C6.

 

[will sayoh]

heyy all, just went through this forum for info on a particular ufo led light, but it was mentioned. Has anyone tried out the ELOOFA brand 90 watt triband led light? if so, how was it? did it grow well from start to finish?? anyone with info on this particular brand of light lemme knoooo!!!!

 

[will sayoh]

hey all just wondering if anyone has tried out the ELOOFA brand 90 watt triband led light. if so, how was the quality of the light? anddd did it grow ur babies well from start to finish?? any type of info will be appreciated.

 

[Hudsonvalley82]

Eloofa is an importer similar to alibaba.com. That is a standard 90 UFO, with just 3 bands. The price is nuts for that, and the unit won't come close to replacing a 400W HPS. They do use bridgelux LEDs, which is good. That unit probably only draw about 50W and costs about 235 bucks using 1W chips.

For the same money you could get a 180W UFO from Blackstar that has 6 bands (including UV) draws about 100W and uses w2 chips. If that is your budget, than this is my recommendation:
http://cgi.ebay.com/180W-SixBand-Lighthouse-Blackstar-LED-Grow-Light-2W-LED-/270704681741?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item3f0741a30d

 

[Hudsonvalley82]

Actually I don't think they are an importer now that I do a bit more research, just a company selling a ho hum led for a lot of money. Although on their "what is eloofa?" page all the info is generic LED info with the same NASA spiel you find in a lot of places. Nothing mentioning that Eloofa is a LED designer, manufacturer, or anything.

2 Spectrum and 3 spectrum LED UFOs seem to be all that is on the menu.

Shit, I forgot to mention that you could also get a 6 band 240W (140W draw) Blackstar with 3W LED diodes for like 260. Thats damn near 3 times that draw for 20 bucks more.

Just beware that UFO footprints are pretty small and I would be looking at panels in the 260-500 dollar range for effective growing.

Blackstar, ISIS, I think Spectra has one in that price range.
For me, that isn't a strong grow light for the money just from looking at it specs.

 

[will sayoh]

damm. thanks for the info hudson valley.. i was so close to ordering from eloofa. i did some further research and found the 63 watt penetrator and the pro version of this. i want a light that will maximize my yield without nething being wasted and it sounds like i can get this from "the penetrator", but i dont kno if its worth the money of the amt of watts. i just looked into blackstar products and im really liking the 180 watt UFO. but now i have a dilema...which do i go with? 63w penetrator(not pro version) or the 180 watt UFO(blackstarr). if anyone with first hand experience with these products can help me out itll be greatly appreciated!!

 

[budlover909]

i would say get the 90w ecogroled panel but they don't sell them anymore except in a combo deal who the hell wants a 15w spotlight we want the big power

 

[nickyp]

Check out my growwww

 

[gms585]

read the thread there is alot of info, but kessil and lighthouse hydro (blackstar) seem to be some of the most popular

This thread is 234 pages long and still growing you think im guna sit down and read this thing like a book… no I am not. So I ask again…
I have 2 – 600w hps now and the heat and energy usage is killing me. I have been looking at the t5 ho’s and the led roads. I saw this thread and am interested in some input on how bad ass a setup of led’s I would need to have a comparable amount of light on my plants. In my area there is like no one selling these led’s so I would also need to know where to order some good ones. Any info??

 

[TshirtNinja]

depending on your number of strains and what your sqft of light coverage needed i would suggest 3-4 240w blackstars for a 4x4 area and scale it up from there.

 

[JohnSena1noob]

Trust me I wont stop hounding them until i get my replacements, but I'm hoping that chazbolin also tries contacting them over the four defects he received. Sounds like he has something in mind that may void his warranty, which if I was going to do anything to void the warranty, it'd be a tear down to see whats inside. He received four defects on an order of four lights and I got 3 defects on an order of 5 so I'd say it's wide enough of an issue that Kessil users should be careful and for sure keep checking on your lights. My first defect went unnoticed for a couple of days.

Yikes, now it all makes sense. They are giving lights away in contests on facebook, for awhile i thought it was rigged. Now it makes sense there using them in a PR campaign to make other companies look bad... And they are doing it with defective lights. I heard they are coming out with a enhanced spectrum. EH. Ill take my crapstar over kessil anyday. 250 bucks plus shipping for a 36watt light haha. When blackstar is tried and true. 250 gets you a 240. even if the powerdraw is less than 240 its still just as if not more powerful than a kessil, and one spectrum?...talk about cheap. i want my lights to have atleast 6, and i want 2-3 green lights in there for chlorophyll production. I guess if youve got the money it doesnt seem too bad. but for someone like me, 250 for a tiny light that lights less that a 2 foot diameter and to light a decent room you need their light spinner and like 6 kessil lights, and some bloom booster lights. yikes.

Sorry about what happened for you light, but you demand a full refund. That sound like a breach of contract. i would threaten to report them to better business bureau, if i didnt get a refund. Or if not of that works, you could just go on every forum and tell them all not to buy from them, i mean i dont want to risk spending that type of cash now that they cant even have working lights, im actually very appreciative to you, for telling us all. i was about to buy 3, and im extremely poor. Keep leaning on them/ gl

 

[JohnSena1noob]

Dude, I would just sign up to every forum imaginable and trash talk the shit out of them, go on to every hydrostore website and trash the shit out of them in the reviews. Copy and paste everything in an individual email to that douche and if he still hasn't done anything, just keep going and stop anyone you can from purchasing them, or better yet have people email that dude as perspective customers and have them ask about your scenario specifically, saying that they saw it on the web.

Exactly, cause there is soo much positive propaganda out there. You would be helping so many other ppl by exposing them.

 

[dunit]

Hi all, I have read all of this thread over the last week and I must say I am quite impressed with some of the info on here. Thank goodness this thread is still going, I am glad that people out there have been doing these tests on LED so everyone can see how they go. I have asked in Australia for LED lights and I get the same answer everytime. Our customers have tried them, they don't work!
I have been interested in LED for the last year due to rising electricity costs and the heat factor.

I have a 4 x 4 x 6 ft tent and it seems that from reading 2 of the lower wattage lights would be better, would this be correct?
Should I be worried about shipping to OZ from the countries in the northern hemisphere, will the LED lights survive the shipping?
Another question, are there any OZ growers in here who know of where to get some of these LEDs in Australia?
How are your girls going now dunit? I am interested in the weights you get and you are getting closer every day.
Thanks again all.
C6.

Thats the same story I get from the grow stores here. I have a friend who works at one and he tells me the owner basically put it right on the employees to trash LED's because LED users don't represent good repeat business. We don't need huge fans for air movement, we dont need big A/C units if any at all, we don't need big carbon cans because we're not using big fans and most importantly we're not in there twice a year buying $100 HID bulbs. I think in the end they just ruin their own credibility when guys like Irishboy are on par with HID production numbers and LedBudGuy is just killing it

There is some logic to their madness because there is a lot of junk in the LED market. If you follow most of the manufacturers info about them being able to get the same results with 20% of the power draw and try to replace a 1000WHPS with 200W of LED you are going to be sadly disappointed. I think a good rule of thumb is 60% with the less advanced panels and about 50% with the higher quality ones .

Ladies are looking good, will have more pics up later on today. Stink factor picked up huge in the last couple days

I think that the bigger companies all ship internationally. I know a lot of them had North American and Eurpean power configurations.

 

[JohnSena1noob]

This thread is 234 pages long and still growing you think im guna sit down and read this thing like a book… no I am not. So I ask again…
I have 2 – 600w hps now and the heat and energy usage is killing me. I have been looking at the t5 ho’s and the led roads. I saw this thread and am interested in some input on how bad ass a setup of led’s I would need to have a comparable amount of light on my plants. In my area there is like no one selling these led’s so I would also need to know where to order some good ones. Any info??

its so easy to make a mistake with these types of lights. Your better off "reading it like a book" some of the stuff is invaluable. 2cents

you can order off of amazon for blackstar, and growledhydro for spectra, 357 Magnum takes some finding just because the name gets thrown in with guns, pies whatever. led grow hydro is the penetrator, i dont hear too much on their lights but i saw a grow with some and they were sick. And isis appears to make decent lights exp. the fx-3 i believe is the name, seems comparable to the spectra, there is also grow hut, haight solid state, kessil, and like 10 others. its easy to buy a cheap light and have problems later. trust me read the forum little by little. and ask questions with quotes ppl will respond to you. Otherwise ppl ask the same question over and over. and thats why you have soo many pages. This forum is the only one ive found to have great info.

 

[budlover909]

just finished clipping and weighing my dried buds from my 90w ecogroled panel 86.5g minus stems way better than i expected but not as good as i hoped for cuz i let my baby burn