L.E.D. grow lights?

Al B. Fuct

once had a dog named
my response, cross posted from a reply to your same question, asked in the Get A Harvest Every 2 Weeks thread.

al, found something new that looks VERY interesting, the new LED lights.... what do you think? is it too good to be true?

LED Grow Lights - LightBlaze 400
Absolute crap. Total bullshit. Ought to be illegal to try to sell a handful of LEDs as a replacement for a 400HPS. There's so much wrong with these that I'm not even going to start on the list. There's a reason that these lamps don't have a lumen rating. If they did, you'd find they put out about 10% of the intensity of a CFL and about 0.25% of the intensity of a 400HPS (based on the very brightest LEDs made, the Philips Luxeon line, which make 140 lumens [and incidentally, the lamp you cite does NOT use Philips Luxeons] CFLs at about 1500 lumens and a 400HPS at 55,000 lumens).

Remember that lumens from multiple light sources don't 'add.' A pair of 140 lumen LEDs lighting the same area will apply 140 lumens to the area, not 280. Same goes for any multiple light sources. Putting dim lights next to dim lights does not give you brighter light- it gives you more sources of dim light over a certain area. If this multiple LED lamp used Luxeons, its luminous output would still not exceed the lumen rating of a single Luxeon LED.

The short answer is 'yes- too good to be true.' LEDs are very expensive toys- and you won't grow any dope with them. Anyone who thinks they will grow dope is a fool. You'd be better off trying to grow with candlelight- at least you'd get some CO2...

I'm rarely this unequivocal on matters asked of me, but I'm a bit sick of both the idiots selling this garbage and the nongs on cannabis boards trying to convince others that they actually will work in the manner advertised. They don't.

LEDs have a future in lighting- whether that will include lights which can grow cannabis at some time in the distant future or not remains to be seen, but the simple fact is that right now, there's no such thing as an LED light that will grow cannabis successfully. Anyone taking your money for such items is a thief, plain and simple. Consider yourself warned. If you buy LEDs to grow dope, you'll get some interesting looking lights but no dope.

If you want to grow buds, select the most powerful single HPS you can use in your space and still control temps below 26C. Cooltubes make this deadset easy.
 
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Al B. Fuct

once had a dog named
They're not 'kind of good for veg.'

Plants vegged with insufficient light intensity will become spindly, with thin stems and long distances between nodes. If you want spindly plants, go get some LEDs.

CFLs will do better- and that's not saying much.
 

nickfury510

Well-Known Member
yeah.leds suck...i tried em and got rid of them about half way through veg.....pllus ..that set up looks complrtley inneficient...
 

ledgrow

Active Member
Look man, I don't know who you are or where you get your information (its certainly not based on science), but I just couldn't take the complete inaccuracy of your post so I decided to make an account so I could respond.

Absolute crap. Total bullshit. Ought to be illegal to try to sell a handful of LEDs as a replacement for a 400HPS. There's so much wrong with these that I'm not even going to start on the list.
You need to calm down man. I don't know if you just had a bad experience with led growing or what but saying "absolute crap" and "bullshit" just proves you dont know what your talking about. Furthermore, it should be illegal for you to post all that completely bogus information and pretend like its truth.

There's a reason that these lamps don't have a lumen rating. If they did, you'd find they put out about 10% of the intensity of a CFL and about 0.25% of the intensity of a 400HPS (based on the very brightest LEDs made, the Philips Luxeon line, which make 140 lumens [and incidentally, the lamp you cite does NOT use Philips Luxeons] CFLs at about 1500 lumens and a 400HPS at 55,000 lumens).
Again, you have no clue what you're talking about. There is a very good reason why led grow lights dont have a lumens rating - its because lumens is a measurement based around YELLOW-WAVELENGTH light. Did you even read the FAQ on that superled page? Or maybe try wikipedia:
Lumen (unit) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

You cant measure an led grow light in lumens because led grow lights are tailored to the wavelengths plants are most sensitive to. An led grow light could have a MUCH LOWER lumens rating than another light but grow infinitely BETTER. Obviously LED lights will have lower "lumen" ratings, but using lumens as a measurement for growing purposes is completely worthless!

Look at this chart of plant Chlorophyll absorption:
Image:Chlorophyll ab spectra.png - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Now look at the graph of the lumen unit measurement:
Luminous flux - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

"The luminous flux accounts for the sensitivity of the eye by weighting the power at each wavelength with the luminosity function, which represents the eye's response to different wavelengths." In other words, lumens are good in measuring light for humans but completely irrelevant in measuring light for plants.
Make any sense?

Remember that lumens from multiple light sources don't 'add.' A pair of 140 lumen LEDs lighting the same area will apply 140 lumens to the area, not 280. Same goes for any multiple light sources.
uhhh, where in gods name did you get such a patently WRONG idea and become so certain it was true?
I hate to have to explain such a common-sense concept... but adding two 15 lumen lights together pointed in the same direction IS roughly equivalent to a 30 lumen light.

Putting dim lights next to dim lights does not give you brighter light- it gives you more sources of dim light over a certain area.
Eh? What in the hell are you talking about man? This is completely wrong.
Try staring at a flashlight for a few seconds. Now get 5 of the same flashlights, tie them real close together and stare into them. Do your eyes hurt more? Well they shouldnt! Light output shouldn't be any different from one flashlight! Right?!?:dunce:

Its a simple concept. Light = energy. More sources of light = more energy.

If this multiple LED lamp used Luxeons, its luminous output would still not exceed the lumen rating of a single Luxeon LED.
If you have ever measured light you would know this is just simply not true. Adding more leds WILL increase the overall lumen output. (Ignoring the fact that using lumens to measure growlights is just stupid to begin with.)

The short answer is 'yes- too good to be true.' LEDs are very expensive toys- and you won't grow any dope with them. Anyone who thinks they will grow dope is a fool. You'd be better off trying to grow with candlelight- at least you'd get some CO2...
Ahh yes the moment of truth. Anybody who thinks they will grow dope is a FOOL, you say? You should really watch what you say at the cost of looking very very stupid.

The following pictures are of the Lowryder2 strand grown from seeds using an ebb & flow system w/ canna nutrients on a 16hr light cycle all the way through. This was done using only the LightBlaze 400 which happens to be the light you are bashing in this thread.

Shes a baby->


Getting bigger, looking healthy->


Yep, 100% LED grown. VERY happy with the lightblaze 400 from LED Grow Lights - Plant Grow Lights ->


And heres a closeup ->

So what were you saying there about being a fool?

I'm rarely this unequivocal on matters asked of me, but I'm a bit sick of both the idiots selling this garbage and the nongs on cannabis boards trying to convince others that they actually will work in the manner advertised. They don't.
Stop acting like you are so sure of yourself. I had no troubles growing my MJ plant and people who see it are so thrilled they have been convinced to buy an LED unit themselves. There are certainly a lot of crappy led grow lights which are scams, but that doesn't mean the entire technology is flawed!

NASA is successfully using leds to grow plants in space (try googling it), maybe you could enlighten them with what you know and convince them they are wrong.:razz:

LEDs have a future in lighting- whether that will include lights which can grow cannabis at some time in the distant future or not remains to be seen, but the simple fact is that right now, there's no such thing as an LED light that will grow cannabis successfully.
Unless you want to come back and tell me my pictures are photoshopped, i suggest you stop touting your incorrect assumptions.

Anyone taking your money for such items is a thief, plain and simple. Consider yourself warned. If you buy LEDs to grow dope, you'll get some interesting looking lights but no dope.

If you want to grow buds, select the most powerful single HPS you can use in your space and still control temps below 26C. Cooltubes make this deadset easy.
You can talk shit on LEDs all you want, but my results are not isolated. There are others having just as much success as me and eventually you are going to look more stupid than you do already. peace. :joint:
 
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Dopalicious

Well-Known Member
uhhh, where in gods name did you get such a patently WRONG idea and become so certain it was true?
I hate to have to explain such a common-sense concept... but adding two 15 lumen lights together pointed in the same direction IS roughly equivalent to a 30 lumen light.

Eh? What in the hell are you talking about man? This is completely wrong.
Try staring at a flashlight for a few seconds. Now get 5 of the same flashlights, tie them real close together and stare into them. Do your eyes hurt more? Well they shouldnt! Light output shouldn't be any different from one flashlight! Right?!?:dunce:

Its a simple concept. Light = energy. More sources of light = more energy.

If you have ever measured light you would know this is just simply not true. Adding more leds WILL increase the overall lumen output. (Ignoring the fact that using lumens to measure growlights is just stupid to begin with.)
Here's his proof:

https://www.rollitup.org/grow-room-design-setup/74888-1550-watts-cfl-s-2.html
 

40acres

New Member
is this picture your proof of something?

How much was that contraption? 600? And that plant isnt the dankest by any means. Nasa uses led's because they are hard to break, and easy to fix. Not because they are the best. If they were really as good as you are saying,l everyone would have them.
I see this is your first and only post. Do you sell them, or did you get stuck with too many and cant get rid of them on ebay now, or are you trying to make yourself feel better for believing a con or what?
 

wackymack

Well-Known Member
such a waste of money for that,when 600 can get u 2 1000k convesion kits that will blow that shit out of the water.deff dissing that led as far as im concered it makes me:spew:
 

MrPresident

Active Member
just putting in my two cents. i have an arjan's haze 2 under LED UFO and its incredible compared to the ones under my hortilux. whenever i want to give an individual a dark green growth spurt i put it under the ufo. not only that but i am using 87watts instead of 600watts. it was 600 bux. I am happy i got it. also, room temps in the LED room are about 10degrees cooler with identical airflow.

I think they are like DVD players when they first came out. overpriced and a new technology not quite figured out yet.
 

ledgrow

Active Member
how many weeks into flowering are you.....
2 1/2 weeks
dopealicious said:
Thats proof of an idiot who doesnt know how to correctly measure a light. If you guys on this board honestly think that 1 lumen + 1 lumen != 2 lumens you are headed nowhere fast.

40acres said:
How much was that contraption? 600? And that plant isnt the dankest by any means. Nasa uses led's because they are hard to break, and easy to fix. Not because they are the best. If they were really as good as you are saying,l everyone would have them.
I see this is your first and only post. Do you sell them, or did you get stuck with too many and cant get rid of them on ebay now, or are you trying to make yourself feel better for believing a con or what?
1. yep, 600
2. not dankest is a far cry from "Anybody who thinks LEDs will grow dope is a fool"
3. Wrong. Nasa uses LEDs because they are energy efficient. Hard to break and easy to fix lol? You have no idea wtf you are talking about you just made that shit up.
4. If they were really good everyone would have them? Really? Considering that actual performing LED grow lights have only started to emerge within the last 6 months to a year? And with the type of ignorance spread on this forum i highly doubt it.
5. Yeah, and I probably wont post much more because I sure as hell would not take growing advice from what ive seen so far in this thread.

wackymack said:
such a waste of money for that,when 600 can get u 2 1000k convesion kits that will blow that shit out of the water.deff dissing that led as far as im concered it makes me
Yeah with a 200% increase in power and heat along with costs of bulb replacements and ballasts.

ust putting in my two cents. i have an arjan's haze 2 under LED UFO and its incredible compared to the ones under my hortilux. whenever i want to give an individual a dark green growth spurt i put it under the ufo. not only that but i am using 87watts instead of 600watts. it was 600 bux. I am happy i got it. also, room temps in the LED room are about 10degrees cooler with identical airflow.

I think they are like DVD players when they first came out. overpriced and a new technology not quite figured out yet.
the UFO was the *first* viable led grow light that actually worked. its still not that good... better lights are the lightblaze 400, procyon, and ti-smartlamp that are actually viable for full grow operations.

LED growing is just now barely becoming a real grow option. instead of fighting it with total ignorance "they dont have lumens waaahh they r a scam!!!!" do some real research first. Or dont.
 
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ledgrow

Active Member
so which led company do you work for......
Right. Because obviously sticking up for a technology means I work for a related company.

You also said: "if it was good, everybody would already be doing it"

Yay for common sense! Do you have any more logical fallacies you would like to contribute?
:clap:
 

nickfury510

Well-Known Member
Right. Because obviously sticking up for a technology means I work for a related company.

You also said: "if it was good, everybody would already be doing it"

Yay for common sense! Do you have any more logical fallacies you would like to contribute?
:clap:
where did i say this smart guy....

ive tried leds....i wasnt happy with the growth they were given me compared to how much i paid...if you are satisfied with the growth that you have good for you...i want nice tight dense super nugs..not loose leafy fluffy nugs...and that is what leds are producing right now...not to say in a few years there wont be another light source to compete with hid...but not leds..not today:clap:
 

ledgrow

Active Member
where did i say this smart guy....
I apologize, that was 40acres.

ive tried leds....i wasnt happy with the growth they were given me compared to how much i paid...if you are satisfied with the growth that you have good for you...i want nice tight dense super nugs..not loose leafy fluffy nugs...and that is what leds are producing right now...not to say in a few years there wont be another light source to compete with hid...but not leds..not today:clap:
Which LED light did you try? You do understand that the difference in performance between various LED lights is extreme? Your conclusion would be the equivalent of me buying one electric car that drove too slow and concluding ALL electric cars are slow.

You should be focusing on WHICH led lights are performing and which aren't instead of dismissing the entire technology. But instead people are making up complete crap about how lumens matter. And as far as cost effectiveness, a single LED light eliminates a boatload of other costs and lasts for many many years and eliminates all heat for stealth growing. You guys should be paying attention because the time at which LED growing is going to become the obvious choice is rapidly approaching.
 
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