Cheapo 14 watt/225 diode LED panel: Are these useful for anything?

I've seen these for sale on Ebay and elsewhere, and its seems obvious to me that despite the claims, you're never going to replicate the performance of a 250 watt (or hell, even a 70 watt) HPS with one of these cheap Chinese 14 watt panels. If that were the case, nobody would ever use 250 watt HPS bulbs anymore.



My question is, do these have any value at all?

Can anyone relate their actual experience using/trying one (or more than one) of these?

Was there any growth at all? Lots of stretching? Any flower production?

Obviously, you're not going to do a "serious" grow with something like this, but I'm thinking if these small panels are even a viable substitute for say 42 watts of CFL then they could be pretty useful for a small stealth grow, like in a PC case for one small plant.

Side lighting, thats about it, and still i'd use a few of them as side lighting. You want something a little more powerful. If you are just starting out I recommend the Pro Grow line from Hydroponics Hut. It's a high quality light for a reasonable price. I see they now have Pro Grow 90w ufo's now for beginners.

Doorstop or paperweight

TruenoAE86coupe said:

Doorstop or paperweight

Click to expand...

To put it bluntly lol

I would recommend buying 90W UFOs for side-lighting over those 14 watters... they are pretty much the same price arent they?

good for giving led tech a bad name.

Those would be great for lighting your tool box.

Endur0xX said:

I would recommend buying 90W UFOs for side-lighting over those 14 watters... they are pretty much the same price arent they?

Click to expand...

That's a good suggestion.

As of this posting, on Ebay the cheapest 14 watt/225 LED panels I can find run $35 shipped.

The cheapest nominal 90 watt UFO lights run $56 each shipped, which is still quite a bit more. On the other hand, even given that the low-quality UFOs probably don't really use 90 full watts, they still appear to be the better buy on a per-watt basis. From that perspective, the 14 watters probably don't make sense.

I have no doubt that the 90W Progrow UFOs undoubtedly blow both of the above out of the water, but at $160 plus shipping, they ought to.

Again my question is has anyone actually tried the cheaper lights, and what were the results?

I *know* that you can get reasonable results in a tiny space with 50-100 watts of CFLs. I'm just wondering how viable these cheap LED panels might be as a substitute for CFLs in a really tiny grow, like a PC grow.

I have tried cheaper lights. I bought a 400 watt HPS from HTG for $120 and have grown pounds with it.

bigv1976 said:

I have tried cheaper lights. I bought a 400 watt HPS from HTG for $120 and have grown pounds with it.

Click to expand...

Of course there are cheaper ways to grow; but that isn't really the point of my question.

Even the cheapest/crappiest LED panels aren't cost competitive with CFL or HPS systems at this point in time, at least not in terms of hardware/startup costs.

For example, 26 watt 2700K CFLs can be had literally 3 for $5. So for roughly the $40 cost of one crappy 14W LED panel you could put out well over 400 watts of CFL. Even with added socket and wiring costs to rig the CFL lighting you're still not going to get any cheaper than that.

A 70 watt HPS can be had for under $60, and it will give really nice results in a tiny space, though with the serious drawback of major heat buildup.

I see the point of a small LED like this mainly just to avoid heat buildup in a really teensy enclosed space, a "micro-grow". If it will let you grow in a space that was otherwise prohibitive, and do so at a reasonable cost, then a small panel like this might be worthwhile.

My question revolves around just how viable these small panels are for THAT specific application.

Alternative use for a 14 watt panel, is to start seedlings or root clones (maybe). Again, anyone actually TRY this?

Jogro said:

That's a good suggestion.

As of this posting, on Ebay the cheapest 14 watt/225 LED panels I can find run $35 shipped.

The cheapest nominal 90 watt UFO lights run $56 each shipped, which is still quite a bit more. On the other hand, even given that the low-quality UFOs probably don't really use 90 full watts, they still appear to be the better buy on a per-watt basis. From that perspective, the 14 watters probably don't make sense.

I have no doubt that the 90W Progrow UFOs undoubtedly blow both of the above out of the water, but at $160 plus shipping, they ought to.

Again my question is has anyone actually tried the cheaper lights, and what were the results?

I *know* that you can get reasonable results in a tiny space with 50-100 watts of CFLs. I'm just wondering how viable these cheap LED panels might be as a substitute for CFLs in a really tiny grow, like a PC grow.

Click to expand...

I've used the 14w 225 bulbs from HTG, single watt diode 90w ufos from ebay (chinese dual band), 2w diode quad band 90w ufo, 100w 12 band 3w diode ufo (GLH Spectra 2011 series), and the pro-grow series from Hydroponics Hut. Having used all of these I eventually got rid of everything except the 3w chipset pro grows from Hydro Hut (7 band and one new 14 band). The GLH was a good light, the 2w diode 90w was o.k., the single watt dual band was only really effective as side lighting. The 225 screw ins were crap, I used them to make my front porch scary on halloween. The more epensive models are worth it.

hoss12781 said:

I've used the 14w 225 bulbs from HTG, single watt diode 90w ufos from ebay (chinese dual band), 2w diode quad band 90w ufo, 100w 12 band 3w diode ufo (GLH Spectra 2011 series), and the pro-grow series from Hydroponics Hut. Having used all of these I eventually got rid of everything except the 3w chipset pro grows from Hydro Hut (7 band and one new 14 band). The GLH was a good light, the 2w diode 90w was o.k., the single watt dual band was only really effective as side lighting. The 225 screw ins were crap, I used them to make my front porch scary on halloween. The more e[x]pensive models are worth it.

Click to expand...

Thanks for the detailed answer. Sounds like the Progrow is the clear winner here.

But since the topic of this thread is "crap" lights, let me go on a tangent.

You said the 2W quad band 90W light was "OK". Which make was that?
Given that it didn't really perform all that well, do you think the 2W-4band UFO might be good enough to grow, say, one small plant in a two square foot area?

yes it is good enough to do that for sure, but there was no warranty on it. I got it from LED Wholesalers who has a "F" better business bureau rating. It is most def from China and for me and my led investment I went ahead and sold it as I didn't want to be out $120 bucks if the light died and I didn't have a solid warranty to back it. I noticed no signs of the light failing but saw how the others were performing and since I can only grow four plants at a time in my state without getting into trouble my goal is to max them out. From my experience I saw this could be better accomplished with a 3w chipset panel.

If you're only going for that small of an area I'd suggest either the 100w GLH 12 band spectra, the PG 90 you mentioned earlier, or one of the 2012 blackstar 135w (probably 100w actual output) ufos. For a small additional investment either of those 3 would better serve you compared to the 90w 2 diode quad band from LED Wholesalers.

where is this said 56$ 90 watt ufo im making christmas presents

It's best to build your own led lights for cost factor. For 50 Bucks you can build a 20 watt 640nm peak wavelength ~2350 lumen ~11000mcd 200 Led light,Very bright. Now I don't know the PAR on a light like this, but it's peak wavelength is more concentrated photosynthetic radiation vs a HPS or MH, where a lot of the lumens are green and yellow light; which is wasted and just is added heat which is also expensive to remove. Throw in some white and blue ~650nm LEDS and you will have good overall spectrum for your plants.

I think that's where most led lights fail; because I think white light, or a broader spectrum of light, plays a part in the growth of plants. Similar thing with UV radiation; it activates some type of hormone or more likely a protein that increases the synthesis and production of resins thc tannins ect. So other spectrums my play a role in how much energy is created from photosynthesis. There isn't a lot of studies so it's best to check for yourself. I however have had good success with LEDS and a broader spectrum. I like leds around 450 for veg and 660 for flower of course then I check out white ones ~6500k and 4500k, and check out the spectrum charts on them. I often find leds that are not yellow and green; but white; and towards the blue or red spectrum; tend to have a lot less yellow and green light; compared to a MH or HPS

ihatefoxnews said:

It's best to build your own led lights for cost factor.

Click to expand...

Some things it pays to do yourself, and some things it doesn't.

Building your own LED panel assumes that you have the technical knowledge and skill to actually do the physical wiring (not everyone does) and that you can get the build done in a way that's an effective use of your time.
Forget about actually doing the physical soldering, just researching designs, then actually getting a viable plan, sourcing LEDs, power supplies, cooling fans, cases, etc is going to take up hours of time, at least.

Its one thing if you're already an electronics buff, and have the appropriate LEDs and such lying around your workshop, or ready access to the necessary parts and or circuitry.

But I think for most people, paying $100 or even $150 for an off the shelf mass-produced Chinese made panel is still probably "cheaper" than trying to whip one up from scratch.

I think the best application for a self-made panel is to create something you can't actually buy on the market. For example, you could build a panel that is size-matched exactly to your particular grow space, or even line all the walls and ceiling of your grow box with LEDs for something you couldn't just buy.

I have two LED panels and along with four surrounding CFL's can give you bud, I have on MI-5 halfway done, LST'd, Flowering. Without the CFL, I wouldn't have shit.

what kind of panels do you have man. Cause I'm pulling 2 oz off autos under my 3w chipset cree leds.

I started my micro grow before discovering this site. I originally had a CFL strip light on either side of one of these panels. I thought this panel would be amazing value electricity usage wise. I had 6 seedlings and the 2 directly under this panel looked awful, seriously these panels are useless! I switched to all CFL and the difference was unmissable. Within a week the previously scrawny center plants looked much healthier.

If they halved the LED spacing these might work OK but they are ridiculously far apart, I took the top off and the LED's are all PCB mounted so the spacing cannot be modified. I would advise anyone against wasting money on one of these panels. They might be OK for aquarium lighting which is their original intended purpose.