Debating on LED or HPS

I've been using HPS and MH for a while now but I'm really debating on whether I should try LED...

I use a 400w MH for veg and a 600w HPS for flower. I've reallybeen looking into the Hydrogrow LED SOL series to replace both and no longer have to change light types and also reduce heat. The price of the LED is not an issue I just would like to know if they will produce good results.

I know the cheaper LED companies are BS but all the research I've done Hydrogrows lights are right at the top with the other main companies.

I'll either step up to 1000w MH and HPS or try the 900w LED SOL series.

Any input would be helpful...

NO LED HATERS JUST KNOWLEDGE PLEASE...

I have yet to see 2 pound harvests per led light... I would lean much more twords 1000 watter...

I agree Express. There are so may opinions I've seen. One person swears by them and claims bigger yield. Then another will say doesn't compare at all.

I am leaning more towards the 1000w but I would like to view 1st hand results as well...

If you get a 1,000 watter are you going to be using your 600 too? If not, I say get another 600 and use both 600s.

Naw, I'm going to go from the 600 to the 1000.

I have one 1000w already. Was just debating on using the 900w LED on the other side and finally getting some true comparison results...

TRAP5TAR ALUMN1 said:

Naw, I'm going to go from the 600 to the 1000.

I have one 1000w already. Was just debating on using the 900w LED on the other side and finally getting some true comparison results...

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I was after the same thing you are. A guy convinced me into trying coco hempy buckets, vertical bare bulb, kiss style feeding, and wall of weed.

Coco hempy buckets is passive hydroponics. It grows like hydro and you treat it like hydro without the worry of all the pumps and stuff. Hempy buckets is a normal pot without bottom holes, instead you drill a hole 2 inches from bottom and fill the bottom with hydroton pebbles up to the hole. That acts as a res. when the plant grows and the roots sit there, it's gonna have all that water to drink up and nutes to eat.

Vertical bare are bulb increases your yields by a lot.

Kiss style feeding is using 7 grams of maxi bloom throughout the whole entire cycle. Nothing else needed.

Wall if weed is a vertical scrog. Use pipe cleaners and tie to a plastic fence stapled to your wall.

If you research into these methods idk about you but it sure made me change methods before buying more things.

here is the thread I made, where the guy convinced me. You can't see the pics anymore or at least I can't but it's got links for you to read on the things.

https://www.rollitup.org/newbie-central/722760-side-lighting.html

I'm not a fan of hydrogrow led. The top led panels are area 51 , Hans, and apache tech. Area 51 is the best deal for the money
they all use far better quality led's than hydrogrow led. For those its about 600 -660 watts to match 1000 watt hps on yield. Led will far surpass hps in quality. So 4 A51 panels or 1 apache at 660.

inda gro induction are great too. That's what I use. 3 inda gro 420's will match 2 1000 watt hps. Inda gro have a 10 year warranty and Area 51 has a lifetime warranty. Apache and hans have a 3 year warranty.

vert bare bulb. CMH would be better than hps. Philips allstart 330 and 860 are the best and highest par rating

The Vert grow looks pretty interesting... Might have to check it out...

Thanks Dragon...

And I will look into the Area 51, Apache, and Inda gro LED's...

Thanks Hyroot...

Tomorrow I will be receiving a Sol9, 900 watts. I have been using the magnums for 3 years with 1 GPW. The light will be over both soil and DWC. It will be covering six buckets and 4 bags of dirt. The full 5'x5' footprint with co2. The 3 I have in buckets now have been flowering for 3 weeks now and will finish under the Sol9. I'll post my thoughts on it and may get some # with a light meter if possible.

hyroot said:

I'm not a fan of hydrogrow led. The top led panels are area 51 , Hans, and apache tech. Area 51 is the best deal for the money
they all use far better quality led's than hydrogrow led. For those its about 600 -660 watts to match 1000 watt hps on yield. Led will far surpass hps in quality. So 4 A51 panels or 1 apache at 660.

Click to expand...

I second the notion that Area 51 is the best deal for the money and are extremely high quality.
I own one and am very happy with the results.

LED is the best tech for vegging so that is the lowest hanging fruit. I use 100 watts diy LED to veg for a 2400w HPS perpetual. If I used any more power for veg I'd be shooting myself in the foot, bushes way too big.



Flowering with LED is a whole nother can of worms. 95% of commercial lamps create more heat than HPS and are basically junk so if you go that route make sure to buy the very best. You will get better frosting and flavor, maybe even better potency.

So far the closest mark Ive received from leds is 1.3 grams a watt. This was with a 300w led light that used 1w chips with scrog hydro (ebb n gro) setup. They are efficient but I think they are still rather close to hps yields if you match watt per watt (you might get a 10-15% yield increase for the same wattage depending how good you are). Theoretically in the long run you would save a lot more as a result of reduced need for active cooling. Another benefit I guess is there is less clutter in your grow area. If you need to transport equipment I guess it would be easier. If you have the cash I think it would be worth it.

LED's have come a long ways since they where using panels full of 1 watt chipsl

I'm actually going to be going from 1000w HPS lights to led's soon and after doing a lot of reading and comparing there are only 2 companies I'm even considering, Area 51 and Apache Tech. Still haven't decided who I'm going with yet and to be honest, A51 is clearly the winner on price point. However, if Apache can outperform the A51 (not saying it can) it would be a better value in the long run if you can afford the higher up front cost.

tallen said:

LED's have come a long ways since they where using panels full of 1 watt chipsl

I'm actually going to be going from 1000w HPS lights to led's soon and after doing a lot of reading and comparing there are only 2 companies I'm even considering, Area 51 and Apache Tech. Still haven't decided who I'm going with yet and to be honest, A51 is clearly the winner on price point. However, if Apache can outperform the A51 (not saying it can) it would be a better value in the long run if you can afford the higher up front cost.

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this is exactly where im at right now, a51 and apache tech, 2000 either way, 4 of the XGS-190's or an AT600

blueylol said:

this is exactly where im at right now, a51 and apache tech, 2000 either way, 4 of the XGS-190's or an AT600

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Yeah, I'm replacing 2 1k's and was thinking 6 xgs's vs 2 at600's, but now I'm thinking 8 xgs's vs the 2 at600's. A51 is coming out with a bigger light in a couple months to cover a 4x4 area too so I'm probably gunna wait and see what the specs are on that before I make my final decision (along with watching how well these guys do that already have a few of these babys).

Leds lack both the penetrations and footprint of a 1000w hps. I would know. I own two 900w LED arrays.

alcohol said:

Leds lack both the penetrations and footprint of a 1000w hps. I would know. I own two 900w LED arrays.

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Leds lack in neither of those. The problem is that to get equal performance to 1000hps there has to been enough wattage and design to spread it.
There are currently only 2 brands that can live up to any hps IMO...and like others said, it's apache and a51.

Just from you saying you have 900w unit, I can tell they aren't good. I assume the actual draw is way less than 900 each. And I also assume that the design has no chance of covering what it says it will. Research, research research. But then the problem is that the research tells the answer, but people always try and not get the right light(s) because of price.

There are others brands that are good, but not comparable to 1000hps like Apache and A51 are

TRAP5TAR ALUMN1 said:

I've been using HPS and MH for a while now but I'm really debating on whether I should try LED...

I use a 400w MH for veg and a 600w HPS for flower. I've reallybeen looking into the Hydrogrow LED SOL series to replace both and no longer have to change light types and also reduce heat. The price of the LED is not an issue I just would like to know if they will produce good results.

I know the cheaper LED companies are BS but all the research I've done Hydrogrows lights are right at the top with the other main companies.

I'll either step up to 1000w MH and HPS or try the 900w LED SOL series.

Any input would be helpful...

NO LED HATERS JUST KNOWLEDGE PLEASE...

Click to expand...

I recently converted from MH/T5 to LEDs for vegging. LEDs do GREAT for vegging. I'm really impressed. My LED is a California Light Works 200-watt VegMaster. It cost $399 delivered, and I use it in a 32" x 32" x 60" tent, which is the limits of its coverage.

But for flowering, I still use a 600-watt HPS. I'm not yet convinced that LEDs are adequate for flowering, but I know they will be some day. I'm cheering for them. I keep reading posts and grow journals about LEDs for flowering. And I'll give them a try one day, but probably not anytime soon. My 600-watt HPS produces GREAT flowering results, and is cheaper than LEDs. And since I use my HPS only 12 hours per day, cost and heat management problems are minimized.

LEDs rule for vegging (performance-wise, but probably not yet price-wise). I know because I proved it to myself. But IMHO, HPS still rules for flowering. Although I'm cheering for LEDs.

alcohol said:

Leds lack both the penetrations and footprint of a 1000w hps. I would know. I own two 900w LED arrays.

Click to expand...

Greengenes707 said:

Leds lack in neither of those. The problem is that to get equal performance to 1000hps there has to been enough wattage and design to spread it.
There are currently only 2 brands that can live up to any hps IMO...and like others said, it's apache and a51.

Just from you saying you have 900w unit, I can tell they aren't good. I assume the actual draw is way less than 900 each. And I also assume that the design has no chance of covering what it says it will. Research, research research. But then the problem is that the research tells the answer, but people always try and not get the right light(s) because of price.

There are others brands that are good, but not comparable to 1000hps like Apache and A51 are

Click to expand...

This is why members like myself, Greengenes, and others all warn people not to buy cheap LED lights off of Ebay or Amazon.
There are only a handful of companies that make LED lights that will give you the quality of product that your looking for, and you can't go by the notion "a light is just a light" when buying LED.
That would be like putting a 1000W Incandescent bulb in your garden and wondering why your crop won't grow under it, because after all, a light bulb is just a light bulb, right?

nevergoodenuf said:

Tomorrow I will be receiving a Sol9, 900 watts. I have been using the magnums for 3 years with 1 GPW. The light will be over both soil and DWC. It will be covering six buckets and 4 bags of dirt. The full 5'x5' footprint with co2. The 3 I have in buckets now have been flowering for 3 weeks now and will finish under the Sol9. I'll post my thoughts on it and may get some # with a light meter if possible.

Click to expand...

I'd like to see those results. Especially if you can get ahokd o f a light meter to measure the intensity...

Keep me posted...