HPS vs LED

HippieFarmer420 said:

My SF4000, PL4500 and VS4300 all did very well next to a 600w hps, all 3 lights replaced my older 600w hps lights now, the power savings alone was worth the switch

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That's what I am hoping...I'm in NY with some mighty expensive electricity, and it is only going up.

manfredo said:

That's what I am hoping...I'm in NY with some mighty expensive electricity, and it is only going up.

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The great thing about led lights is you dont need to run them at 100% to get good results.

I keep one 600W HPS around if I feel like doing a basement grow in the winter.
I also keep a few T5HO around to veg in the winter as well.

Apples and Oranges fellas. Horses for courses. Sunlight is free and happens to have the perfect spectrum for plants.
Moonlight laser beams is where the magic lives. That's what indoor grows are missing.

Yeah NY is crazy with the electric prices. My room has a harvest drying with a/c running and dehumidifier running. A lot of rain the past couple days. Switched out the hps and I picked up a led for flowering and maybe a week or 2 in veg. Currently vegging under 500 actual watts of cfl bulbs, so I need to get an led light for veg.

Are any brands starting to a daisy chain feature? I believe ppftech is the only brand that has that capabililty.

okay so some top of the line hps lights can produce around 120 lumens per watt im not sure honestly but what i do know is samsung says theyre 3030 lm301b diodes can reach up to 220 lumens per watt! so hps light can do 120 lumens per watt and samsung 3030 lm301b diodes can do 220 lumens per watt with this being said led lights can produce 100 lumens per watt more light than hps thus bigger yields!

I have never seen roots grow 8 inches out of a 4 inch rockwool cube into the channels of a flood tray under LEDs. I saw hundreds of plants with explosive root growth under HID in a flood and drain system. The guy who grew them knew his shit and mastered a few strains in the ebb and flow w/ rockwool and hps style. I was able to do similar things with a coco mat below the cubes, but I digress.

When there was money in the black market, and you wanted a piece of the pie, HPS was the way to go in my opinion. I grow for personal use, and because I love every second of it, so mid tier LEDs are all I need.

We're paying .09 $ in oklahoma I am running both leds and a 1000w de hps sunsystem aircooled hood right now. This is my first hps grow ever and I am blown away with the results but then again it is 1000w actually like 1200w when you consider the fans and shit. I can get better results with leds but not 32" from the plants and led efficiency is exaggerated especially by Chinese manufacturers.

You don't have to fork out for $80 bulbs every few grows, but ya its a good idea to change them often.. Every grow if you can. The cheap ones will work just as good.

HID might happen to be the better choice for some growers, especially those of us up north, and in the colder months. Easier to maintain the proper VPD, and warm the leaves, etc.

IMO, HID tech would be even more advanced if the industries didn't focus on LED as much over the last decade. Probably have super ceramic sodiums that last 5x longer, with different spectrums all together by now. lol.

Better light coverage with the LED. Especially in the corners.

PROGROW 1800
4’ x 4’ Reflective Walled Area
Ave PAR: 1182 PPFD
Mounting Height = 18”, 100% Power


600W HPS SE
4’ x 4’ Reflective Walled Area
Ave PAR: 812.5
Mounting Height = 20”


Source:

My biggest concern with HID lighting, is a bulb failure while I'm not home to catch it. Nowadays it's less likely for the bulb to explode, but it still happens & that can literally burn your house down.

LED, more than anything, are just worry-proof. If they fail, they're not going to rain molten hot pieces of glass, ceramic or metal bits onto your plants.

All worries aside, I personally loved the growth rate under CMH lighting over LED, but I will still always choose LED over anything. The tech is already amazing & continues to get better & cheaper by the day.

Drop That Sound said:

You don't have to fork out for $80 bulbs every few grows, but ya its a good idea to change them often.. Every grow if you can. The cheap ones will work just as good.

HID might happen to be the better choice for some growers, especially those of us up north, and in the colder months. Easier to maintain the proper VPD, and warm the leaves, etc.

IMO, HID tech would be even more advanced if the industries didn't focus on LED as much over the last decade. Probably have super ceramic sodiums that last 5x longer, with different spectrums all together by now. lol.

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I dunno, man. You can't reinvent the wheel, I think HID lighting has hit a wall in terms of what it's capable of. Sure, they could make them a percentage point more efficient, but they will NEVER be able to focus all the photons in one single direction the way LED lights do. There's always going to be photon loss with HID

Lilmink said:

Lots of mixed information online. I am genuinely curious the difference and how they affect quality and yield. Most people now adays say LED blows HPS out of the water. However if you talk to the old heads that have been growing for decades that wholeheartedly believe HPS is better. Any insight?

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Yo I’m an old yos grower that’s how I was raised but I will tell you led is the way to go way less heat I run HLG 650r with uva never had better bud but it’s a learning curve let me know if you have questions

I was hesitant to make the move to LEDs. Theres a bit of a learning curve but the benefits far outweigh the negatives. I would never go back to HID.

Hps is dead, just a few years ago I might’ve recommended a 600w in a 4x4 for a noob trying to start out but you can even get a de 630cmh fixture for $50 now and they put out way higher quality flower than hps and absolutely smash a 4x4. Even then these days with the uv add ons and the full spectrum leds you can get that minus the heat for a few hundred dollars (cmh for winter though)

I guess commercially indoors up way up north. Replacing a bunch of cmh bulbs is a lot more expensive than a bunch of hps

Tbh just on safety itself LED is better.

Like previous people have said the amount of burns/singed hair/popped bulbs/glass everywhere I have previously had with HPS switching over to LED was a no brainer (I’m sure others have had it but putting your hand on a shard of hot glass is horrendous!) Plus I’m in the UK with constant increasing prices on electricity.
I’m using this
I haven’t pushed it to 100% as I haven’t needed it as of yet but I’m reckoning between 1-2g per watt with it.

PopAndSonGrows said:

My biggest concern with HID lighting, is a bulb failure while I'm not home to catch it. Nowadays it's less likely for the bulb to explode, but it still happens & that can literally burn your house down.

LED, more than anything, are just worry-proof. If they fail, they're not going to rain molten hot pieces of glass, ceramic or metal bits onto your plants.

All worries aside, I personally loved the growth rate under CMH lighting over LED, but I will still always choose LED over anything. The tech is already amazing & continues to get better & cheaper by the day.

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I’ve had a hot ceramic shard cut 1 of my ladies down previously. Luckily it was in a garage with a concrete floor so no fire happened luckily.

Edit…. you’re going back a few years now looool

Tolerance Break said:

I have never seen roots grow 8 inches out of a 4 inch rockwool cube into the channels of a flood tray under LEDs.

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I see it every run.

Johnny Lawrence said:

I see it every run.

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No shit, Ill be damned. I don't see a whole lot of rock wool cube, ebb and flow folk around here