Just purchased on Ebay 400 Watt LED PANEL

Hello everyone. I curious if anyone out there can give me a little guidance on using this LED. I am really new to all this. I want to know how high I should hang it above my plants. I have two growing in a 27" x 50" closet.

Here is the link below
http://www.ebay.com/itm/311049527213

my led will start bleaching leaves if it gets much closer than 18 inches above the canopy. I set mine about 24 inches above the soil when I start veg and flip when the plants grow to within 12 inches of the lights and then raise the lights again to about 18 inches above the canopy

Thank you I will keep that in mind. Does the wattage for led matter though. Meaning should I raise it even higher with a 400 watt LED.

If it starts to bleach your leaves, just move it a bit higher.

AKHOMEGROWN said:

Thank you I will keep that in mind. Does the wattage for led matter though. Meaning should I raise it even higher with a 400 watt LED.

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no, I doubt the wattage has much to do with anything. It's just a quality of light issue. Led is different than hid or cfl.

most important is to match up your light's footprint with your grow footprint. And raising the light increases the footprint but decreases the intensity. Holding the light on your stomach and pointing it at a plain white wall and moving closer and farther away will give you an idea what your particular light's foot print will be. After that it's just a matter of getting matched up.

Lol, I love how it says in the description that if 1 light goes out the others will still work. Basically, they're accounting for their led's burning out.

3w LED on white backboard won't have much potential to bleach (unlike 5w and/or mounted in reflectors). As another said, it's more about your footprint. There is an optimum "focus" where the space illuminated and the intensity of the illumination is best. Unfortunately, with these inexpensive Chinese lights using epi-whatever diodes, the space illuminated will be sacrificed for intensity. You'll probably need to keep it close to the plant for about a 1.5x2.5 coverage. Sidelighting can help a lot. Get some Cree LED lightbulbs from Home Depot.

Hopefully this has some good quality. I will be pretty mad if I spent 200 bucks and this isn't what i need. I guess I can supplement CFL and LED Bulbs.

You say you're new to this so let me just tell you what I wish someone would've told me when I bought my first Chinese epi whatever led panel...as soon as you get it...return it. Then save your money and get a panel that is trusted and will perform with stellar results. I personally can recommend Area 51. Any of their lights are great and reasonably affordable. I've also heard the Hans panel and onyx brand are quality lights. Good luck

AKHOMEGROWN said:

Hopefully this has some good quality. I will be pretty mad if I spent 200 bucks and this isn't what i need. I guess I can supplement CFL and LED Bulbs.

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$200 isn't bad for a learning exercise. You could have gotten suckered into the rebranded Chinese imports like Lush, Kind, HydroGrowLED, GrowBlu, Blackdog. That would have been an expensive lesson. At least your getting epi-whatever diodes direct from the source without all the "secret sauce" hype of those expensive rebrands.

Also, there's no reason to use CFL. Anytime you'd reach for a CFL, it should be an Cree LED lightbulb at Home Depot. 40% more efficient. Unless you need the heat in a cool climate, there's no reason for CFL.

Unfortunately, it isn't 400w's, more like 225.....that has to be taken into account.

werm11 said:

You say you're new to this so let me just tell you what I wish someone would've told me when I bought my first Chinese epi whatever led panel...as soon as you get it...return it. Then save your money and get a panel that is trusted and will perform with stellar results. I personally can recommend Area 51. Any of their lights are great and reasonably affordable. I've also heard the Hans panel and onyx brand are quality lights. Good luck

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I used to say this to people, but we had a rash of trolls that got butt hurt, so I just watch people learn the hard way now usually

Garbage light!! lol.

mc130p said:

I used to say this to people, but we had a rash of trolls that got butt hurt, so I just watch people learn the hard way now usually

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I wouldn't have gone with hydrostar if I was going to go cheap I would have gone with Vipar or Mars. Why? Because at least people have documented journals with them and you can find out what you are getting yourself into. To complain about a 200 dollar light in this section will get you laughed out of the forums. Should have done your homework before freeballing on ebay.

That said I have some cheapies and they work fine for micro projects but they aren't about to bring you some insane amount of bud.

Well I just want to start off by saying thanks for all the input. I will defiantly check out the cree LED'S from home depot. I got that cheap china brand hanging up right now. I will post my results as I go along. It is def a learning curve. I messaged the company and they recommend to hang 24 inches above canopy. Good day Y'all

Take that LED, and grow like 2 ounces of pot with it (if you're lucky) and then take that money and go buy a BlackDog or California light works and see what they can actually do.

that guy earlier mentioned about black dog and GrowBlu being rebranded I think they copied the designs but customize the diodes to a spectrum that is more efficient. They're damn good lights just check for yourself. YouTube either one and you can see videos where they've outperformed hps for small and large scale grows

but yeah the Chinese eBay ones are crap

PatchKid said:

that guy earlier mentioned about black dog and GrowBlu being rebranded I think they copied the designs but customize the diodes to a spectrum that is more efficient.

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No, no, no.....Link to wherever you read that nonsense? BD has a better warranty, but that doesn't translate into a custom spectrum.....

I will give you the CLW nod, but they don't reveal their diodes either, or did just recently.....they use Cree, but so do home Depot bulbs....

PatchKid said:

that guy earlier mentioned about black dog and GrowBlu being rebranded I think they copied the designs but customize the diodes to a spectrum that is more efficient.

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Blackdog doesn't publish the brand of diodes they use. Considering how much they charge, and how much they hype their lights, it's safe to assume the diodes aren't anything to brag about. I suspect they're epistars, which makes them just rebranded Chinese lights sold at a tremendous markup.

CLW used to be in the same category. Recently it was reported they published they use Osram. That's definitely a step above epistar. I still don't like CLW because they don't publish the spectrum they use. They also play some games with their PAR metrics. In a footnote they disclose their numbers are "adjusted."

You can do better than either of those brands. Area 51, Rapid/Onyx. Cree lights sold at Home Depot.

PatchKid said:

Take that LED, and grow like 2 ounces of pot with it (if you're lucky) and then take that money and go buy a BlackDog or California light works and see what they can actually do.

that guy earlier mentioned about black dog and GrowBlu being rebranded I think they copied the designs but customize the diodes to a spectrum that is more efficient. They're damn good lights just check for yourself. YouTube either one and you can see videos where they've outperformed hps for small and large scale grows

but yeah the Chinese eBay ones are crap

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Thanks. I will def check them out on eBay. Unfortunately the light I bought hit my budget ceiling for this grow. But experience and new lights will come in the future. Thanks and I will look into it.