LEC - Light-Emitting Ceramic

PSUAGRO. said:

Good#.....can't remember what the sun system pulls?

Can I get some help @GroErr ?....

They would mention if a Phillips ballast was used, it's hydrofarm sooooo no.....unless proven otherwise, same watt draw would be a good indicator

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Hey, mine is running 120v and puls 365w after a few minutes of warm-up. They spec them at 345w total for the 220/240v so if that's what @BOBBY_G is running that seems about right.

I spoke to Cerametek a while back, would love to run theirs based on their specs but even the one they claim runs at 120v and operate the 315w is over the top expensive to buy just the ballast on it's own. Even when our dollar up here was more or less even with the USD, it was like $400+ landed. At that price I'd buy COBs with that kind of cash. Cheers.

ttystikk said:

This isn't as much of an apples to apples comparison as it first appears;
The HPS is getting the advantage of photons produced at low energy (red spectrum), skewing the numbers in its favor vs ANY light with a higher Kelvin rating.

Spectrum may not be worth more than 5% yield- unless you're talking to the oilmen, who prefer the frostier product every time. Quality counts!

Finally, and what made me respond in the first place, is that plant response is based on PAR, leading to PPfD. Why then are you making comparisons with umol?

I'm not asking to challenge your knowledge; I'm the newcomer. Help me understand what's going on here?

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Then you should really work on your tone and use of caps. That is as apples to apples as it gets.
So you are suggesting that the only way to compare things is if they have the same QER(µmols of photons per radiant watt)??? When did plants start caring about your lamp's efficiency. They care about the photons...they don't care how efficiently or inefficiently they were created. So if you are using a spectrum that can't physically make as many photons(not the plants or your problem...that's the light companies)...it will have to have an even higher base electrical efficiency to create the same photons....which is the actual goal...not efficiency. Photons are the apples...efficiencies are the oranges.

And finally...
µmols(micromoles)...which is used to condense the individual counting of photons to a micromoles...which are what are used to describe PAR light. PAR is not a unit of measurement...it is a range. Every photon reading you have ever seen is in µmols.

As for your oilmen quality...intensity creates quality as much if not more than direct spectral effects from the same energy.

Leaf:flower.

Just about to start week 4 of flower with the Sun System 315 and I'm happy with the results so far.

Bad Karma said:

Just about to start week 4 of flower with the Sun System 315 and I'm happy with the results so far.

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Are them cuts you ran befor? Or from seed.

If clones,do you see anything different?

genuity said:

Are them cuts you ran befor? Or from seed.

If clones,do you see anything different?

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They are from seed, but I've run these beans before, and I do see a difference from previous runs. I've been growing with LED lights for the last five years, and this is my first grow with the LEC, but there are some distinct differences between the two.
In terms of rapid growth, and yield, the LEC is killing it. The resin production is a little behind compared to LED, but that's about it.

Anyone else using LECs? Or LEC supplemented with LED? Any grow updates?

Mary's Confidant said:

Anyone else using LECs? Or LEC supplemented with LED? Any grow updates?

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I was running all types of led including COBs before I bought my sun system. Idk if I can tell anything being quicker yet but I can definitely say the plants seem more full and there is less popcorn.

I'm able to keep temps right about the same as with the COBs and panels and I notice no decrease in triches or smell of anything.

I really can't speak highly enough of the sun system lec and recommend it all day..

I want to run 4 of the lec315 in my 8*8 mixed in with all my cob fixtures. Have great results with cobs but I think the mix will produce better results.

blowincherrypie said:

I was running all types of led including COBs before I bought my sun system. Idk if I can tell anything being quicker yet but I can definitely say the plants seem more full and there is less popcorn.

I'm able to keep temps right about the same as with the COBs and panels and I notice no decrease in triches or smell of anything.

I really can't speak highly enough of the sun system lec and recommend it all day..

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SomeGuy said:

I want to run 4 of the lec315 in my 8*8 mixed in with all my cob fixtures. Have great results with cobs but I think the mix will produce better results.

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MORE light will produce better results, as long as it's good quality light, you keep the environment under control and the limits of the ability of the plants to absorb light aren't exceeded in your setup. Is your goal to determine which light source is superior, or to see what you get with all the above?

Cheaper option to the cob builds I would want.to do to fill in the other half.of the 8*8. I figure I will use what I can get right now.and.add.the lec one.at a time. Led is great but even builds are.fairly pricey. I have used cmh and have watched the success of the de fixtures. I think a combo would bring higher yeild and maintain the high quality.

ttystikk said:

MORE light will produce better results, as long as it's good quality light, you keep the environment under control and the limits of the ability of the plants to absorb light aren't exceeded in your setup. Is your goal to determine which light source is superior, or to see what you get with all the above?

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SomeGuy said:

Cheaper option to the cob builds I would want.to do to fill in the other half.of the 8*8. I figure I will use what I can get right now.and.add.the lec one.at a time. Led is great but even builds are.fairly pricey. I have used cmh and have watched the success of the de fixtures. I think a combo would bring higher yeild and maintain the high quality.

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That's worth watching! I'm absolutely not in the one or the other camp. I'm personally going to COB LED for reasons other than cost. I think it would be fun to see someone intersperse 315W CMH with COB LED.

I have always enjoyed mixing types of light sources and am well aquatinted with the old master color hps retrofits since 2008. I used them mixed with hps and had drastic increase in smell, taste and eye-burning terpines. The 315 almost got my money instead of a51 a couple years ago. From postings here and elsewhere little negative comments and a lot of pics and vids point to a breakthrough in horti specific HID lighting.

I personally prefer white-based LEDs but plant lighting is not a good vs evil thing.

I'll likely be mixing them (2x Sun Systems LEC's) with LED COBs at some point but to be honest I'm not really pressed to get better results, maybe slight (difficult to judge/measure) increase in quality but they grow a lot of bud on their own and very good quality, kind of hard to justify adding more light. Here's a sample of 2 current runs, the larger one is 2x 7gal at 37 days running under a 315w and ~3x4' footprint, the "smaller" plant by the door is 1x 10gal at Day 15 and still stretching, it's under the 210w bulb as the footprint didn't justify running the 315w (~2x3'). No complaints here.

GroErr said:

I'll likely be mixing them (2x Sun Systems LEC's) with LED COBs at some point but to be honest I'm not really pressed to get better results, maybe slight (difficult to judge/measure) increase in quality but they grow a lot of bud on their own and very good quality, kind of hard to justify adding more light. Here's a sample of 2 current runs, the larger one is 2x 7gal at 37 days running under a 315w and ~3x4' footprint, the "smaller" plant by the door is 1x 10gal at Day 15 and still stretching, it's under the 210w bulb as the footprint didn't justify running the 315w (~2x3'). No complaints here.

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Nice! I like it.

GroErr said:

I'll likely be mixing them (2x Sun Systems LEC's) with LED COBs at some point but to be honest I'm not really pressed to get better results, maybe slight (difficult to judge/measure) increase in quality but they grow a lot of bud on their own and very good quality, kind of hard to justify adding more light. Here's a sample of 2 current runs, the larger one is 2x 7gal at 37 days running under a 315w and ~3x4' footprint, the "smaller" plant by the door is 1x 10gal at Day 15 and still stretching, it's under the 210w bulb as the footprint didn't justify running the 315w (~2x3'). No complaints here.

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Please keep posting your grow pics. I'll be using a 315 and supplementing with COBs. I thought I was going to do all COBs but I think COB for veg and supplemented with the LEC 315 will be just the trick for a 5X5 tent.

Mary's Confidant said:

Please keep posting your grow pics. I'll be using a 315 and supplementing with COBs. I thought I was going to do all COBs but I think COB for veg and supplemented with the LEC 315 will be just the trick for a 5X5 tent.

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I'm in a 5x5, with just two of the LECs.
I'm thinking of switching and putting one of my LECs in veg, with a combination or LEC, A51 W90, and A51 RW-75 in flower.

borbor said:

I'm in a 5x5, with just two of the LECs.
I'm thinking of switching and putting one of my LECs in veg, with a combination or LEC, A51 W90, and A51 RW-75 in flower.

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Nice! I'm going to mock up a diagram to show what i had in mind. I'll post it here, let me know what you think.

borbor said:

I'm in a 5x5, with just two of the LECs.
I'm thinking of switching and putting one of my LECs in veg, with a combination or LEC, A51 W90, and A51 RW-75 in flower.

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Ya buddy, I know EXACTLY what you're thinking, lol -and I can help!

This is what I'm thinking. 315 in the middle, 12-14 LEDs around the periphery. With 14, the difficulty will be in sizing a driver adequately so it's still maxing out efficiency. Any suggestions on that?

14 CXB3070 BB bin @ 700ma would add how many useable watts/par watts?
14 CXB3590 CD bin @ 700ma would add how many useable watts/par watts?

i was thinking it'd be somewhere in the vicinity of 300-400 additional watts. LEC would be good for a 3x3 area raised 18-20" above the canopy. You could raise it higher but I think the main benefit LEC has over LED would be penetration (at least judging from the thickness of the buds produced). That would start to be wasted the higher you raised it. It would probably be better to let the 315 cover the inner 3x3 and use the LEDs to fatten the outer plants/branches.

If anyone would like to add some calcs to this, I'd be interested in seeing them. This is the design I'm going to run with first (although I'm still unsettled on number of COBs needed for the perimeter). I may change down the line but this will strike a nice balance between efficiency, penetration and it'll be fun to see how it produces.

Bad Karma said:

Just about to start week 4 of flower with the Sun System 315 and I'm happy with the results so far.

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plant look good, if this is your first run under lec, please let us know if your plants finish flower faster than before.. ive noticed as did groerr and others plants seem to finish up to a week sooner under the ceramic lights.. we think its the spectrum, really not sure. my plants run under hps always took 8 weeks, same clones under the cmh lamps i could have pulled at 7 weeks.i left them in for 8 as i had planned but there was no change in bud size just a few more amber crystals. if i could go back id have planned a seven week cycle and pulled them...