lighting - the truth & the facts

since planning to start growing im reading and listening to some very confusing articles on various forums about lighting , LEDs v HPS , MH/HPS etc etc etc

its kind of put me off and few days ago i sent my 2 x 600 watt viparspectres back to seller , i originally thought that these would match ( as stated on their ebay ad ) any 600watt HPS ...but the 600 watt LED only draws about 240 true watts from wall. now im inclined to buy a 1000 watt MH / HPS ( with dimmer ) for my 5x5 tent, maybe next year i can afford a COB and only when i grasp the basic understanding of growing.

then the cost of LED v HPS..are LED even cheaper , i mean if LED pulling 240 watt from wall and HPS pulling 600 watt from wall obviously HPS is going to be more expensive , so 2 x600 w LEDs only match 1 x 600 HPS in total watts ......is this correct ?

what do you use and why ?

BTW i am growing in indoor tent 5x5 ft and i want the perfect environment in there so please also feel free to advise

Here's the thing with LED....
You have to think of LED emitters like speakers, they can play softly, or they can blast. Think of the driver as an amplifier that provides power to those speakers. The volume of the speaker cannot exceed the power provided to it, even though it may be able to handle more.....
Any given diode, will have a MAXIMUM current threshold. So what's happening, is lots of manufacturers are listing the cumulative MAX capability of the diodes in their fixture. A collection of 200, 3w diodes, is not a 600w light... It could become one, IF the driver running it, is capable of providing the level of current needed, to reach that MAX threshold.

As it stands, its much easier to compare HID lighting, because they have FAR fewer variables to consider. You put a 600w rated bulb onto its ballast, and it runs....Bulb selection based on spectrum, a few types of ballasts, a few types of HID, that's about it.... LEDs have nearly unlimited variable configurations, so its quite a task to get a grasp on how to compare the newest tech, to the tried and true traditional methods....

@skorpio777 you are not alone in being confused! Any time a manufacturer puts a word in front of "power" (like comparable power) it's marketing and only serves to muddy the water. (It's meant to muddy the water.) I have no problem reading through the BS and the hype and they still got me, three times! When I first started growing, I didn't like the thought of needing so much energy to grow indoors... I did some research and, despite a very skeptical conversation with a caretaker/dispensary owner, I bought a first gen LED... It was great for vegging but I never even attempted to flower with it... A little more research and about 300 bucks later, I purchased a second-gen, 150 watt LED to flower one auto... During the first flower cycle a driver went out taking out half of the array... I finished the grow with a high powered CFL and immediately ordered a 600 watt HPS, which I still use today (6 years later) The six months before I made the move to HPS were somewhat disappointing but a valuable lesson to me.

I still believe LEDs are the future, but, despite the obvious comparisons to the digitization of cameras, there are more real physical limitations to digitizing this process. (Digital cameras read input, where the laws of physics have less restraint on the process... LED lights output light (power)... While physical laws apply in both processes, the laws relating to output power are more challenging... Added to all the power complexity of the issue, digitization of the light provided to the plant, is still more focused on overcoming output power challenges, limiting the ability provide an optimal solution from the plant's perspective. I am encouraged by the people focused on optimizing the digitization of the light source, regardless of cost, because this is the only way the technology will improve enough to match the performance of established technologies... Once they hit that point, then they can focus on optimizing the cost so the economics make sense. Best of luck!

I always have grown with HPS lights, preferring multiple 600w HPS to a single 1000W. Recently I switched to HLG quantum lights which I believe are a true 50% watt reduction replacement. I'm just going through my first grow now with a HLG-600H and 2 QB260-XL. They are just as bright if not brighter than the HPS and I like the spectrum better (3000k) as it has more blue and more red than HPS.

With no prior knowledge on leds, I built my own 2x4 light, bridgelux eb strips. And harvested 1.5lb dry.

All from information on this forum and ledgardener.com

Just start with a 600 HPS like everybody else and grow nice buds like everybody else. Don't try to re-invent the wheel on your first ride.

I'm making the switch to Cree cob LED's . I am running 2 600w hps's in a 3.5 x 7 room I am going to buy two CXB 3590 x4 lights to cover the same area. The only facts I kno are that it will definitely lower my electric bill and extend my growing into the summer months.

70's natureboy said:

Just start with a 600 HPS like everybody else and grow nice buds like everybody else. Don't try to re-invent the wheel on your first ride.

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That how myself and most growers start. It's plug and play.

projectinfo said:

That how myself and most growers start. It's plug and play.

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i hear ya !

toaster struedel said:

I'm making the switch to Cree cob LED's . I am running 2 600w hps's in a 3.5 x 7 room I am going to buy two CXB 3590 x4 lights to cover the same area. The only facts I kno are that it will definitely lower my electric bill and extend my growing into the summer months.

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hi, how much would COB sting me for my 5x5 tent ?

Around $600-$700 I'm thinking 600w of CXB 3590s should be good for 5x5 but I'm no expert.

The HLG 600-H Quantum Board puts out an enormous amount of light at 1450PPF, which is more than a SE 1000wHPS light at only 620watts from the wall, and more than a DE 750w HPS.
It's 674$.

HotKarl2 said:

The HLG 600-H Quantum Board puts out an enormous amount of light at 1450PPF, which is more than a SE 1000wHPS light at only 620watts from the wall, and more than a DE 750w HPS.
It's 674$.

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so this would be better than 2x600 watt HPS right......think ill have a look and see if they can be bought here in UK ...
anyone uk based know where these can be sourced , ill check google ...thanks

That's a ton of light haha, I hope you have the ceiling height for it. And maybe some a/c or exhaust fan leds get warm if you run them hard. Bonus thing is tho you can just run your driver outside the room and that takes care of about half your heat problem

projectinfo said:

That's a ton of light haha, I hope you have the ceiling height for it. And maybe some a/c or exhaust fan leds get warm if you run them hard. Bonus thing is tho you can just run your driver outside the room and that takes care of about half your heat problem

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how would you run a driver outside the tent ?
i was led to believe there isnt a lot of heat from these anyway

skorpio777 said:

how would you run a driver outside the tent ?
i was led to believe there isnt a lot of heat from these anyway

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Same amount of heat, just spread out over more leds rather than a hps bulb.

The driver usually comes on a long power cord. Just put it outside of your room and run a wire into your tent to your led. The driver is what powers your leds.

And don't laugh at my wiring

The HLG-600H Does NOT put out the equivalent heat to a SE 1000w HPS. Maybe only about 30% as much from experience and around 50% as much as a 600wHPS. Just FYI. I now have to run a small oil heater in my 10x15' tent. But I can do a summer run with these lights. The reason there is less heat is the LEDs are way more efficient than the HID/HPS. More energy output as light and less as heat.

Love those DIY lights man.