Lola Grows
Well-Known Member
You're the second person that mentioned cmh *sigh* ... I see there's a bit more research in my future. I'm about to read up.
Why all the arguments over LED vs HPS ?
- Thread starter Lola Grows
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MichiganMedGrower
Well-Known Member
You're welcome
MichiganMedGrower
Well-Known Member
315 Phillips ceramic metal halides are perfect for a 2.5'x2.5' to 3'x3' area to flower. But you would need 2 to cover your 4x4 proposed area well enough.
No one mentions this but the original marketing was for a supplemental bulb to hps for fuller spectrum or as a veg bulb. Not intended originally to flower on its own.
Marketing changed quickly once growers started buying them for hobby grows.
Great Grow bulb but there is a lot of hype around it. It does offer better quality. If run open and in the specific vertical reflectors it is made for it has almost the same par as a 600 hps and some uv to increase THC content. And a way better spectrum.
But it just doesn't compete with my 600's and blockbuster hoods.
I have been comparing one to my 600 hps and mh all year.
I am trying it in my 3x3 veg tent next. Maybe a full cycle after.
MichiganMedGrower
Well-Known Member
For cost I would use a Hortilux 600 Super hps for the space you have @Lola Grows
I got 20oz. of dense top shelf nugs from my last 4 plants under one in a 3.5'x3.5' area.
If I had a lot of money. I would buy horticultural specific led's to properly cover my area. A lot of money.
I got 20oz. of dense top shelf nugs from my last 4 plants under one in a 3.5'x3.5' area.
If I had a lot of money. I would buy horticultural specific led's to properly cover my area. A lot of money.
Lola Grows
Well-Known Member
I'm going to do some research on CMH lighting. Even though I'll still end up purchasing a LED light.
Lola Grows
Well-Known Member
I don't have a lot of money
only like 900-1200 $ but I can save more. HPS seems like a hassle and LED are easy.
MichiganMedGrower
Well-Known Member
I have not researched enough about led to help more. And I have not used them. It took me 2 years to try the cmh. Lol.I don't have a lot of money
Lola Grows
Well-Known Member
I like the way they veg but I'm not impressed with the flowering. I'm only talking about the 2 galaxyhydro lights I purchased. I got what I paid for!! Lesson learned
TacoMac
Well-Known Member
It's actually the other way around.
On that other thread that was once again completely derailed by all the LED/COB fanboys, they all completely ignored the topic of the post as usual and beat their chest about how great their lights are.
They do it every single thread. Always.
Lola Grows
Well-Known Member
Beat their chest!! Lmaooo!!! That was freaking hilarious
For the love of the grow, this madness has to stop.
MichiganMedGrower
Well-Known Member
I think it's entertaining. Until you actually buy into all the crap and become one of them. Lol.
Lola Grows
Well-Known Member
Cletus clem
Well-Known Member
Rapid led 3 cob vero kit. 2 of these would light that area up real nice.
Lola Grows
Well-Known Member
Sounds really nice except the kit part. Does that mean I have to put something together? I'm not really good at assembling.
jwreck
Well-Known Member
@Lola Grows I can vouch for tasty, i have 4 of the older bar models and have worked flawlessly for the last 18 months.
Only complaint is the connections on the daisy chain are kind of loose but veg and flower great.
Would buy again
Only complaint is the connections on the daisy chain are kind of loose but veg and flower great.
Would buy again
mauricem00
Well-Known Member
everyone seems to have their own preference but the truth is that all lights grow plants.LED's produce about the same spectrum as HPS with less heat and higher cost. others prefer florescent or CMH bulbs for the higher UV and BLUE/VIOLET content which has been shown to increase THC and CBD content.we should all use what works best for us and ignore the critics who seem to have an almost religious affection for their lights.a cheap and easy DIY LED would be to use a couple of bridgelux EB strip lights bolted to a wooden frame and connected to a driver. no metal work involved just simple carpentry and soldering and as efficient as the best COB's. https://www.digikey.com/en/product-highlight/b/bridgelux/eb-series-modules?WT.srch=1&gclid=CjwKEAjwj6PKBRCAy9-07PeTtGgSJAC1P9xGkt8Johc-Ek5WSZhCIjcsnDAxqJidJd7eI0mxnCjCEhoCERjw_wcB in all honesty I'm a PU MMJ T5 closet growers but I have been doing small test grows with LED's for 3 years now starting with a mars hydro. then vero 18 and cree 3050 and currently with bridgelux EB strips. I have not seen the higher YPW that some claim and quality is higher if I supplement with a little UVA/UVB during flowering but LED's and HPS work fine for "street quality" products
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Lola Grows
Well-Known Member
They were on my list of choices. Also the prices have been lowered recently. Thank you for that information it helps because you're actually running the lights not guessing.
Lola Grows
Well-Known Member
I can't diy , I may break a nail or something like that. I'm just no good at assembling anything. I'd rather buy it ready.... or pay someone to do it for me.
GroErr
Well-Known Member
I don't push people one way or another nor have any vested interest in any companies. I do like trying tech as it's my hobby and try and push the limits, sometimes it's a fail, sometimes it works out.
I've used some of those older blurple panels (fail for flowering Imo) and still using some I bought 4+ years ago (Top LED which was bought out by Mars) for vegging, they veg well and I like the transition from blurple to flowering lights (CMH or COBs), makes them explode nicely when they hit the flowering lights. They worked for flowering but from a yield stand point you may as well flower with hps, you'll get much better yields. Of course at the cost of managing heat which is certainly doable, many folks have done it for years. It's just tougher to dial in hps and get higher efficiency yields, but it's done by many.
@a mongo frog had a good suggestion on the 315w CMH kits, if you think you can manage some heat those 315w bulbs cover off 3x3' really well, up to 3.5x3.5 ok, but 4x4' you'd be lacking coverage and 2x 315's would be overkill and give you a hard time managing heat. Slightly less heat than hps as. the 315's are very efficient, equivalent to somewhere in the 400-450 hps range, less wattage, less heat. I used that tech for a couple of years before a recent switch to COBs and I'd peg it as the best bulb tech available. Something in the spectrum tends to finish most strains faster as well, most of my strains finished in 7-8 weeks under the 315's.
More recently like the last year or so I converted the room in steps to COBs. Don't have time/space to build myself so bought some Tasty 3590 COB's driven at 1400ma, have 3x 100w, 2x (dimmable) 150w bars, and recently added 1x 200w bar of dimmable Citizen 1212 COBs. Main difference I saw between CMH and COBs was the terpenes and frost jumped another level, once I converted 1/2 the room and saw the yields (about the same watt-for-watt as CMH) and noticed a significant difference in terpenes loudness, I converted the whole room to COBs. Expensive up-front but best quality I've ever grown.
I think the big issue people have with blurples and particularly Chinese companies selling them stems from the way they over-hype/advertise and straight up lie about what the lights can do. Imo they give LED's in general a bad name. They also tend to be behind the curve in the tech they use in the lights which can make a huge difference in yields and quality. An example of that is the Advanced LED's you mentioned. If you look at their specs (which are light on details) you'll notice that their lights with COBs (mixed with 5w or 10w LED diodes) mention they are "CXA" COBs. Because they don't specify CXA-3590, I can almost guarantee they are CXA-3070's which are 2-3 generations behind the current CXB-3590 COBs. I've used and still use some CXA-3070 COBs in my breeding tent which I've had for ~3 years. While they are good, they produce ~25% less than the CXB-3590's I run, and the terpenes/quality while good aren't the same. I would flower with the 315w CMH before using CXA-3070's, only reason I haven't used them in the breeding tent is that tent is 2x2x4' and would end up at 110F throwing the CMH in there.
Which brings me to one last point in my long winded reply. No matter what lighting tech you use, it's an important but not overriding factor in how your yields or quality results. The environment, medium, nutes, water, all have to balance or you won't get the most benefit. In other words, if you're producing .5g/sq.ft. under hps and simply change your lights, don't expect to magically jump to 1.5 gpw, you'll be disappointed with any tech you upgrade to.
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