Chinese LED Grow – 75 (actual draw) Watts per plant veg/100W per plant flower

Hey folks, in support of my addiction, not to pot, but to growing and trying new shit all the time ☺ I’m doing some test runs with a bunch of Chinese LED’s I picked up on flea-bay auctions over the last 6 months. I have 5 units, all the same brand. In actual/measured draw, they total 1000W. Starting this round in a cabinet while I finish my new grow room in the next few weeks.

In actual draw, the panels are configured as follows. All use 3W LED’s, lower draw is with the veg switch, higher draw is both veg/bloom switch on.
2x 60/100W (“150W” in Chinese)
1x 125/200W (“300W”)
2x 200/300W (“450W”)

They’re these: http://www.ebay.ca/itm/Reflector-450W-Led-Grow-Light-Growth-Flower-Switches-Plant-LED-Grow-Lamp-Panel-/380812040728?pt=US_Hydroponics&hash=item58aa2a9a18&_uhb=1

I liked the case design/size/config. ( e.g a 200W is like 2x 100W side-by-side, the 300W is like 3x 100 side-by-side), veg/bloom switch, reflector design, spectrum, brightness/lumens weren’t bad and they cost about $0.85 per (real draw) watt, not a huge investment. These reflectors really light the place up… But, do they grow good weed? Or more accurately, can they flower well?

I’m not sold on Chinese LED's for flowering, but will definitely be using them for cloning, seeds and vegging as I know they can veg well. But, perhaps with enough lighting, like 100W per plant for flowering… we’ll see. This round, we’ll give the LED’s a shot at both veg/flower.

Let’s see what they can do ☺ I’m not after quantity, neither of these strains are huge producers, but looking for quality smoke, quality buds. Will they produce some decent bud?.. or, be relegated to the veg room, looking in on the Induction lights when the flower room is open? lol

Below are the details, and pics to-date. Plan is to update once/week with pics throughout the grow.

Environment: Jan 30th to Feb 18th
• 2x2x4’ tent for seeds
• 60/100W LED Panel on veg-switch only @60W, 30” above cups, 24/0
• Planted seeds in cups January 30th
• Temps 72-75F, Humidity 55%-60%
• Circulation Fan on 24/7
• Incoming fresh air booster fan, Passive Exhaust
• 2x Jack The Ripper (JTR) reg, Sativa dominant, Jacks Cleaner + Space Queen, high THC, fast finish (for a sat) in 7-8 weeks
• 2x Platinum Bubba Kush (PBK) fem, Indica Dominant, Platinum OG + Bubba Kush finish in 8-9 weeks,
• 20 days in 16 oz. party cups with 60% PRO-Mix at top, balance with 50/50 PRO-Mix and Quad-Mix (triple mix with some well cured local sheep manure).
• Low dose (250 ppm) feeds Advanced Nutrients Sensi Grow A&B started at Day 8

Environment: From Feb 18th (Day 20) for approx. 4 weeks (until new room is completed)
• 2x4x5’ DIY cabinet
• 200/300 LED Panel on veg-switch only @200W, 30” above pots for 1 week, 24” after that for 2 weeks on veg-only switch @200W, then the full 300W at 20” until flower.
• Once they’re moved into the new room, only 3 will be moved in to finish veg and flower under the 300W LED panel. The large JTR “mother” will remain in the cabinet while another batch comes up for vegging and flower with the second batch, after throwing out some clones ☺
• 20/4 lights for 1st week, 18/6 from there until flower.
• Temps 74-77F lights on, 65-68 lights off
• Humidity 50%-55%
• Circulation Fan on 24/7
• Incoming fresh air fan
• 160 cfm exhaust
• Transplanted all 4 Feb 18th. 2x PBK and 1x JTR into 3 Gallon Root Pouches. The largest JTR sativa which popped 2 plants from one seed (the twins) went into a 7 Gallon GeoPot.
• Soil is 50% PRO-Mix, 50% Quad-Mix
• Flushed during transplant with water only
• Feeding Advanced Nutrients Sensi Grow A&B once/week, water in between
• Switch to Advanced Nutrients Sensi Bloom A&B at week 3 of 12/12

Here are some pics from seed to now, pic names include the age and strain:

Seedlings in tent:


Transplanted into temporary veg cabinet:

Close-up's of individual plants:

Perspective looking at cabinet from new room and looking out to new room:

LED manufacturers do a bit of "creative marketing" on their products. If you carefully check out the various ads when the facts are given you will see that the advertised wattage of a fixture is always more than it's actual power consumption, i.e. a 300 watt LED fixture may only produce 180 watts worth of LED light because they always reduce the power to the LEDs because they last MUCH longer.

The quality of light and intensity is higher but you almost never get the output they are rated at.

Interesting experiment

mtgeezer said:

LED manufacturers do a bit of "creative marketing" on their products. If you carefully check out the various ads when the facts are given you will see that the advertised wattage of a fixture is always more than it's actual power consumption, i.e. a 300 watt LED fixture may only produce 180 watts worth of LED light because they always reduce the power to the LEDs because they last MUCH longer.

The quality of light and intensity is higher but you almost never get the output they are rated at.

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Exactly, that's why I metered them and posted actual draw, the quoted wattage is what they sell them as. If you go by the quoted wattage and try to grow, particularly flower, it's not enough light. Let's see what they do using some real output numbers.

texasjack said:

Interesting experiment

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Thanks for stopping by, like to try stuff and like the idea of LED, let's see what they can do when throwing the right wattage and distance from the plants...

I am on my 4th or 5th all led grow in a 2 x 4 tent

Been working my way up from ~ 100w, now at ~ 230w for 2 short pheno clones that I took from their mother that I grew from seed

Edit: Forgot to mention watts is not the answer umols per meter squared is.

To simplify a 3 w diode can have more useful output than a 10w diode. How? Lumens per watt. Most of the chinese stuff is ~ 90 lpw, whereas CREE (among others) have 150 lpw and soon releasing 250+ lpw diodes! 150 lpw is damn good, but 250 lpw- now that's where the umols per meter square will be a game changer for growing mj

Primarily, I use quality white diodes- 5000k (NW) for veg, 3000-3500k for flowering (WW), but infill with some commercial 4ft tubes, which will be replaced next grow with COB/reflector lights

Reflectors is a much better choice than individual lens covers, most of which are made from cheap plastic and will discolor over time.

FYI, cob chip sets are the new tech (@ 10-200w) requiring larger parabolic reflectors. This makes for a much simpler light, that should be easy to repair or upgrade chip sets

I do think you will do well with your choice, and will be following along

COBs are available in 1/2/3/4... cobs per light, allowng someone to start small then add more as $$$ is available Here's a link http://www.ebay.com/itm/Free-Shipping-200W-LED-Grow-Light-3W-LEDs-Flower-Veg-Integrated-COB-Lamp-Panel-/191034691912?pt=US_Hydroponics&hash=item2c7a8e1148

Hey PetFlora, thanks for stopping in. Agree with your tech points, watts are what most people go by/understand so used that. They're certainly not the greatest panels but for the price I'll get my investment back in one decent grow (4 zips, I better get that from this run or I'm doing something wrong, not the lights!). I expect I'll use them for vegging for a few runs so no worries, just a hobby and a hell of a lot of fun I do love the way LED's veg (tighter nodes, little stretch), will be interesting to see if these can also flower. With so many people buying, trashing, and touting cheap LED's I thought I'd record this and see what they can (or can't) do. Not a lab environment but will try to keep things consistent and documented well so there's a somewhat fair comparison for anyone that wants to check it out.

I like the idea of these cob panels, thanks for the link, another thing to try, next... lol But, for serious flowering, my next test is induction, 2 rounds from now in my new room, there will be an Inda-Gro 420, likely in a side-by-side with LED's, woot woot Cheers and happy growing

I have one of those 150w reflectors, it's doing great for me so far

White Widow Big Bud X 18days old from sprout

oregongrowpros said:

I have one of those 150w reflectors, it's doing great for me so far

White Widow Big Bud X 18days old from sprout

View attachment 2999889

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Hey, looks great, almost identical cycle and size as the one's I have going, there's a few of these panels out there, these guys on e-Bay sell quite a few if you watch them for a while. Good luck with your grow

PetFlora said:

IndaGrows are producing some impressive results

If not for a mercury amalgam exciter, I would be more interested, but ven a little mercury is quite toxic. That said, there's is encapsulated

They are huge in real life

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Yeah, there's always a trade-off, but have seen them do amazing bud, I could see one of those being keepers. I have about 6 1/2 ft height left when finished, no problems there, but they do look like they take some elbow room...

GroErr said:

Hey, looks great, almost identical cycle and size as the one's I have going, there's a few of these panels out there, these guys on e-Bay sell quite a few if you watch them for a while. Good luck with your grow

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Thanks man, good luck to you too

PetFlora said:

IndaGrows are producing some impressive results

If not for a mercury amalgam exciter, I would be more interested, but ven a little mercury is quite toxic. That said, there's is encapsulated

They are huge in real life

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LED's are not free of toxic materials. They contain up to a dozen toxic compounds with arsenide (compound of arsenic), lead, nickel, copper, etc. resulting in the need to properly recycle these lamps as well as you would a fluorescent or HID lamp. The advantage of the IG lamp is that it only contains 25mg of mercury and will not have to recycled for up to 100K hours at which time you snap off the rubber boot and the mercury is contained within the boot.

http://today.uci.edu/news/2011/02/nr_LED_110210.php

Yep. Can't argue with that, but they are Fn huge, probably take up 15"+ of head room

chazbolin said:

LED's are not free of toxic materials. They contain up to a dozen toxic compounds with arsenide (compound of arsenic), lead, nickel, copper, etc. resulting in the need to properly recycle these lamps as well as you would a fluorescent or HID lamp. The advantage of the IG lamp is that it only contains 25mg of mercury and will not have to recycled for up to 100K hours at which time you snap off the rubber boot and the mercury is contained within the boot.

http://today.uci.edu/news/2011/02/nr_LED_110210.php

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Oh cool someone is testing out the cheaper LED panels in really interested in LED grow light a but don't want to spend a ton on them. I will be following this thread to see if u can flower with them. What is the 150w LED u guys talk about that does pretty good?

nvhak49 said:

Oh cool someone is testing out the cheaper LED panels in really interested in LED grow light a but don't want to spend a ton on them. I will be following this thread to see if u can flower with them. What is the 150w LED u guys talk about that does pretty good?

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I have one going here also https://www.rollitup.org/led-other-lighting/800798-white-widow-big-bud-x.html

it cost me $109 shipped

Oh ok thanks man I'll check it out for sure!

I'm running my current grow under a 576 watt reflector panel from lg-led solutions. Not hooked up the multimeter to it to check actually wattage but I knew going into it that most led panels only run at 55-60% of they're advertised wattage. Growing an Amherst sour diesel from seed, 2 bubba kush, and 2 flo clones, so far I'm impressed with the light. They come with a 3 year warranty, free shipping, and they have a warehouse in new jersey so shipping didn't take a month. You can check 'em out at www.topledgrowlight.com and if anyone happens to decide to get one put in the "note to seller" when it directs to paypal that you were referred from rollitup, trying to talk 'em into giving a discount to RIU members. You can also check out my grow here 576 watt lg-led solutions panel grow


In order of appearance, Amherst Sour Diesel 29 days old, Bubba kush, Bubba Kush, Flo all 20 days old, then the little guy is a flo sitting at 13 days old

Damn that's awesome that's working for you so far do you think ull be able to flower with that panel too?

I plan on flowerin , I'll keep updates in this thread

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