Ebay LED grow experiment

Hello RIU,

What I like about this website is the wealth of knowledge that is passed around freely without prejudice. People register beginners and become experts through the coaching and education that is abundant here. (I do not consider myself an expert BTW)

With that said I myself want to add to this site and educate some individuals interested in what I have to say.
OK OK OK.. let me first get this out of the way! There is no way I am trying to convince anyone of anything merely showing my results. Ebay leds are not professional high quality pieces of equipement. Therefore I am not boasting magnificent yeilds I am simply showing its effectiveness as a low budget alternative.

Many of us cannot afford the steep prices of name brand LED companies, although we still are intrigued by the thought of growing with the futuristic persona of LED's. I work for pennies, do not have a large grow op were money isn't an issue. I am a simply normal closet grower. I want to see first hand what these ebay LED's are capable of doing. Leaving the final verdict to you. I know for me even as cheap as ebay is for led's, it sure is pretty hard for me to cough up a few hundred dollars. Especially if i'm unsure of its quality. But I decided after doing plenty of research and seeing nothing but negative comments but no actual evidence I decided to do my own critique of two Ebay led companies.

First LED I ordered was an 8 band 180w LED ufo from "ledgrowlightsmanufaturer"

I will post the link as soon as I recieve the product and see that it works so people don't take my advice before hand.
this led cost me 140 dollars about half the price of the name brand.

Second and final LED I will be using for this experiment is a 300w 6 band led panel from "growaquariummanufacturer"
I paid 184 dollars and a third the price of a name brand.

So to wrap up this initial post I conclude by saying I expect to have wasted my money but I hope I disprove myself and others online. Maybe we can clear the mist of skepticism involving these Ebay LED's I have read people say harsh things towards these companies. But with no legitimate grounds for their accusations. Atleast if I fail and sh@t hits the fan I can honestly recommend people to stay away from such products because I myself have experienced the lack of quality.

Feel free to follow and comment.

Youngbuzz101

Keep us posted on your progress. Don't forget pictures, We like Pictures.
I'm doing a LED experiment with some 75 Watt 7 Band UFO's. So, far working out better than I thought it would.

Good Luck

Ringsixty said:

Keep us posted on your progress. Don't forget pictures, We like Pictures.
I'm doing a LED experiment with some 75 Watt 7 Band UFO's. So, far working out better than I thought it would.

Gook Luck

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We do like pictures haha they look great how old are they?

Im also going the path small and super cheap.

First picture, they r like 2 days under led, before that -poor window sunlight -shipment took like 3 weeks longer then usual and expected.
2nd picture was taken 10 days later.

As this is like completly my first time ever I wish I would know what the plants should look like after that and that passed time.

My super cheap fixture is running in "seedling mode" 40W, overall it has about 130-140Watts, using the cheapest possible satisled leds from ebay, utilizing 3W leds from 65-80 cents per piece, about 21$ for that "stage"
But considering its under 40 Watts and cheapest leds ever, I hope it looks ok for that amount of passed time, does it?

Atleast it prooves that even cheapest leds grow "something"

also i put a bean plant and tomato there, as long as they dont interfere they can stay , the bean development (first picture left), 2nd picture right looks kinda more cool then mj

Could someone tell me if i should switch on the next light stage, it uses much more red percentage wise, but the stem of my biggest plant is already soo long because of the window sunlight. idk if that would even stretch it more (4WW,5DR,12R,1CW)

I'm interested to see how you get on.Subbed.

Hey mate looks like they should be a bit closer to the light they look stretched

sry for editing my pervious post so often.
If u r talking to me - I know its because of the darn poor window sunlight at start, they streched to get more light

But looking at the smallest plants. Then watching picture one and their strech (cause coming from window), comparing it to the 2nd picture 10days later led, they stopped that streching, dont u think? Or u still think i need to get them closer?
Btw. Camera was set to minimum brightness, because before that i made photos of the leds of my fixture. So in fact its not as dark as it looks like.

Yes that's explains it, It's hard for me to tell but I'm sure you will catch on if it keeps stretching...time will tell

as nerdy as i am as a first timer: in the last 8 days the "main" plant went from H: 10cm W: 6cm to H: 12cm W:9cm , so rather going wide then increasing in height, is that considered to be streching? i figure even without "streching" it would gain in height

this budget led comparison is a great idea, i look forward to seeing the progress. was interested in led but yes, too pricey.saw the ones on ebay and my main concerns were safety related.....has someone just made these in their bedroom? if one led blows, how much would it affect the grow and are they easy to replace?

Keffa said:

We do like pictures haha they look great how old are they?

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Ones in the back are a bit over 5 weeks and the ones up front are about 3 weeks.

Alright! I am excited to see all the interest in relation to my topic. I will have pictures posted on a regular basis with detailed information on my progress. As soon as my led's come from china. Which will be a while in the meantime I can show you some pictures of my good friends plant afghan kush using his Chinese LED 200w from ebay. He inspired me to do this thread and inform all of you the pro's and con's of Ebay LED's.

budbuddingding said:

this budget led comparison is a great idea, i look forward to seeing the progress. was interested in led but yes, too pricey.saw the ones on ebay and my main concerns were safety related.....has someone just made these in their bedroom? if one led blows, how much would it affect the grow and are they easy to replace?

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I would say based on seeing my good friends closet grow the LED's are pretty safe he has had it over 6 months and not one diode went out. Not only that, you can run it for two days straight and put your cock to the led fixture and it won't do nothing but give you the warming sensation that Trojan fails to do. haha

youngbuzz101 said:

I would say based on seeing my good friends closet grow the LED's are pretty safe he has had it over 6 months and not one diode went out. Not only that, you can run it for two days straight and put your cock to the led fixture and it won't do nothing but give you the warming sensation that Trojan fails to do. haha

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One of the reasons i do not buy second hand LED fixtures....

This is GREAT! Another thread dedicated to growing with LED's. Perfect timing I'm wanting to invest in those lights but have to pay that expensive LED's I do want the best. And, who doesn't! I don't have electric/power supply for those HID's. I've seen some very good threads/posts with good results for LED's. I have a Haight SS PPF-400, It's does good with clones and veg, IMO. Thanks to everybody posting their opinions, knowledge and their own fuc- ups!
Experience that wisdom is 'PRICELESS' !

Here is my buddies progress end of week 4 200w Ebay led Afghan Kush. Ps. He is giving me 6 clones to do my experiment with so ill be doing 6 party cup afghan kush clones. Here is the mother. Sorry about the delay my phone wouldn't upload the images.


3-9 buisness days estimated delivery time and then I will be ready to really start this post.

Ringsixty said:

Keep us posted on your progress. Don't forget pictures, We like Pictures.
I'm doing a LED experiment with some 75 Watt 7 Band UFO's. So, far working out better than I thought it would.

Good Luck

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Ring sixty are those off ebay?

- Lax
Those plants look like they need abit of TLC. My thread is about ebay's cheap led lights, super cheap lights is the next thread over.

jokes!! I'm sure now that you got them off the window sill you will have them recover, can I suggest transplanting into bigger pots and covering some of the lanky stem?

Hi,

What is TLC? I found it in the forum but no explanation in the newbie vocabulary section... Does it have to do with overwatering? edit: or plant "Training"

Ok I will put them in bigger pots, if u think its about time. All of them or just the "biggest" of them?

I think the pc fans did a good job, the main plant doesnt need support at the stem anymore, as oposed to its time at the window.

Looking at the plants they look like something bad is going to happen. One of them died...it looked fine, then i switched on the next power "stage", adding about 45W, and the next day it looked really crappy...i switched it off...im not sure if that caused this...
One plant is loosing one of their first bigger leaves..it has a mark on it for very long and it gets browner and browner. Maybe cause by some insect.
Also i think while watching them under LED they look sicker then under a regular bulp. So i made some pictures under both.

But i could really need some help now :-/ id appreciate any diagnostics.

I dont understand why the "main" plant looks so much nicer then the others, considering they have the same conditions and soil and on. With a lack of nutes id think she d show signs first as it is the biggest plant and consuming more then the others.
But they r different strains, but can be differences that great?

lax123 said:

What is TLC? I found it in the forum but no explanation in the newbie vocabulary section...

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TLC = Tender Loving Care