IF you are new to LED and want help choosing what to buy, POST HERE!

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ebcrew

ebcrew

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az2000 said:
I don't understand why anyone uses CFL today when Cree LED lightbulbs are available at Home Depot for about the same price. (60w equiv, 9.5w actual for $6-$7.). CFLs produce 60-70 lumens per watt. These LEDs are in the 90-100 range.

That's just a starting point. You can get more l/w by spending more money on higher-efficiency LED. An expensive, high-efficiency LED fixture may not be right for you. The cost may not be worth the electricity savings. But, even if you stay with CFLs, you can do better for the money.
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Im confused because i thought it was the actual watts that mattered?
 
ebcrew

ebcrew

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JimmyIndica said:
your gonna have to get something like a blackstar 240watt for 300 bucks decent value. covers 2 x 3 , but to replace what your talkin its gonna be around 6-8 hundred for mid to upper quality fixture!
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Any links on that setup i could look at, i am interested
 
nomofatum

nomofatum

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ebcrew said:
Im confused because i thought it was the actual watts that mattered?
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Watts is a measure of energy used, nothing to do with the output of the bulb. If watts are what mattered incandescent or halogen would rock. It's about the output energy, the par watts (mols) or lumens (for human eyes.)

A 1 watt incandencent or halogen could produce as little as 8 lumens, 1 watt of a 600 HPS would be about 130 lumens...
 
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az2000

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ebcrew said:
Any links on that setup i could look at, i am interested
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I have 3 Blackstars. They're just rebranded Chinese epi-whatever lights sold at a premium for US support.

You can do much better for the money. For example, a 18w (120w actual) Blackstar "v2" costs $230. You can get an Area51 RW-75 for that money. It will grow better than 120w of Blackstar.

Don't get me wrong, you can grow decent plants with that Blackstar. I've done well with that light and also their 135w (85w actual) UFO. But, the RW-75 does as well or better with less watts for about the same price.
 
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az2000

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JimmyIndica said:
are u seeing results from them?
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Yes. I was getting 90g from 85w of Blackstar UFO. Added 38w of Cree "lightbulb" as sidelighting and went up to 155g.

I have a 3' diameter plant under six PAR38 spots (and five 9.5w lightbulbs as sidelight) and it's flowering well. It's still early flower, not quite mid flower yet. Too soon to tell, but so far it's doing as good as anything else I've done.

(I have a little trouble following your CB-radio style of posting. One sentence continuations, etc. No indication who you're replying to. Forgive me if you asked something and I didn't respond.).
 
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az2000

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ebcrew said:
Im confused because i thought it was the actual watts that mattered?
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Ever notice how a 16w CFL says it's equivalent to 60w? What they mean is: the 800 lumens produced from a 16w CFL is equivalent to the 800 lumens produced by a 60w incandescent lightbulb.

Likewise, a 9.5w LED lightbulb produces 800 lumens. (You can get SMD5730 LED strips that produce more lumens per watt. Or, build a COB which does even more. Or, buy an Area51 which does more.).

Lumens aren't a good way to compare grow lights. But, since we're comparing white lights, it's ok. (If we were comparing blue/red lights, it wouldn't be ok.).
 
ebcrew

ebcrew

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ok i always see those cree bulbs at home depot but i was hesitant to buy because of the low wattage. So now i see i should check the lumens, i know about lumens but i never thought to compare the two. Will goto home depot tomorrow and check it out.
 
JimmyIndica

JimmyIndica

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az2000 said:
Yes. I was getting 90g from 85w of Blackstar UFO. Added 38w of Cree "lightbulb" as sidelighting and went up to 155g.

I have a 3' diameter plant under six PAR38 spots (and five 9.5w lightbulbs as sidelight) and it's flowering well. It's still early flower, not quite mid flower yet. Too soon to tell, but so far it's doing as good as anything else I've done.

(I have a little trouble following your CB-radio style of posting. One sentence continuations, etc. No indication who you're replying to. Forgive me if you asked something and I didn't respond.).
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my bad
 
medicinehuman

medicinehuman

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ebcrew said:
As far as LED setups already put together whats the best bang for my buck with 300-400 range
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The only one that I have experience with is the Hans Panel, you can get one for under $400.00. Ebay is the only other that I know about and it's not recommended by me.
 
nogod_

nogod_

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Your setup is 6sqft. Most folks on this forum are going to recommend 30-35 consumed watts per sqft. So you're looking for a light that hits 180-200 watts with a reasonable efficiency (heat is an issue). That is going to be tough to do with 300 bones, or clams, or what have you.

A common misconception is that LED is always cooler temps and cheaper than hps. This is not so. Only the efficient lamps are. Most cheap LEDs actally squeeze less light energy out of the electricity youre paying for than the dreaded HPS or CMH.

ebcrew said:
As far as LED setups already put together whats the best bang for my buck with 300-400 range
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H

Heavy Consumer

Well-Known Member
ebcrew said:
As far as LED setups already put together whats the best bang for my buck with 300-400 range
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For under $400, you could look up:
Area 51 RW75 or W100 (http://www.a51led.net)
Any Hans panel in the range (www.bonsaihero.com)
Kessel up to 4 H150 purple or magenta or a single H380 (http://growershouse.com/lights/indoor-led-grow-lights?c2c_brand=7925)
..... or you could go generic with something like a Mars Hydro panel, which seems not to be recommended by the more technically savvy members here, who might tell you to go with Cree bulbs for less money anyway (right @az2000 ???).

You could probably get coverage of a 3 x 2 footprint with 2 65W Hans Panels ($460 for the 2 with shipping), but I don't think they would give you penetration for tall plants in an 8ft high space. Might be nice for short indicas or maybe you could add cheap side lighting, like az2000 and captainmorgan.

From reading the DIY threads, I would guess you could get some nice components with that budget if you have the skills/desire for that.
 
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ebcrew

ebcrew

Well-Known Member
Heavy Consumer said:
For under $400, you could look up:
Area 51 RW75 or W100 (http://www.a51led.net)
Any Hans panel in the range (www.bonsaihero.com)
Kessel up to 4 H150 purple or magenta or a single H380 (http://growershouse.com/lights/indoor-led-grow-lights?c2c_brand=7925)
..... or you could go generic with something like a Mars Hydro panel, which seems not to be recommended by the more technically savvy members here, who might tell you to go with Cree bulbs for less money anyway (right @az2000 ???).

You could probably get coverage of a 3 x 2 footprint with 2 65W Hans Panels ($460 for the 2 with shipping), but I don't think they would give you penetration for tall plants in an 8ft high space. Might be nice for short indicas or maybe you could add cheap side lighting, like AZ and Captain Morgan.

From reading the DIY threads, I would guess you could get some nice components with that budget if you have the skills/desire for that.
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the ceiling is 8ft tall, ive never had a plant that tall though. I checked out both the hans panel and the area 51 which one of those 2 are better, i know nothing about LEDs
 
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