I've tried ProSource and Busy Bee LED | Both Suck | Trying 2 x Mag+'s

Okay, so my first try at using LED's was with three ProSource lights. I have no idea how they can make the claims they do; they are liars and I personally know multiple people who've tried them who feel the same way. I had 2 x 90 watt UFO's and 1 x 90 watt flower accelerator. The bud it produced was amazing, but the yield was the worst ever, less than an ounce a plant. My friends in another region who have been growing for years made the same remarks, best quality ever but the lowest quantity ever. The people at ProSource will blame things like temps, too much water, etc, but after trying for over a year with these ProSource I've ruled all of that out. I wouldn't recommend ProSource to anyone. It's a major waste of money.

Next, frustrated at my failures with ProSource I turned to Busy Bee LED. These are heaters; not lights. I ordered one 400 watt Busy Bee LED. Same results as above but worse honestly because of the heat. This company also doesn't have a 90 day promise of any kind. As soon as it ships, it's yours period.

Well, I just ordered and installed two 357 Magnum Plus LEDs. They were VERY expensive and if these don't work out I'll be sure to write reviews stating that all over the web. They are putting off some heat, not as much as the Busy Bee. I the temps being recorded, if its over a 6 degree increase in ambient temps these things are being retired fast.

To top it off I emailed Black Dog after a friend emailed me their info and they wrote back quick. I'm a bit concerned my Mag+'s will end up in the garage like my collection of other failed LED panels. They showed me some PAR graphs for the Mag+'s which showed these lights put off more like 5-6 spectrum's, not the 11 the company says they do. They also pointed out that the Mag lights use 60 and 90 degree lensing. That means the only real light is directly below the LED panels. They used their $4k PAR meter to show me that as soon as you go an inch away from the panels the PAR these Mag+'s put off drops by over 1500%. Keep in mind I found all of this out AFTER I ordered two of them.

I'm kind of sick of these LED companies overstating what LEDs can do. They do generate heat, if they are of useful wattage, just not as much as HID's. It can still become a problem.

If these Mag+'s don't work out I might try the Black Dogs. After that, I give up, as LEDs for me so far have provided top quality bud, but the quantity is so low. I mean less than an ounce low per plant.

Does anyone have some encouraging words for me on these Mag+ lights? I'm already depressed going into this grow.
 

Opm

Active Member
I've been skeptical of LEDs. The technology is just too new and not refined enough.
 
As far as I can tell so far - they are a good replacement for fluorescent lighting. I haven't had any personal experience yet that tells me they'd replace a cool tube HID HPS.

The funny thing is the only LED grow videos I've seen online always have an HID in the grow room, even the Black Dog time lapse video a guy on this forum posted had a 600 watt HPS in the same room so you know those plants were getting bleed over from it.
 

Endur0xX

Well-Known Member
well honestly I have seen decent grow with the pro grow and the magnum ,.... have you ever succeeded at growing? You can't go around and say all lights are shit if it might be something else... Personally I grow with FERO and they are the greatest light I have ever used but I know other lights would give good results or results anyway. how long have you been growing? what medium are you using? maybe we can help you ... Look at Casper's grow before you bash magnum, expensive yes, I dont think they are no where near the best lights out there but I have never tried them so I wouldnt know, but they will grow you some fine buds if you know what you are doing, right Casper?
 
Yes.. I've succeeded at growing. lol. I wouldn't blame things on lights if I knew that wasn't the variable. I'm used to using an HPS.

Like I said, I have friends that grow in other regions and they feel the same way I do so far with LED. We are all still trying to use it, but only because the quality is amazing. We are still trying to work the yield issues out. We need more power and lower heat output.

Edit: I've been growing for 2+ years now. It's not rocket science, it really isn't. A lot of it has to do with genetics as well. I've found Pineapple Express to be a very very hearty strain.

I only do soil, and I only use Fox Farm Oceans Forest. I also only use organic's, even my pesticides are organic only. I measure everything and start with a half dose, etc.

I'm not having growing issues relating to anything else other than lighting. It's not like the plants are obviously sick. They are just producing smaller buds than they would if they were under HIDs.
 

newworldicon

Well-Known Member
Check out Irishboy's threads on here and other forums for conclusive proof LED can produce huge buds, google is littered with his results. Also put in AF600 into youtube for further videos of good results. Pro grow I am familiar with, their panels work great but their service and warranty failed miserably for me. Look out for propagandapharms on youtube for progrow results. Also check out the companies list for some of the best options you'll find.

Best results I hav eseen under LED on the internet is on a site called bubbleponics...a bit of research will confirm these can do the job.
 
Thanks, I'll go look into bubbleponics. I know LED can grow large bud.

I think each LED has had it's limitation or problems. The ProSource were too puny, the Busy Bee was too hot and not enough output. The 2 x Mag+'s at least have 720ish watts of real LED output. They don't seem to be putting out much heat so far so things might turn around for me.

I don't think 3 ounces a plant is a lot to ask for. lol

Guess I'll find out.
 

PetFlora

Well-Known Member
There is an excellent thread with a Mag supplemented with DIY led fixture using WHITE diodes. I think his thread is on IC

I bought into the hype 3 years ago, when I started growing again. My 400 hps ballast was extremely noisy plus results of 3 grows mediocre, so I was an easy mark for the adv hype. I was not a grow blog subscriber, not that there was much solid info back then, anyway.

DIYers are way ahead of the commercial offerings. Since I own a ufo with ~ 9:1 RB (ok for flower, not veg) I simply added supplemental lighting, first with cfls, and now low watt leds.

Here are 2 girls ~ 5 weeks from seeds. Total watts ~ 70. They are growing like mofos; each is now basketball size
 

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Bad Karma

Well-Known Member
Okay, so my first try at using LED's was with three ProSource lights. I have no idea how they can make the claims they do; they are liars and I personally know multiple people who've tried them who feel the same way. I had 2 x 90 watt UFO's and 1 x 90 watt flower accelerator. The bud it produced was amazing, but the yield was the worst ever, less than an ounce a plant. My friends in another region who have been growing for years made the same remarks, best quality ever but the lowest quantity ever. The people at ProSource will blame things like temps, too much water, etc, but after trying for over a year with these ProSource I've ruled all of that out. I wouldn't recommend ProSource to anyone. It's a major waste of money.

How long did you veg for under the ProSource LED's?
 

Bad Karma

Well-Known Member
I usually always veg for 4 weeks. I tend to go longer than most people.

It seems a lot of people on here veg for 3 to 3.5 weeks and flip early.

Hmmm, what size pots did you use?
At 4 weeks of veg in a good sized pot (3 gallons and up), you should have seen a decent yield.
I own 6 of the ProSource 180W Illuminators, and always get a good yield with 4 weeks (or more) vegging.
Example: Sour Cream (pictured at week 8 out 12 of flowering), 4 gallon pot, 4.5 week veg time.
 
Hmmm, what size pots did you use?
At 4 weeks of veg in a good sized pot (3 gallons and up), you should have seen a decent yield.
I own 6 of the ProSource 180W Illuminators, and always get a good yield with 4 weeks (or more) vegging.
Example: Sour Cream (pictured at week 8 out 12 of flowering), 4 gallon pot, 4.5 week veg time.
You own 6 x 180 watts worth of ProSource.. I own 3 x 90 watts, one of which is UV only. I use 3 gallon SmartPots and like I've said - I've had bigger grows previously with a 300W HPS. I moved to LED because heat was an issue.

After 4 weeks of veg you should have a bunch of leaves, no yield, lol. I don't feel vegging beyond 4 weeks is worth anything as I've done it a handful of times. The only thing it seems to do is make the process take longer.

Again ProSource told me 3 x 90 watts was over kill. They overstate their technology. They went as far as to tell me if I got anymore than that I'd kill my plants.
 

Perro Negro

Member
Be careful with what companies claim about LED grow lights. If a footprint or wattage claim is more than 50% savings over HPS (such as 400 watts of LED replacing a 1000 watt HID) then move on since it is marketing hype.

3 x 90 watts would be overkill for maybe something like a 2' x 2' footprint but I am guessing you are growing a larger footprint than that :mrgreen:
 

foreverflyhi

Well-Known Member
My last documented grow I wasn't able to finish, I harvested about 3 weeks prematurely, but over all quality was great and I got about 4-5 oz with one plant, keep in mind I scroged and veg for about 2 months and had 2 mag plus Ina 4x4.
As a mag plus owner, I wouldn't recommend them to anyone, unless the price dropped by at least double.
Good light but way over price.
My current grow will be my last with these mag plus
 

jela10

Well-Known Member
Don't know what the issue is...I run 2 - 180W jumbos in a 4.5 x 2.5 tent over two plants and get monsters...I get 3.5oz per plant instead of 4oz with my 400w HPS....no big loss. I just get more popcorn buds around the bottoms due to the extera penetration of the HPS. The heat radiating from the tent is so much less with LEDs, I switch to them during the summer months to make the area more liveable.

C99 - LED bud
DSC02683+.jpgDSC02694.jpg
 
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