Lighting questions.. Considering LED over hps/mh combo

Shaded420 said:

Because as with most products you buy as a consumer, you like to feel confident with your purchase and not have to go back and deal with countless headaches because things may or may not work properly. I'm really glad that cheap ass chinese LED's have and do work for you, but they should most definitely come with a BUYER BEWARE label.

Like I said, send me one link to a chinese LED company that has documented their results as much as Hans.

P.S: There was a lot of factors that came into it when I decided on the Hans panel - most importantly the fact that I can keep it within 4" of my canopy, and the damn panel is an inch thick.

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Interesting I have over 9 grows using LED's.... In almost 3 years I had one set of modules that went bad. I had a replacement within a couple of weeks at no cost... You say you keep your lights at 4 inches above the canopy. How do you blend the light? Is it because of the shape of the reflector? I have done test with my lights to determine core foot print. It is easy to do just take a piece of poster board or a good flat non reflective surface set your light on it. You then raise your light up incrementally. You will actually see the various individual spectrum's from each LED. You continue to raise it until you see the blending of all of the spectrum's. You now will have your minimum height for a blended light source... This also will determine you core footprint. The higher you go from that point you began to lose maximum intensity for coverage ( think inverse square law). If you are using a single spectrum light I am not sure you need to worry about blending because that will be accomplished by the lens angle of the LED.

monkeychief said:

16 hours and you're flowering? Pistils good, sacks no good.lol. Those roots look great, dude. That air injection's cool. Gotta try that. Did u buy that injection or DIY?

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i made the lines myself bought T connectors and used safty pin to punch a hole every 1/2 inch. i also made my air bubble clone tray also. i suggest doing just 1 plant maybe 2 and transplanting is easy.

Where am I said:

Sorry about your loss DC... My State is setting it up to turn it over to big pharma.... Sorta like Canada. You will have to be licensed by the State to grow.. If you are one of the lucky ones to get a license then you provide it to the pharmacies... Gone are the specialty strains that many of us medicinal growers currently are growing / breeding. It won't work because you will end up getting some dirt weed at 10 X the price... Gotta love it when government gets involved they just screw it up. If they allow the "home brew" type regulations it would be much better. Look what happen to tobacco the corporations got involved put in all kinds of chemical and fillers "brainwashed" everyone that it was cool. Yet knowing that their stuff would kill people. If you ever had tobacco straight from the plant properly cured it is a totally different...

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are you in usa? i roll my own cigs use pipe tobacco organic so no chemicals and yes i taste the difference. F the Pharmacies. money is all they care about.

Hans uses reflectors on his panels, and I can clearly see the spectrum blending even at 3-4"...I guess we will have to see

Monkey, it's pretty clear you've got an anti-Hans vendetta because he won't listen to your expert advice on what LED's you think he should use. I'm now onto the 3rd week of flower, keep your pants on and be patient....the results will speak for themselves either way.

Shaded420 said:

Hans uses reflectors on his panels, and I can clearly see the spectrum blending even at 3-4"...I guess we will have to see

Monkey, it's pretty clear you've got an anti-Hans vendetta because he won't listen to your expert advice on what LED's you think he should use. I'm now onto the 3rd week of flower, keep your pants on and be patient....the results will speak for themselves either way.

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No I don't have anything against Hans himself or his company as I don't even know the guy. He might be nice but I will toast him and tell him that his panels are grossly underpower for any serious application except micro grows as a constructive criticism and advise him to ante up the juice a little. I just think there much more alternative proven systems avail. but then again, it's your money so it's your choice and I respect that. Like I said, I sincerely hope they will serve your purpose well. I'm not excited as I can care less bout the Hans, my issue was the manner and tone u came at me when I was only trying to clarify my point. The the part bout buying cheap panels really got me as by making that statement you basically missed the main point of the discussion is it's under powered and the cost per watt does not justify the price. Come one, I already said I'm just making these info and observations avail. to everyone per my experiences since I've already invested a lot of time and resources into it. What u they do with the info is up to them. Why would I be concern if Hans listened to my advice our not. I just see no point in doing something and not getting the max. return from it since u've already invested the time and resources. I also thought efficiency is the ultimate goal of everything cause I've never heard anyone that tries his/her best to get as least as possible out of anything they do. Again, good luck with them bud. Hope they work out for u. Can we please let this dog die in peace now. We've been beating the crap out of it for a while now and it's starting to bloat and stinky now. bud.

DCobeen said:

i made the lines myself bought T connectors and used safty pin to punch a hole every 1/2 inch. i also made my air bubble clone tray also. i suggest doing just 1 plant maybe 2 and transplanting is easy.

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Gonna buy the parts needed later. Cool.

monkeychief said:

Gonna buy the parts needed later. Cool.

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i dont buy airstones anymore i had 5 fish tanks i grew discus and eels. airstones break down to easy but airline tubing doesnt. order the black line then algae wont grow inside the line i have clear but gonna change it all later.

use stainless steel washer to hold the line down this is the bottom of my clone machine

Looks like you need a bigger pot. Those roots look healthy but they are starting to get root bound.

DCobeen said:

are you in usa? i roll my own cigs use pipe tobacco organic so no chemicals and yes i taste the difference. F the Pharmacies. money is all they care about.

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I have been down to the Southern states many times and have relatives who grew their own tobacco... The first time I tried it was like WOW... I have since given up that habit many many moons ago... Most of our illness is directly related to what we eat and the lack of what we do. Going for a walk in the park is a lot healthier than taking some pill. If you look at the major illness in the US the majority of them is due to bad diet and lack of exercise and stress.... Stepping of the soap box...

Bottom line.. nobody denies that 90% of the leds are made in china. What I care about is the company who sells them being based in the states. That way if my panel screws up it's their job to replace it. I don't want to have to call a chinese based company and deal with the headaches of getting a panel fixed or replaced.

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jartlow said:

Bottom line.. nobody denies that 90% of the leds are made in china. What I care about is the company who sells them being based in the states. That way if my panel screws up it's their job to replace it. I don't want to have to call a chinese based company and deal with the headaches of getting a panel fixed or replaced.

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Valid point as common sense will dictate that, but in my experience the chinese companies are actually quicker, with better service. This might sound hard to believe, but in reality most of these so-called name-brands are usually under staffed due to the cost of labor. Also since they're the actual factory, they can better tech support with parts readily on hand. If u don't believe me, try emailing an inquiry to both astateside and a chinese company and see which one responds to u first as long as u give them a lead lime since they're 15 hours ahead of us. I think if we can get someone in the audience that has any kind of chinese factory service experience to come forward and verify this because I'm very confident on this after buying over 30 panels from more than 10 domestic and foreign companies. I don't want to sound like I'm blowing smoke but I'm confident enough to say it. The standard policy is usually with US based companies is that they will have u send the panel back to them and then they will turn around and send it back to china for servicing hence the extra down time. Please also keep in mind that some of the bigger factories now have offices and ware-house in most of the major markets in US, UK, and Aus. that they ship from often throwing in free shipping. All of this u can verify yourself unless anyone in the audience wants to verify this. Don't get me wrong, I started out buying all-american brand-names in the beginning and slowly wised up after learning that these so-called american panels are really just chinese made imports that u can get directly from their factory. U have to realize that only half a dozen actually designed or had part in it and assembling stateside. All of these fears and rumors are started by the US companies to intimidate potential buyers into buying from the.. And for those who think I only buy cheap stuff, I bought 2 Blackdog's biggest mutts at one time so I don't think I only buy cheap stuff amongst HGL, GLH Spectra's. The reason why I'm making this info avail. is for people who are just starting out or are on a limited budget or just providing their own meds instead of profit. The other reason is I also found out thru the years of how, where, and who they bought it from and went directly to the source especially since the warranty was the same. I also want to point out how amazingly reliable this tech is from my past experience.

DCobeen said:

i dont buy airstones anymore i had 5 fish tanks i grew discus and eels. airstones break down to easy but airline tubing doesnt. order the black line then algae wont grow inside the line i have clear but gonna change it all later.

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I agree. Air-stones buried in soil is a recipe for disaster. The air-stones clog by themselves due to algae or nute build-up at times themselves so burying them in some kind of media can't be good. Thanks for the tips. Got the parts will install them tomorrow.

I really, REALLY highly doubt that Area51, Apache, or Hans would be shipping their panels off to china to get repaired....lol

Where am I said:

Looks like you need a bigger pot. Those roots look healthy but they are starting to get root bound.

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this is air injection soil. they are not even close to being root bound. i can go to harvest if i want. but i like to let them have a bigger pot so they dont tip over as easy. I will transplant when i put them into flower room. i have 7 ill have to transplant in a month.

jartlow said:

Bottom line.. nobody denies that 90% of the leds are made in china. What I care about is the company who sells them being based in the states. That way if my panel screws up it's their job to replace it. I don't want to have to call a chinese based company and deal with the headaches of getting a panel fixed or replaced.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-N900A using Rollitup mobile app

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Pretty much everything is made in China! When it comes to buying the product off eBay and it is from China then you can be utmost reassured that the quality will be bad so this is why most people stick with hydro stores as they can test out the quality and know that they are getting what they paid for.

ilyaas123 said:

Pretty much everything is made in China! When it comes to buying the product off eBay and it is from China then you can be utmost reassured that the quality will be bad so this is why most people stick with hydro stores as they can test out the quality and know that they are getting what they paid for.

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Actually, I have Chinese panels and did have a problem and it was very quick and simple to get it resolved. I don't know if it would be that way in every case, but it certainly was in mine. What I have found is, If I am a bit flexible in how things are resolved, it's every bit as good of a deal as I would've gotten from buying locally.

Even "big name" lights are generally made in China. More and more businesses outsource their products and even support. It is genuinely a worldwide marketplace now.


I even heard of a company the other day that marked their products as made in the USA. And they are. But with all of the pieces, 100%, purchased from China. LOL


Chinese companies that except PayPal can generally be trusted. They don't want to lose the ability to except PayPal because of an unhappy customer who they refused to assist. Again that's kind of the gym rally, and not necessarily a truism for everybody.


MonkeyChief is dead on the money with what he says about Chinese companies.

I hate when people try to talk about their equipment just to justify their purchase. Also when they act like they know their stuff then spell things like "if they except paypal" instead of accept.. like I get it, spelling doesn't mean you can or cannot grow, but it does make you seem a little less educated.

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Hahaha, exactly Jartlow. Another thing to keep in mind is these Chinese LED companies flood forums with self-proclaimed stories greatness and excellent customer service(we except paypal!)

YOU GET WHAT YOU PAY FOR, NOBODY IS DENYING THAT CHINESE LED PANELS DO/DO NOT WORK, NOBODY IS MAKING CLAIMS TO HOW EFFECTIVE THEY ARE, AND YES WE UNDERSTAND THAT EVEN BRAND NAME NON-CHINESE LED PANELS USE COMPONENTS THAT COME FROM CHINA.

I can buy a Chinese ATV for $4000, or I can stick with my Yamaha for $8000.....hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm

DCobeen said:

this is air injection soil. they are not even close to being root bound. i can go to harvest if i want. but i like to let them have a bigger pot so they dont tip over as easy. I will transplant when i put them into flower room. i have 7 ill have to transplant in a month.

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I just went by observation because the looked like they were wrapping around on the outside as if they were following the sides of the container.