UFO/LED lighting

Anyone try LED lights? I just stumbled onto a article in the High Times 2009 Grow guide. Googled it and found that they cost a lot. About $450 for something that would be sized to be sufficient for a AG grow. The cost sucks, but the plus is the lower energy use, low heat emission if any (which is a big concern for my grow area) and a supposed 10,000 hour life. Some interesting articles. A 90w LED is supposed to be equal to a 400w HID or HPS type of light. Is this overkill?, just stick with 10 soft CFLs. I'm at work and thought I'd kill some time. later

I wish man, everyone ive asked they say LEDs are the WAVE of the future but they arent that great yet. I WISH that i could just throw a few pannels of LED lights around my AG but i guess its just not worth it, especially if you want to drop that much money on a ufo light

hootie233 said:

I wish man, everyone ive asked they say LEDs are the WAVE of the future but they arent that great yet.

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Yeah, I think they have since improved the performance with the addition of more spectrum of lights. Here is a link to a vendor and they have them on sale till Monday for $399. Still really pricey though.
http://www.prosourceworldwide.com/product_p/illuminator ufo.htm

90w? your better off going with the pannels either get mixed spectrum or some red and some blue. i got a buddy who is in the flowering stage of his lowryder and it turned out very dense he has got 4 mixed spec. panels

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ColdSmoke said:

90w? your better off going with the pannels either get mixed spectrum or some red and some blue. i got a buddy who is in the flowering stage of his lowryder and it turned out very dense he has got 4 mixed spec. panels

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Yo cold smoke these panels look anything like this? I was considering buying some of these, they go for kinda cheap on ebay at times.

http://cgi.ebay.com/Hydroponic-Lamp-225-LED-Grow-light-Panel-Red-Blue-Mix_W0QQitemZ390030964420QQcmdZViewItemQQptZHydroponics_Seed_Starting?hash=item390030964420&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14&_trkparms=66%3A2|65%3A1|39%3A1|240%3A1318

Dude if you read the HT 09 guide then why are you asking these questions. MH yielded 10% less than UFO and hps 15% more than UFO. They definitly work. The only upside is that you are much much more likely to not get caught. No heat and only 90watts. Give it 2 years, and it will be cheaper, not necc. as good as hps. But noone will be getting caught, it will be a big step forward.

I just reread that the beginning of my post, it sounds abrasive, i dont mean to come across that way, i was just wondering.

haha no its cool i really just would like some of those cheap ones and it would make my life easier

hootie233 said:

...i really just would like some of those cheap ones and it would make my life easier

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Remember though, you do get what you pay for. Not all LED "solutions" actually solve issues. The panel in the ebay link runs at less than 14W/225 diodes and that's like 0.06W per glowing thing!

LED lamps really only get close to replacing other lights when the output per diode gets above 5W or 10W per glowing thing.

Check out what Theoreme Innovation is doing in Canada. Granted the money they want for one is sweat-inducing, but the one of which I speak draws 330W and pretty much replaces a 600W HPS.

Almost all of the side-by-side grows are using the UFO which had really good marketing......but which is lame--the reason they started out selling for like 600 now you can find them for 200. 90 1-watt leds is about the same as a 90W CFL.

BTW I veg under CFL for those tight-ass internodes and then flower under the LED on a mover (and a couple CFLs as supplementary photon suppliers.)