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 phychotron
Medicated
Registered: 02/17/11
Posts: 1,995
Loc: Earth (mostly) 
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Alright, I heard the calling. The thing with LED's is that its easy to buy crap. The market seems to be getting better, but they're are still a lot of low end stuff out there. I use the brand Advanced LED, their Diamond Series light  has been good to me so far. I've tried the Blackstar LED's (which I'd say are about the same as the one's you posted, in terms of quality and workmanship) which are suppose to be the best cheap, but I've got a few I'm trying to get rid of, as soon as I can get some more DS's. They do produce bud, but its stretched out more, smaller nugs and slower to mature (by a week or two.) There is another brand that has recently been doing pretty decent, GrowBlu, is a little cheaper, but I've yet to try them. They seem like a safe bet on a few of their lights though.
A lot of it has to do with budget, how much your willing to spend, the size area, etc. Each brand has a different intensity and footprint, so some lights can grow super big buds, but only in a small focused area, others might grow medium buds over a much larger area with less penetration. Which also makes grow style a factor when selecting a light, SOG, tall plants, etc.
By 3 square foot, do you mean a 3'x3' (9 square feet) or a 1'x3'? Its a huge difference in light selection. And you will need adequate air flow, as they will still heat a sealed area. The heat difference is in how HID radiates IR everywhere the light touches, and it is absorbed by the surface and plants, whereas LED exhaust the heat upward into the air. You do still have some heat coming from the light itself, but considerably less. If you don't suck the hot air out you will get heat problems.
Unfortunately there is no universal buying guide, you need to fit your LED's to your specific area.
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Any help given is for educational purposes only. Its your responsibility not to break any applicable laws
 Bamboo Bongs I make | Perfect Dry and Cure | Grapegod under LED
“Human beings, vegetables, or cosmic dust, we all dance to a mysterious tune intoned in the distance by an invisible player.” ~ Albert Einstein
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phychotron
Medicated
Registered: 02/17/11
Posts: 1,995
Loc: Earth (mostly)
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 Re: switching to LED lights  [Re: wes]
#684447 - 09/07/13 10:08 AM (11 years, 6 months ago) |
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The DS100 covers a core of 2'x2.5, its got a good footprint for that sized area. I've never used just a single 100w fixture so it's hard to say exactly how one will do production wise, but it looks like you'll be fine, maybe supplement the sides with some T5 or CFL's if its not enough.
For a 40" tall section I would go SOG or scrog to get the most out of it and not worry about any height requirements. The DS400 needs to be 18-24" away from the plants to avoid bleaching the tips, but the DS100's have yet to have that problem at closer range(6-12"). With Blackstar fixtures the plants can touch the light and usually be fine.
You can hold onto the lights all day without any burning. Remember the heat from LED's is less because the heat goes into the air, which is already being moved out, Whereas HID emits IR light that heats every surface it hits and then has to be cooled off by the flowing air. You do get some heat from the light itself, but its considerably less--you still need airflow through your tent.
One fixture *almost* does not produce any heat. Your small area is going to counter that.
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Any help given is for educational purposes only. Its your responsibility not to break any applicable laws
Bamboo Bongs I make | Perfect Dry and Cure | Grapegod under LED
“Human beings, vegetables, or cosmic dust, we all dance to a mysterious tune intoned in the distance by an invisible player.” ~ Albert Einstein
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phychotron
Medicated
Registered: 02/17/11
Posts: 1,995
Loc: Earth (mostly)
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Re: switching to LED lights [Re: wes]
#684554 - 09/08/13 01:44 PM (11 years, 6 months ago) |
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Your going to need air exchange at night when the light is off to avoid any humidity problems, but otherwise the door open and a small fan should work fine, but you'd have to test it to make sure its adequate.
An oscillating fan is usually recommend for the plants as well, if you get a small tower fan, they take up about the size of a 2-liter bottle; even with a space that small there's almost always a little room between the plants, but you'd be able to keep it on the outside in the day if you go that route. I recommend this style fan to every grower, as it does not take extra space to oscillate, and the tall column of air covers more vertical space.
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Any help given is for educational purposes only. Its your responsibility not to break any applicable laws
Bamboo Bongs I make | Perfect Dry and Cure | Grapegod under LED
“Human beings, vegetables, or cosmic dust, we all dance to a mysterious tune intoned in the distance by an invisible player.” ~ Albert Einstein
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phychotron
Medicated
Registered: 02/17/11
Posts: 1,995
Loc: Earth (mostly)
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Re: switching to LED lights [Re: wes]
#687346 - 10/03/13 02:15 AM (11 years, 6 months ago) |
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Awesome, can't wait to see it in action.
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Any help given is for educational purposes only. Its your responsibility not to break any applicable laws
Bamboo Bongs I make | Perfect Dry and Cure | Grapegod under LED
“Human beings, vegetables, or cosmic dust, we all dance to a mysterious tune intoned in the distance by an invisible player.” ~ Albert Einstein
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phychotron
Medicated
Registered: 02/17/11
Posts: 1,995
Loc: Earth (mostly)
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Re: switching to LED lights [Re: geokills]
#687605 - 10/04/13 01:54 PM (11 years, 6 months ago) |
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They have Diamond LED imitators on amazon. There was a dispute with their first manufacturer about the quality so they switched, and the original manufacturer was all pissed. I have some of the first fixtures and half had power supply issues, they soldered the wire, but just barely enough to reach the component, instead of using the quick clips like they should. I'm sure there were other issues that I'm not aware of. I've never done anything definitive to test them, but I could swear they're not as good as the newer manufacturer.
They look the same, and are even made by the people who used to make them, but they're not the same light. Thats the problem with all these LED's, the cases are all identical, but the components are not. And not being quality controlled by an American company who's importing them.
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Any help given is for educational purposes only. Its your responsibility not to break any applicable laws
Bamboo Bongs I make | Perfect Dry and Cure | Grapegod under LED
“Human beings, vegetables, or cosmic dust, we all dance to a mysterious tune intoned in the distance by an invisible player.” ~ Albert Einstein
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phychotron
Medicated
Registered: 02/17/11
Posts: 1,995
Loc: Earth (mostly)
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Re: switching to LED lights [Re: desu]
#687781 - 10/06/13 02:27 AM (11 years, 6 months ago) |
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100w is for a small grow area, look at the core coverage area for it to see if it will suite your size, but also notice that the watts/sq-ft are the lowest for the 100. You will get better bud than with just cfl's, but adding those to the side will help at that low of wattage. You can always get another later should it not be enough for your area. It really depends on a few things, size of the grow area, plant size/style, etc. Right now there is no universal buyers guide for LED's.
whats so questionable about free shipping? I've never paid for it, Fedex Express'd. Not sure what they're doing now.
Id like to see what Cali Light Works can do in person, but so far I've only heard good things from the people who own them. Thats with the flowering models, not the 100 and 200w veg lights.
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Any help given is for educational purposes only. Its your responsibility not to break any applicable laws
Bamboo Bongs I make | Perfect Dry and Cure | Grapegod under LED
“Human beings, vegetables, or cosmic dust, we all dance to a mysterious tune intoned in the distance by an invisible player.” ~ Albert Einstein
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phychotron
Medicated
Registered: 02/17/11
Posts: 1,995
Loc: Earth (mostly)
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Re: switching to LED lights [Re: desu]
#687806 - 10/06/13 02:57 PM (11 years, 6 months ago) |
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Those look good, especially for autoflowers. That guy has his light very high up, I usually put mine about 18-24" above the tops.
I've heard good things about Blackdog but I'm not a fan of that super compact single fixture design they use. One of the benefits of LED is that you have the lights spread out and get an even canopy. Small grows don't really count though.
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Any help given is for educational purposes only. Its your responsibility not to break any applicable laws
Bamboo Bongs I make | Perfect Dry and Cure | Grapegod under LED
“Human beings, vegetables, or cosmic dust, we all dance to a mysterious tune intoned in the distance by an invisible player.” ~ Albert Einstein
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phychotron
Medicated
Registered: 02/17/11
Posts: 1,995
Loc: Earth (mostly)
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Re: switching to LED lights [Re: desu]
#687862 - 10/06/13 10:07 PM (11 years, 5 months ago) |
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www.californialightworks.com
Its hard to say about the progrow without testing it. They dont say anything about their spectrum. Maybe? I've never heard of them.
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Any help given is for educational purposes only. Its your responsibility not to break any applicable laws
Bamboo Bongs I make | Perfect Dry and Cure | Grapegod under LED
“Human beings, vegetables, or cosmic dust, we all dance to a mysterious tune intoned in the distance by an invisible player.” ~ Albert Einstein
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phychotron
Medicated
Registered: 02/17/11
Posts: 1,995
Loc: Earth (mostly)
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Re: switching to LED lights [Re: desu]
#688051 - 10/07/13 10:36 PM (11 years, 5 months ago) |
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if you go cheap your not going to get those dense buds like you want.
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Any help given is for educational purposes only. Its your responsibility not to break any applicable laws
Bamboo Bongs I make | Perfect Dry and Cure | Grapegod under LED
“Human beings, vegetables, or cosmic dust, we all dance to a mysterious tune intoned in the distance by an invisible player.” ~ Albert Einstein
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phychotron
Medicated
Registered: 02/17/11
Posts: 1,995
Loc: Earth (mostly)
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Re: switching to LED lights [Re: desu]
#688102 - 10/08/13 11:48 AM (11 years, 5 months ago) |
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Are you sure that they are using 90w? or is that the calculated number, and they're really pulling 45w? Just because they charge you a lot to keep up with the competition doesn't make it a good light.
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Any help given is for educational purposes only. Its your responsibility not to break any applicable laws
Bamboo Bongs I make | Perfect Dry and Cure | Grapegod under LED
“Human beings, vegetables, or cosmic dust, we all dance to a mysterious tune intoned in the distance by an invisible player.” ~ Albert Einstein
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phychotron
Medicated
Registered: 02/17/11
Posts: 1,995
Loc: Earth (mostly)
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Re: switching to LED lights [Re: phychotron]
#688106 - 10/08/13 12:13 PM (11 years, 5 months ago) |
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The problem with the generic lights is that there is no quality control, when you buy from someone who's importing them on a larger scale then you are more likely to get the higher quality inner components. The name and model of the diodes doesn't matter if they are not using the upper "bin" diodes.
They manufacture thousands of these diodes, test them then sort them by intensity. Its called the bin, so you want the top bin or close to that to get your money's worth, as the lower bins run hotter and less intense. But they have the same name. A friend told me thats how they label processors, the higher models are the exact same processor, but it is one of the one's that runs cooler than the rest. So like I have the Intel i5-750, the 750 is like the bin designator, but they control the processor speed in order to operate at proper temperature. With LED's you just get less intensity and wasted electricity.
You also need to consider spectrum, triband is pretty small. Few have good solid spectrums.
Growblu seems like they have a decent light, this one covers a 2x3 area. Probably the one I would recommend second to Advanced. I've never used it, but it does pull more wattage and has 20% more diodes--it may be better, I dunno but its hard to switch brands.
http://growblu.com/120x3w-apollo-led-grow-light
How big did you say your grow area is?
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Any help given is for educational purposes only. Its your responsibility not to break any applicable laws
Bamboo Bongs I make | Perfect Dry and Cure | Grapegod under LED
“Human beings, vegetables, or cosmic dust, we all dance to a mysterious tune intoned in the distance by an invisible player.” ~ Albert Einstein
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phychotron
Medicated
Registered: 02/17/11
Posts: 1,995
Loc: Earth (mostly)
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Re: switching to LED lights [Re: phrostbyte]
#688751 - 10/11/13 01:46 PM (11 years, 5 months ago) |
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Watch out for that style of daisy chain, as they can shock the heck out of you when the end cap is not on one end. They made both sides male for some dumb reason.
That is an E-Shine light (ES- model numbers), the people who Advanced LED had make the Diamond series at first but dropped as a supplier due to quality issues. My brother had to return a bunch and when the fans broke on half of them he just said fuck it and gave them to me. They needed repairs because they didn't spend the money on the quick connectors for the fans and used just enough wire so that it would barely reach the power supply. Its been almost 2 years, so maybe they've figured things out by now, but I don't trust E-Shine at all.
I think a tri-band is a bit too narrow for best results. Mine even have a few green diodes because plants use small amounts of it. Strange that they would use 610nm orange instead of 630nm red like you want, other than maybe diode costs. Thats also only about 175-200watts, not 300w.
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Any help given is for educational purposes only. Its your responsibility not to break any applicable laws
Bamboo Bongs I make | Perfect Dry and Cure | Grapegod under LED
“Human beings, vegetables, or cosmic dust, we all dance to a mysterious tune intoned in the distance by an invisible player.” ~ Albert Einstein
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phychotron
Medicated
Registered: 02/17/11
Posts: 1,995
Loc: Earth (mostly)
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Re: switching to LED lights [Re: desu]
#688843 - 10/12/13 10:12 AM (11 years, 5 months ago) |
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IR is just like light but its beyond your visual range, you'll be fine with a few IR in there.
120x3w is not saying very much, who makes it? link...
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Any help given is for educational purposes only. Its your responsibility not to break any applicable laws
Bamboo Bongs I make | Perfect Dry and Cure | Grapegod under LED
“Human beings, vegetables, or cosmic dust, we all dance to a mysterious tune intoned in the distance by an invisible player.” ~ Albert Einstein
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phychotron
Medicated
Registered: 02/17/11
Posts: 1,995
Loc: Earth (mostly)
|
Re: switching to LED lights [Re: desu]
#688977 - 10/12/13 06:35 PM (11 years, 5 months ago) |
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Awesome, that is probably the first brand I would try if I were to switch.
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Any help given is for educational purposes only. Its your responsibility not to break any applicable laws
Bamboo Bongs I make | Perfect Dry and Cure | Grapegod under LED
“Human beings, vegetables, or cosmic dust, we all dance to a mysterious tune intoned in the distance by an invisible player.” ~ Albert Einstein
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