Hello all. I am trying to settle on how to get the best bang for my buck out of a 4x4 sized tent. I would like to go LED but they are expensive and a lot of folks don' t think that they can do it like the HPS. Can anyone here offer advice on which LED panel to go with for flowering a 4x4 tent?

Thanks.

Need a min of 800 watts (50w/sqft is the least I'd want). No Chinese crap. 5watt LED"S would be least I'd want.

Growers on here with the CLW SS880 seem to get pretty good results.

rkymtnman wrote:Need a min of 800 watts (50w/sqft is the least I'd want). No Chinese crap. 5watt LED"S would be least I'd want.

Growers on here with the CLW SS880 seem to get pretty good results.

The SS880w is still just ~660w actual draw and a little light for a full 4x4 tent, imho, for flowering cannabis if they want top-shelf results. If they're willing to sacrifice a little they can stretch it a bit...but I wouldn't. I'd just use less than the full tent or find a bigger light.


YMMV...

Personally I think the comparison is apples and oranges - LED use is a different lifestyle almost - it takes longer, your procedures change, etc. but its cooler and greener. So it's just different. For example I am considering using the light mover in a 4x4 tent just to get additional light angles on the plants by moving it maybe 6 inches one way or the other. On the other hand, throw up an HPS and it just works. The only issue is do you have enough money to cool the lights and pay the light bill for what you are going to produce and do you care that you're dumping mercury in a landflll 3 times a year and wasting half the energy you're using? If not, run with that and experiment with LED like I am (CLW 880) on the side. I have a 750 watt HPS that I'll be flowering in parallel with the CLW 880. I don't think anyone should just "change" because unfortunately the jury is still out. For me, I'll know by Halloween.

I can tell you this - marketing deception is at an all time high with LED lights. Blackdog led claims to be american engineered but is in fact a chinese knockoff called half a dozen other names elsewhere for a third of the cost. I've heard good things about Lush lighting, a local hydro store sold a bunch over the last two years with no complaints. Advanced LED is another clearing house for the chinese. I am using California Light Works because they are made here, by us, for us. And so far seems to be a solid piece of equipment that just might have enough intensity to produce some decent results. Time will tell. Good Luck!

That's mostly right except I'll point out that the heat reduction by using LED and the cooling costs by using HID are minimal. As far as "green" goes, 600w of LED still uses 600w. You still have to deal with heat, even if it is slightly less.

We've found (based on many journals) that, for flowering, the SS88w is about equivalent to a 600w HID and that's about the same for any LED light with 5w diodes. When you get down below 300w the 5w LED lights start getting a slight advantage, and we also know that LED make very good veg lights.

As Luckman points out there's a LOT of hype and myth out there...some worse than others. CLW are American made and there are one or two others I believe. Watch out for wiggle-words like "Assembled in" or "Engineered in" if you're looking to avoid made in China. Avoid 1w and 3w diodes since 10w diodes are already out, especially if you plan to flower.

I disagree with a few things Luckman said. It doesn't take longer from what I've seen. And the only procedure that changes is that you'll probably need less nutes than with HPS. But you'll stiil need to control temps. My SS400 heat sinks get pretty hot and the temps would be too high in my room without exhausting it

And a light mover is not going to help the fact that you don't have enough light. Not worth the added expense. Add more light and not a mover.

rkymtnman wrote:I disagree with a few things Luckman said. It doesn't take longer from what I've seen. And the only procedure that changes is that you'll probably need less nutes than with HPS. But you'll stiil need to control temps. My SS400 heat sinks get pretty hot and the temps would be too high in my room without exhausting it

And a light mover is not going to help the fact that you don't have enough light. Not worth the added expense. Add more light and not a mover.

All true...