LED Grow Light Forum

hi just a quick script and a little about moi! sooooo for a number of years (15)ive used rockwool a drip system and hid. recently I've bought two prakasa 300 led lights moved from rockwool to air pots and coco I've made the change due to electricity prices and also I've researched led and I like the look of them, the reason ive shed the rockwool is ive seen unreal results from these air pots and am eager to have a bite of these apples (so to speak lol), I fully understand that I cant grow as big as I would with hid lighting soooo I was thinking after they come out of my ezz cloner 7 days on an 18 hour then I was ( am) going to flick them straight to a 12/12 hang my leds 2ft from plant tops and see what happens the cuts I am using are barnys farm blue cheese I've been using this strain for a long time and know it well so know what im wanting to see, in short I am excited to be here and hope when I start ( rooms set up and cuts will be rooted Thursday latest) if I have questions there will be support here for me. to add I grow none profit I grow for myself I love it from the start, middle through to the end I think indoor growing is the mutts nutts, football and mma flicks some peoples switches indoor growing is my hobby (with benefits) and it flicks mine

Welcome to the forums!

High density SOG (clone to flower with no veg) is probably the method that will produce the best yields with LED. How many are you planting per square foot? What size grow space are you planning to cover with those 300w lights? I'd keep it under 12sqft but it's up to you.

People like pictures too...


SME

sme glad its you who has replied to me , I like your honest no nonsense advice, ok enough ego stroking area is 6ft by 3ft 5 inch, 8ft high, plan is to put 24 ladies in 12 10ltr air pots and flick over to 12/12 straight away, each pot sits in a plastic wash bowl and are easy to move around if need be, don't know if you have heard of prakasa if not id value your opinion if you could get round to researching them. ive got to be honest I love pics to bare with me there on there way ( not took any yet

found this review on the 180 watt version of prakasa sme,what dya think? Excellent delivery, next working day. The product arrived very well packed. I find myself impressed with the sturdy build quality of this item. Must admit that I find the specification a little confusing though. According to the spec. it contains 112 3 watt leds which should give 336 watts although it is quoted at 180, little more than half, so the leds are appreciably underrun which should give them a long and easy life. Without explanation though this is a little confusing as is the power requirement. According to the spec. the unit operates from 85 to 264 volts @ 0.5-1 amp. but: 1 amp @ 85 volts = 85 watts, 0.5 amps @ 264 volts = 132 watts. The figures just do not add up. A more meaningful specification is clearly needed. The actual measurements are:- @241 volts current is 0.74 amps = 178 watts, pretty well spot on.

I appreciate the cool running of the light which means the lamp can be as little as 50mm above the plants. We are advised to minimise the distance between lamp and plants but doing this brings the question of light distribution. The distribution cannot be varied as can HID with an adjustable reflector; with the LED the reflectors are fixed so the nearer to the plants the lamp is the more uneven the light becomes above the plant canopy. Some experience needs to be gained to find the best height. It is claimed that this lamp is comparable to 600-800 watts of HID but I doubt this, it is certainly the equal of 400 watts and look at the energy savings. I also doubt the claimed coverage of 1-1.5 sq. metres, certainly not on the grounds of light output but on account of the distribution pattern.

It is early days as yet but so far the results are very encouraging with rapid growth and healthy looking plants. Currently flowering plants are under the lamp and are showing good buds but the flowers are yet to open. We shall see. So encouraging in fact that I have purchased a second unit to be mounted alongside the first to overcome the distribution issue. With so little heat generated and such a meager power requirement they can be run together and still consume little more energy than even a 250 watt HID. Notwithstanding the criticisms outlined above I am convinced that this is the way to go and am well pleased with my purchases.

I looked at their web site and I'm not too impressed. It looks like every other imported chinese light other than the mixed diodes. They mixed the weaker 3w diodes with the better 5w diodes to save money and the total efficiency is horrible. They don't say how big of an area their lights are supposed to cover but I wouldn't go over 30"x30" for each one. (I'm metric challenged, you'll have to convert ) Their claim that their 300w LED is the same as a 600w HID is bullshit. I'd say it's closer to a 250W HPS, imho.

They show a picture of the light ona Kill-a-watt measuring 300w actual draw. The number of amps depends on the voltage. Either way, you have two 300w LED lights and to get the most out of them you'll need to keep the plants short and keep your watts per square foot reasonable (I like 50+) too. I think 6'x3' is a bit too big for two of those lights. I'd go with 2.5'x5' (decent) or 2'x4' (excellent) personally. I'm also not a fan of two plants in a pot idea. YMMV...

okies so ive taken what you said on board and had a change of plan!!!!!! da da daaaaa!!!!! got to be honest too I was quite disappointed with your reply after you checked the web site But I fully respect your experience and your points (which were all valid) anywayssss ive opted for 12 ladies in 10 ltr air pots and shelled out for 2 more lights (ouch), ive decided if im going to test drive these leds might aswel do them justice (me hopes) and do a veg as normal then flick over to 12/12. so the ball is rolling today ive moved cuts from ezz clone to small rockwool blocks and intern transplanted them into there new pots and new home!! decided on leaving them on a 24 for roughly a week then drop 2 hours a day until I reach the magic number(12/12) 1 thing I will add is the mother I took the little ladies off was totally abused i left next to nothing on her sooo while ive been waiting for the cuts to sprout roots i decided to put the mother under an led and in all fairness WOW she has bounced back like i couldn't believe new growth every where and looking really well so well indeed i felt like doctor Frankenstein, pics are coming sme patience is a virtue

Honest opinions are the only kind I know how to give. I'm not sure why you'd be disappointed (since you asked) unless you thought the light was better than I think it is. Do you disagree with any of it?

Let's see what happens with 4 lights in a 6x3.
1200w / 18 sqft = about 67w/sqft which is excellent but I'm not sure about the shape. If you put 4 in a row it'll cover the 6' length easily but not the 3' depth. If you run 2 rows of 2 then you cover the 3' depth easily but not the 6' length. Are you stuck with that 3x6 shape or is it flexible?

Feel free to start a journal in the Grow Journal section when you have pictures...and you're ready.

ive purpose built a wooden mini room within a room so unfortunately im stuck with the size I have, there in two rows and yes its very tight but alas there in!!, please don't confuse my disappointment as a negative as ive said I respect what you have to say you wouldn't be running this show if your opinions weren't valid, (but as your signature says.......... ). as I said in my first ever post the move to led from hid was no idea off a whim ive looked into this for such a long time and at many many different makes of light (not many id say were up to scratch in uk) I think my disappointment was as you said maybe I think the lights are better than you thought they where. but k sa ra only time will truly tell my friend. I will do the journal for sure!!
and I will put 100 per cent of my free time into it ive got nothing to prove with this venture but I do feel with expense and such forth the only way to know for sure if leds can work as well as hid is to put all my knowledge (and yours-everyone who wants to help) into this project ahh lights cover 1.4 meters square forgot to tell you

Yes, I know a bit about growing even though I haven't used LED lights yet. Luckily I can still help people regarless of what kind of light they choose.

Indeed, time will tell which is why I used the word think instead of know.

I'm looking forward to checking out your journal with pictures!

sme got pics but im not computer literate , having problems resizing them any chance I could send them to you via email and you post them for me either that or send me a dummies guide to resizing pics doc ha ha