LED Grow Light Forum

Welcome to my thread, this is my first experiment with LED growing. I am still some what skeptical so part of my goal is to decide if the price tag is worth the investment over your standard HID lighting.
As stated in the agreement, I am creating a log of my use with the product, I am planning on comparing it directly to my 600 watt hps but at the moment it is still in use and do not want to make any promises just yet. For now I will be vegging some seedlings and cuts with the 400.

First impressions:
Solid unit, heavier than i thought it would be for sure. Make sure you hang it securely, you don't want it to fall as it will certainly smash whatever it lands on. I could picture a few more of these besides each other lookin pretty nice

Even in veg mode the unit is pretty damn bright, watch your eyes with these!
My killawatt meter read as follows

veg = 230w
flower = 318w
flower+UVB = 343w

As for heat output, it does create some output but as long as you have good ventilation you will be fine. No where near the heat output of a 600 hps and i'm hoping that one of the key savings will be in cooling costs.


Ill post some more pictures when i get something interesting starting to happen.

Welcome to the forums!

I think you'll find that it's a very good veg light but the 600w HPS will beat it in flower.

They must have changed the design a bit, I've seen kill-a-watt numbers that were higher than that.

You're right about heat, a 300-ish watt LED light SHOULD have less heat than a 600w HID.


SME

I feel that a properly placed 600 (with cooled hood) would have the clear advantage over an led but that's what I'm here to find out.

Heat can become and ongoing issue for some people, especially in my area.
Another point i'm interested in is quality of harvest and health of growth.


To be honest, I was about to ditch the led last minute and go get 2x 600 watt digital ballast and hood kits and keep 200$ to spare for the same price as i spent on the SS400. The LED seems to be more of a long term investment that aids in heat signature and electricity costs.
I'm just not convinced that its worth the initial investment yet. Id have a hard time spending full retail value on 1 led.

No Matter the final result, id like to thank California Lightworks for an opportunity to be part of their GFP and look forward to seeing the results.

Less of an advantage while plants are tiny, like seedlings, clones and early veg. This is due to two factors; penetration (which is easier when they're small) and spectra (the LED has a better veg spectra than HPS) but due to the sheer power of the HID, it might still beat the LED in veg but not by as much as will beat it in flower.

You'll also find the flowers will be bigger and more dense with the HID but, if you SOG, maybe slightly less so.

With reduced electricity, you'll also have reduced yield, it's a myth that lower powered LED lights will perform as well, or better, than larger HID lights even though that's what virtually every manufacturer claims. Another myth is how much area an LED will cover (w/sqft) too. Some worse than others of course...

Looking forward to your grow...

Well i thought i'd stop by and leave an update.

Ill be posting more pictures soon.
So far the plants under the light looks very healthy. I have it at roughly 20 inches away.
I just received some new clones so we will have this chamber filled up pretty quickly.
The plants grow really well right under the led, but you can easily tell than the intensity fads towards the edges.
Light has been running on veg mode so for how much power its using, i couldn't be too much happier.

uploading pictures to this forum is a pain in the butt and should be simplified to encourage more pictures.


anyhow here is my update:
My new clones arrived. They were healthy, but i think they might have gotten contaminated when i gave them a neem dunk before going in the chamber. Now some of the clones are looking like they wont make it =(
That's why i got more than I need. The ones that make it will probably recover real soon and be transplanted when ready into bigger containers. Lesson learned.

The 3 bigger plants are doing well. They seems to have growth spurts when i water them with nutrients and slow down growth in between waterings. They might be ready for bigger containers soon.

As you might have noticed i threw in 2 bubbles buckets as well, Romulan and Super trainwreck.
deepening on how fast these catch up, i might just end up flowering the 2 of these under the led and let everything else get caught up to speed else where.


I'm also excited to see my 4 seed plants doing very well. I'm hoping I will get at least one male to chuck some pollen later on.

hey ipuff,

nice looking grow so far.

one comment: are the 2 bubble buckets white in color? if so, you'll want to either paint or tape them to light proof them. if not, you'll have bigger problems to deal with later.

good luck!
RKY

Good catch RKY...