led light set up

[ohigho]

Mr. and Mrs. Z,

I have always been a fan of your shows, keep up the great work. I love how much fun it sounds like you guys have when you do your podcasts. anyways, I am sure that some where back in the shows you might have covered a segment on led grow lights. more in particular, have you heard real info on this new item called the "UFO LED". i have looked on many forums and found very little info as far as tests go. The manufacturer say it puts out more lumens that a 400 watt but less than 600, with only using 90 volts of electricity. and that it only usues the most useful source of light for plants red and blue. can you do me a favor and just look at it and see if it seems like a good product?

if every thing they say is true, this would help alot of people out with security issues.

long time listener, first time poster.

oHIGHo

[Stond_Face]

Yeah...I'm itchin to get the straight scoop on these also.

In his last show Z said that he thinks that LED grow lights need to mature a bit longer. somthing like that.

[gratefuldude]

yeah, leds are very new, not too much experimentation has happened with them but Im sure some one is on it, its just the matter of time. I have heard, maybe its a rumor, that LEDs are not the best for the flowering stages.. i have no idea though, i heard that through a friend of a friend. I would love to hear Zandor's opinion on these

[en_lasnuves]

Well, see you gotta understand the theory behind this LED light system that is coming into the grow world. See they are claming that by usign a pure Blue Light spectrum (~465nm) Used for growth mixed with Red light Spectrum (~660nm) Used fror Flowering, will make the perfect ligth for Plant, since these are the spectrums that the plant uses for each of the stages in their life. Now i have been doing some crazy ass research on plants and light spectrums and stuff like that. Alot of the information that these LED light vendors say matches what researchers find.
Now these vendors claim that when using a MH or HPS light, the plant only uses about 15-35% Max. of the light emited by these sysems. In the other hand Plants use up, they cliam, 95-99% of the light emited by the LED lights, thus the reason why you can use less wattage. So some cliam to be able to compare a 150W LED to a 400-600W MH/HPS, depending on the vendor but i have found that average claims fall somewhere along those numbers.
I believe Señor Z did coment on this Spectrum issue on one of his earlier podcasts. I believe he said something about the blue spectrum beeing the growth and the orange/red spectrum is used for Flowering thus the reason we use MH for Veg and HPS for Flower. I might be wrong. Anyway, these LED lights are constructed of .8W bulbs, how many? Depending on the wattage you want. They put in about 1/2 or 1/4 or 3/4 of the bulbs, depending on your preference, of these bulbs that emit Blue light or Red ligth at their wavelengths, (blue~465nm, Red~660nm) and well they are said to be working with hydro tomatoes so i mean if its tomatoe tomato you know what i mean. So yeah it looks good. Claims of this becoming the future of indoor growing are floating around but yeah I agree with Z, it needs to develop/evolve alittle more. So yeah any input from Z will be nice.

[Mrs.Z]

Mr. and Mrs. Z,

I have always been a fan of your shows, keep up the great work. I love how much fun it sounds like you guys have when you do your podcasts. anyways, I am sure that some where back in the shows you might have covered a segment on led grow lights. more in particular, have you heard real info on this new item called the "UFO LED". i have looked on many forums and found very little info as far as tests go. The manufacturer say it puts out more lumens that a 400 watt but less than 600, with only using 90 volts of electricity. and that it only usues the most useful source of light for plants red and blue. can you do me a favor and just look at it and see if it seems like a good product?

if every thing they say is true, this would help alot of people out with security issues.

long time listener, first time poster.

oHIGHo

Hey everyone who has posted here;

I just wanted to let you know that Zandor and I have had extensive discussions about this topic. Our biggest problem is that we CANNOT FIND ANY!!! They aren't out in the stores yet!!

We do plan on ordering some via the internet and possibly using them in our new grow project for this season. That is if we can afford them, and if they are available. Zandor is as interested in this subject as everyone else...

Stay tuned and see where it takes us this season.

[en_lasnuves]

Señor/Señorita Z,

If I may siggest something, I have found that LED lights on e-bay give about a 15-70% savings depending on the seller. Many companies are auctioning off the LED ligths. I have been trying to get a hold of a couple 90W but I have trouble registering on ebay. But anywho, thought I would share this info.

Thanks,

In_daclouds

[vince noir rocknroll star]

there is also a grow diary on the uk420site detailing led growing ,looks mighty interesting ,also theres a free booklet that comes with the daily mirror (i say booklet its one of those mail order gadget and stupid item catalogues,basically junk mail)that has new bayonet fitting 20 led all purpose lights to fit household fittings ,not checked the spec yet but it is a single unit that houses 20 leds

the company thats selling the lights is called uk bright life ...worth a google

[sam101]

Interesting stuff but from what I can gather a bit over exaggerated. Read the beneath query and follow the link for the gen.

http://forums.gardenweb.com/forums/load/lights/msg1113030716653.html


"It's a bit pricy, you can't replace the bulb after it's rated 50,000 hours (at 70% lumen deprciation according to CREE) but the electricity cost savings would just cover the initial cost with a little bit to spare.

A 400W HID is costing me about $20/month in electricity and about another $20/year for bulb replacement + $250 overhead(setup) cost...
That's about $1,820 over 7 years (+250 overhead which may still work for a long time)

125W LED is about $7/month (electricity) with $600 overhead cost, but need to be replaced after about 7 years, for a total of $943 over 7 years.

They problem is... can it really replace a 400W HID like it claims? Since they don't specify what kind of HID, I think the worst HID grow light should probably be assumed (Older model 400W MH bulb with magnetic ballast?).

Also, how do you think it would compare with any other modern lights? Any thoughts?"

[en_lasnuves]

sounds promosing, Ohh yeah and that 100W LED you can get on e-bay for about $400 there you save yourself about $200 from regular price.

so yeah well acording to the reports I have read about 85% say the same thing, that LED's are the way to go if you want to save money and get the same yield as a 400-600W MH/HPS. I have not heard of any personal experiences just things that manufacturer's and distributors say about the lights.

[Zandor]

I have found a few I would like to try as a show. The cost is not too bad but what I want to do will cost a little scratch. So with the other show going on and build a new room from scratch that is first priority.

There will be a show on the LED lights in a few months or so but it will be this season for sure.

Unless they turn out crap and junk before I get to do the test and the show. We have the plant count left on our medical cards so I just need to build a seperate area for the test grow in the veg room of the project grow.

Stick around, we both may learn something.

Peace

Z

[Hudsonrulez]

a grower friend of mine bought a UFO LED lamp and it burnt out its first month. I'd be waiting a more years and see where leds are.

[sancho23]

this is a bit off topic, but I will say that anyone who is experienced with stock investing, researching good companies, etc should start looking at LED companies! They are going to replace the light bulb, including the compact flourescents that are being pushed so heavily right now. Mass LED tech is not as affordable and available right now as it will be in a few years, the prices are dropping by the year. They only used to get a few colors from LED, but now they've developed the technology to get millions, and many wealthy people are switching to LED in their homes which will be the biggest application once the technology becomes widely available! No heat emission, very low electricity usage, endless applications, it's all there for the savvy investor to make a killing! If I knew a damn thing about stocks(or had the time to start learning) then I'd be on it like flies on. . .well, you know!

thems my two cents.

[Hudsonrulez]

funny you should mention that sancho I'm actually looking to put some money into stocks. Maybe wait a year though till the markets cool. but your right. LED's are the future. I haved worked in the tv industry and LED lights are being used in set's, stages all across the globe.

But getting the sun's spectrum down is a bit more tricky. I've seen it been done. I just don't trust the technology yet. But this will be the ultimate weapon for growers. Almost zero heat and you can have a few running and make it look like an ordinary house hold.

Think about it like this. Do you remember the first cd burner you bought? I bought mine in 2000 and it wasn't all that good. My second one? I still use it till this day.

Everything evolves.

[sancho23]

yeah, there is a whole lot of people working in this field to develop the technology and they are very excited about it! I subscribed to LED Magazine which is free online, lots of technical stuff in there but there is some good stuff regular folks can understand! If only I had the time and opportunity I'd get right into this business!!!