Led Lighting - GreenPassion.org - Dedicated to Medicinal Cannabis Cultivation and Education

life · #1 (**permalink**) 02-12-2008, 02:52 PM

Does any one anything about LED LIGHTING.Im planing a new grow room useing LED LIGHTING.Would like some info on this.

green_nobody · #2 (**permalink**) 02-12-2008, 05:13 PM

please use the search function - the forum hold several threads concerned with this subject.

Beside, my personal 2 cents to LEDs, today it is still toying around to grow with them as you can have the same amount of light for less money in CFLs. peace

#3 (**permalink**) 02-14-2008, 01:32 AM

Well id like to start off with the fact am no expert on lighting, however i have just done alot of my own research on LEd lighting. I also planned on makeing a grow room using Led lighting. I found some nice pros to using LED over normally used lighting sources. The pros were, much less power usage, plants use 100% of the emitted energy(where as with MH or HPS only about 20% is actually used by the plant), a mixure of red and blue led's will provide all the spectrums the plant need thus reducing cost on switching bulbs for grow and bloom cycles. also the LEDs give off very little heat or ultraviolet radiation unlike MH and HPS, makeing larger growing operations less detectable by law enforcement planes.to be honest the only real down side i found is that if u only use leds in your setup is that ull have a hard time seeing what ur doing ( : since they give off only a small visable glow to the human eye. IF there are any drawbacks that i over looked please post here cause like i stated i plan to switch over to LED lighting. i was using a 400 watt HPS with a hortilux full spectrum sun bulb but from my reseach a 64 watt LED setup consisting of 4, 12 inch panels is as powerfull as a 600 watt MH or HPS but without any of the extra heat and light given off by the bulbs and also at about half the price and over 10,000 hours of avg lifespan. it seems to me that LED is the way to go and the future of indoor growing. But thats just me

cfgreen · #4 (**permalink**) 02-14-2008, 03:02 PM

Hey Big

I'd be very interested in your results. Low heat would appeal to summertime indoor growers without AC. I've also read a lot about LEDs, but haven't seen any results from the plantations so far. Please keep us up to date.

cfg

dursky · #5 (**permalink**) 02-14-2008, 03:28 PM

ya I would like more info too. Let us know how they work.

jonnyappleweed · #6 (**permalink**) 02-15-2008, 06:13 PM

Good evening LIFE,
I to am a newbie to this fourm, and welcome.
I have started an experiment using 6500k CFLs and 2-225 LED red/blue panels in a 24"d x 21"w x 49"t Foil lined box I cut 2 soda can sized holes on each side at the bottom (passive intake air)and a
CD size hole at the top with a 110cfm exhaust box fan(the exhaust
fan and interior circulator fans are 24v & exhaust fan is controlled
by a programable thermostat)Check out this guy
has got it right, a picture is worth a 1000 words....

Old heads never die, They just find new shoulders to ride upon....

kennkenniff · #7 (**permalink**) 02-16-2008, 05:52 AM

i want to see the last week of that vid im a skeptic i think if the guy in the vid had more lite those plant would have fatter buds. hid is proven to make nice fat buds .personally i wouldn't want to put that much time and effort into something i wasn't shure was gonna give me some woopass bud. but its still pretty cool

jonnyappleweed · #8 (**permalink**) 02-16-2008, 09:31 AM

Yes, I to believe more light would've increased yield. I have discussed this issue with Hans,and he seemed interested in the results of my experiment....
STAY TUNED FOR FUTURE UPDATES & PICTURES COMMING SOON!!!!!

Hobo · #9 (**permalink**) 02-16-2008, 10:01 AM

the best advice i could give you... is wait till the science of led lighting is perfected. and or use supplementary lighting, because from what i hear, their spectrum's are too narrow, and plants usually grow with a light whitish tint.

Hobo · #10 (**permalink**) 02-16-2008, 10:05 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by green_nobody

you can have the same amount of light for less money in CFLs. peace

This im gonna have to disagree with. While i realize now LEDs are a longway from being the perfect grow light.... But in overall lumens per watt LEDs destroy CFLs they also last 3 times longer. So they are without a doubt getting more light for longer and paying less to operate it. The main downfall to LEDS from what i understand is high initial cost, and too narrow of focused spectrum's.

jonnyappleweed · #11 (**permalink**) 02-16-2008, 10:24 AM

This is what I'm trying to overcome by adding 65w(WATT USAGE,NOT RATING) 6500k CFL in a confined area surrounded by a reflective surface.IF this works, I'm going to have a lot of happy handicapped friends

digix · #12 (**permalink**) 03-02-2008, 07:31 PM

I, too, am working on an LED system and while I have found that CFLs are more cost-effective at the current time as far as initial purchase cost, the LEDs in the long run will provide more efficiency.

I would be interested in the specific wavelengths that the current commercial systems are focused on. During my research into the spectrometry of chlorophyll production and the like, I think I have a proper mix of 430, 470, and 640-660nm LEDs. I'm working on a prototype currently, but waiting on some backordered LEDs. I'll definitely post results when I get some testing done with them. Hopefully I can borrow a light meter from work and determine my lumens per watt, etc.

The final setup that I have planned is a 12" panel comprised of 4 x 6" modules, with each 6" module containing 392 LEDs. My ratio comes down to an odd 6:7:36 for 430nm:470nm:640-60nm. The viewing angles should give it a nice focal point at about 6-8".

-D

tokecrazy · #13 (**permalink**) 03-04-2008, 10:25 AM

Hey Guys&Gals,I'am with Hobo on Led's.They dont have light penetrate pass the top 6" of the plant.Those buds would have fill out and gotten alot bigger under HID and more buds too.LED's are not refined enough for growing at this time.When they can produce buds like I get with HID than I'll take another look at LED's.I'am not putting down LED but they are not proven to be the best to grow with at this time.I would love to see a side by side grow with LED and HID lights. Just my opinon. PEACE

digix · #14 (**permalink**) 03-05-2008, 12:40 PM

Looks like there has been a major improvement in LED tech recently...

Quote:

The final LEDs were also better than commercially available LEDs at creating visible light, giving off more than 300 lumens of visible light for every watt of all light emitted. This figure, known as the "luminous efficacy", is high compared to typical white LEDs.

Carefully choosing the nanocrystals used tunes the light spectrum emitted towards frequencies that the human eye is most sensitive to. Typical white LEDs are less well matched to human eyes and provide only about 30 to 60 lumens of visible light per watt of light emitted.

Original article: Crystal coat warms up LED light - tech - 01 February 2008 - New Scientist Tech

I would assume that since they can use the nanocrystal composition to tune it to human-visible light, they can tune it to plant-oriented spectrums as well.

-D