LED Grow Panel Experiment....Can they really produce bud ?

[Charbud]

Ok first of I want to say that I am not putting LED lights down, i know they can produce buds that look like they have been grown with a HID as some growers have shown on this site( StraightOuttaWeed & Moody ).

Ok so that aside, I purchased one of the cheap, 'made in china' led grow panels of eBay. There is a lot of talk to weather they actually produce any bud at all, this is what I'm going to experiment with.

So I have the LED grow panel, Mine was £35 or around $55 :

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225 LED GROW LIGHT PANEL ALL RED HYDROPONIC 15W on eBay (end time 02-Jun-10 19:27:04 BST) (http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/225-LED-GROW-LIGHT-PANEL-ALL-RED-HYDROPONIC-15W-/290398388926?cmd=ViewItem&pt=UK_HomeGarden_Garden_PlantsSeedsBulbs_JN&hash=item439d17c2be)

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It consists of 225 red 1W diodes, 650nm. Most of these panels have 630nm but i got the higher 650nm for hopefully a little bit of bud !.

The strain is an unknown bagseed although a friend has grown it before and it produces lots of bud, its a hardy, disease resistant sativa. He got around an oz of one plant using around 60 W of Cool white cfls in a very small pot in a closet. I chose this strain because it can cope with such poor conditions, i.e high heat temps and cool as well as being rootbound it still grows !

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The plant has been vegging for around a month and i will put her straight into flower with the LED's.

I'm using a cardboard box to put the plant in with the panel stuck to the top, I cut a window in the side so i can fiddle about and take pics easily.

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Thats about it, lets see if she produces anything ! :cool:

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[xxMrGreenThumbx]

this b gud 2 watch char.. Good luk mate.. Wt bout if the plant stretchs.? u no sativa long and gangly.. u gna get piks ov ur otha babys x

[GetThisOrDie]

I dont know about that panel man...

225 "1w" diodes but it only consumes 15w?

[Charbud]

I was sure i read they were 1W diodes on the listing but now you pointed it out that does seem quite stupid. They are still the panels many buy and fail with !

GT - If she stretched ill bend her over and see how she liked it !

[WashougalWonder]

Ya that is right, you can have a 1 watt LED that only consumes about 200-350 mA.

I model and make Radio Controlled helicopters, I am buying 1W Luxeon compatibles and have to tune them down with resistors or they will burn out if left on for more than a minute at the full 5 volts. Different colors need different resistors too, so you would have to calculate how many mA total and I betcha you will find it isn't using the whole 15W for all 250.

Remember they do not need huge amounts of voltage to run, they are very efficient

LED technology has advanced a great deal of late. Though I am perfectly pleased with incadescent lighting, I am noting the LED world. IF you are an off the grid person this could allow you to grow over not be able to grow with lights.

[Charbud]

Thanks for that WahougalWonder.

Anyway, i have abandoned the experiment as there was nothing good happening to the plant, leaves were getting puffy and the new growth was going black, she had plenty of air and no excess heat so it was purely the light which wasn't working. Also she looked burnt on the new growth even though she wasn't any where near to the leds.


This white line appeared for a reason i do not know ?

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The burnt new growth, slowly going blacker.

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Conclusion, the grow panel that i purchased is complete and utter crap. DO NOT buy these for flowering a plant as it will not work. Spend more money on better grow panels, the cheap option definitely isn't the best option !

The plant hasnt been a complete waste as i am putting her next to my vanilla kush plant. If the plant turns out to be a man i might harvest some pollen and do a cross and if shes a girl shes going to get smoked :smokin: