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06-10-2008, 05:44 AM #23Senior Member
CHEAPER LED UFO, 100 bucks.
Exactly right regarding the penetration issue. That is the whole ball of wax regarding LED usage for growing MJ.
That is why I don't think any of the current commercial lights are really the answer. Both Procyn and TI, pack a lot of wattage into a small area. You then need to keep the lights at least 1 to 2 foot above the plants in order to get a reasonable footprint. IMHO, 6 inch is the max for any currently available LED, running in the 2 to 3 watt range.
For the stated purpose of the TI, this is fine, since it the manufacturer says they are to be used to supplement sunlight in commercial greenhouses.
The Procyn, is a little more vague in their mission statement, but I get the impression, they want to mainly target the MJ market and a secondary market of hobby vegatable and flower growers.
For LEDs to stand any chance of having a decent MJ grow:
1. You need to have a very flat canopy, with a 2 to 3 inch maxium variation in contour.
2. The lights need to be evenly distributed over the entire canopy and kept at a 1 to 2 inch distance from the tallest point.
3. Ditch any optics. You take a 15% hit with lenses and thermal management gets to be a bitch.
3. Forget 5mms. Even the best ones like Tru-Optos can't hang with the big dogs as far as power efficiency. Plus there is no way to manage the heat. Their only use is to provide clone lighting or some side lighting, but even then you would be better off with the big boys.
4. Don't waste time and energy worrying about precise wavelength combos. A good starting point is a 2 or 3 to 1 ratio of red to blue. Nobody really knows what is going to be the ultimate light nm ratio at this time. Check back in a year or two for a better answer.
5. Currently, you could possibly (but not likely) equal or outperform HID on a watt to watt basis. Forget having 100 watts of LED replace 400 watts of HID power like all the manufacturers claim. That might be true for some kind of low light plant like pansies or herbs, but not for a light hungry plant like MJ.
6. The good news is probably sometime next year, LEDs will be the best solution for stealth micro-grows in the 4 to 6 sq.ft. range. Just got a few more bugs to work out. At this time, LED/CFL combo grows seem to be working out better then either LED or CFL on their own.
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