Hydroponics and Procyon 100 LEDS

[ledtime]

DH,

What if I wanted to use more reds? What driver would I use then?

[DreadedHermie]

If you don't have a bench supply, a mastech 3010 will run 7 reds, hard. You'll need something similar to get the leds matched up so they run efficiently, so I'd start with that. It's really the foundation of your system.

Mean Well PLN 60-12's are the best bang for the buck. At 12V, the 100 watt PLN's spec out real closely; almost double the price. :wtf:

Need to power 6 reds? Use 2 60-12's, 3 reds on each.

Up to 8 reds? 3 or 4 on each driver.

9 reds? You'll need 3 60-12's, so back to 3 leds per driver.

And so on. The smaller groupings you break your leds into, the closer you can match them up. Different voltages will cause individual leds to draw different amounts of current. And we want them all pulling the same current--1.2 A, or thereabouts....So we "bin" them into little groups that will behave the same way at each given supply voltage.

Hope that's making sense. I just re-read it and I'm not sure how clear it is unless you understand the idea already...

I 'splain better if it's not clear. Ain't hard. Jes' ask.

[Apollonia]

Has anyone tried using Procyon 100's with a hydroponic system?

What would be the best set up if one were to try this?

Would WW be a good strain?

Hey there, Iscandar,

I saw your post and thought you'd might like to see my grow diary as I'm using Procyon 100's for vegging in a dutch bucket system filled with hydroton and in a homemade aeroponics system - they seem to be producing nice, healthy plants to my eye. I chose Procyon b/c it's an honest company (which some LE manufacturers are not) and they don't make wil claims about what their lights can do - also they performed well on tests run at Experiments with Hydroponics, Aeroponics, and LED Grow Lighting. But I would caution - tomatoes are not as demanding in their need for light intensity as tropical plants like MJ!

My First Grow: Aeroponics, LED veg, Super HPS flower, CO2 sealed room

Since the legendary Weezard has put in his 2 cents, I can only offer my own humble experiences: (he really is something of a wizard when it comes to what he does with those LEDs, isn't he?)

If you want you can check my pictures and make your own assessments. The plants were put under Procyon 100's after 3 weeks under fluorescent lights. They're in three groups with the oldest being 3 months old, the youngest, six weeks old.

I won't be using LEDs for flowering, but they see me to be a low heat veg alternative that seemed an economical choice when factoring in replacement bulbs, wattage & cooling, among other things - my Procyons cost me $450 a piece, and they have a long life, so I'm satisfied with them as a long term, cost effective, "set it and forget it" vegging light.

Just a bit of advice, when feeding plants and growing under LEDs, go easy on the nutrients, they do not take as much as plants under regular HID lighting.

Another thing about the Procyon 100 - I believe they have a maximum penetration to about 3 feet, so if your plant gets any bigger than that, your bottom branches may suffer for it. Ultimately, I do not want to veg my plants or my mothers over 3 feet, so it works for me, but you may have other needs. Most LEDs will only have about 3 foot penetration below canopy level.

Good luck & research, research, research before buying.

[Joefarmer]

Procyons for $450?! WTF Mine was 600.

Yer right about the 3ft penetration though, my lower branches definitely suffered. Scrog gone wild. They're definitely better suited for SOG type applications or ScrOG if its done right.

Aside from all of yall's nano mumbojumbo, this threads been quite entertaining. Funny and informative. Just wish I new more bout electronics so I could keep up with that end of it. Guess I'm just a gardener. NEhoo, .....SPAM is terrible for you! Tons of sodium and processed animal parts. In a can. Then there's that gelatinous substance that seems to collect around the edges. I went camping once and they gave out care pkgs with a can o' SPAM and accompanying recipe book. Why?

[garbageman]

im also looking to build an LED grow light. got a buddy of mine whos repairing my 120watt chinease (1w). and i decided to order some more intense diodes to build a new array as the 1w's are okay at best. these 5w reds seem much more promiseing, i was going to have 5 watt reds and 3w blues but due to the 3w being on back order i may just order a bunch of the same 1w blues im useing to replace the chinease with.

im not sure what the driver is for, anybody care to explain?

[DreadedHermie]

Simple--it's just a transformer.

"Wall current" is 120 volts AC, leds just want a few volts DC, like from a battery.

The driver just converts the AC to DC, like a wall wart does.

But leds need the current to be tightly controlled, so real led drivers have some kinda regulator built-in.

Transformer + Regulator = driver.

That simple.

We'll walk ya through building a light if you want. Can you solder?

[beef74]

One of the primary reasons of the grow test, is to show the stress factor of the MH light in growing anything, even at 24" above the system. A lot of growers that I know personally, don't use reflectors, ventilation fans, etc... so for them, this is a real-world application test. Every grower using HID has suffered from the damage of heat stress at one point or another, as the tomatoes show. This is the reason we are adding in ventilation and glass for the bloom test. It will also allow us to lower the MH. First we show issues commonly faced by most gardeners, then we correct those issues with the MH (cause the LED doesn't have them), and do a PRO side-by-side bloom with ventilation.



That is the reason I recommend using LED's at 6-12" from your plants. A lot of companies out there advise you to use them at 18 - 24", and they use less intense LED's. So what is your point?



What is your argument, besides arguing? Are trying to say that if the light were at 12" above the plants, that the plants would be growing at 3-4x the rate they are now? The difference from 12-24" is not enough to make a substantial difference to the growth rate of a 400W MH confined in a 15" x 15" mylar covered area. Other people have already argued on other forums that the inverse square law doesn't apply the same in this scenario because the light is being used in a much smaller area than it was designed, with highly reflective material. So what's your argument? How much DIFFERENCE are you claiming there is in growth, by having the MH at 24" instead of 12"??? Answer that before continuing on with your vague excuse for the HID's performance.



So you think that I'm going to send some kid that's only been growing weed since last October, free lights after he's been nothing but abrasive on the forum, and expect you're going to give professional, reliable results? PLEASE! Do you know how many no-names like you there are, that have MINIMAL growing experience at best, that are out there soliciting me for a free light, acting like they have some kind of authority and a following? The grow journal I posted has pictures from a 3rd party. I could post my own results if I wanted, but that comes later.

You want an INDEPENDENT test? Go to grasscity.com as there will be plenty of them soon. If that's not good enough for you, Mr. Ed Rosenthal is doing a grow with our lights in 2-3 weeks from clone to harvest. 954W of our LED against a 1000W HPS. Why would I waste money sending you a free light, when I have someone like him who's agreed to do such high-powered testing already?

So please stop acting like Moses "My home, My people", as you don't speak for everyone on this forum. If you have something positive to add, or to discuss please do so, but continuing on in a manner like you have isn't very mature...

no names? What happened to Ed Rosenthals results?I'm a "no-name", as is everyone else on the forums you predate.Jesus lady...it's called therapy...get some.