Quote Originally Posted by Charbud
LEDS seem to be doing a good job ! i really want to get some going but i really dont want to buy cheap chinese ones that dont work ! are yours 3w bulbs ? 660nm?

Gunna keep tunes in
Most panels are made in China, pure and simple they've got a stranglehold on the rare-earth market and thus it's almost impossible to find diodes not made in China. Even KingBright, a semi-local LED company, has all diodes made in China and shipped over here.

The diodes themselves are fine, it's the drivers and the panel construction you have to worry about. Most Chinese Drivers just SUCK (bad capacitors usually,) so I had them use Japanese drivers in my panels and I gave them a panel internals design of my own. I've got 460, 630, and 660 in my current generation. The next generation will likely be quad-band, assuming the cost of 420nm diodes drops (they're currently about 2-3x more expensive than any other diode.)

I use 1w diodes, for now. 3w diodes, watt for watt are currently more inefficient than 1w diodes as far as output goes; sure they're brighter but you can get more photon density from three 1w diodes versus a single multi-chip 3w diode.