Anyone switch from 1000 watt hps to LED yet?

[khyberkitsune]

Iry....I think your top signature is very appropriate to this situation! haha!

I'm starting my new LED grow this week and I need you to give me those trick photography tips!

I have one of those trick photography shots in the making right now! Yup they'll love this hoax!

Even animated for your pleasure! my 'one week of growth' shot.

[irydyum]

I dunno khyber, that looks awful robot chickenish to me:wtf:

[khyberkitsune]

I dunno khyber, that looks awful robot chickenish to me:wtf:

That's what happens when you don't have a box big enough to fit a camera in and you have to open the case every time and take a shot by hand!

[irydyum]

if i had to guess there using time laps photos. thats how they make robot chicken my advise dont get them.

Hope you took that how i meant it:thumbsup:

[khyberkitsune]

Hope you took that how i meant it:thumbsup:

I did I like to throw things WAY in the other direction suddenly.

[cliffcliff]

im 29 and im on this site because im looking up law in rode island and maine to open up a club. im from grass valley cali and its getting a little crazy in the sticks. ive already cought three felonys for growing, mostly over making butane hasch. though im still aloud to grow weed and now theres no limits, its not worth all the shootings home invasions and thefts because everyone knows all you need is a flight lesson over the hood and you know were all the grows are\.
now for the led you people said you get the same wether you use a 1000 watts of hps or a 1000w of led. fine. is someone going to tell me you getsing a pound and a half to two poiunds off a 300w led thats supposed to be the same as a 1000w hps. ive been growing for a long time and it did take me years to became good( i had to stop being lazy) wich is hard to do when you have an over paying job with minimal work.
id say one out of 6 grow im my neiberhood at least and led would spread like wildfire if it worked.

[bigsby]

cliffcliff - I'm a fence sitter at this point. Will be watching Moddy420's grow with interest. It sounds like you are a dedicated grower with experience. But it also sounds like you have not done your homework. LED is a changing technology. There is no doubt that it showed poor results in the beginning and the market if flooded with cheap crap that promises the moon and stars but doesn't deliver. But the tech is changing fast. Even if my yield is off by 15% I would use LED. Why? It eliminates so many issues - heat, venting, wiring, fans, etc. You mentioned flyovers in your neighborhood. I'm guessing they are using an infrared to identify heat signatures? You would be fine with LED. While I can setup a safe HID grow room, there is the ever present danger of fire. OK it's unlikely but shit happens and if it hits I lose my house, perhaps my family and insurance ain't going to cover that. When you do the math you realize that there are big savings on electric, bulbs, setup costs (if starting from scratch). Now there is also the question of what your goals are. I'm not growing for an audience. Just my own self indulgence and to benefit a friend with legitimate needs. That said, there is no reason why this couldn't be scaled up.

I am not sold but I am sure interested. While I do my research I'm not blowing people off. I'm trying to learn. People here will respect your difference of opinion and will walk through any valid questions that you post. Just ton down the hostility. No need for it.

[cliffcliff]

i dont see how it would eliminate venting and wiring even if your using co2. the roots need oxogen. i had a room i vented only the lights and user co2 moniter to keep it at 1000 ppm. i got a low yeild and was told you still need to bring in fresh oxgen 3 to 4 time a day while light are on and wond up with the biggest yeild ive gotten for this pain in the ass strain i was growing.

my questions would be

whats the half life of the bulbs?

can you replace the bulbs cheap when your crop starts to deminish or do you have to buy a new light?

if you can do you have to know how to sowder or do they pop right in?

[HavaTok]

Most of the specs from LED manufacturers sate that at 50,000 hours 70% light will still be emitted. By then you will probably want to move up to the newest hardware since it will have improved so much by then.

[bigsby]

Oh you definitely have to vent but you do not necessarily need a honking inline fan. If you don't have odor control issues (I do) or if you use an ozonator type odor control then you can use a small duct vent ($25).

The bulbs will last 7 - 10 years. You probably need to replace them by 7 but I imagine that the tech will have moved so much that you would probably upgrade sooner. Or just add arrays to your grow.

Some people build their own. I don't have the patience for that plus I hate getting shocked. I'm looking at pre-build racks designed for horticulture ops. Key seems to be wave length / spectrum. The crappy lights do not provide sufficient spectrum for flowering. You need a good percentage of the emitters putting out 660 nm which is in the red spectrum.

It is worth noting that you can not evaluate LEDs by looking at lumens. Plants don't care about lumens. They care about wavelength. So the HID lamp puts out a ton of light that the plants just can't see. So a lot of that light is wasted energy.

Good questions.

I'm not there yet but I'm getting closer. Moody - when you are you going to kick off your grow .

Peace.