Musings on the future of LEDs

[RackitMan]

It appears that many of the 1w UFO and similar units were putting out roughly 20-30 lumens per watt. Now to the technical, lumens are not really the appropiate nor even accurate measurement here, but bear with me.

Many of the 3 watt units around are about 30-40 LPW.

The highest currently available single LEDs are in the 60-100 LPW range.

A 120 LPW emitter will be available shortly and a 180 LPW unit has been announced and is 2 to 3 years away.

Now understand that complete LED lights will trail LED emitters by roughly 6 months to 12 months (or more) due to engineering and manufacturing lead times.

The point of this post? Add-in dropping cost per watt and a better understanding of optimal spectra for flowering and I would say that we are roughly two generations away from LED grow lights being widely accepted as mainstream and perhaps three generations away from a near-total shift from HID - say 3 to 4 years max.

Note: I apologize for any inaccuracies as this is not meant to be a purely technical article - and yes, I know a few frontiersmen/engineers/inventors believe they are already quite adequate.

RackitMan Reviewed by RackitMan on 04-12-2010. Musings on the future of LEDs It appears that many of the 1w UFO and similar units were putting out roughly 20-30 lumens per watt. Now to the technical, lumens are not really the appropiate nor even accurate measurement here, but bear with me. Many of the 3 watt units around are about 30-40 LPW. The highest currently available single LEDs are in the 60-100 LPW range. A 120 LPW emitter will be available shortly and a 180 LPW unit has been announced and is 2 to 3 years away. Now understand that complete LED lights Rating: 5

[chewraw]

they work very well - heat and ventilation issues all but go away - I am growing in earth boxes and LED's and harvesting 2 - 3 oz per plant

It appears that many of the 1w UFO and similar units were putting out roughly 20-30 lumens per watt. Now to the technical, lumens are not really the appropiate nor even accurate measurement here, but bear with me.

Many of the 3 watt units around are about 30-40 LPW.

The highest currently available single LEDs are in the 60-100 LPW range.

A 120 LPW emitter will be available shortly and a 180 LPW unit has been announced and is 2 to 3 years away.

Now understand that complete LED lights will trail LED emitters by roughly 6 months to 12 months (or more) due to engineering and manufacturing lead times.

The point of this post? Add-in dropping cost per watt and a better understanding of optimal spectra for flowering and I would say that we are roughly two generations away from LED grow lights being widely accepted as mainstream and perhaps three generations away from a near-total shift from HID - say 3 to 4 years max.

Note: I apologize for any inaccuracies as this is not meant to be a purely technical article - and yes, I know a few frontiersmen/engineers/inventors believe they are already quite adequate.

[hearseking]

And what light brand is that that is giving you that much