how much light do i need

[squirrelkilla]

i currently have a 5'x5'x6.5' grow tent and am using a 1000w hps and was thinking of going to led how much do i need to get the same end results

squirrelkilla Reviewed by squirrelkilla on 10-20-2012. how much light do i need i currently have a 5'x5'x6.5' grow tent and am using a 1000w hps and was thinking of going to led how much do i need to get the same end results Rating: 5

[emilya]

i currently have a 5'x5'x6.5' grow tent and am using a 1000w hps and was thinking of going to led how much do i need to get the same end results

The most common estimate is that you need half the wattage in LED's to equal an HID light, so you need about 500w of LEDs to be close.

[squirrelkilla]

what other options do i have im trying to save on electric

[emilya]

LED is definitely by far the most efficient lighting not just in electrical usage but in overall costs when compared to bulbs that have to be replaced many times over the typical 11 year lifespan of most LEDs. I can not think of any more efficient method, its just that the initial startup costs are higher right now because the LED's are new technology.

[squirrelkilla]

any chance you could send me to some sites that could help also should i use two lights or one

[emilya]

any chance you could send me to some sites that could help also should i use two lights or one

I don't endorse any of the commercial LED light systems that are out right now. Some are actually very good products, I just feel the price point is set way too high right now on this new technology, so I decided to build my own to see how much cheaper I could do it myself. I am not going to duplicate my notes here because they are extensive, but if you do a google search for my name along with DIY LED project, I am sure you will find me. You will find in my notes some extensive comparisons between lifetime cost and efficiency of LEDs compared to all the other popular light systems out there, information that I was not able to find on the web and was forced to compile on my own. I am still in the process of building these lights, so the notes are not complete, but it will give you a better idea what you are dealing with.

Two lights or one is really dependent on many things... not enough information to answer that question for you. One of the questions that I am trying to answer myself is just how much LED light is necessary to equal a 400w or 600w or even 1000w conventional setup. LED light changes how a garden reacts appreciably, not needing as much water as conventional systems, among other things. I am also convinced that the chromatically pure light is much more powerful as far as the plants are concerned, and I think that decent gardens can be grown under this pure light with far less wattage than is currently believed to be possible if the light is exactly what the plants need and it is served up very close to the plants to reduce the effects of the inverse square law regarding the distance from the light. Much more experimentation is needed in this arena and I hope that my work helps to get more people to move to LED technology, and as more and more of us build these lights ourselves, the prices of the commercial lights will have to come down. Currently I can build a light for about 1/3 the cost of a comparable commercial LED array, the markups on this technology are so great.

[Kevin_00]

Well the rule of thumb is 30-40watt for vegeing plants and 50watts per foot square foot obliviously sativa will take more light as it gets bigger and how big you grow, if you can them to no more than two half out one gallon pots, you should be able to do go with 40-50watts per square foot,,if you grow to plants to over the 3 feet 3-5 gallon bucket you may wish to use at least a 600 watt grow light or lamp..I have look at the HID lights they have yet to compare to what HID lamp/light can do.

[emilya]

This was the whole reason for all the research that I did on this Kevin. The "rules of thumb" that have been used all these years in regards to HID lights make absolutely no sense when talking about LEDs.

[Kevin_00]

Last year at the West Coast Cannabis Expo I talked to the All LED people and a set up that would be as efficient as 600 watt Hid was pretty costly and they still had not perfected yet, the good thing of about LEDs Emilya isthat you would not have to use fans to cool and you could lower light as you would with CFLs as you when you rooting and growing small clones.I also think a certain percentage of the outcome would have to do with growers experience in growing indoors.

Kevin

[emilya]

Kevin, you would not need LED lights if you were growing outside, and I would make a bold guess that most of the LED people here will be growing indoors. I think I mentioned above that I can not endorse any of the commercial systems out there today, because of exactly what you repeated here, they are too costly and not perfected yet. I would also like to comment to you regarding the fan. While it is true that LED lights put out less heat than many of the other systems, they do generate heat, and especially in the summer time this needs to be dealt with. You are also forgetting that there are other reasons to have a fan in your grow room, such as to exercise the plants and make them stronger, provide a flow of fresh air that the plants need to thrive, and to keep down moisture that could produce molds and mildews. I would never recommend running a grow room without a fan, no matter what lights are used.