Lighting LEDs direct from china

[BigSm0]

I'm gonna spam this here and the Amare thread. Thanks to the current sale Im picking up to more lights. This will make 5 in total now, I'd love more but think I'm at my limit. I also grabbed some cheap led bars from eBay. 100+ watts each, epileds, 2 for $90 shipped. Probably won't use them but they are good for side lighting if I feel the need. A month ago I was ready to dig out my dusty hps cause I sent my kinds back and here I am with over 4000 watts lol.

 

[diskokobaja]

its sad that here in EU is cheaper to buy direct from us amare and pay customs and shipping,than those Italian rep. for eu...

 

[F.N.]

You are going to rock your 10X20 grow space with that many watts. Look what galaxy hydro just started to sellhttp://www.ebay.com/itm/PopularGrow-400W-COB-LED-Grow-Light-Full-Spectrum-For-Plant-Growth-Bloom-Lamp-/322012646958?hash=item4af9730e2e:g:7SgAAOSwll1WxnOS. They are feeling the pinch of the top bin manufacturers so much they try to emulate cree

 

[KonopCh]

Looking for cheap LED light for my 80x80x160 cm tent. I know to look at actual watts, PAR and PPAR measurments. I've read that optimaml PPAR is around 1000-1500.
What do you recommend? I know Mars is way to go (and of course A+ LEDs - but I don't want spend so much money on them), looking for some better options (I saw on ebay that cheap LED have better spectrum than Mars).

 

[diskokobaja]

 

[derek420colorado]

I'm gonna spam this here and the Amare thread. Thanks to the current sale Im picking up to more lights. This will make 5 in total now, I'd love more but think I'm at my limit. I also grabbed some cheap led bars from eBay. 100+ watts each, epileds, 2 for $90 shipped. Probably won't use them but they are good for side lighting if I feel the need. A month ago I was ready to dig out my dusty hps cause I sent my kinds back and here I am with over 4000 watts lol.

Hey @BigSm0 how did you like the CMH's I saw out there on the ole interwebs that you had used them, just wondering what your thoughts were

 

[BigSm0]

Looking for cheap LED light for my 80x80x160 cm tent. I know to look at actual watts, PAR and PPAR measurments. I've read that optimaml PPAR is around 1000-1500.
What do you recommend? I know Mars is way to go (and of course A+ LEDs - but I don't want spend so much money on them), looking for some better options (I saw on ebay that cheap LED have better spectrum than Mars).

Mars has lower efficiency than hps. If your going with led to save heat Mars watt for watt will create more. As for spectrum there is a lot more to it than just reading a couple numbers or going by the amount of visible blurple it casts. Which in time the "blurple" will be phased out. White light in the 3500k temp has shown amazing results.

Regardless anything will grow good end products. Even an incandescent light bulb but for the sake of switching to led to save isn't really doing what the intended purpose is.

 

[BigSm0]

Hey @BigSm0 how did you like the CMH's I saw out there on the ole interwebs that you had used them, just wondering what your thoughts were

The ceramic is a great light overall. 315w LEC running at 42% efficient you will get 132.2 PAR watts before any losses from the reflector. This is much higher than the norm hps and close to double what a Mars hydro puts out. Even kind led which I just read is 22.5% efficient. Doing the math a cmh is 32 par watts less than a 1000 watt kind k5 which sells for 1695 msrp.

I have one in veg and one in flower. Veg plants liked the light and thrived in a 4x4 space. The one under the cmh in flower was a little questionable. I did a comparison against my Amare which is around 50w higher and the difference was definitely in favor of the Amare. But price wise they have dropped tremendously which a huge factor when choosing a light. Close to 350 all included with a bulb of choice, flower or veg. Additional bulbs are close to $85 each.

It was tough for me to believe till I saw it first hand but I have a friend who is a commercial grower using 16 of the cmh in total. 4 in veg and one over each plant in flower. They are photo period plants but he pulls over a pound per light which is close to 2gpw. If I were to make another room and initial cost was an issue I would absolutely go all cmh. They are flexible enough to use in flower and when or if time comes to upgrade they make perfect veg light. So nothing is really lost.

Sorry for the long rant but I do love lighting and lighting that's efficient. I absolutely hate claims and all the bs associated with them. Low heat, high par best spectrum, then they don't even list a single number.

 

[derek420colorado]

The ceramic is a great light overall. 315w LEC running at 42% efficient you will get 132.2 PAR watts before any losses from the reflector. This is much higher than the norm hps and close to double what a Mars hydro puts out. Even kind led which I just read is 22.5% efficient. Doing the math a cmh is 32 par watts less than a 1000 watt kind k5 which sells for 1695 msrp.

I have one in veg and one in flower. Veg plants liked the light and thrived in a 4x4 space. The one under the cmh in flower was a little questionable. I did a comparison against my Amare which is around 50w higher and the difference was definitely in favor of the Amare. But price wise they have dropped tremendously which a huge factor when choosing a light. Close to 350 all included with a bulb of choice, flower or veg. Additional bulbs are close to $85 each.

It was tough for me to believe till I saw it first hand but I have a friend who is a commercial grower using 16 of the cmh in total. 4 in veg and one over each plant in flower. They are photo period plants but he pulls over a pound per light which is close to 2gpw. If I were to make another room and initial cost was an issue I would absolutely go all cmh. They are flexible enough to use in flower and when or if time comes to upgrade they make perfect veg light. So nothing is really lost.

Sorry for the long rant but I do love lighting and lighting that's efficient. I absolutely hate claims and all the bs associated with them. Low heat, high par best spectrum, then they don't even list a single number.

Thanks man that is what I wanted to hear! I am going to be using them in my greenhouse so I will be using natural sun half the time and CMH the other half, so hopefully the 7800ft elevation sunshine will make up for any def in flower. Also can you use the 3100k for veg and flower?

 

[KonopCh]

Mars has lower efficiency than hps. If your going with led to save heat Mars watt for watt will create more. As for spectrum there is a lot more to it than just reading a couple numbers or going by the amount of visible blurple it casts. Which in time the "blurple" will be phased out. White light in the 3500k temp has shown amazing results.

Regardless anything will grow good end products. Even an incandescent light bulb but for the sake of switching to led to save isn't really doing what the intended purpose is.

Watt per watt seems that LED are better than HPS (better spectrum), isn't that right? LED also cut down electricy bill what's important to me.
So what do you recommend?