Running at a lower % increases efficiency per chip though, right? So you’d have less excess heat per watt, right? That’s my understanding,although I admit I might be wrong
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Yup, it extends the life & minimizes the heat.
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So buying bigger and dimming will save money on cooling in the long run?
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I doubt it’s gonna save money running the lights at all. It will however prolong the leds, thus you won’t need to buy more lights as soon.
Cool leds = long life.
Hot leds = shorter life.
I know this from experience, when I burnt up my DIY leds from too much heat & not enough heat disapation.
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The key with the Gavita’s is they have over 3300 diodes, so they don’t have to push them as hard to get enough light- thus, they last longer without a decline over their life. Most LED’s have a lot less diodes, so they push them harder to get the same amount of light out of them- and with the heat, they don’t last as long. So everything said above is basically correct.
Check out some of the independent testing going on with LED’s on Youtube. 95% of the all the LED makers overstate their performance. Very few don’t. Here’s the guy I rely on:
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Led’s are built to run at full power. You should dim an led because it changes the spectrum it doesn’t just dim the light. There are lots of graphs and studies online if your interested. Its better to buy the correct size light than to dim an oversized light.
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This new LED is getting great reviews…
Sorry, wrong link. I’ll find the LED again and post shortly. It’s brand new…
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Not going to click it and guess migro
Boom! Called it. I had that on my saved videos list lol
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Im with you man, it makes sense what you are saying.
Im planning to replace 1000w de Gavita fixtures, love them, so was curious about the comparative watts in led lighting.
Great to hear the views of someone thats already made the change and done your research.
Greatly appreciated, thanks
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But remember, that’s for BEST VALUE, not best light!!!
Absolutely, bang for buck sold me
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That’s one hell of a view. Perfection in a box mate.
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Fantastic grow!
Excellent work! 
Cheers
G
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In this 4 X 8 area, the most I’ve yielded was 106 oz… I’m thinking this is going to get damn close to that number.
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When one of your neighbors decides to move… let me know please. 
I’d love to pull half that weight.
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Wondering if anyone here ever made some DIY LED lights from the TCI strips that used to sell on ebay few years ago? From a guy in Estonia.
There used to be a thread over on riu, but I try not use that site too much now.
I managed make a pretty decent rig from those TCI strips for my 4x4 tent and also for my seedlings cupboard.
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