LED (HLG) vs HPS - Grand Master Level

Hey Guys! Grand Master Level did an HPS vs LED comparison once before but it wasn’t really a fair run as it was just a single LED fixture in a room off of his main HPS flowering room so he wasn’t able to control the environment independently. He has switched one whole room over to HLG LED boards, I don’t think these are quantum boards and I don’t believe they are LM561C - they are a newer HLG model and i’m not sure if the diode is yet announced or if the fixture is released. He has 15750w of HPS vs 8755w of LED.

They are currently vegging under MH and will be flowered under HPS. should be an interesting comparison. here are the first couple episodes.


He is having his friday night live show starting in about 10 minutes. I haven’t watched his show for a few weeks so this question may have already been answered previously, but I will be asking for more details about the fixtures and what diode is used.

Edit: The new fixture is called HLG Elite - it’s water proof and a DE 1000w HID replacement. They have sent it off for third party testing to get the data like efficacy numbers etc

GML is using the HLG 550 which is the LM561C diodes - his previous test with the single fixture was with the HLG elite. apparently the new diodes won’t have much difference in terms of efficacy but are water resistant and have a different form factor and maybe beam angle.

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Steve Johnson of HLG is a good friend of mine. In fact I’m a founding partner of the company… Since cashed out.

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that’s awesome man! and you’re not even using their products? :joy: is amit -> robin on riu?

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heres some (well, a) par readings for LM561C vs MH bulbs. wish he’d have taken more tbh

TL;DW

the middle of his LED room is @ ~450 about 5 feet below the lamps. The MH room is ~150 at the top of plants

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Who said I wasn’t using their equipment?

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oh sorry i assumed i guess, are you using their cob fixtures??

I’m using their midpower fixtures.

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this is a short episode, all it shows is damage from burning sulfur too long is the same in both rooms pretty much. looks very similar to heat damage @stain

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the HLG elite still hasn’t been announced and they didn’t answer what diode was on it when i asked during the last live stream. i am going to guess the samsung LM301B.

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the plants are still vegging, he’s showing the recovery from the sulfur damage and giving an example of his topping technique (i think its just how most people already top?) and says next episode he will be doing more PAR comparisons between the 2 rooms. 15750w vs 8755w and at this point in veg at the worst they are doing equal, with the LED side potentially doing better

HLG is continuing to innovate rapidly. They’re also scaling their business. It’s exciting to watch!

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any regrets about cashing out when you did? i guess that’s a pretty personal question and doesn’t need to be answered. but yes they really shook up the market by offering a better product at better prices than majority of manufacturers, and even offering the components to DIY even cheaper. now with people like @Baudelaire offering very comparable products at even better rates, it’s definitely an exciting time for LED growers!!

any inside info on which diode the HLG elite uses?? :smiley:

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I got out when I had to. It worked out all the way around and I didn’t burn any bridges. They’re great people and I’m proud to have been a part of it and hope to be part of the story again someday.

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Episode 6 - PAR measurements for both rooms. the LED (515w fixtures) side is probably around 2x the metal halide bulbs and maybe 50% more than the HPS bulbs (both 1000w hortilux)

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I would implement more Blue light, 455NM

Great series @legalcanada thanks for posting these vids…I keep watching the episodes, looking for the LED side to have problems (it never does tho), so its looking very comparable to the HPS in veg. Cant wait til flowering!!

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this is not my grow, he is commercial grower from vancouver (island?) but what benefit do you think that would add? we do not know the CCT of these boards, they could have lots for all we know.

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Hi legalcanada,

i tend to mix lights on my own instead of using “5000k” for example. As for my feeling it is better, because you can actually make the light fit to the genotype and growarea.