this is exactly what I mean.
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I dunno man, itās pretty toasty in my tent. Close to 30C most of the time.
Ive got some sativas running now so we will see.
I canāt speak to higher wattages but my 300w LED is twice the light my 250w HPS was.
And as far as being expensive, that only if you are buying āon brandā i use these enfun qbs, and catch them on sale for under $150.
They use a slightly lower grade of the same diodes as hlg, and they use meanwell drivers just like hlg.
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I replaced a 1000 w MH/HPS system with a 600 w LED which worked perfectly fine and did not hurt yield any. It also lowered the heat in my tent as the heat is dispersed much better so fans are able to contend with it. Both systems worked perfectly fine and either will get you to your destination.
My best advice is pick what will work best for your situation and go with it. Both systems have their ups and downs as mentioned in posts above. One big key is to learn how to grow using your selected gear. Itās more about the grower than the equipment IMO.
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So there you have it @zerocool, now you know as much as me lol
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So, LEDs will keep your grow room cooler and relatively get the same yield. How about quality and growing (stretch, etc.)?
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Good quality leds have dimmers so light intensity can be varied along with the height above the canopy to taylor conditions to growing requirements. They are very versatile in that respect, and typically grow plants with close internode spacing so stretch can be controlled to a degree. Quality is dependant on other factors also but you can expect top quality from full spectrum leds.
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I can only speak for myself here and without any technical BS, I feel so much safer leaving my LED room alone to boogie off to work or whatever than I ever did with HID.
After years of stacked, bare bulbs I got numb to the red hot mini suns in my grow room. When I first started an indoor grow I was so scaired of the obvious fire hazard.
Now with LEDās, remote drivers and a few fans, I feel so very much safer.
The peace of mind is very much worth the price for a watt for watt change from HPS to modern LED, for meā¦My .02
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Excellent information man I highly appreciate that.
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And I believe that.
My opinion. Is hid lighting scares people away cause the kwh (cost to run especially multiple units)
But with that said I really do not see led that flowers like any hps. Cheap vivosun hps bulbs will still produce thicker heavier flowers and will go deeper as you said. Led is best in an even canopy situation with short plants and light closer. It does not have that penetration. Any height to em there will be massive wasted space of popcorn bud down low. As said each situation has itās pros and cons. Some situations just donāt allow hid. But if thereās room for hid I think it still outperforms LEDs in actual product(buds)
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I do think the ideal way to grow indoors is smaller plants. So led would be great I guess based on your information. Theyāre just so damn expensive. A nice long term investment if you have the money though.
But for starting up costs hps is just awesome.
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This covers it pretty well.
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Good LEDs watt for watt produce more Photons in the photo active range listed on your LED descriptions as Photosynthetic Photon Flux.
A 1000w hps is generally a ppf of ~2000
From what I have read the Samsung LM301s are rocking at 2.75 to 3.1 umol/s so a 1000w would be ~ 2750 to 3000 ppf.
Further HIDs cannot have the same spread as LEDs. The PPFD - Photosynthetic Photon Flux Density over an area is more concentrated with HIDs. Right under the bulb you could have a huge spike that falls off with distance from the source.
LEDs spread that evenly so you can have the ideal PPFD across your canopy.
Spectrum is key as well.
Red photons are more effective at photosynthesis than blue or green, and the red diodes are more efficient at translating watts to photons. Which is why youāll see most LEDs add the 660nm Osram chips to boost the system efficiency.
I use HID. Where I am at in life I cant justify dropping the 1 to 2 grand to upgrade my main flower space. If I had the money I would switch.
To me bottom line imo - LEDs are now superior to HID and they are only getting better as time moves on. HID is a mature technology and it cannot progress much farther than it has.
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I swear by LEDās. I live in the southern US and it really cuts down on the heat during the summer time. Also, you save a shit ton on electricity bills. Especially if you have your lights on during the night time. The quality of flower meaning density, frost, terpenes, and color under LEDās is far superior in my opinion. I feel like āpenetrationā is a misconstrued metric along with grams per watt but I can tell you that I can still see light on my soil through the canopy. As long as you have at least 32w per square foot of LEDās you canāt go wrong. Sure, the upfront cost is more but with a 50,000 hour + lifespan compared to 10,000 hour lifespan of an HID and the higher power draw and inefficiency of the bulb, itās now a no brainier to go with LED IMO
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Do most of the LED lights use Samsung diodes, they just arrange more/less in a different layout?
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Samsung, Osram, Cree, Nichia, Seoul semiconductor , and a few more there are alot of manufactures that produce really good chips, and most combo boards actually use chips from different manufactures as some are better/cheaper/more efficient than others.
Plenty of led grows and info on this site, give a look around 
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100% agreed.
Itās the upfront system cost that stops me for switching. Its 25 bucks to keep my HPS going with a new bulb vs 1000+ for an led.
I have replaced my smaller spaces with LEDs and love them.
@zerocool
The main chips I have seen in white leds being sold are samsung and bridgelux- both are good chips. A lot add Osram 660nm on them to improve system efficiency since they provide more ppf per watt.
My experience is that led lights work great, solid frosty nugs, Im doing a grow right now w/600 watt mh/hps digital ballast (free equipment) I had a $150.00 led and it did produce nice tight nugs, my issue is heat. It will be harder to go thru summer with the heat from the hid. The led went all summer and I never had to do much about the heat 80f/85f. Thats not happening with the 600 mh/hps. Definitely going to need more heat exhaust. Im looking into another led saving my pennies for that heat reason, I like to gorw 365 days. I havenāt shut down my closet in summer for years. LEDs win in the heat catagory. I can always add heat in the winter, its a bitch getting rid of it in the summer. So theres my .02 centavos. Plant a seed overgrow the world.
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Also HPS/MH are more a fire hazard if things go wrong.
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