Curious to see how many of you all made the switch to LED from HPS or CMH and stayed with LED.
It seems like LED guys started with LED’s. Perhaps its just the circles I am in, but I wanted to get some input here.
Thanks for readin’.
Doc
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I started with MH/HPS… made the switch to leds when cobs started to become a thing. Haven’t looked back and the newer leds are crushing it.
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Did you go up in wattage with LED or down?
What was it that kept you rockin the LED’s?
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Yuppers, I’m a data point to support that hypothesis! Started with LEDs…
Cheers
G
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I switched away from HIDs for my eye health. Accidental glances out of the corner of your eye, or over the edge of your sunglasses will burn holes in your vision. No exaggeration.
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Same wattage roughly. 600 for 600.
I really liked the lack of heart they made compared to big bulbs. Can pick your Kelvin rating, even though the newer lights are more mixed and full spectrum.
Lowered my monthly electric bill a bit. And safety… when the led driver fails, that’s it. Doesn’t blow up or start a fire.
Also… probably most importantly… I felt my plants came out a bit more frosty and dense.
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I switched from MH/HPS to CMH when CMH started taking the world by storm. To this day I love them.
I used Spectrum King SK400 LED for a couple years when they hit. They built us some custom lights early on.
I ran them on a couple of our breeding projects, and they were impressive. However, I was seeing a whole lot of lack of genetic expression under those LED’s that I would get with CMH or HPS everytime.
That started the wheels turning and sent me down a rabbit hole regarding genetic expression under different light sources. I ultimately went back to CMH and HPS and continue to use it. I believe the majority of the genetics I hold, and all of the work I have done, have all been done under HID lighting. I believe that growing stuff under LED that was selected and bred under HID, will leave you missing things that were selected for.
That is my .02 cents at least. It is also purely anecdotal. Could there have been other things at work that I didn’t pick up on? Sure. However the lighting change was the single biggest variable to sway my opinion on the subject.
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- I also use LEDs all the time
I ran MH and HPS for years. Then I shutdown while my grand daughter was living with us. After she moved I started back up and wanted to replace my lights because they were all close to 20 years old, and also wanted to downsize a little from what I was running before. When I went to the hydro store to see what was up, they talked me in to the 315 CMH. They worked great for me. I recently moved my grow from a 15 foot grow room in my garage to tents in my spare bedroom, again, downsizing, and I went with LEDS. That was about a month ago and so far it’s working really well for me.
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Don’t hesitate, the new lights kick ass-
Spend extra and get something substantial…
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I’m still on the 315CMH but potentially looking at adding an LED of any 420 sales make it worthwhile to see how they compare.
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using them together , more like LED of course. Spectrum, economy, buds density , safety…
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Started and have primarily grown with a 315 CMH and it grows trees. I did my first LED grow with a no name Chinese LED I got for free that’s supposedly 600w and was surprised at how well it did. If I found an LED that could match what my CMH does for me I wouldn’t think twice about switching though.
I have noticed that in most cases it’s exactly how you said though- guys who grow with LED started with LED.
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Started growing under HID, bought my first LED like 4 or 5 years ago and ran a combo of HPS/MH and LED for awhile with great results. Bought a few more LEDs over the last couple years and was running solely LED. It is cheaper, but I do think that a combo of HID and LED produce better genetic expression
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I started with mh and hps ten years ago, grew for about 2 years with them, then started shifting to LED first the old 3 band, then eventually I think I had the 9 band blurples from HTG. Used them for years in combination with t5’s. A year ago I got mars hydro ts1000’s and love them, this current grow I added in a 315cmh, and the combination of LED and CMH is just amazing I gotta say. I’m running half the watts I would need of traditional lights for the same yield.
Oh, I use a light mover too.
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Started with led - California lightworks to be exact. Got the solar xtreme 250 and quite happy with it.
However not happy with California lightworks. A bunch of egotistical people work there. Called in for some general advice and suggested help before sending light for warranty service. Turned out I could fix it myself and I did that.
But soon after I discovered after being approved for an affiliate link to accumulate I think it was as 5%, that they rescinded the offer and closed my account on their webpage.
50/50 here for me, I like the light and the results I have got but not the service. I’d say pass… but on another note I do have a mars hydro ts1000 and I will say that I like that light because of how cool my tent stays. Always below 80. With California light, always above 80.
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thinking of going back to hps in flower lol
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the Ca light draws 50 more watts, so i guess it depends on how much hotter it was
Plus it’s a cob light
Run hotter and even has cooling fans that don’t seem to do that much in cooling it down, if it weren’t for the exhaust fan the tent would easily get into the low 90’s because of the California lightworks led.
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Interesting you should say that. I was debating throwing the LEDs in the mix with the CMH just to see what the combo did for me. I think I’m going for it!
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