Hi dear friends,
I have a question and would be grateful if you could guide me.
Are full spectrum LED lights really enough for all stages or is it better that I use growing special LED for growing stage and flowering special LED for flowering stage?
How much is yield difference between them?
Best regards
@Mazoo?.
you i to compare actual watts to actual watts.So that would make sensethat a light, or two using just under 400 watts of light would produce just less than a 400 watt light.
Time and time again it has been proven, that over all, intensity of PAR (photosynthetic active radiation, in other words the colors plants can use as opposed to the colors they can’t) is more important to development of hard dense buds than the “perfect” spectrum. This is why HPS does so well, it is far from being a perfect representation of what a plant actually ideally needs (a little too much red and green, and not enough blue), and certainly is not very close to the spectra of the sun and yet it continuously get some of the best results. This is because the intensity of the light from the amount of electricity it uses is almost the most efficient of all available grow lights to turn that electricity into usable light, the only others as efficient are LED and plasma.
So the number one thing to look for in a good but affordable LED light, is the ratings of the manufacturer over a long time, as well as making sure you know the actual watts the light uses, as well as making sure both peak reds and both peak blues are included in the LEDs spectra. Most new LEDs do use some white lights as well, as there is a little bit of the orange or yellow frequencies of light that can enhance the growing and flowering.
you are new to indoor growing or looking for a buying guide to help you choose the best LED grow light, there are several important factors to consider when choosing LED grow lights and this buying guide will help you make a better buying decision.
Many horticultural growers in the modern world could benefit from using LED lights if they knew which grow lights would be best for them. However, not many of them know how to pick the best. For a full, comprehensive guide see our Ultimate Guide to help how to choose the best LED grow lights.
First, a simple definition: The acronym LED simply refers to Light Emitting Diode, which is a relatively small bulb of light. To produce adequate amount of light required for a given purpose, the diodes are used in great numbers, and in different colors. The latest generation lights use the more efficient COB (Chip on Board) LED technology. Horticulturalistsgenerally use LED lights for both personal and professional purposes.
The LED bulbs and LED COB modules used in the LED industry have long lives and are very efficient. Available in different colors, they provide an efficient and convenient alternative to natural light for indoor plants.
The lights are necessary to accelerate plant growth and aid in the photosynthesis process. As more people adopt the practice o indoor growth of plants, the use of light emitting diodes also continues to grow. With demand, technology evolves, improving the advantages already apparent in LED lights. Such advantages include the ability of the user to control the provision of light required by the plants. For that reason, it is advisable to choose the best LED grow light that you can find based on the type of plants you grow.
Many growers still do not know a proper method to apply when selecting the LED grow lights. Growers choose LED fixtures because they conserve energy and maximize production. Here are five points to observe when evaluating LED lights.
Choose LED fixtures with adjustable output spectrum
Given that the LED arrays these days often come with different color LEDs, you need a solution that allows you to manage the light output spectrum according to your choice of plants or seasons. For example, you can match the colors to flowering season, or to summer time. By varying the light output, you can simulate the seasonal light changes to suit the growing circle of the plant.
Select LED fixtures with high power cooling system that works
High power LED fixtures need cooling, just like computer CPUs. For that reason, you need a heat sink and a fan. Since the LED fixtures do not radiate any heat, they have a metal pad that provides the way for heat to leave the LED.
Look for fixtures that are mounted on a metal core printed circuit board (or MCPCB for short), which is a space-grade technology for electronics that operate at high temperature
The device is better than the normal device circuit board and you will need it for the high levels of power that your LEDs use.
Make sure your circuit board is mounted to a sizable heat sink, preferably one with several fins
With more fins, the circuit board is able to spread heat out faster to aid faster cooling. This is important to prevent failures cause by single fins, leading to overheating and damage to the LED fixture.
Consider LED fixtures with constant current driver circuit
When buying LED fixtures consider the electronic current circuit that powers your LED lights. The role of the electronic current circuit, or driver circuit as it is professionally known, is to convert AC power to direct current within the proper voltage and current level that the LED fixture can sustain. A proper LED circuit driver should supply a constant supply of direct current and regulate the intensity according to temperature changes.
The Benefits of LED Grow Lights
There are many benefits of using these lamps as compared to other types in the market. Their benefits can only be seen if we compare with what other lamps will produce as compared to the greater LEDs.
Space Saving Designs:
To begin with, they are regarded as space saving designs, given that other types of grow lights need a lot of space in the room and at the same time they will need more equipment to help them run smoothly. With LED lighting solutions, you can enjoy better space utilization as they are small and do not occupy a lot of your space in the grow room. There are no headaches associated with extra equipment to run the lights and you are able to move them freely as you change their position. Some lights are designed to be daisy chained together, thus eliminating extra cords.
Optimized Light Spectrum:
LED technology allows the fine tuning of light spectrum to produce the best light that plants need to develop throughout their stages of growth. The energy can be concentrated on certain frequency bands, and so you don’t waste energy producing light in the un-usable part of the spectrum. LEDs deliver the right kind of light power that plants need. With other lights, like HPS or MH, you don’t have the ability to fine tune the spectrum, it is what it is and that’s all you get.
Power & Energy Efficient:
The third benefit of this type of grow lights is that they are also general power efficient. They save you a lot of money by substantially reducing your electricity bills. Hence, they are reliable and are a good source of energy saving.
Long Lasting:
Another benefit of these lights is that they are long lasting. They have the ability of serving you for more than 50,000 hours of use to about 100,000 hours before dying out. Other lights only last for about 20,000 hours. They are known as low running temperature lights. They are the perfect and most reliable because they will not warm your grow room excessively, thus exposing placing your plants in an unconducive growing environment.
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Recommended Best LED Grow Light 2016

This is our editor’s pick for the best led grow light in 2016, that is the Zeus Lighting LED Grow Light 250W. It is a nearly perfect plant grow light that has been designed to replace the 400 Watt MH/HPS light. It offers the best color spectrum ratio for maximum growth and high PAR value. Zeus indeed delivers a powerful bolt of LED lighting to make your plants grow and blossom.
We’ve actually been testing these lights in our own garden and have already seen fantastic results. They utilize 4 powerful 90W COB LED modules covering the spectrum from infra-reds to deep blues including UV. Each COB module is cooled with a patented heat sink and individual whisper-quite fan, which maintains the optimal temperature and avoids high heat as well as longer life. There are also 4 individual 5-Watt high power UV LEDs, which have a separate on/off switch. Your plants will love the UV, to stimulate growth. But you should switch off the UV to reduce UV exposure while tending your garden – what a great safety feature I haven’t seen in any other lights. Coverage is about 3ft x 3ft, but you can buy more lights you connect them together into a matrix of multiple lights using the included bracket. It is easy to connect them together with the included daisy chain power cord. Buy one today and buy more later as your operation grow. There is a 5-Year Manufacturer’s Warranty.
Written by MacGyverStoner Science Officer
posted by garrigan62
A good LED like MarsHydro, Platinum, GalxyHydro, etc., will be full spectrum with plenty of blues (veg) and reds (bloom) and usually some whites thrown in for good measure. California Lightworks adds UVB, and a few brands have the veg/bloom switch, with lower wattage blues for veg and higher wattage reds for flower. You want about 25W per square foot.
Yea, I bought SolarXtreme 250 from California LightWorks, its their new full-spectrum LED product and its amazing.
I’ve got LEDs in the same room as HPS is that good or bad?
my simple 2cents… I started using DIY LED’s for my fish tanks so I didn’t have to change “working” tubes that no longer produced the light spectrums to grow aquatic plants. When I started 12 years ago LED chips were about $50/each for good quality Cree chips. Now the same chip is about $6.50 per chip. They are hands down IMO superior to any lighting on the market today and any “grow” light should be full spectrum again this is just my opinion from working with them over the years… FYI my last grow using my DIY grow lighting went up 30% on harvest mostly due to the light spectrum penetrating the upper canopy give thinker denser flowers at the lower parts of the plants. Again this is 100% my opinion. Happy growing!
I learnt that would be better. Because of fuller spectrum