215 Watt LED Grow

[Rogue]

Alright here are some new pics.

The first two show all 6.

The next two are of my biggest. It is starting to branch. All of them in fact have some action going on at the nodes to one degree or another.

The next one is my short fat girl I'm hoping. The node distance is really tight on that one. I had to put a roll of tape under her pot to get her closer to the light.

The last is one that is having some strange leaf problem with lower leaves. I did have to plant it deeper because it stretched bad the first day or two out of the ground. I'm thinking that might be the cause. Any thoughts?

 

[bombbudpuffa]

Looks like over watering or a ph problem. I'd say ph.

 

[HydroManiac]

bbp does that look like ducksfoot to you??

 

[Rogue]

I think it is just really a broad leafed variety of indica. It had a really heavy narcotic high.

 

[HydroManiac]

im thinking of smoking some narcotics myself haha

 

[Cam09]

Thanks for the update. got some great looking ladies(knock on wood) what are they about a month old now? keep'em green :farm: love the LEDs

 

[Elven]

In the edit signature area type what you want to be displayed, then left click and hold to highlight it. Once it is highlighted click on the the blue circle with the infinity symbol on the tool bar and a pop-up will open for you to enter your link.

Easy as that!:hubba:

Thanks alot Rogue totally makes the signature line look nicer. The ladies are growing well, I hope you figure out what that spotting is. I cant wait to see the outcome I am already looking into LED for Veg if this works well.

 

[Tater]

Gman: nice first post you had me till this line

I am absolutely convinced that using proper LEDs and the correct wavelengths is the only way to go.

I'd more than gladly put my hps "array" up against any led setup you can build. If you want to match watt for watt I'm still more than willing to bet my paycheque on it. I'm not bashing LED's its just that the technology is still in it's infancy. They do make leaps and bounds every month though. Last time I checked they had 1watt led's.

Rouge, keep us all updated on the LED grow. Nothing is gained if nothing is risked right, love to see you experimenting man.

 

[Rogue]

My plants will be 7 weeks old Wednesday and man are they starting to take off. All except one are doing well. I can't figure out its problem it is in the same soil as the rest, on the same water schedule, getting the same nutes, light, air and temperature. But it still develops these stripes on the leaves. The new ones look good and healthy than they just sorta shut down. Very weird.

 

[bombbudpuffa]

Looks like Mangenese or zinc imo. It's caused by too high of a ph. Some plants are like that. Some like a slightly lower/higher ph than others.

 

[papabeach1]

to me.. your plants is doing well.. patient... you did succeed grew some with leds in your past...

some genetics was used with hps.. or outdoor.. they will manage to live under your belt.. you did good job.. maybe you need to raise the humidity temp..that will help them to grow better.. why don't you try the new ufo light stealth grow lights we got the link here somewhere.. it blooms in 7 days!!.. hmm? led power to ya...

 

[Rogue]

Raising the humidity is kinda of a problem here. I live in a very dry climate. The air is in the teens to twenties most of the time unless it is raining or snowing. I would have to put a humidifier in the closet to really have any shot at raising it. I'll see if i can find a small one.

As for ph I'll try a little pickle juice in the water for it on the next watering cycle.

 

[NorCalHal]

It is 215 watts of LEDs!!!

I am running 384 LEDs that are said to be 1/2 watt. In reality some colors are a bit more and some less so all in all in ended up being 215 watts. I am using a 25 amp 12 volt bench switch mode power supply which actually puts out 13.8 volts. The resistors and the LEDs are pulling a little over 18 amps so I am actually running closer to 250 watts but about 35 watts are being used up by the resistors.

Still not convinced on LED's, not in the least. BUT, I do commend you Rouge for your efforts!

So it say's your LED's consume 18 amps?? For 215 watts?? Wasting electricity, imo. A 1000w HID uses 9 amps @ 110v. Better results for less electricity,imo.

Is heat an issue with the LED's?

 

[toke@smoke420]

norcalhal makes a very good point that was the reason i ditched my cfl setup.... man 18 amps for 212 watts is that possible??? my new pac uses like 1000 something watts and is rated like 9 ampsi think, idk much about electrical work though, other then 15 amp circuit = 1200 watts safely.

 

[Tater]

Amps and voltage are directly related. You can reduce the amperage by increasing the voltage or you can raise the amperage by decreasing the voltage. Watts are a way of measureing the amount of power something is consuming. Volts and amps have nothing to do with the total amount of power being used. (that isn't really true but as far as the scope of this conversation is concerned its all you need to know lol)

 

[NorCalHal]

Thanks Tater.
So, even tho he is usuing high amps, the actual cost is cheaper to run then a HID? it's more about the watts used? I really don't pay too much attention to power consumption, I just pay my bill.

 

[Rogue]

As to the Amps question it is simple math.

Amps x Volts = Watts

HID light 9 amps x 110 Volts = 990 Watts

My LED board 18 amps x 12 Volts = 216 Watts

The reason for the voltage difference is i am using a power supply providing DC current at 12 Volts instead AC line voltage at 110 Volts.

 

[Tater]

:yeahthat:
What he said

 

[NorCalHal]

Thanks fellas

 

[gman]

Power consumption using LED:s can be even further reduced by adjusting the voltage as accurately as possible. For red LED:s the voltage should be very close to 2 volts and for blue ones about 3.4 volts. If the LEDs have been installed in parallel this is these are the voltages one should feed. If they are installed in a series one should calculate the proper voltage and adjust the voltage to to match it.

If the voltage is too high one needs a resistor that will lower the voltage (and, of course, use some of the current to produce unnecessary heat). In case the voltage is a lot above the proper one most of the energy is lost, of course.

I am building my own LED package trying to optimize the voltages. The current used by a typical blue LED is 20ma and the voltage is 3.5V. In this case one single LED consumes 0.02A x 3.5V = 0.07W. One hundred of them should consume 2A and respectively 7W.

Gman