LEDs and CFLs

¿What does it mean low consumption and why it is important?

Indoor growing is not only a territory for large scale facilities with powerful fixtures, there also exist another type of systems to source plants with light, consuming less electricity, what makes your garden much more efficient, so it turn into an option for those who can't increase their electricity bill.

In-between these type of low consumption light equipments we can find fluorescent tubes, CFL lights or the new LED technology.

It is important to explain that no matter how efficient a technology is, the power consumption is what it is. When we compare a 250w CFL bulb with a 250w HPS fixture we do compare the light produced by each type of light, or the heat produced, nothing else. The fact is that the power consumption of each type is 250w, so we can not consider the CFL a low consumption system just for being a CFL, because the 250w HPS will exactly consume the same.

What we actually can talk about is efficiency. Efficiency is measured by lumens per watt consumed, so if a light is producing more lumens per watt consumed it means it is more efficient, then you can cut down your power consumption sourcing your plants with the same (or even more) light.

Types of low consumption grow lights

As we already explained, there are different types of grow lights considered as low consumption:

• Fluorescents
• CFL bulbs
• T5 fluorescents
• High intensity fluorescents
• LED

CFL and fluorescents for grow stage

During the grow stage, plant don't usually need large amounts of light, as they are in their first stages of growth. This detail, together with the need of a much cooler light spectrum, and a balanced humididty and temperature, makes from the choice of a low consumption grow light the best option for vegetative stage.

These lights are also interesting to keep motherplants (these plants are kept with a photoperiod of 18h of light - 6 hours of darkness, so the savings derived from using less power in your lights makes a huge difference in your monthly bill.

Depending on your needings and your garden's size, you can find option for keeping your mother plants, rooting your cuttings, or vegging your seedlings.

Fluorescents and CFL lamps for cannabis bloom

In the market you can find out multiple manufacturers that promote their lamps and low consumption equipments with a warmer spectrum as suitable for flowering.

The fact is that these lamps "for flowering" offer a very poor performance, and our experience tells us to do not recommend to any grower to use them. Even though if you still want to give them a try, it is very important to check the power consumption of each model, as some of them will consume even more than other equipments, so what could be a saving can end up in a higher electricity bill.

LED grow lights and panels

LED lights have been one of the greatest revolutions for grow lights industry. In its eraly days this technology was heavily questioned as it was not working as expected, but luckily this distrust has turned into interest as the evolution of these lights during the latest years makes that today we can find good LED grow lights for an average price, in addition to those more expensive and powerful.

LEDs for grow stage of plants

As it happens with low consumption grow lights, LED panels are a great choice for indoor growing, not only for its high efficiecny and low consumption, also for the results got. The new LEDs for growth boost the rooting process, the growth ratio and they even get shorter internodal space.

In between different LED models you can purchase led grow lights with a specific spectrum to vegetate plants (cool spectrum) or the new full spectrum LED (suitable for growing and blooming plants).

Now you can find in market different led options as LED strips to root and grow cuttings, or quantum boards and LED panels that cover a larger surface, what makes them optimal for both: keeping a mother plant and also to vegetate seedlings.

Led lamps for cannabis flowering

If you are thinking about purchasing your first LED fixture for bloom, it is important to first make a precise study of which are your needings and what is useless.

First you should know the power you need to get the harvest you expect. It is common in led fixtures that manufactures publish details that can mislead, or at least be tricky, like saying a fixture is 1000w power but then in technical specs say it consumes only 50w.

So you should not trust a state that tells you an LED lamp that consumes 50w can be compared with a 600w HPS fixture. Obviously it is not the same an it is not comparable.

In this way you should always follow the real consumption of an LED (in relation with this consumption is how you can almost know the real performance you can get from it). As you have probably read in some articles, or forums, full spectrum led can get yields up to 1,5 g/w or even 2 grams per watt, so the refference to calculate a real expected harvest could be to take real consumption and multiply it for a common performance got with those leds (i.e. 50w x 1,5-2 g/w= 75-100 grams).

COB LED vs Microled - Reviews, Advantages and Disadvantages

In this category you can find different LED grow lights. IF this is the first time you think about purchasing an LED, we aim you to read the following information about grow lights, advantages and disadvantages, as well as our own review:

Nowadays you can classify LED grow lights in 3 different categories:

• COB LED.
• Quantumboard.
• LED strips.

The main difference between the first one and other two is the concept: While COB (Chip On Board) are more powerful leds that unify light in one spot, microled use smaller leds to get better light spreading (for the same total power used).

In this aspect, COB LEDs are usually associated with bigger heatsinks, while quantumboards and led strips (both are common cases of microleds) usually weld leds in a panel that works as heatsink (usually aluminium).

Advantages of COB led

No doubt the main advantage we see in COB leds are its simplicity and working quality. The LED grow lights that use COB leds use less compounds, so if any of those happens to fail it's way easier to substitute it and repair the unit. In addition as these leds are not welded to a board, if in the future we plan to substitute any compound, to update the light and improve its performance, it is so easy to do it.

Another great advantage is the power of each light spot. With few COB leds we can cover large surfaces in an intense way. The system using COB is easy to scale so you can increase the light when your budget or needings require it.

Disadvantages of COB LEDs

The two main disadvantages of COB leds are the light intensisty in one point, and the heat created by these COB.

Due a higher intensisty generated in one spot, grower is forced to keep a larger distance canopy-lights to avoid burns.

Also related with this detail, as COB led grow lights use less light spots, not all the growing surface is sourced with the same intensisty of light.

Advantages of Microled

The market's trend is to increase the interest in these type of leds to manufacture led grow lights. The main advantages of these microleds are more efficient, the better spread the light and the heat generated.

Another important advantage is the possibility to set the light spectrum in a much more precise way, because the combination of LEDs with different spectrum derives in fixtures that can be trully considered full spectrum.

Thanks to a better light spread, these type of led lamps can be set so close to plant's canopy, without any fear of leaf burns.

Against Quantumboard and LED strips

Its main advantage can turn back against it, as these lights are a sumatory of less powerful leds, which need to be closer to plants to get the best performance. Is in this case where it can be a problem, specially for homegrowers with only one lamp. This set ups with one or few lamps, usually grow different strains under the same light, and it happens often that some strains that grow taller force you to rise up the lamps. In these cases rising up the lights will force you to accept that other plants will receive less light, which is equal to say less yields.

Another point against these led panels and strips is maintenance. In general led manufacturers usually give you a 2 year warranty but, if for any reason any diode of the light happens to fail after this period we will see how some led stop functioning (all those connected in line with that certain one that has failed). This detail, together with a difficulty of replacing those welded leds, will be a headache to owner, in addition to an extra budget to repair the unit.

How to choose the perfect led grow light

ok, we've talked about different types of low consumption grow lights and leds, but in this final point we want to explain how to find the LED that better matches your needings.

The first you have to do is decide the space you want to cover and the power you would like to use. If your will is to grow few plants in a space as small as possible, the best option is to use equipments like Alpha Black-1 or The Jackson (two different concepts, made with top quality compounds, for a really good price)

If your needings are others, you project larger scale gardens, and your budget accomplish then you should decide between top shelf led more powerful and with higher performance like Gavita Pro 1700w or the Lumatek Zeus Pro.

The most efficient grow lights for the cheapest price

In this category of led and low consumption grow lights we have grouped all those light equipments that are more efficient. Further more, we have adjusted prices so you save money from the first day.

Notice all online orders over 60€ sent to Spanish peninsule get free shipping, so you can receive at your place most of the products in this category with any extra cost. What a saving no? If this is not enough for you, check out the gift list per online orders (link on the footer of all pages). No matter what you buy, you get a free gift (and not useless gifts.