LED vrs LEC

[ZigZag]

So....I'm thinking of either supplementing or replacing the LED lights I now have with LEC lights. The objective is to reduce the fan noise and reduce heat as well. The two LED's draw 700 watts.
After looking around the web I've found some LED lights that are convection cooled_ no fans needed, they also produce full spectrum white light_ much easier to work in than the pink/purple of the LEDs I now have. Also am looking at some LEC lights that also produce white light and are convection cooled. After looking at the comments on both some say that LEDs produce as good quality as the LEC's but t the LECs produce more growth_ larger more productive plants. Either choice will draw about the same wattage as the LEDs I now have.
Also am wondering if plasma lights are the same thing as LEC's....they sure look the same from the catalog pics...Anyone got any thoughts on this?

[Sonnyhad]

http://www.bcblondes.com/Cree-cxb-3590-led-grow-light-with-meanwell-driver-p/bcb-225rw.htm

Take a look at this, I just got one and my plants seem to love it.

[ZigZag]

Just looked those up, thanks for the link...never seen the "two Blondes" vendor before but the Cree LED chips I do know about. Cree produces some of the most powerful LED chips and makes all kinds of LED lighting for "all your lighting needs". The Cree lights are top end lights for sure and are made in the U.S. Are the ones you got "white light" or do they produce a pink/purple light (they have both)?

[Sonnyhad]

They are white light, another nice thing about them.

[Green75]

I have a LEC.... DID NOT KNOW THERE WAS ANY OTHER KIND ....LOL

[ZigZag]

I just looked at some LEC yesterday and I loved the white light they produce_ its a lot more white than regular LED (even full spectrum) and is a lot nicer to work under., and a lot more white than HPS too. The light itself is really nice and 600 watts is really bright in a 3x6' area_ its also very even over the full core footprint_ no hot spots....and it says you can keep them as close as 18"....how close do you have yours?

[Green75]

Right now week 9 into flower I am about 12" off top of plant...

[Green75]

I made a update post today...

[DrPhoton]

Are these grow lights or regular lights ?. Why i ask is because you say they are full spectrum. If this were the case then a lot of power is wasted in wavelength energy thats not used very much by the plants. Grow lights focus their energy around the 450nm and 650nm wavelength peaks. If you want to save power and heat dissipation, look for grow lights. Ignore this if this isnt the case.

[ZigZag]

The "white light" LEDs produce truly white light_ they aren't pink/purple in color and are really nice to work under. many of the new ones are convection cooled no fans_ they use smaller diodes/chips and heat sinks to dissipate the heat. They do produce some light in the blue green to green yellow spectrum some of which is used by plants. But they are also very bright (especially the 300 watt lights). There are a few manufacturers who produce them in a light bar format, about 3x3x40 inches and 300 watts. The core footprint is about 48 x18" so you need two to cover a 5x3 foot space.

[DrPhoton]

Yea that sounds pretty good. Cant beat LED's tbh, the best.

[Weed Pharma]

With regards to heat snd noise- many companies now list the amount of BTU's the lights generate and the decibels for comparison .

[ZigZag]

Yeah I've just seen that listed on some of the newer lights. When I got my LEDs about a year ago all that was mentioned was the size of the footprint coverage and the watts of each diode. I'll have to start looking for decibel listings_ haven't seen that before.....Some say "no noise" cuz they are convection cooled and others say they use fans_ any the common description is that they are "quiet" though now I know there are definitely differences! Thanks for the info.

[ZigZag]

At this point I'm thinking of using two of the 300 watt LED bars with heat sinks and then one of the LED's I have now above that using just the veg setting and then just the flowering spectrum, hung above the other lights to increase the spectrum coverage for each photo period_ or just replacing the LED's with two 300 watt LEC lights. Hmmmm.... I have to work in an area close to the grow room and would prefer a white light over one that's not....

[ZigZag]

Here's some info on the LED's that produce white light_ Fluence BioEngineering makes the SPYDRx Plus which is really nice but won't fit my space_ its eight bar lights on a grid_ now very popular with commercial growers. You can place them 12-18" over the canopy but because they have COB LEDs and the light is spread out evenly over the 4x4 footprint there is very even coverage. But now they have a new light called the VYPRx which is a bar type light (42x3x4") 320 watts each. There are others as well that spread the coverage out over the full area of the footprint so its more even than the LED's that are in a smaller size...like 12"x18" or so...some of the others are made by Next Light, Illumitex Neo Sol, Innov44, NanoTech, etc...These are high end lights but at a high end price...

[DrPhoton]

LED's are pricey but has been better of late, what they make up for though is power saving.

[ZigZag]

The LEC lights I'm looking at are the 315 watt Sun System lights_The light from these is really nice too and the footprint with two of them would be perfect for a 6x3' space_ core coverage is 3x3 for each. Best to use the veg spectrum lamp for that and then the flowering lamp when you cut back the photo period or in the case of autos when they start to flower. But the lamp they come with says its good for the entire grow. At his point I'm willing to sacrifice a few watts to get white light I can work under more easily. And pay a few dollars more for electricity.

[Green75]

Lec.....you ain't getting better than that....

[NebulaHaze]

Also am wondering if plasma lights are the same thing as LEC's....they sure look the same from the catalog pics...Anyone got any thoughts on this?

I just wanted to add that plasma grow lights are their own thing. They're a type of induction light which pretty much just means the lamp uses induction instead of a filament. On the flip side, LECs are the same thing as ceramic metal halide lights (basically an improved metal halide).

There are two types of induction lights; "plasma" and "magnetic" induction. A Magnetic Induction light is basically a fluorescent tube that doesn't use a filament. It's going to get similar results as a similarly-sized fluorescent light.

A Plasma Induction light also doesn't use a filament but it produces light by exciting sulfur plasma with microwave radiation, which is unique to plasma lights. The problem is the light it produces has far too much green, and they don't get as good of growth as most other types of grow lights. Plus plasma lights cause electromagnetic interference, which can interfere with Wi-Fi, cordless phones and satellite radio.

So to summarize:

• LED Grow Light - Panels containing a bunch of tiny LED diodes (their light usually looks purple)
• LEC Grow Light - Fancy name for a Ceramic Metal Halide light ("Light Emitting Ceramic")
• Magnetic Induction Grow Light - Glorified fluorescent light
• Plasma Induction - Greenish light which causes interference

Long story short, don't use plasma lights, they're a waste of money. You will definitely get waaaaay better results with LED or LEC/CMH!

I wrote a little bit more about induction grow lights here if anyone is interested