OK!

(http://fatalii.net/led.jpg)

Finally I can publish some results after growing some bonchi plants under LED lamp for one week!
The 90 Watt led lamp shown here is equivalent to 400 Watt HPS.
At this point I can really tell that this isn't bullshit, it really WORKS very well!
Check for yourself.

Before 90 Watt LED:
(http://fatalii.net/before_led.jpg)

After one week of 90 Watt LED:
(http://fatalii.net/after_led.jpg)

In addition, I got an open flower from C. lanceolatum Bonchi in just 2(!!) days of LED light!
(http://fatalii.net/led2d.jpg)
So it obviously encourages plants to flower too!
This was the first open C. lanceolatum flower since last summer!

I also added one Aji Cristal bonchi without any leaves few days ago and now it has plenty of new sprouts all over it!

Dutch-Habanero F1 and Bird's Eye Baby started ripening their pods after few days under LED lamp and the taste after week is very good!

So after week it looks promising for growing, blooming and maturing!!

Next test will be to harvest Bird's Eye Baby soon and see how it starts to flower again under LED.

More updates at fatalii.net! Stay tuned!

Here one maturing it's pods under the LED lamp!

(http://fatalii.net/bonchi_pods2.jpg)

First of all I'd like to introduce myself, My name is Grant, I'm from Victoria in Australia and I've been growing chillies now indoors under 2x 400w hps for the last year now, first season I was using rockwool slabs on a flood and drain system but for this season I have changed to using a recirculating  drip system with coco coir as a growing medium. I would like to ask about the comparison of the LED lighting compared to HPS, It seems that this type of lighting would save me plenty on my electricity bill. Please keep me updated on your experiment, if more plants can be grown bigger, faster, better using LED. What size garden can you grow under this 90w LED? and what size chilli plants, is it only useful for onamentals, bonsai or seddlings, cuttings etc...
Also I grow 25 diff types af chilli plants in 300mm pots, outdoors in soil but for next season I will be changing this to Coco coir with a drip system also, it seems I get alot less problems growing in this media. The chillis also grow much faster using hydro as compared to soil. I'll send a few pics soon
regards Grant

Hi Grant! and Welcome!

Very nice to meet people from all around the world here, as far as from Australia, the opposite of Finland!
It would be very interesting to see stuff you grow there!

Of course, you can grow any chiles or other plants under LED lamp, I'm just using bonchi plants because I can fit many chiles at different growign stages (growth, flowering, maturing and rooting) to see how they do!
I will definitely do many tests more under different plants, also with salad etc!!
And I will definitely publish results here and on my site.

The info sheet tells LED lamps can be used in commercial gardens very far away when using several lamps... it's hard to tell before trying... my main goal is to try this in commercial greenhouse when ever possible.

I don't personally have that good experiences with coco, I prefer using expanded clay (leca) for chiles, or just rockwool and pots with aeroponic systems.
It seems that coco is too moist for most varieties.

But then again... might work much better there in Australia!

Damn,

The leaves that the bonsai developed in just 1 week. Great!

mmm.. do you have some specifications about the led diods used in this lamp? numbers, spreading angles, wave length.. thanks

http://www.viherpeukku.fi/catalog/product_info.php?cPath=79_172&products_id=791

I think this is the product in the test. Goodness it's expensive as a one time investment! Hopefully the reduced power consumption and better yield will pay out...
I once tried soldering 400 LEDs together and see how that would work out but I scrapped it, simply not enough effect. I guess the LEDs here are the next generation ones (which also explains the price...) and maybe with some electronics to boost the effect.
Exciting but still a bit too pricey in my opinion...

I searched the internet with the words: 90W plant lamp etc. and run to several places where they sell similar lamps. The prices vary around 300-350$. So there is a nice margin of profit ;) Of course there might be some small differences like the type of plug or input voltage etc. None the less interesting test.

- Esa

well that is VERY! expensive  ;D I am thinking about building one myself. Because the diods are actually very cheap. It will be a hard and boring work and i will need help from my friend, which is very good in stuff like this, but still better than pay almost 600 eur.

just need to know parametres of LEDs..

http://www.cornerworks.net/
390e alv22%
http://www.cornerworks.net/kuvat/kasvilamput.pdf
Edit: hmm, after sending this message i looked contact information and amazed, its my old neighbour  :o

And somewhere in tampere is Ecomotive Oy, maybe somebody should ask this from there.

Lainaus käyttäjältä: esa - helmikuu 12, 2009, 16:20:49 ip
I searched the internet with the words: 90W plant lamp etc. and run to several places where they sell similar lamps. The prices vary around 300-350$. So there is a nice margin of profit ;) Of course there might be some small differences like the type of plug or input voltage etc. None the less interesting test.

- Esa

And after you search a bit more, you will find out that most manufacturers sell them directly to consumers for 150-250 usd + shipping costs. Input voltage seems to be 110V/230V on my unit.

It's  also good to remember that there are different kinds of led lamps with the same body (ufo) out there which are definitely cheaper and not nearly as good quality. So the same looks off the body won't tell if it's the same lamp or not.

I also heard some sad stories of some cheaper versions with the same body. Just something good to keep in mind.

And now... after many requests, some progress with Dutch-Habanero Bonchi under LED lamp!

(http://fatalii.net/led_dh1.jpg)

More pics and updates to come later!

More pictures sounds good :), hardly wait

Hi Fatalii
Do you have any other plants to compare with, ie that have been under other lights for the same lengh of time??? what height is the light and how high can you have it?
thanks Grant  8)

With limited space under LED lamp and with a few dozen bonchis I have to switch plants to save many of the plants, so there are only few that have been under the lamp all time, and they look very good!

I've seen what the led lamp is capable of when it comes to growing, flowering, maturing and producing pods, This is definitely the way to go with artificial lightning.

Latest pic of the Dutch Habanero F1 Bonchi under the LED lamp!

(http://fatalii.net/led_dhf1.jpg)

Looks very good now and I think my next grow lamp is LED lamp. 8)

Looks good!.

Got a question: How big area is this lamp capable to light up?

and the plants look great  ;)

They promise it can lit up a large space (several square meters) but then again, it's impossible to confirm is it enough for flowering pllants. I'm sure it's enough for growing the leaves etc but flowering definitely needs much more light.

Oh and, Dutch-Habanero F1 Bonchi is looking even better now... for some reason, it started to flower a lot even when  it's full of fruit! Never seen that to happen with DH F1 before!

Pictures to come later.

This LED lamp is much better than I ever could have expected!

Lainaus käyttäjältä: Fatalii - maaliskuu 15, 2009, 12:10:01 ip
They promise it can lit up a large space (several square meters) but then again, it's impossible to confirm is it enough for flowering pllants. I'm sure it's enough for growing the leaves etc but flowering definitely needs much more light.

Oh and, Dutch-Habanero F1 Bonchi is looking even better now... for some reason, it started to flower a lot even when  it's full of fruit! Never seen that to happen with DH F1 before!

Pictures to come later.

This LED lamp is much better than I ever could have expected!

Damn! There will be more pods than leaves!  :D

Looks like that! :)

I think I will harvest the pods quite soon and let it flower completely. Now it's obvious that it isn't the LED lamp that won't restrict the amount of fruit, but the pots they're growing in.

It's good to keep in mind that all of the Bonchi's under the LED lamp are in TINY  pots. In large pots the growth would be more obvious of course.

But, as I said before, this lamp really suprised me!
The yield is what really shows how effective the lamp is and itt IS effective! :)

Yeah, that LED-lamp really seems to be quite effective! Now let's just wait for the price to come down a bit!  ;)

Here's the latest pic of Dutch-Habanero F1 under the led.

I will add some topmax soon to boost the flowering even more!

(http://fatalii.net/dh_f1_led.jpg)

Caramba!
That looks so delicious.
I could eat whole plant :D
Must try grow some bonchi in autumn.

Looks really awesome

Sweet!


-If you didnt noticed

549€ seems like a lot of money if you ask me. I've been looking for a replacement for my 2700K CFL that just popped after 3 weeks (annoying as hell) and have been considering LED's. I'm looking at these as an alternative and they are considerably cheaper. They appear to have less wattage but have the same kind of spectrum output, plus the GrowLED 38 comes in different red, blue, or mixed, thus allowing you to mix and match.

http://www.earthled.com/growled-led-grow-lights.html

An American company but they appear to ship to Finland. I haven't checked yet but am sending them an email tomorrow.

Yeah, there are planty of cheaper ones, but are they as good?

There can be always good promises of the spectrum etc. but how they work in practice?

Many companies around the world are trying to get rid of the older LEDs now, so yes, you can get cheaper ones.
I've already heard many sad stories about spot leds and the ones that have bad spectrums even the specs say they are perfect.. :)

The price is still quite high, but compared to HPS, LED lamp pays itself back quickly!

It's like with HPS lamp.. people shouldn't think too  much what it costs, but what will it cost in a long run, as long as you will use it.

And these are still quite new stuff, eventually the price will settle!

I agree with you Fatalii. I think that when these LED systems become more common, the price will drop. And as the old saying goes, "a poor man can't afford to buy cheap things"...  ;) (freely translated :))

Within 2-3 years prices will drop dramatically. LED is the future!!.

Hello friends of the UFO! (*grins)

I've googled and found out that most of the producers of the UFO LED lamp are located in China. They also produce panels and other lamps for growing plants. I asked about the price a few days ago and they answered me very promptly:
----------------------------------------
About UFO you asked ,its feature is as :
         1)Shape :Round
         2)LED qty :90 pcs 1 W high power LED  (Red :blue =7:2 or Red:Blue =8:1)
         3)Power:90W
         4)Wave Length : RED :620-625nm,660nm ,Blue :450-460nm

Price :126USD/pcs FOB Shenzhen and if qty is big ,the price will be negotiable!
Ship cost for 1 pcs to  Germany  is 58.6usd by DHL
----------------------------------------
The problem is the toll: I must find out how much EU will want to have :(
Anyway, the price will be about 150 euro plus toll. Not bad! Could be even less, when ordering 10 or 20 lamps.
In any case, I will not construct a lamp by myself since it has to be solid enough and the UFO has 3 fans that are electronically controlled to avoid overheating of LEDs. (so the description)
The LEDs are high power (1W a piece) which is very much, comparing with a "normal" LED (about 30mW). Buying is better.

The question is: red:blue 7:2 or 8:1?
Fatalli, you're the "pioneer" of the UFO lamp growing, which composition of red/blue would you recommend (my whish ist to grow bonchis).

regards
Alexander

Check the latest updates on my site, you can see the exact ratio of the blue / red lamps there on the led pics!

It's hard to recommend anything else after seeing how well it works!

Alex have seen a number of these used in Dubai and was told the price of these will go down quickly as the l.e.d
are being produced in higher quantity`s and also larger versions are being made for commercial applications,if your thinking for next season..i would certainly wait till the prices drop further  :) 

well I plan to buy some LED lamp in autumn when the GH season will be over. Hope te price drops... a lot..  ;D

Yes lets indeed my plan to  ;) ;D

I'm curious to see how deep the price will go down. I can already get the UFO in ebay with 225 euro.
For the meantime I bought this here:
https://www.growshoponline.nu/index.php?page=shop.product_details&category_id=12&flypage=flypage.tpl&product_id=878&option=com_virtuemart&Itemid=14&vmcchk=1&lang=en (https://www.growshoponline.nu/index.php?page=shop.product_details&category_id=12&flypage=flypage.tpl&product_id=878&option=com_virtuemart&Itemid=14&vmcchk=1&lang=en)
Should be very good!

Nice pair of Fluorescent,You will get some great growth with those  :)

hope so!!!  8)

90W ufo leds are already available at about 170 euros+50 eur shipping to Finland from one manufacturer's local office in Amsterdam ;)

Hi,
This LED stuff really picks my intrest... I am a fan of HPS they bring the light to my winters :-P
But of course electric bill is something awful.

My friends audio company uses these LED spots http://www.thomann.de/fi/stairville_led_par_56_10_mm_black_rgb.htm
So those can be adjusted ammount of red, green and blue. I am not saying that its as good as those expencive ones, but considering the price of 49e that is definetly something worth trying.

I have seen those in action and I assure you those produce lots of lumens...

Tell me what u think of my idea :-)

I was thinking those kind of lamps also. I would order and test if I even got that little spare money... :(

It would be interesting to know which wavelength the light of those LEDs have.
It should be about of 460nm for growing and about 630-660nm for flowering. It is said this wavelengths are optimal for plants.
LEDs with other wavelengths of the light would have little to no effect, even if power LEDs!

Anyway, I'm very interested in the results of your testings  :)

Lainaus käyttäjältä: AlexChupetinho - toukokuu 14, 2009, 20:55:10 ip
It would be interesting to know which wavelength the light of those LEDs have.
It should be about of 460nm for growing and about 630-660nm for flowering. It is said this wavelengths are optimal for plants.
LEDs with other wavelengths of the light would have little to no effect, even if power LEDs!

Emitters should provide light at 460nm, 630nm & 660nm. Most likely they use the same emitter mix in this LED like the others. 20% 460nm, 40% 630nm & 40nm 660nm.

630nm emitters are cheaper than 660nm emitters.

This one should have 1W emitters, 90pcs of them.
Source: http://www.viherpeukku.fi/catalog/product_info.php?cPath=79_172&products_id=791 (http://www.viherpeukku.fi/catalog/product_info.php?cPath=79_172&products_id=791)

How big grow space do you think, that this stuff is capable to light up? thanks

Lainaus
Emitters should provide light at 460nm, 630nm & 660nm. Most likely they use the same emitter mix in this LED like the others. 20% 460nm, 40% 630nm & 40nm 660nm.

630nm emitters are cheaper than 660nm emitters.

This one should have 1W emitters, 90pcs of them.
Source: http://www.viherpeukku.fi/catalog/product_info.php?cPath=79_172&products_id=791 (http://www.viherpeukku.fi/catalog/product_info.php?cPath=79_172&products_id=791)

Hi Herpiili,
well, I meant this one http://www.thomann.de/fi/stairville_led_par_56_10_mm_black_rgb.htm
(indicated by tonttu). It costs 49, euros. I thought you want to check it.

You speak about the so called "UFO Grow lamp"  :) Well, I know, it seems to make wonders but it's to expensive for the moment!   :(

I'm currently test driving UFO lamp with lettuce... really does the work nicely.
So I'm very happy with the results both for producing fruits (chiles)and growing leaf mass (lettuce).

Yes getting more impressed myself the more i hear/Read about these.. :)

I'll definitely buy that damned UFO!!!
How many sq meter can cover such an UFO?
--

18 square feet ive seen quoted,Like to see what Fatalii has to say about that though  :)

18 sq feet is about 1,6 sq meter, that is a square having a side of 1,2 meter. pretty good!

Sounds actually kinda little to me :D

Of course, If you want to make your plants flower a lot, thats sounds quite reasonable, but at growing stage, or growing lettuce and herbs it may cover ever a larger area.

I'm quite amazed how far it can far away plants can be lighted with it.

It's very good to move flowering plants closer and the ones that need to grow some foliage can be further away.
At least works very well with Bonchi plants! :)

Lainaus käyttäjältä: Fatalii - toukokuu 22, 2009, 11:12:20 ap
Sounds actually kinda little to me :D

Of course, If you want to make your plants flower a lot, thats sounds quite reasonable, but at growing stage, or growing lettuce and herbs it may cover ever a larger area.

I'm quite amazed how far it can far away plants can be lighted with it.

It's very good to move flowering plants closer and the ones that need to grow some foliage can be further away.
At least works very well with Bonchi plants! :)

Well, Fatalii, it's kinda little for you but remember I'm a hobby Chile grower so a bit more then one sq meter is very good for me!  ;D
As I wrote earlier I've contacted one of hte Chinese companys producing these UFOs. The sales representative told me the price an asked me how many blue and how many red/blue LEDs I want in my lamp. I said I want to think about and didn't communicate with him anymore, but I guess they can produce grow lamps as well as flowering ones. I'll wait until the price (including all taxes and transportation fees) drops to 150 euro. Then I think about buying 2 lamps: the one blue and the other one like yours.
--

do somebody have an experience with cheaper UFO (China etc) which are available on Ebay.uk? They are about 120 pounds for a piece.

to Fatalii: can you gime me some link, where did you buy yours UFO, to compare the LEDs in it.. thanks

http://www.viherpeukku.fi/catalog/product_info.php?cPath=79_172&products_id=791

well, what do you think about this?
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/New-90W-LED-UFO-Hydroponic-Lamp-Grow-Light-Free-Post_W0QQitemZ220420592665QQcmdZViewItemQQptZUK_HomeGarden_Garden_PlantsSeedsBulbs_JN?hash=item3352175419&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14&_trkparms=72%3A1121%7C66%3A2%7C65%3A12%7C39%3A1%7C240%3A1307%7C301%3A0%7C293%3A3%7C294%3A50

the WaveLength are the same, as in yours.. but the price is much lower.. :)

well, tadytomas, it seems to be the same lamp. The producers of this UFOs - and more types of LED lamps - are located in China.
They produce LED panels as well. The core of this lamps are the power LEDs they manufacture. The LEDs seem all to be the same 1 Watt.

They say, a 100W led panel is equivalent to 400W HPS/MH lamp.

Have a look at this:
http://welthink.en.alibaba.com/product/229543030-200577603/led_grow_lighting_led_growing_light_High_power_led_plant_grow_light_led_horticulture_lighting_led_hydroponics_lighting_UFO_led.html (http://welthink.en.alibaba.com/product/229543030-200577603/led_grow_lighting_led_growing_light_High_power_led_plant_grow_light_led_horticulture_lighting_led_hydroponics_lighting_UFO_led.html)

I think, and of this year we'll be able to buy an UFO with 100 euros!  ;D

Lainaus käyttäjältä: AlexChupetinho - toukokuu 29, 2009, 00:45:15 ap
I think, and of this year we'll be able to buy an UFO with 100 euros!  ;D

I hope so..  :D

You just have to keep in mind that higher price is reasoned when you think about much lower  power consumption compared to HPS and Metal halide.
The prices will definitely come down even for the best LEDs but I think it would be much wiser to check how much you will save with the electricity cost first.

And beware of the spot leds, those won't give you any good results!

Hello, and greetings to all since this is my first post here :)
I was wondering what kind of results do you get with lets say 400W HPS on those bonchis? How much heat does that UFO produce?

HPS gives much more spindly growth compared to UFO, I got better results on Bonchi's even with when compared 90w UFO and 600W HPS!

Not growing with HPS next winter...

Produces only very very little heat compared to any HPS!

Lurker here! Nice pictures :D

Has anyone else tried out LED lighting yet? I want to grow some chillis in small pots indoors over the coming winter, and was thinking about building individual lights for each pot, so they can live like normal house plants but maybe still produce flowers and fruit. Any thoughts on how much wattage you need to get a single small chilli plant to fruit? Like just one of your bonchis for example fatalii?

A little hard to estimate, but if you can make 7-8 bonchis fruit with 90w LED, I'd take a wild guess and say that 40w LED would be enough for a single plant to fruit.

It all depends how well do you want it to fruit.

Then again, some vars do need PLENTY of light to produce pods and some, like Ulupica large can produce pods with much, much less light.

Sounds fairly reasonable - supposedly AeroGardens will grow a couple of chili plants and they use about 60W of CFL power in operation. Assuming somewhere around double the efficiency (which sounds typical) then that puts it around 30W of LED power.

How large is Ulupica large, in fact? I assumed it was actually fairly large from the name, but I saw a picture on your site the other day of a tiny pod from it...

I wouldn't call it tiny compared to other C. cardenasiis and eximiums.

You can see Ulupica, Large on the middle of this picture here, and below that is a eximium pod.
Typical C. cardenasiis are about that size too.

(http://fatalii.net/chile/kuvat/DSCN1832.jpg)

Very cool - might be a good one to experiment on, will see how I fare with the first batch I ordered from you the other day ;)

Ulupica Large is a very unique wild chile as it's very useful too!

The taste is one of a kind, I never get bored with it.

And the heat level... these little balls of fire really have the kick!

Best of all, it's one of the easiest plant to grow!

My seeds arrived yesterday, thanks! I'll be exercising my green thumb tonight - lets hope it doesn't turn brown ;)

I'm thinking of trying my experiment actually with white LEDs instead of blue/red. Whites are blue LEDs with a phosphor so it generates a spectrum including green & red. Warm white LEDs produce quite a lot in the red spectrum as well as a big spike in blue. Obviously I'll be wasting some power emitting green light, but I think the white lights will be much nicer to have in the living room - I'll just throw a few more watts at it. I can always add coloured ones later if I'm lacking. I'll start a new thread with pictures when I get up and running.

What do you think of 60W of white LED power (primarily spike in blue, with a spectrum across to red from there) for the seedling stage?

Your chili chocolate kicks ass by the way :D I know something is properly hot when I start to hiccough (hikka)!

About the spectrum of the LEDs... you need to see how the plants like it... for both, growing and producing fruit,
That's the only method that shows you how it actually works!

Well... I think chile chocolate should be HOT... and it really is too! :D

Lainaus käyttäjältä: Trizza - syyskuu 03, 2009, 17:48:57 ip
What do you think of 60W of white LED power (primarily spike in blue, with a spectrum across to red from there) for the seedling stage?

Hi Trizza, nice to have a fellow LED DIY guy on the forum :) I'm currently building a setup that has been tested mostly on krhm, other plants, but I'm quite positive I'll get good results with chilis too. I'm posting my progress on the finnish side of the forum. I'll propably duplicate it here when I have more time. Meanwhile: http://chilifoorumi.fi/index.php?topic=6318.0

Hey, I've been looking at your thread a bit - my Finnish skills are quite limited but its looking good :) I'll be ordering my LEDs early this week, hopefully I'll have something basic rigged up soon. I started a thread about my progress in the "Show us your garden" section, I'll be adding my details there I think. Where did you order your LEDs?

I got mine from http://www.viherpeukku.com

When ordering LEDs. Make sure they are NOT spot leds but ground LEDs with more wide angle.
Otherwise they will lit up the area just directly below.

There are plenty of spot LEDs left to be sold and many LED companies want to get rid of them first....

Lainaus käyttäjältä: Trizza - syyskuu 07, 2009, 00:06:39 ap
Hey, I've been looking at your thread a bit - my Finnish skills are quite limited but its looking good :) I'll be ordering my LEDs early this week, hopefully I'll have something basic rigged up soon. I started a thread about my progress in the "Show us your garden" section, I'll be adding my details there I think. Where did you order your LEDs?

I got mine from a contact of mine who has access to very good bins at reasonable prices. The reds are Osram Gold Dragons and the blues and whites are Osram GD Plus. They're easy to solder and quite efficient.

Lainaus käyttäjältä: Fatalii - syyskuu 07, 2009, 09:56:07 ap
I got mine from http://www.viherpeukku.com

When ordering LEDs. Make sure they are NOT spot leds but ground LEDs with more wide angle.
Otherwise they will lit up the area just directly below.

There are plenty of spot LEDs left to be sold and many LED companies want to get rid of them first....

Spot LEDs are utmost crap. And I wouldn't trust any company, that doesn't disclose the LED models or specs or bins they are using. The sites of LED grow lights manufacturers are full of BS (or marketing BS based on ignorance or exaggeration). You can have efficiencies as low as 10% on the lower bins. (out of 1W put in 0.1W light comes out). I know Fatalii has had good results with the lamp from viherpeukku.com, but I'd be more than happy to run it against my DIY lamp to see how it compares ;)

Can anyone tell me if a 14 watt red/blue led is sufficient to grow bhut jolokia?

Sounds like a little low side on with the power... perhaps for some growth but not enough for flowering and fruiting.

Lainaus käyttäjältä: cdamarco - lokakuu 02, 2009, 11:11:10 ap
Can anyone tell me if a 14 watt red/blue led is sufficient to grow bhut jolokia?

Look what another guy experienced with the LED panels. He didn't try them for chiles, but I don't think it makes any difference. The 14 W panels seem to be crap!

http://www.rollitup.org/grow-journals/88781-led-panel-grow-low-ryder.html (http://www.rollitup.org/grow-journals/88781-led-panel-grow-low-ryder.html)

Yeah, if it works like that with growth.... there won't be too much pods (or bud?!?) either.

Also, good to keep in mind that manufacturers want to get rid of the cheap "spot leds" which have a very lousy angle of light.
If you find an cheap LED lamp, you can guess which kind of LEDs they have...

I say, don't go under 100w if you want some efficient growth or any flowering at all.

So a 90 watt ufo led should be adequate then, do you suggest the red blue dual band or some kind of tri band?

Well I got experience only about this one:
(http://fatalii.net/chile/kuvat/psy_led2.jpg)

So it's hard to tell..

I think i shall purchase a 90 watt all blue ufo to test on bhut jolokia sprouts, whatever i try i will post what happens  :)

Don't go all blue. Plants require blue and red. I'd choose at least tri-band...

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=250510022328&ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT
This one look good? I have been looking for a 90 watt ufo similar to yours fatali but this was the cheapest I could find. I felt a bit more comfortable buying from an american seller but i dont know much about led quality really...

Well, it's impossible to tell about the picture, when you turn it on, you can easily tell if it uses "spot leds" or not.
Unfortenately, usually the price tells which kind of leds it uses. The prices for the quality leds will run down very quickly. Just good to keep in mind that cheaper lights to use is much more important factor than the price of the lamp itself.

Saving money with low quality led lamp isn't a good option in my opinion...

well it says .97 pf in the specs so i assumed it was quality but ya, il see what it can do when it gets here
on a side note, the 14 watt led seems to be doing alright for my bhut jolokia seedlings as a supplement. since i live in an apartment facing north, with a hill in the way as well, my window gets very little light and i have too many chiles to care for anyway at home, hopefully what I cannot fit on the window will get adequate light from this 90w ufo

I guess they all are suitable for seedling growing (depending on the spectrum) but the flowering and fruiting will show you what it is really capable of.
Hope it does well!

Heh well ebay works both ways, in the likelihood that I get bad apples I could simply resell the lights at roughly the same price  :D

That's true, you can try it ;)

It's sad, but some people are judging leds because of the results they get with poor leds...

alright it's finally here and it is brighter than the sun! I have high hopes and Ill be taking photos daily, Ill post the results  :)

Lainaus käyttäjältä: Herpiili - toukokuu 15, 2009, 06:29:06 ap

Lainaus käyttäjältä: AlexChupetinho - toukokuu 14, 2009, 20:55:10 ip
It would be interesting to know which wavelength the light of those LEDs have.
It should be about of 460nm for growing and about 630-660nm for flowering. It is said this wavelengths are optimal for plants.
LEDs with other wavelengths of the light would have little to no effect, even if power LEDs!

Emitters should provide light at 460nm, 630nm & 660nm. Most likely they use the same emitter mix in this LED like the others. 20% 460nm, 40% 630nm & 40nm 660nm.

630nm emitters are cheaper than 660nm emitters.

This one should have 1W emitters, 90pcs of them.
Source: http://www.viherpeukku.fi/catalog/product_info.php?cPath=79_172&products_id=791 (http://www.viherpeukku.fi/catalog/product_info.php?cPath=79_172&products_id=791)

http://members.misty.com/don/led.html#dr
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Par_action_spectrum.gif
Based on what this says, I would think a small deviation from the absorption peaks would be alright if the light output is so many times greater. If deeper red(660nm) led bulbs optimally only produce a fourth the quantity of light(15 lumens/watt) and are at 78% light absorption then I would think simple algebra would indicate that a light at 630 nm that produce 4 times as much light(~50 lumens/watt) at roughly 50% light absorption would be far more productive.
0.78*15=11.7 lumens/watt absorbed
0.50*50=25 lumens/watt absorbed
Chlorophyll b, chlorophyll a and the carotenoids are all associated with the same p680 and p700 enzyme and will all pass on electrons, so photosynthesis will occur regardless of the plant pigment being used, and a plant will produce pigments that match the color of light it is exposed to. In this way they are able to adapt to the light spectra available to become as efficient as possible(to a point). Lights that produce 630nm light are more favorable for chlorophyll b, chlorophyll a likes 660nm light. Chlorophyll a is roughly 3 times more common in plants grown under normal sunlight, but growing a plant under different light (like an led growlight ;) ) would change this proportion of chlorophyll a and chlorophyll b
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC396637/?tool=pubmed
^^This basically says that plants grown under darker light conditions will produce more chlorophyll b in response
Therefore, I think sometimes being cheaper can sometimes be smarter  :)

Well, I still think it is smarter to actually try the lamp at first and then judge it.

Not just how it grows but produces yield too.
At least for me, that's what matters, not just the fancy theories.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fh9oGroryoc
this video claims the 630 nm red led to actually be better than the 660 nm red based on tomato plant yield

Nice video which shows nicely how well LED lamp can actually do!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQcV9uya-2Q
another nice video, but at the rate the peppers grow in this I doubt they're just using the 90 watt model

Quite interesting that they claim 630nm is better than 660nm, as all other sources I've come across say just the opposite. They also seem to suggest that 1 x 90 W is better than 2 x 90 W...??  ???

I don't understand it either, I come up with theories but I really don't know, but the 90 w I am using uses the 630 nm and it's doing a fairly good job so I am wondering if all that emphasis on the correct wavelength of red is really overstated or not.

the problem with those videos is that both video posters are light sellers. It is totally not surprising that the model they sell does the best. Alot of these comparisons are bad - they almost never mention if they use identical plants (clones) and comparing growth of 2 or 3 tomatoes will not give anybody a statistically significant effect. Also in these comparisons nobody ever measures biomass (including roots), instead they just go and say "oh look how big my plant is, our light is best evarrrrr".

I am myself trying to grow some chiles from seeds this winter using a Chinese UFO 90W tri-band 660/460/warm white and will add a 65-70W high power LED lamp made with top shelf Osram LEDs (625/455/cool white). So far under the UFO the seedlings are doing great and growing very stocky with very thick stems. LEDs are definately coool.

Yeah, to see if they actually work in reality, there's no way around it. The specs won't tell you anything.
The plants will.

Gladly the prices will go down very quickly, just keep in mind the actual price by using artificial light will be the electricity bill so it's not always the best idea to get cheapest lamp.
Lamp which will cost a little more and give better results is actually cheaper in the long run if compared to efficiency, and the lamps are for growing so the yield will tell, right?

Bad yield in a long run with a cheap led lamp.... that's actually a waste of electricity.

But still, the prices are coming down, just don't expect them to be cheaper than HPS just yet.
They have all the reason to cost a little more.

here are pics of my plants under LEDs:

(http://i486.photobucket.com/albums/rr222/mentalap/DSC_0110.jpg)

I started them off under t5 24" flourescent tube and moved them under LEDs when they had a pair of real leaves going. So far the experiment seems to be going okay, although I fully expect these plants to suddenly die.

Naga Morrich (3 weeks under LEDs):

(http://i486.photobucket.com/albums/rr222/mentalap/DSC_0120.jpg)
(http://i486.photobucket.com/albums/rr222/mentalap/DSC_0119.jpg)

Siberian Home Pepper (heirloom?):

(http://i486.photobucket.com/albums/rr222/mentalap/DSC_0125.jpg)
(http://i486.photobucket.com/albums/rr222/mentalap/DSC_0128.jpg)

Manzano Amarillo:

(http://i486.photobucket.com/albums/rr222/mentalap/DSC_0133.jpg)
(http://i486.photobucket.com/albums/rr222/mentalap/DSC_0135.jpg)

Ummm... why exactly would you expect them to suddenly die, that must have been a joke?  ::)

I've had a couple of dozen orchids and about a dozen chili plants under 2 x 90 W UFO's for about a month now, and it does look quite promising. The bonchis are growing lots of new foliage and the orchids also seem to be thriving- several of them have started/ are starting to rebloom which they simply would not do without adequate light. My sudden death habanero (which I did not cut down fully though) also seems to be starting to bloom again!

The only downside is the noise from the fans and the not-so-pleasant colour of the light as I have the setup in the living room (daytime only though). Well, at least the neighbours probably have something to talk about- once again   :P

hello everybody,

I've recently got such an UFO too. I've got it directly from a chinese manufacturer, so dealers inbetween were avoided.
here it is:

(http://www.mocanu.de/Chilis/z_Hydro2009.12.15.JPG)


Now, I had the curiosity to measure the power consumption of this lamp, usind an energy/power meter for home use (bougt in superstore with 12 eur). I don't claim it to be very precise, but:
the surprise was to see that the wattage of the 90 LEDs ist only about 54W wich shows that each LED has not a 1W power but just about 0,6W.

Hence an appeal to all of the owners of UFOs: could you please measure the wattage of your 90W UFOs and tell me the results?

I've already contacted the manufacturer an ask him for an explanation.

Look what he said:
please don't worry,it is normal phenomenon,for new led fixture,its material will be activated day by day,
and its power will eventually rise,it can reach maximum power ~90w after 2~3 months' use.

I find this explanation hilarious! I've never heard about such LEDs!!! Have anyone of you???

--
am

keto wrote: ...the noise from the fans...

hi keto,

to lower the noise, open the lamp and replace the 12V adapter of the fans with a 5V adapter. I used a 5V mobile telephone charger, capable to give 5V and 500 mA, since each fan will take about 150 mA. Under volted fans are silent an still ventilating enogh air to cool the UFO (wich is cool enough, anyway)

now, my UFO is quite silent and it shows no sign of being a little warm!

--
am

Hmm, that sounds like a good idea when the lamp is being used indoors...
In a hot greenhouse the more powerful fan is good to have I guess.

They should have adjustment for the fan on them. :)

OK, in a greenhouse I wouldn't do the modification. I don't think one would care about the noise in a GH (well, perhaps he would, if a dozen UFOs are installed?)

Tell me, Fatalii, did you have the curiosity to measure the wattage of your UFO Lamp?

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