Recently I’ve had a lot of visitors asking me about California LightWorks’ lights (the SolarStorm and the SolarFlare). Today, I have the opportunity to ask George Mekhtarian, owner of California LightWorks, a few questions. A special thanks to George for participating in this interview.

Nate: George, tell us a little bit about yourself and your company. How in the world did you end up in the LED grow light industry?

George:  Our industry is certainly unique, Nate. I mean, I didn’t exactly grow up dreaming about making LED grow lights one day.

I come from an Electrical Engineering background.   I’ve always had a passion for automation and electrical circuits.  I spent over 16 years working for Silicon Valley companies in the realm of semiconductor design and testing.  Aside from my day job, I worked with my brother to start a manufacturing company based in Southern California circa 2000 called MWW.  As you can imagine, manufacturing is a very difficult business in the United States given the competition from overseas.  But we did manage to survive by constantly innovating and looking for opportunities where we can be competitive.  A good part of MWW’s business today is sheet metal components for the US foodservice equipment industry.

My brand new SolarStorm straight out of the box.

While MWW was slowly developing I was commuting to Silicon Valley every week.  Being in the high tech world, I followed with intrigue the rapid advances in LED technology.  Then in 2008, I was approached by some local growers in LA to see if I can put together some custom LED grow light fixtures for them.  At the time UFO type lights were already in the market.  So I studied the latest 3W diodes and after significant R&D, developed what became the XtremeLED grow light.   A year later I was contracted by C.A.P. to start making the XtremeLED in volume.  I decided to quit my day job, expand MWW and leverage the manufacturing infrastructure to make LED grow lights.

Of course we never stopped innovating.  We noticed the need for high power grow lights and the new SolarFlare and SolarStorm products were born.  After extensive testing, we realized that we had breakthrough products.  So we decided to start California LightWorks and market our products directly to the growers.

Nate: Why did you decide to go with 5w diodes instead of the current favorite 3w diodes? For that matter, why not use 10w diodes or bigger?

George:   Good question Nate.  The wattage rating of LEDs is somewhat of a misnomer.  The way we measure performance of a single die LED emitter is via current.  The output light intensity of a LED is directly proportional to the current going through it.  Most 1W LEDs are driven at 350 mA.  3W diodes are typically driven at 700 or 750 mA and 5W diodes can be driven at up to 1500 mA or more.  One of the most important aspects of a LED is its packaging.  Most of my competitors use LEDs packaged in China using low cost/low quality substrates that have a high thermal resistance.  This means the LEDs have to be driven at a much lower current than their maximum rating in order to get good efficiency and long life.  Many companies now claim they use US-made LED dies or chips but they don’t tell you that the dies are still packaged in the Far East.

Here's a close up on one of their five watt diodes.

Our LEDs come from a Silicon Valley company that uses the latest low thermal resistance ceramic packaging technology allowing us to drive our diodes at 1200 mA with excellent efficiency and life expectancy.  This translates to high Photosynthetic Photon Flux (PPF) output for the end user with very good price/performance because we’re able to use fewer diodes.  I would love to use 10W emitters but they don’t exist, at least not in a single die (chip) package yet.  We have tested higher wattage (40+ watt) multi-die LED packages or what others refer to as “dense matrix” or “LED array” packages but we were not happy with their performance.  Our field tests have shown that single die, high current LED emitters spread across a larger panel are the way to go.

Nate: What’s with the T8 UVB light? This is the first I’ve seen anything like this on an LED grow light.

George:  Yes, that is a very unique feature on the SolarStorm.  Research has shown that UV-B (280nm-315nm), an important part of the light spectrum available from the Sun outdoors, is essential for certain aspects of plant development.  It’s correlated with improved potency of certain plants.  For example, it has been shown that lettuce develops anti-oxidant rich violet spots when exposed to UVB.  HID type lights emit very little or no UVB.  LED grow lights emit zero UVB.  For this reason, many growers revert to using supplemental fixtures to add UVB to their indoor gardens.

Some research indicates that UVB light enhances plant flowering.

With the SolarStorm, the UVB lights are built-in and they are already optimized with reflectors to cover the same footprint as the LEDs.  So all the user has to do is flip the switch during the finishing phase of their grow cycle and they get the UVB to increase the potency of their crop.

Nate: Your website mentions that LEDs can’t really be used to produce UVB light. Could you explain why this is?

George:  To be exact, we said LEDs cannot be used to produce UVB cost effectively.  In our research we did find a few LED based solutions for UVB.  With our T8 based solution, we can produce around 20 uW/cm² of UVB from a 24” distance.  To generate the same level of UVB with a LED based system would have increased the cost of the SolarStorm by 50%.  The main reason we believe LED based UVB diodes are so expensive is because they are used for very special applications and are not mass produced yet.  Fluorescent based UVB lights have high volume applications in the tanning and the indoor desert reptile industries and are therefore much more affordable today.

Nate: Is there a trial period for your lights?

George:  Yes, we have a standard 90 day no-questions-asked return policy on all our products.  In addition, we started what we’re calling the SolarStorm Grower Feedback Program (GFP) in October of last year.  When we launched our new line we understood that the LED grow light industry suffered from a bad reputation.  Many companies before us had sold low quality products that overpromised and under-delivered.  Given the high price tag, we figured the best way to convince growers that we had a solid product was by collecting and publishing feedback from their peers.  With the SolarStorm GFP, we are selecting a limited number of qualified growers to test a SolarStorm unit and post their feedback on a public forum (ledgrowlightforum.com).  These growers can return their units back to us after the test and get their full deposit back or if they decide to keep it, they get their SolarStorm for half price.  We have a couple of dozen growers already signed up for the SolarStorm GFP.  We expect to have a large number of grow journals online soon from this program showing the SolarStorm in action delivering actual results.   Our goal is to have the most extensively tested and documented LED grow light in the marketplace.  And we want this feedback to be as raw and as genuine as possible.

Nate: What would you say are the key elements for maintaining the life of an LED grow light? We know that heat sinks are important, but what else should LED grow light consumers be looking at? What is California LightWorks doing in order to increase the life of its lights? Talk to us a little about your heat sinks.

George: By far the most important criterion for maintaining the long life of LEDs is what’s called the junction temperature.  That’s the temperature of the junction between the LED die (chip) and the substrate.  As I mentioned before, the first thing we did is choose LEDs that have high quality packaging with low thermal resistance ceramic substrates.  No matter how good the rest of your system, if your LED package is low quality, the junction temperature will go up causing lower efficiency and shorter lifespan.  Next is the PCB.  It essential to use a high-quality Metal Core PCB (MCPCB).  This again helps keep the junction temperature down.  Our MCPCBs are custom-made in the USA by one of the best companies in the business.  And then finally you have the active thermal management system which typically consists of the heat sink and the fan(s).  With fans it’s extremely important to have optimized air flow through the heat sink and minimize turbulence.  We engineered out heat sinks with the latest computer aided design software to ensure optimized air flow and maximum effectiveness.  Our heat sinks are heavy to ensure proper thermal distribution and are custom extruded for us in the USA.

Aside from the junction temperature, the other thing that affects LED lifespan is environmental protection.   Here again the LED packaging makes all the difference.  Our LEDs have integrated glass primary optics and are rated JEDEC Level 1 (the highest level) for moisture sensitivity protection.  In addition our enclosures have additional environmental protection for the drivers and the LEDs.

Nate: Talk to us a little bit about pricing. What’s driving the price of LED grow lights? When can consumers expect to see noticeable drops in the prices of these lights?

George:  I would say that the LED diodes are the most expensive part of any LED grow light fixture.  That’s why you see so many lower priced LED grow lights using low quality diodes.  But the good news for the end user is that the price of high quality LED diodes is coming down.  In the semiconductor world the axiom often used is Moore’s Law which states that performance doubles (or price for the same performance is cut in half) every 1.5-2 years.   We’re not quite there yet with LEDs.  But as production capacity for LEDs goes up around the world, I expect prices to come down.  To give you an example, one LED company that we talked to grew their capacity from 200 million LEDs/yr to 1 billion LEDs/yr (a 5 fold increase) in the past year.  This type of volume ramp-up has to lower prices in the near future.

The rest of the LED grow light system comes from mature industries (fans, aluminum, sheet metal, power supply drivers etc..) so I don’t expect to see huge changes there.  At California LightWorks, we designed and implemented very cost effective drivers and fixtures so we’re very well positioned to keep our product prices competitive as the LED industry matures and emitter prices come down. 

Spectroradiometers like this one can measure the light bands put out by LED grow lights. Unfortunately they cost around $5,000 making it difficult to test companies' claims about their lights.

Nate: We’re seeing a trend in the industry where LED grow lights come out with more and more “bands” of light. Initially most of the LED lights were only two bands (red and blue). Now companies are starting to claim their lights have 11 bands and more. What are your thoughts on this? Is this marketing hype or is there something to this movement?

George:  When it comes to the spectrum and the bands, it’s important to understand the basics.  Enough research has been done to date to paint a good picture of how most plants use light.  For example the chlorophyll a and chlorophyll b peaks at 430/470 and 620/660 nm are very well documented.  The other thing you want to keep in mind is there is plenty of process variation in the manufacturing of LEDs.  This means that if you buy a lot of say 450nm LEDs you’ll get some that peak at 440nm, others that peak at 460nm.  So as much as the marketing hype coming out of some LED grow light companies leaves customers feeling that more bands is better this is not necessarily true.  Our research has shown the following:

1. The high absorbance spectral region of plants is between 420nm and 480nm in blue and 610-680nm in the red.
2. It’s important to deliver some light in the 500-600nm range (green/yellow) targeting the carotenoids for good plant morphology
3. Anything above 700nm can have a negative impact on plant growth
4. Some UVB (280nm-315nm), can be helpful
5. Light intensity and proper red/blue balance has a much higher impact on plant growth than specific bands.

We use 5 different LED spectra in our lights, plus UVB in the SolarStorm.  We include warm white (3100K) to fill-in the spectrum between 500 and 600nm.  On the SolarStorm we also have a switch to optimize the blue/red ratio for vegetative growth vs. bloom.  Given the process variation in LEDs, when you look at the Spectro-radiometric chart of our lights, you’ll notice high coverage in the range between 420 and 480nm and 610-680nm and some coverage between 500 and 600nm.

Nate: I’m interested to hear more about your 120 degree diodes. During the past few years it seems like companies have been moving away from these wider diodes more towards 90 and 60 degree diodes. The argument is that the tighter beam angles allow for deeper penetration. Why are you going with the 120 degree diodes? Does it have something to do with the powerful 5w diodes you are using?

George:  There is no free lunch Nate.  When you use secondary optics (i.e. external lenses) to narrow the beam angle you do get a higher concentration of light in the center but you do that at the expense of coverage area at a given height.  What’s worse, you immediately lose up to 10-15% of your light output when you use secondary optics.  It’s simple light physics:   Anytime light has to travel through another medium before reaching the plant leaves there’s a loss.

We have a fully equipped photometric lab with NIST traceable calibration at California LightWorks.  That’s one of our key strengths.  We studied all the beam angle options and chose to go with LED emitters that have 120 degree polished glass primary optics.  Many low end LED emitters use gel-based primary optics and acrylic secondary optics which don’t transmit light as well and lose transparency over time.

With our 5W emitters, the light intensity is so high, even from a distance of 24” that any beam angle narrower than 120 degrees becomes overkill.  Other companies need to use a narrower beam angle in order to get higher intensity at the longer distances.   But of course they do that at the expense of coverage area.

Our SolarStorm is designed to cover a 4’ x 4’ area.  We are very straightforward with our customers when it comes to the performance of our lights.  In fact we openly share very detailed spectroradiometric measurement data with potential customers comparing our lights to HPS.  Not many companies either have the ability or are willing to share this level of detailed data with their customers.

Nate: The Solar Flare doesn’t come with the UVB light correct? Is that just a matter of spacing and design? Why did you add UVB to the Storm but not the Flare?

George:  That’s right Nate.  It was simply impractical to fit fluorescent bulbs in the smaller SolarFlare units.  In addition, the SolarFlare comes in three different spectral blends:  FullCycle, VegMaster and BloomBooster.   Each type is used differently in a grow room.  The SolarFlare is a smaller, more flexible unit that can easily be used in conjunction with HID and supplemental UVB fluorescent lights.

Nate: Let’s end this off with a chance for you to tell us what separates your lights from the main competitors in the field. Name two or three things that distinguish your lights from the rest of the pack.

George:  Our goal at California LightWorks is to bring the latest advances in solid state lighting technology to the everyday grower at affordable prices.  Our current line of LED grow lights offer superior price-to-performance ratio compared to any of our competitors.  And we continue to improve this ratio (both by improving performance and lowering costs) faster than anyone else in our industry because we are US based and we have R&D, manufacturing and sales all under one roof.  If I were to name three things that distinguish our current product line from others I would say:

1)      Clearly differentiated designs and features:  All Chinese made grow lights look like they came out of the same factory.  Our patented designs and unique features such as Veg/Bloom control, UVB (on the SolarStorm) and the super quite fan on the SolarFlare are non-existent elsewhere

2)      Affordability:  Our products are very competitively priced

3)      Results:  We are laser-focused on providing products that deliver results as shown by the SolarStorm Grower Feedback Program.

Again, a special thanks to George Mekhtarian, CEO of California LightWorks, for answering these questions for us today. If you have any other questions about the SolarStorm or the SolarFlare, leave a comment below and I’ll see what I can do for you.

There has been a lot of buzz lately over the Penetrator Generation X lights produced by Hydro Grow LED. Today, we’ll review these lights, but before we delve into the nitty-gritty, we need to get organized. Hydro Grow LED (HGL Technologies) currently produces four lines of lights:

The X series lights are their newest lights. To keep this all straight in your mind just remember that the X stands for their new X-lens technology. More on this in minute, but basically it’s a secondary lens that makes the lights more powerful. Also remember that the “pro” designation stands for 3w diodes instead of 1w diodes.

We’ll be focusing on the Penetrator X series today (mainly the 3-watt pro series). There are six variations of the penetrator x: the 336x-pro, the 180x-pro, the 168x-pro, the 126x-pro, the 84x-pro, and the 21x-pro. The numbers in front of the x’s actually stand for the amount of diodes used and not the watts (more on this in a moment).

Don’t get overwhelmed by the amount of lights listed here. Once you get the basics down for one of these lights, you’ll have a good feel for all of the rest of them. I’m not going to review each individual variation because that would be redundant. I’ll review the 126-x pro that covers a six (3X2) square foot area and then I’ll mention any differences in the other lights that I feel are noteworthy.

Penetrator 126X-Pro Review

I decided to review the 126x version because it covers one of the most common grow areas (3’ X 2’ or six square feet). Let’s get down to the review.

Here's the 126 X-Pro that I reviewed straight out of the box.

Warranty: A+

The 126x-pro comes with a three-year warranty. This is a good indicator that the light is built to last. The industry standard for warranties is probably one to two years. I always recommend reading all the details about the warranties before purchasing a light. This is a great warranty, but you should still understand it fully. Here’s where you can go to read the details: http://www.hydrogrowled.com/Our-Policies-C15.aspx.

One of the reasons, I give the warranty an A+ score is due to the new modular design. What does design have to do with the warranty you ask? I’ll show you in the next section

Modular Design

I don’t build LED grow lights, but if I did I would be kicking myself for not thinking of this first. HGL Tech’s modular design is a simple change in philosophy that will make a big impact on user experience. Normally, a grow light consists of one printed circuit board (PCB) and anywhere from 50 to 500 individual LEDs. If one of these individual diodes fails, then you have to send the whole light back to replace it.

Read here to see how the modular design saved one of my grows. 

The following picture isn’t your average LED grow light, but it illustrates the point very well:

The light pictured above has 100 LEDs on one PCB. Now, let’s pretend that just 3 of these 100 LEDs stop working. You really only have two options with traditional LED grow lights: (1) Admit that life isn’t fair, curse the day that the makers of this light were born, and live with the reduced amount of light. (2) Use your warranty, send the whole light back to the manufacturer, and wait eight weeks for it to get back from China. If you choose option two then you’ll probably have to pay for the shipping and you won’t be able to grow anything for eight weeks.

HGL Technologies solves this problem brilliantly by introducing modules into their x-series lights. Note that the picture below is actually of the 84X-pro and not the 126x-pro (as I mentioned earlier they are all part of the same line of lights, they just have different coverage areas).

There are four modules in this light. Each module has its own PCB and diodes. If, as in our example above, three of the diodes stop working you can continue business as usual and have HGL Technologies ship you a replacement module right away. Once the replacement module arrives, you just pop it in where the non-functioning module was and you’re back to full-capacity without having to stop growing for eight weeks while your light was in Timbuktu, I mean China.

Trial Period: A

The trial period for this light is 90 days. Some companies don’t offer a trial period and I would say the industry standard is around 30 days. No complaints here about a 90 day testing period. “If for any reason you are less than impressed,” you can send the light back for a full refund within 90 days.

Price Range: B+

The 126x-pro is priced at $899 (Yes I realize that $899 is a lot of money upfront, but remember LEDs last a long time–try finding a 3-year warranty on an HPS lamp.). You can visit the official site to get the pricing on all the other x-series lights. Just find the light that fits the area you want covered. As an additional tip for those of you growing in an area larger than six square feet, I always prefer to buy several smaller lights instead of one larger light. This is just my personal preference as I have found that plants seem to do better under multiple smaller lights than one large light (some of my fellow growers have noted the same thing).

This light is actually very reasonably priced, but I just can’t find it in my heart to give a $900 light a solid A score. Most of the high-quality LED grow lights on the market run about $4-$8 per watt. This light is running at ($900/200w) = $4.5 per watt. This is a really good deal for the quality of light you are getting.

Heat Sink: A+

Some companies aren’t paying as much attention to heat sinks as I think they should; HGL is not one of those companies. Having a great heat dissipation system in place will dramatically increase the life of your LEDs (and if your LEDs last as long as they should, then the initial upfront costs of these lights will be worth it).

Lots of thought went into keeping these LED chips cool.

The 126w generation X heat sink comes with all the things you normally want to see in a heat sink. It is made up of both copper and aluminum (the two best metals for heat dissipation). In addition it has lots of thin fins that help get the heat away from the LED chips quickly. Read here for my full discussion on heat sinks.

Spectral Wave-Lengths:  A

I don’t think anyone has the “perfect” spectrum yet. If someone had found it, then the LED grow companies wouldn’t be adjusting their spectrums all the time. That being said, I think that the Penetrator series is as close to “perfect” as any other LED grow light out there on the market right now. It gets an A grade for having peak wavelengths at 440nm, 470nm, 525nm, 640nm, 660nm, and 740nm.

Actual Watts Drawn: A+

I really love how Hydro Grow LED labels their lights using diodes instead of watts. The way LED grow lights have traditionally been labeled has led to a lot of confusion. For example, the industry standard is to label your light a 500 watt light when it actually only draws around 300 watts of power. I have an in-depth explanation of how watt labeling on LED lights works here. The basic idea is that a 3-watt diode actually only draws around 1.5 watts of power. So if you have a light with fifty 3-watt diodes, then you label it a 150 watt light (50*3) even though it only actually draws around 75 watts (50*1.5) of power.

Well, you might guess that people were getting confused about this and some people were getting angry because they thought they were getting more powerful lights than they actually were. HGL Technologies has decided to combat this by simply labeling their lights by the number of diodes the light has. Then they list the actual watts drawn right below the name of the light. For example the 126x-pro has 126 LEDs on it. These are 3-watt LEDs. Everyone else in the industry would be labeling this light the 378w X-pro (126*3), but HGL is simply labeling it126x. Here’s what you’ll see on their website.

This labeling should clear up a lot of confusion in the industry and I personally hope that the other companies start adopting this approach soon so that consumers won’t be fooled into purchasing a light that won’t work for their needs. Customers need to focus on actual watt draw instead of labeled watts.

Anyways, this 200w light will cover an area of about six square feet (3X2) for flowering purposes. It will cover a slightly larger area for vegetative purposes. Now, I normally recommend about 200watts of LED growing power for a four square foot area, but that was before the x-lens was developed.

X-Lens Technology

The idea of a secondary lens on an LED light is not a new idea. Those using LEDs for spotlights and aquariums have been using secondary lenses for a while. However, the x-series is the first time I’ve seen a secondary lens begin used on an LED grow light.

Keep in mind that the idea is to get the plant all the light it needs using the smallest amount of energy (watts). Most LED grow lights only have a primary lens that wastes a noticeable amount of light. Having two lenses allows for more control of the light, meaning less light is hitting the wall and bouncing off into oblivion and more light is hitting the plant. This means a lower-watt light with a secondary lens can provide as much light as a higher-watt light without a secondary lens. (See image below).

If you are still having a hard time grasping this concept just think of your everyday flashlight compared to a lantern. Flashlights have two lenses; a primary lens at the source of the light and then the secondary lens to channel the light in the proper direction. Without this guiding light, the flashlight would waste light by spraying it out in all directions like a lantern.

By adding the x-lens to the Penetrator, HydroGrowLED was able to double the power of the light (in terms of micromole output). This means more light for your plants with even less power used.

Beam Angle: A

The Penetrators run on a 60 degree primary beam angle. It is my opinion that there is no “perfect” beam angle. 120 degree lights cover a wider area, but only work well on very short plants. 60 degree lights cover a smaller area, but are much better for most plants. The x-series LED lights work well for both short plants and tall plants because the narrow beam angle and the x-lens technology combine to make some powerful, focused rays of light that penetrate to the lower levels of the plant.

When it comes to light power (micromole output) I prefer the “better safe than sorry” philosophy. I would rather have a higher-powered beam and feel comforted knowing that the lower levels of my plants are getting all the light they need. Keep in mind that if you are growing short plants you can always simply place the light a little farther away. If your light doesn’t have enough power, then it doesn’t matter how close you place it to the plant; it simply won’t get the job done.

Conclusion

This is currently my top-rated light due to the new x-lens technology and the modularity design. It is built with quality in mind and it comes with the warranty and trial period to back it up. This way you can give the x-series lights a try without a lot of risk on your behalf. If the light ends up not meeting your expectations you can always send it back for a full refund.

Go here to check out the full series of Penetrator X-Pro Lights.

Availability: See Amazon for Details

Click Here to Learn More or Buy Now at Amazon

Today I’ll be taking an in-depth look at one of the most popular LED grow lights out there: the 240 Watt Blackstar (flowering edition) from Lighthouse Hydro (note that this light is sold by Gotham Hydroponics). Gotham Hydro claims that this is the number one selling LED grow light in the world. It is certainly their best-selling light and I wouldn’t be surprised if it is the world’s best-selling LED grow light due to its great price for the amount of power you get.

Actual Watts Drawn Grade: A+

Speaking of power, let’s talk about watts. One thing you’ll notice with all of these companies is that they list a certain wattage number (like 90W or 240W or 600W) but that number is a bit deceiving. They are listing the wattage number that would occur if the lights were run at maximum capacity (they are never run at maximum capacity because they wouldn’t last long if they were).

This 240W Blackstar actually draws about 135 watts. This is a pretty powerful LED light that will cover about four square feet. This light gets an A + on watts drawn because you won’t be able to find another LED grow light that gives you this much wattage power for this low of a price.

Warranty and Trial Period Grade: B-

The organization that manufactures this light (Lighthouse Hydro) offers a one-year warranty. This is better than no warranty at all, but nowadays a lot of the upper-end providers are offering three year warranties. In addition, the high-end models come with a 30-90 day trial period. Gotham Hydro has no specified trial period (they probably handle it on a case-by-case basis).

This 6 band 240W light gets a B- on warranty and trial period. It appears that Gotham is positioning itself as a quality, low-cost provider. They have the best prices around for what you get, but they are in part keeping prices down by not offering large warranty periods.

Customer Service Grade: A-

Gotham Hydroponics is a real company with a physical store front in the state of New York. They have a phone number you can call and real people you can talk to. I have heard numerous reports that the customer service is great and the company has quickly resolved any problems with their 240 watt Blackstar flowering light.

I would give this light an A+ grade for customer service but in my experience the people at Gotham are a bit slow to respond to their “Contact Us” form on their website. Not really a problem as you can pick up the phone and call them directly.

Heat Dissipation Grade: A-

As mentioned in my article about finding a quality LED grow light, heat dissipation is a big deal. LED lights don’t put off a lot of heat, but the chips themselves can overheat if the light is built poorly (read the article I mention above for a complete explanation of this).  When LED grow lights don’t last as long as expected it is usually due to a failure to dissipate the heat from the LED chips. There are two important factors when talking heat dissipation: (1) The Heat Sink and (2) The Fans.

As you can see in the picture of the 240W Lighthouse Hydro Blackstar light above, the fans are in place; that’s a good thing. In addition to the quality fans, Lighthouse has added additional fins to the heatsink in order to absorb the heat (the more fins, the better). Finally, the makers of this light have spread the LED chips out a bit which allows for better cooling.

Spectral Wave Length: A-

The 6 Band 240W light puts out the following spectra: 380nm (UV), 425nm (Blue), 450nm (Blue), 630nm (red), 660nm (red), and 730nm (infrared). This is a good range of light that closely mirrors the peak absorption points of Chlorophyll A and B. The 380nm ultraviolet wave-length is pretty unique (most LED growing lights don’t use that wave-length).

The light gets an A-. It would be a solid A+, but new tests are coming out showing that one wave-length of green would also be beneficial because it can penetrate deeper into plant tissues stimulating lower chloroplast development.

Beam Angle: B+

This light uses both 120 degree diodes and 60 degree diodes. Keep in mind that there is no perfect beam angle because the optimal beam angle depends on the height of the plant you are growing. For those growing shorter plants a 120 degree beam angle is better because it can cover more area. For those growing taller plants a 60 degree diode is more intense and penetrates deeper.

Cheapest Place to Buy

The cheapest I have seen the 240W Lighthouse Hydro go for is around$290.Keep in mind that $290 for this type of power is quite cheap in the LED world. I’d personally recommend buying it from Amazon for security reasons. Gotham Hydro sells directly through Amazon.

Recommendation

There are probably better LED grow lights out there, but not for the price. For those who want to get a powerful light that will grow your plant from start to finish, there really isn’t a lower-priced LED than this 240W from Gotham Hydroponics. There is a reason it’s their best-selling light; people don’t want to spend a ridiculous amount of money upfront, but they want results. This light meets both requirements.

There has been a lot of hype recently over the 357w Magnum LED from Grow Perfect Technologies Inc. Today, I’ll take a deep look at the light and provide you with information that will hopefully help you determine whether or not the light lives up to the hype.

There are six criteria that I always look at when evaluating a light: warranty, trial period, heat sink, spectral wavelength, actual watts drawn, and the beam angle. Now of course all this information is fine and dandy, but I also want to see real grows where this light has worked. At the end of this 357w Magnum LED review I’ll put up grow journals that will hopefully help you make up your mind. If you have your own grow journal, let me know and I’ll get it listed up here with the rest. Feel free to add any of your own insights on this light in the comments section. Without further ado…

Warranty: A+

The 357 mag (named after a popular gun) has a three year warranty. The industry standard is only one year so this is a good sign. If it’s something small that needs repaired, Grow Perfect can simply ship you out the part that you need. If you’d prefer that they fix the light for you, then they have facilities in both North America and Europe.

Trial Period and Return Policy: B-

This is probably the biggest disadvantage to the 357 watt Magnum that I have seen. There is no mention of a trial period or return policy on 357magled.com. I decided to do some more digging and found their return policy over at the Grow Perfect Technologies Inc. official website: ledgrowlightsdirect.com. Basically they have a 24 hour return policy. The industry standard is at around 30 days. Not a deal breaker, but I’d personally like to see them bump this up (yes I’ve already contacted them about it and you’re welcome!).

**Update**

I just heard back from Grow Perfect about a potential trial period. They said it wasn’t necessary because of the number of successful grows their customers have had with their lights. They made it sound like it’s not something their customers ever ask them for.

Heat Sink: A

Those of us with some experience with LED grow lights know that the heat sink of an LED light is a big deal. Without proper heat dissipation, LED lights simply don’t last as long as billed (read more about this in my criteria for finding a good LED grow light post). The people at Grow Perfect realize that the heat sink is important. For this reason they developed a “patented double plate heat sink design.” This design allows the heat to diffuse quickly from the individual LED chips on the light ensuring a long life.

Spectral Wavelength: A-

I’m not sure if anyone in the world is really qualified at this point to give a grade on spectral wavelengths. I say this because there is always some debate about the exact spectra/colors and ratios that produce the best results. Experts seem to agree that blue and red light are important, but after that they have very different opinions (this probably has something to do with each type of plant being a bit different.).

I decided to give the Magnum an A- on its spectrum because it went with the “more is better” approach. With 11 bands (420nm/439nm/469nm/483nm/3000k-3500k/642nm/667nm/680nm/720nm) of light they are definitely covering all of their bases. However, you don’t get a perfect score in school or in real life if you provide more than is necessary. You still get a good grade, but not a perfect one. Does this light provide more wave-lengths than are necessary? Some people think so. However, sometimes it’s better to be safe than sorry.

Actual Watts Drawn: A

If a company provides you with the information to the actual watts drawn for their lights, then they’re probably a good company. LED grow light experts agree that actual watts drawn are a key indicator of the coverage area you are going to get with a light. The 357 Magnum actually draws 180 watts. They get an A grade for sharing the information. We learn from this that the light covers an area of about four square feet for flowering purposes (probably closer to 6-8 square feet for vegging purposes). This is a good amount of area for the price. Yes, their website says the footprint of the light is about 9 square feet. The sweet spot of the light is closer to four-square feet though (this is pretty standard for most high-powered LED grow lights).

Beam Angle: A

The 357w Magnum LED grow light has a mixed beam angle using LEDs that vary between 60 and 90 degrees. This is a good combination for getting both coverage and deeper into the plant.

Also Worth Mentioning

These are 3-watt LED chips which means they are better for penetrating down to the lower levels of your plants. Most companies nowadays offer a 3-watt chip option.

*Update: Just learned that Magnum actually uses a 3w-3chip setup. Most experts (myself included) don’t think this is as good of a setup as a true 3 watt diode. You can go here to read more of my thoughts on the subject: http://ledgrowlightsreview.org/1w-vs-3w-vs-3w-3chip-in-led-growing-lights/.

They get their diodes from Bridgelux (one of the top three LED makers according to most experts).

The person I talked to that works at Grow Perfect mentioned that they will be releasing a new light on October 1, 2011 called the Magnum+. It might be a good idea to wait until then before you make your purchase if you decide to go with this light.

Price: $799 for original Magnum. $1,199 for Magnum+.

My Comments:

This company seems to be taking a leadership role in LED growing technology. The Magnum LED grow light has been a game-changer and a lot of people have had successful results using it. Their marketing is a bit extreme for my tastes, but these lights get the job done. This light comes highly recommended.

Grow Journals Using the 357 MAG LED

http://www.thcfarmer.com/forums/f54/brainstorm-under-357-magnum-leds-29391/

http://www.thcfarmer.com/forums/f137/testing-357-magnum-39883/

http://www.rollitup.org/grow-journals/416863-9-purple-kush-under-360-a.html

http://forum.grasscity.com/indoor-grow-journals/865673-super-lemon-haze-magnum-led-journal.html

If you know of another good grow journal on the 357 Mag LED, let me know in the comment section.

Click here to go to the official 357 Mangum Website.

Special thanks to Philips Lumileds for this graph

A special thanks to one of my readers for asking this question. We know that traditional high-intensity discharge lights like high-pressure sodium lights lose their light intensity with time (most lose a significant amount of their intensity in 6-12 months if they are used regularly). This means that if you aren’t careful your plant could suffer from light starvation. The question then is do LED grow lights lose their intensity over time as well?

Simple Answer

Yes LEDs do lose light intensity with time, but not nearly as fast as HID lights. A properly constructed LED light should still be functioning above 70% of original light output for well over 50,000 hours. That’s why the best LED grow light manufacturers offer 3-5 year warranties on their lights.

Detailed Answer

Any time you look at LED lifetime you have to remember there are several factors that determine the actual life of the LED. Those factors include the diode itself, the heatsink, the electrical drivers, the optical design, the mechanical assembly of the grow light, the connections within the grow light, and the amps, volts, and resistance the designer of the diode is trying to run through it. That’s a lot of factors! Any one of these factors could cause the diode to start losing intensity faster than it otherwise would.

For example, many cheap manufacturers of LED grow lights overdrive the diodes (they pump too much electrical juice into them) to make the diode appear very bright. The problem with this is that these diodes will quickly burn out.

Another example is when a grow light manufacturer tries to save money by installing a low-quality heatsink. The diodes will become overheated prematurely and this means they are unlikely to last the 50,000 hours that they are rated at.

As you can see there are a lot of factors that can make your LEDs lose intensity quicker than they should. That’s why I recommend purchasing the best LED grow lights. Yes, they cost more money, but they won’t burn out in a year like some of the cheaper options out there. As I mention on my home page about LED grow lights, as time passes the technology will improve and the prices will continue to drop. At that time, I’ll probably recommend that you buy the cheapest grow light you can find on EBay or Amazon. For now, it’s a good idea to invest in quality.

Here’s a great video from Philips Lumileds that explains what I’m talking about. I especially like the first slide that shows that LED reliability is different than system reliability. It’s worth a quick look.

Lumen Maintenance

Lumen maintenance compares light output at a specified time in the future to its initial output. A good LED grow light should maintain above 70 percent lumen maintenance for over 50,000 hours. To kind of give you an idea of what this percent means the human eye won’t be able to detect any drop off in light output until the light output has depreciated 30 percent. This means you shouldn’t notice a drop in your LED light output for at least 50,000 hours.

Here’s another great video about this from Philips:

PAR Micromole Maintenance

You should know that lumens are a human measurement. A better measurement for plants is the amount photosynthesis active radiation (PAR) they are receiving. PAR is measured in micromoles. You can read more about lumens, PAR, and Micromoles for plants here. I still haven’t found any good research on LED micromole maintenance for plants. I’m currently in discussions with some experts in the field to find out more about this and I’ll keep you posted.

Advanced LED Lights Inc. is a well-known company in the LED grow light industry. A lot of people have had successful grows using their products. Today I will review their Diamond Series lights as well as tell you a little bit more about the company.

Popular Lines of Lights

Most of my readers find it helpful to identify the lights being sold by a company before digging into the detailed review. In 2011, Advanced LED’s most popular lighting line was the Extreme Flower line. However, their newest lights are the Diamond Series lights. The Diamond lights will be their most popular lights in 2012 and are the lights that they are recommending to new customers.

The Diamond Series (DS) line comes with six different options (listed in the table below):

All of the lights are basically the same. The main difference between each of the lights within the line is the amount of power produced or watts drawn. For example, the DS 800 (actual watt draw 710) is obviously going to be physically bigger than the DS 100. The 800 module is also going to be a more powerful light and it will be able to grow more plants than the 100 module.

I love it when LED companies produce lines of lights like this because it allows you to be able to select the light that best fits your growing area.

My experience in this field tells me that the DS 200 will likely be their most popular light next year; closely followed by the DS 300.

Today we’ll review the DS 200W light, but keep in mind that this review will be applicable for all of the lights on the Diamond series.

Diamond Series 200 - Unique Design

Price Range: A-

The DS 200 is currently priced at $500. That’s a lot of money for your average gardener, but it’s actually quite a great deal for those who are familiar with the LED growing industry. If we take a look at the price per watt then we’ll see that this light comes out at $500/185watts = $2.7 per watt. A few months ago I would have said that the industry average is around $6 per watt. However, the LED industry is evolving so rapidly that I’d say the new average for high-end lights like this one is around $4 per watt.

Warranty: A

The Advanced LED lights come with a 3-year manufacturer’s warranty. Paying $500 for a light that will last you at least three years isn’t a bad deal at all. Especially when you consider that a comparable HID light (400 watt HPS) would cost you $200 and only last you one year.

Returns and Refunds: A+

Advanced LED offers a 90 day trial period where you can test out the light and make sure it’s what you want. They get an A+ on their returns and refunds because they don’t ask that you document your grow in order to be able to send the light back. If you’re not satisfied, then just log on to their website, fill out a refund request, and ship the light back. The one thing that you will need to do is keep the original packaging of your light. You’ll need the original packaging in order to get a refund. Here are the complete details: http://www.advancedledlights.com/categories/Terms-%26-Conditions/

Actual Watts Drawn: B

You may want to read the following to understand why watt draw is important for LED grow lights. The DS 200 has an actual draw of 185 watts. I wish that LED manufacturers would clear up the confusion by labeling their lights according to their actual watt draw. Some other lights like the Penetrator and the Spectra do a better job of letting you know what type of light you are really getting.

I do like that Advanced LED is offering some extremely powerful lights and I think that the “core” coverage areas they list are reasonable. Their DS200 will probably provide you a true coverage area of about four square feet.

This light has large fans to help with cooling.

Heat Sinking System:B

Ensuring that an LED light has a good heat sinking system is extremely important. The lights are designed to last for 50,000 hours but they won’t make it that long without a good heat sink in place. I was happy to see that Advanced LED upgraded their heat sinks when they released their Diamond Series. LED manufacturers run into trouble when they try to produce a new, more powerful light without investing in a new heat sink.

I wanted to know more about their “new” heat sink so I asked them about it. Their response left me wanting more information:

Me: The website mentions an upgrade in the heat sink for the Diamond series. Any details on what the upgrade was?

Advanced LED: The heat sink is a dual heat sink which allows the unit to run cooler.

This interaction and other interactions I have had with Advanced LED have left me wondering how much the owners of the company know about LED lighting (more on this below where I talk about the company itself).

Color Ratio: A–

The Diamond Series 200 light has 11 wavelengths of color output (similar to other leaders in the industry): 760nm, 740nm, 720nm, 660nm, 630nm, 615nm-480nm, 460nm, 440nm, 415nm, 380nm.

Beam Angle: B+

The DS 200 uses ninety degree diodes. About three years ago the industry standard was 120 degree diodes. Since then manufacturers have realized that 120 degree beam angles didn’t provide enough penetration. Most of the leaders in the industry have moved to 60 or 90 degree beam angles that provide more focused and intense beams. I’d personally like to see Advanced LED mix in a couple of 60 degree diodes like some of the other leaders in the industry.

Here's a look at their new diamond-shaped lenses.

New Diamond-Looking Diodes

I wish Advanced LED would tell us why their new Diamond-Looking diodes are better than their old diodes. I’m thinking that maybe the diamond diodes are an attempt to replicate the Pentrator series X-lens technology.

One thing that is better about the new DS diodes when compared to the Extreme Flower LEDs is that they are true 3-watt diodes instead of 3-watt, 3-chip diodes. See my post on 1w vs. 3w vs. 3w-3chip LEDs for more understanding.

The Company: ?

Advanced LED is a little more private than most of the other LED companies on the market. Their website indicates that they’re part of the Better Business Bureau (BBB) and that their headquarters are in Bentonville Arkansas. However, the website doesn’t tell us anything about who they are and why they have expertise in LED growing technology. I personally would like to know more about the credentials of this company. Do they have any botanists on the team? Do they make their lights in Arkansas or in China? What’s the history of the company?

Advanced LED is registered with the BBB under the name Market Smart

I have contacted Advanced LED multiple times asking for an interview, but they have always declined my invitations. They are, however, always willing to answer my questions about their lights.

Because they refused to be interviewed I had to put on my reporter hat and start doing some research. After digging around for a while, all I could find out about the company is that their incorporated name is actually Market Smart. Apart from LED grow lights, Market Smart also sells dog and cat furniture online. Basically this is an Internet Shopping company.

What does this mean? It could mean a lot of different things, but my guess is that the owners of this company aren’t scientists or botanists. They are probably Internet Marketers/Entrepreneurs who saw that the LED industry was growing and decided to hop aboard. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing. I assume that the owners have taken their time to learn all about LED technology. My guess would be that they don’t manufacture and design their own LED grow lights though. They probably work with companies in China to get that done.

Yes, I’m making a lot of assumptions here, but that’s what happens when a company refuses to be interviewed.

After talking with some other people in the industry I get the impression that perhaps Advanced LED is more of a follower than a leader. They try to replicate their competitors, but don’t spend much time or money in research and development themselves. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing from a consumer standpoint, but it does make me worry about the quality of their products.

The Spectra LED 290. 2011 Model

The Spectra LED grow light by Grow LED Hydro Inc. is a heavy-duty light designed to grow cannabis. It is well-respected in the online marijuana forums. Not everybody uses this light, but there are very few people who have something bad to say about it (which you’ll realize is quite the miracle if you’ve ever visited these forums). Below is my review of the Spectra LEDs using my normal criteria for evaluating these lights.

First off we need to take a look at the line of products being offered by Grow LED Hydro (GLH).

• Spectra LED 180
• Spectra LED 290
• Spectra LED 500

The main difference between the three lights is the number of watts drawn. Below I’ll be reviewing the 180 watt model, but keep in mind that if you understand one of the models, then you understand them all.

Trial Period: A+

GLH offers a 120 day trial period. This is the longest trial period I have seen in the industry and therefore gets the highest graded possible. 120 days is plenty of time to try out the light and see if it will work for your specific grow. Keep in mind that this trial period does have some stipulations: you have to keep a grow journal with pictures and what nutrients you were using. For full details see here: http://growledhydro.com/returnsandwarranty.html

Built to last at least 5 years!

Warranty: A +

For years manufacturers of LED grow lights have claimed that their lights will outlast HID lights by years, but they never put their money where their mouth was. Finally, a company is offering a warranty that actually indicates some belief that their lights will indeed last a long time. GLH offers a five year warranty on their Spectra LED grow lights. You won’t find any high-pressure sodium lights that offer a warranty even close to that.

Wattage: A+

The Spectra 180 has an actual draw of 180 watts. This is a big deal because most LED lights are labeled incorrectly (read here if you want the nitty-gritty about watt-labeling). Mike, the owner of GLH, is doing it the right way by labeling the lights by the amount of watts they actually draw. I recommend around 200 watts for a four square foot area. Mike mentions that this light will cover about five square feet and I think that’s a fair assessment. It will cover more than that during the veg stage, but during flowering four or five square feet sounds about right.

Cooling System: B+

Most people I talk with are surprised to find out that the number one reason LED lights break is heating issues. They are baffled because they’ve always assumed LEDs don’t produce any heat.

It’s true that LEDs don’t produce near as much heat as traditional lights, but the individual diodes can get hot (read here about how LED grow lights work). If they get too hot, then they will break. This means that for an LED to last as long as it should, the light needs to have an excellent cooling system in place. The two main components of the cooling system are the heat sink and the fans. Here’s a look at the fans on the Spectra 180.

Keeping the diodes cool is important.

I don’t know as much about the Spectra heat sinks as I would like because I haven’t been able to get a hold of Mike (see my conversation about this below), but there are a couple of things that lead me to believe the heat sinks are in good shape.

1. Grow LED Hydro has upgraded the heat sink with their new 2011 edition. Problems with the heat sink occur when companies upgrade the power of the light (the watts), but keep their heat sink the same. This would be like upgrading the power of your car, but not upgrading the brakes. You might be able to drive fast, but you won’t be driving for very long. The fact that GLH is upgrading the heat sink with each new edition is a very good sign.

2. The warranty is for five years. If a company is skimping on the cooling system, then they aren’t going to offer you a five-year warranty.  If the heat sink isn’t working properly you’ll know within a year (two at the most), because all of your diodes will start going out.

Under $3 per watt is a great deal.

Price: A-

Did I mention that these are heavy-duty lights meant to grow plants from start to finish? These things are powerful and probably aren’t intended for your average indoor gardener who just wants to grow a flower or two. These are expensive lights because they are intended for serious growers. One number that I like to look at is price per watt. For heavy-duty lights like this one the average in the industry is around $4 per watt. This light comes in at $2.78 ($499.99/180 watts) per watt. That’s a pretty fair price.

Spectrum: A

The Spectra series of LED lights approaches the light wavelength issue with the “more is better” approach. When LEDs were first being used as growing lights, it was pretty common to see lights that just had red and blue light around the 440nm and 600nm wavelengths.

This type of light with just red and blue will work great as a supplemental light. As LED grow lights have evolved to become a primary light for plants, the amount of wavelengths provided by these lights has increased. The Spectra 180 watt model comes with 12 different wavelengths.

GLH doesn’t release their wavelengths for proprietary reasons, but I’m sure their spectra is similar to the 357 Magnum LED which has 11 wavelengths. I would guess that the Spectra’s wavelengths are close to the following: (420nm/439nm/469nm/483nm/3000k-3500k/642nm/667nm/680nm/720nm/740nm).

Beam Angle and Diode Chips: B-

If there was one thing that worried me about the Spectra lights, it’s their combination of beam angle (90 degrees) and 3watt-3chip diodes.

Most of the best lights on the market are using some 60 degree diodes in order to provide a more intense beam that will reach to the lower parts of the plant (here’s a funny write-up I did on LED beam angles over at myhydroponicgardening.com). 90 degree beam angles aren’t as intense as 60 degree beam angles. A combination of different beam angles is pretty common. All of that being said, a 90 degree beam angle will work just fine.

Where I get worried is when you add a 90 degree beam angle with a 3-watt, 3-chip light. Here’s my detailed write-up on 1 watt vs. 3 watt vs. 3 watt -3 chip LED lights. The basic idea is that a 3 watt, 3-chip light looks bright up close to the human eye, but it lacks penetrating power. Most of the best lights are using pure 3-watt diodes instead of 3watt, 3 chip diodes.

This probably isn’t a deal breaker because many people have had great success with this light, but it is definitely something I would like GLH to explain.

Website: F

The Spectra lights by Grow LED Hydro are some of the best lights on the market, but their website is without a doubt the worst on the market. Here are just a few of the blunders that I run into when using growLEDhydro.com.

Blunder 1: The contact form is broken (see image below) and has been for months. I’ve tried contacting Mike about this but I haven’t heard back from him. Nor have I seen the contact form fixed.

Basically, you can’t send Mike a message. My first experience with this was typing in a super long message and then clicking “Send Message.” Nothing happened because I couldn’t type in the verification code. This definitely should be filed under cruel and unusual punishment.

For those of you would prefer to email instead of talk on the phone there are three things that you can try (I say “try: because Mike still doesn’t seem to respond to my emails; you can’t blame him though because I’m just the pesky review guy).

Option1: Try using sales@growledhydro.com. I hunted down his email in the forums by contacting some of the people that have bought his lights.

Option2: Sign up as a customer. On the homepage of the site there is an option to sign up as a new customer. You have to enter in your name and address, but you don’t have to give your credit card number or anything of that nature to sign up. Once I signed up it gave me an option to send Grow LED Hydro a message. However, now that I’ve left the website and come back to it, I can no longer find that option.

Option 3: mike@growledhydro.com. After I signed up to be a customer I received an email from this account.

Blunder 2:

The forums don’t work. Not a huge deal, but don’t include a link to the forums on every page if they don’t actually work. On one page of the website it even invites you to the forums saying, “come into our forums and have a discussion with some of the growers that have actually used my lights…”.

The forums are looking pretty sparse.

Blunder 3:

There are a lot of other minor glitches that are a little annoying, but probably aren’t worth covering in-depth. For example, the website has “The New Website is Under Construction” intermittently scattered throughout the site. At one point during the sign up process I was asked to purchase Zen Cart which I imagine is the software used to set up the site. The whole website experience is quite ridiculous.

I’m a fan of the lights, but the website needs overhauled in a bad way.

Grows I’ve Found Using the Spectra

Leave a comment in the message box below if you want your grow listed here. As time passes and I find legitimate grows, I’ll be adding them to this section.

Questions I Have about the Spectra

Why the secrecy with the wavelengths? All your competitors are publishing the information.

What’s up with the 3-watt 3-chip diodes?

When will the website be overhauled?

You can visit the official site here: http://growledhydro.com/

Other LED grow light reviews you might be interested in:

• Penetrator X-Series Review
• 357 Magnum Review
• Prosource Worldwide Review

This device measures light intensity

If you’ve been researching LED lighting long enough, then chances are you have heard someone say that lumens aren’t a good measurement of the amount of power a light is putting out. When people say this they don’t usually offer a better alternative, they simply mention that lumens are a bad measurement. Well today, we’ll look at why lumens aren’t the best measurement and we’ll mention an alternative that works much better.

Luminous Flux

Anything that has the word flux in it immediately has me thinking about Back to the Future and time travel (the flux capacitor made time travel possible in the movie). Luminous flux doesn’t allow for time travel, but it does measure the perceived or visible power of light. Luminous flux is not a measure of the actual power of light; it is a measure of how powerful the human eye perceives the light to be.

The standard measurement unit for luminous flux is the lumen (lm).

Lux is simply the measurement of the number of lumens in a one square meter area.

Lumens, a Good and Bad Measurement

Luminous flux is an excellent measurement of the power of light for industries that are catering towards humans and not plants. In concert halls, stadiums, and theatres the amount of light the human eye perceives is very important. We’ve all probably been to a movie before that had segments that were too dark to really see what was happening on screen. Obviously the directors of these movies didn’t study their luminous flux!

Luminous flux is a horrible measurement for plants because, unfortunately, most plants don’t have human eyeballs. Plants simply don’t care about how well the light looks to us humans. What they do care about is that the right type of light is available to spark photosynthesis.

Photosynthetic Active Radiation (PAR) Light

The main thing you need to know about PAR light is that it represents the light that plants are able to use in photosynthesis. Many of you have probably already seen PAR charts (like the one below) that show that plants love light in the red and blue spectrum of light.

The funny thing is that humans love lights on very different wavelengths (almost the exact opposite of plants). See the chart below.

As you can see from our charts, plants and humans see light very differently. Lumens are used to measure the intensity of light to the human eyeball. Plants really don’t care how well we humans see light. A light that is really bright to your eyes might actually do little to nothing for a plant.

Micromoles, a Better Alternative

Scientists realized that luminous flux was not a good measurement for light power as it relates to plant growth so they came up with a better measurement. A better measurement needs to have an even cooler name so the scientists came up with Photosynthetic Photon Flux (PPF). That name will scare the pants off of your average gardener! Don’t get overwhelmed by the big name, just know that it’s a method that measures the amount of light good for plant photosynthesis. This method actually measures the amount of photons in the photosynthetically active range for those interested.

The standard measurement unit for photosynthetic photon flux is the micromole.

If you’ve really researched a lot about plant lighting, then you may have come across the word micromole (abbreviated as µmol). Understanding micromoles can be quite complicated, but the main idea behind the micromole light-measurement technique is that it measures the amount of light helping with photosynthesis and not the perceived power according to the human eyeball.

Quick Example

To make this all easier to understand let’s pretend that humans and plants both have eyeballs. When our eyeballs receive light we grow. Humans grow when their eyes absorb light that has a high lumen reading. Plants grow when their eyes absorb light that has a high micromole reading. Lumens don’t matter to plants just as micromoles don’t matter to our human eyes.

Micromole Meters

There are measuring instruments out there that measure micromoles. In general, the more micromoles an LED grow light puts out, the better the light will be for growing.

If you only take away one thing from this discussion it should be that LED grow lights with more micromole power are generally considered better lights.

If you have any more questions on the subject, please leave me a comment below.

Oh, and here’s a great YouTube video that shows a side-by-side micromole comparison of two LED grow lights. I don’t necessarily endorse Apache Tech grow lights (you can read my review of Apache Tech here), but I do like that they are using micromoles to compare the two lights.

What Plants are You Growing?

The first thing you need to consider is what are you trying to grow? I’ve read three or four do-it-yourself LED grows and they are exciting, informative, and they bring out the do-it-yourself spirit in all of us. However, one thing that they all have in common is that they are growing very, very small plants (cilantro, sprouts, etc.). I’m talking like three to four inches here. I have yet to run into a homemade LED grow light that has grown a plant over a foot tall.

If you are simply looking to start a plant out or if you are looking for a supplemental light, then a DIY LED grow light might not be a bad option. If you are looking to grow a three foot tall plant from start to finish without the use of any other light (including the sun) then you are going to need a heavy duty grow light like the ones you can buy here.

Here’s a picture of the plant grown by one of the most popular DIY grow lights out there:

It’s cool and I give the guy props for creating the light, but I like my plants bigger than that.

Do You Save Money with a Homemade Light?

Many people want to try their hand at making their own LED light so they can save money. Trying to save money by being resourceful isn’t a bad idea, but you should take a look at some of the prices of the individual components of a light.

Components of a bare-boned LED grow light:  (We’ll be shopping at Radio Shack which I realize isn’t the cheapest place. Still, it will give you an idea of what we are dealing with).

Total Price for a light that will grow you a 3 inch plant = $251.90! And this doesn’t even include your time.

The truth is you can find the LEDs in bulk much cheaper somewhere else (not at Radio Shack). For example you can buy a kit with 256 5mm LEDs for around $40. If you were really resourceful and found great deals then you could probably make your own homemade LED grow light for around $50 (not including your time).

This still doesn’t make sense because you can buy better LED grow lights on Amazon for less money.

Here’s one that costs $50 and it will probably work better than anything you can make at home. It also comes with a hanging kit.

There are some other really cheap LED grow lights on Amazon that are probably better than anything you could make yourself (though I hate to say that). Take a look around. Keep in mind that most of the cheap lights you will find on Amazon are only useful in three circumstances: supplemental lighting, the vegetation stage, and growing very small plants from start to finish.

Don’t Forget the Heatsink

If you do decide to make your own grow light, don’t forget the heatsink. If you have read my series about how LED lights work, then you’ll know that they operate very differently from other types of lighting. The difference in the way these lights produce light leads to less heat diffused, but that doesn’t mean that the actual diodes where the electrons are being jumbled around won’t heat up. If these diodes get too hot, then they break. If you don’t have a heatsink on your homemade light, then don’t expect it to last very long.

All the LED grow lights being manufactured, even the cheap UFOs, have heatsinks installed. When these lights were first designed, they were introduced to the market without heatsinks. People became very frustrated when their 50,000 hour lights ended up only lasting 5,000 hours.

Heatsinks are usually made of aluminum and/or copper. They aren’t expensive to build, but it does take time to learn. You can go here to read more about the importance of heatsinks in grow lights.

One more item you might want to throw on your homemade LED grow light is a fan. The fan is used to bring cool air into the casing and blow off some of the heat on the heatsink. Isn’t it funny how the price of do-it-yourself projects always pile up like this?

My Opinion

If you really like building things like this, then I recommend you give it a shot. I honestly believe that 99 out of a 100 people won’t be able to build anything comparable to what is being sold. Most people simply lack the necessary equipment, experience, and skills. If you want to build one of these because you want the experience, then please do so (and I’ll provide some resources below). If you want to build one to save money, then good luck to you, but I’d recommend against it.

Resources

I’ve read through five or six do-it-yourself LED grow light projects. Here are some of the resources I found most helpful. Hopefully these will help those of you who are determined to build your own light.

http://www.dabblings.net/subpage2.html – This guy has made two different lights. The site has some great pictures about how to wire the diodes on. It also has a great list of parts that you’ll need. He made his light for about $40. He doesn’t ever mention heatsinks which makes me a bit worried.

http://www.homegrownlights.com/index.html- This site has kits with everything you need to build an LED grow light. You simply have to assemble them (the cheapest version is $45). Note that I’ve never bought a kit from this place so I can’t attest to the quality of the kits. If nothing else, you can hop on over to the site to get a feel for what you need to build your light.

http://www.bcb.uwc.ac.za/ecotree/photosynthesis/spectrum.htm – A good site for understanding the wave-lengths you’ll need for you light.

http://www.instructables.com/id/Growing-Plants-With-LED-Lights/ – A guy from England provides detailed instructions on how he made an LED grow light.

http://www.instructables.com/id/high-power-LED-grow-lights-M.k2/ – Same guy from England provides instructions on a higher-powered light.

http://www.cheapvegetablegardener.com/2009/01/cheap-led-light-and-grow-box.html – A guy uses Christmas LEDs to make a small grow box. This is by far the cheapest setup I’ve seen!

Below is a YouTube video with a good look at what your homemade light might look like. The video might give you some ideas for your own project.

Right in the middle of my grow some of my diodes stopped working (see picture below).

The two modules on the right side stopped working.

No matter what type of light you use, you are occasionally going to run into problems like this. If a company is making 10,000 lights a month a few of them are not going to work perfectly (it’s just how manufacturing works).

Why Modular Design is Amazing

Normally with an LED grow light if a few of the diodes goes out, then you either have to live with the reduced lighting or send your entire light to the manufacturer to get fixed. Fortunately the Penetrator X-Pro from Hydro Grow LED (HGL) is set up to avoid this problem. Each module is on a different circuit board meaning only that module will need to be fixed (instead of your whole light).

Normally when this happens to your light you have to send the light to China and back (literally) to get it fixed. This takes at least two weeks and it’s a major pain. Basically, if you don’t have another light on hand then your grow gets completely wasted!

My experience was much different. I simply phoned HGL and let them know about my issue. Together we diagnosed the problem (turns out one of my power supplies was bad). They keep all supplies on hand in the United States and they had another power supply to my house within two days.

During those two days my beautiful plant was still receiving light. I’m definitely in love with modular design.

Conclusion

Obviously it would have been better if the light had never broken in the first place. Most people won’t have this problem as lighting malfunctions aren’t very common in LED grow lights. However for those of you planning on purchasing multiple lights over your lifetime you might want to consider investing in a modular design. Right now HGL is pioneering the modular design movement. You can go here to read my full Penetrator LED Grow Light Review.