ECO Farm MB660 Foldable Grow Light Bar VS LUXX Lighting 645w LED Pro
LED grow lights are a great way to have plants indoors. They provide the perfect spectrum of light for your plants and can be used both during the day and at night. LEDs can be used as a sole source of light for your plants. On the other hand, they can also make great supplementation to sunlight coming through your windows. That’s because LEDs emit light in specific wavelengths (colors), and this is directly related to their electrical properties. The plants will also tend to grow much faster than they would otherwise because this type of lighting encourages healthy growth.
What Color LED Grow Lights Should I Get?
Having a solid understanding of the light colors that your plants need will help you choose LEDs for them. These colors are known as Photosynthetically Active Radiation or PAR, which is measured in “umol/s/m2”. All plants have been scientifically tested to grow best under different color lights, and that’s why it’s essential to choose ones with the right color spectrum inside.
Blue-toned lighting encourages vegetative growth, while orange and red-colored LED grow lights encourage blooming and fruiting. The more blue, green, and white there is in a light source, the less effective it will be for growing healthy plants indoors (this goes especially true for growing food as well as flowers). That’s why you should only use full-spectrum colored LEDs (especially reds, oranges, and yellows) to grow plants. Plants that are grown using blue-toned lighting will look bigger, but they’ll also contain more sugars, carbohydrates, proteins, and other nutrients that people don’t want their food to have.
ECO Farm MB660 Foldable Grow Light Bar
Features:
This ECO Farm LED Grow Light can effectively extend and scientifically control the light required by indoor plants, using 2112 LM301b 3030 white chips + 48 OSRAM 660nm red chips + 4*165W Sosen designed driver, suitable for plants from seedling to flowering growth process. Plants can absorb more than 95% of light energy, increasing yield and crop quality. It’s perfect for a 5 x 5 foot plant area or a 4 x 4 foot flowering area with 6 LED strips. PPF up to 1944 µmol/s while consuming only 660 watts. Simply adjust the height and brightness to the level your plants need for optimal growth, and it can completely replace natural light and promote plant growth. This grow light is designed for personal and commercial grade full cycle horticultural lighting solutions, with a controller to adjust light intensity and time. Aluminum heat sink, gas return design, space between light bars, provide better heat dissipation and reduce heat energy waste.
Features:
The LUXX LED grow light was developed by evaluating SMD (Surface Mount Device) chips and drivers from leading manufacturers for over 3 years in controlled test applications and cultivation facilities. The LUXX 645 LED PRO consists of Samsung Horticultural White/Blue and Osram Red. The respective companies are leaders in LED research and development, offering high efficiency, reliability and diode performance. The LUXX 645 LED PRO features a 120-degree lens angle, a 6-bar design, and a total of 2,226 diodes. The LUXX 645 LED PRO features manual and automatic power regulation. Flexibility to dim the unit to 40% of total power to reduce photon intensity without compromising spectral quality.
What to Look for When Choosing an LED Grow Light
Spectrum
Generally speaking, plants absorb and utilize light in the blue and red spectrums the most when progressing through the various stages of growth. Light in the blue and red spectrums is where most photosynthetic activity occurs, making full spectrum grow lights incredibly efficient. Some growers maintain that white LED grow light is best because it’s closest to natural sunlight. However, white LEDs include light in the yellow and green spectrum that isn’t usable by plants and is simply wasted, making your grow lights less efficient and your power costs unnecessarily higher.
PAR
In simple terms, Photosynthetically Active Radiation or “PAR” is the light emitted by a bulb or fixture that’s actually usable by plants. LED grow lights PAR values will vary from brand to brand, but a higher PAR value isn’t necessarily better because if your plants aren’t using it, the energy require to produce it is being wasted.
You’ll notice on manufacturer PAR charts that PAR is higher in the center and decreases as you move to the edge of the light coverage area. This means that the plants directly under the light will receive more PAR than those further away from the center. The more evenly distributed that PAR is from center to edges the better, so that plants get a more even distribution of valuable PAR. This is not only better for your plants but makes the light more efficient since the power isn’t concentrated in the center but is instead distributed more evenly.
Wattage
It’s easy to make the mistake of thinking more is better when it comes to wattage, but bigger isn’t always better. While spectrum and PAR play as big or bigger role in the health and yields of your plants, wattage is important to consider in terms of cost and preventing damage to your plants such as leaf burn and bleaching.
There is a commonly used rule of thumb that says you need 30–40 watts per square foot of plant coverage (not the growing space itself, but the current or predicted size of the plant canopy) for flowering and light loving plants, and 10–20 watts per square foot for low-light plants. These rules of thumb can be a place to start, but remember, these do not take number of plants, plant height, density and other factors into consideration so remember to weigh factors such as PAR and PPFD more heavily into your buying decision.
Power Consumption
Look for the power draw as opposed to power output. If you use less power to produce the same amount of light, you spend less on your power bill and the LED lights can usually pay for themselves with savings within 2–3 years.
Durability — Ensure that whatever LED grow light you choose is well made and manufactured from heavy duty materials. Solid, durable construction is important for the durability of your light, especially wiring, which can not only be a fire hazard, but can produce unnecessary heat, making controlling your grow space environment more difficult.
Temperature
One of the many advantages LED grow lights have over other types is their lower operating temperature. LEDs don’t completely eliminate the need for additional cooling and ventilation, they produce far, far less extraneous heat than compatible HID lights which can produce temperatures in excess of 95°F, which can be detrimental to many varieties of plants. These additional cooling and ventilation systems that HID and other traditional lighting systems require add extra power costs to your power bill as well as taking up valuable space in your grow area.
Ventilation
Because LEDs run at lower operating temperatures, they do not require the same ventilation as equivalent HIDs to maintain acceptable temperatures in your grow space. Lower operating temperatures means less hot air to be moved, which means lower operating costs, equipment needs and space requirements.
Cooling
While LED grow lights run cooler that comparable HID and HPS lights, they still need well designed cooling system to dissipate what little heat they do produce. A well-designed LED light should include an effective heat sink to move the heat created by the lights away form the fixture and the plants.
Lifespan — Old-school HID bulbs typically last up to 20K hours before needing to be replaced, but since their peak performance range is usually within the first 3K — 5K hours many growers will replace the bulbs much sooner because plant growth can slow significantly under older HID lights. Contrast that with LED grow lights, whose lifespan is typically in the 50K hour range, more than 5X that of HIDs.
Space
Since LEDs are generally smaller, thinner, usually only have a single cable, and eliminate the need for extra fans or ventilation ductwork, they require far less space in your grow area. This allows for more space to move around within the garden to monitor and care for your plants.
Conclusion
Growers everywhere are turning to LED grow lights for their indoor growing projects because they offer several advantages over other types of lighting. They’re not well-suited for all applications, however, so it’s important to understand when an LED is best for your needs and when to go with another type of light.
