LED grow lights are confusing and blurry to understand, so cut to the chase, as I need to buy a couple grow lights for my wife for Christmas and don’t have time to shovel through the piles of info… seeding veggies and lots of flowers.
For those who have deep knowledge with grow lights (versus, I bought one and it works well),
Who are some manufacturers of high quality consumer grow lights (or specific grow light recommendations) that:
Are truly UL or ETL listed
Use high quality drivers and LEDs, which will last a long time
Other high quality components (heat sinks, fans if appropriate, etc)
Very low strobe effect
High efficiency
Anything else important for safety, sustainability, and good results
Currently we have one T5 HO light (Sunblaze T5 48" 4 lamp 216w) which is about 10 years old, and are looking for two additional more efficient lights (enough to cover 4+ flats). I’m expecting this will cost more than the typical Amazon grow light, but cost aware.
i have 2, 3 year old viparspectra 1000w equiv leds. they completely cover my 6’ x 6’ grow tent. they arent as pricey as some but for what i use them for they do the job well. they were designed for growing cannabis but grow everything else with ease. i run them on a timer .18 on 6 off.
I have 2 lights from California lightworks. The lights meet the standards you listed. I use the solar extreme versions. They are not cheap, but come with warranties, are quality built and made in the US. I run them every day and my plants seem to thrive under them, 16 hours on a timer.
I take the plastic caps off the end of my bulbs. Throws insane amount of light. With the cap off you can see the dust particles in the air, the cap diffuses the light and chokes it…in my opinion.
I installed a grow light for my citrus this year that I also want to use for vegetable seedling in spring. I initially wanted to build my own lamp with a Cree CXB3590 chip and an adjustable power supply but the whole thing was less on aliexpress than what I would have paid for parts. It’s not 100 W as advertised but around 55 W at a really impressiv luminous flux. The power supply is really cheap but so far it works and everything stays cool. Should be a lot more efficient than bulb designs.
Thanks, for the ideas, all. Given the cost of high quality LEDs, and knowing they continue to evolve significantly and come down in price every year or two, I’m thinking more and more about just buying some used, cheap fluorescents, and using them a couple of years. I think the LED revolution is still on.
