Led Lighting--Diy

[Chris25cha]

Does anyone have LED experience? I am in the planing stages and doing the research. From what I've read LED's are definately the way to go for lighting. I looked at the UFO...which seems pretty cool, but don't really want to spend the money on it. So I think Ill try and put one together myself.

But Im confused...I have seen LED's as the little "christmas type" lights ...and also as bulbs that fit in regular light sockets. I originally thought Id just put together a bunch of the little red and blue ones (highest intensity I could find) but then I saw the regular size bulbs at lowes on sale for 10 bucks. I guess my question is...what specs do I need to consider when trying to create my lighting? I know that I need approximately 2000-5000lumen/sqft (which really isnt an adaquate measure for LED). So what PAR should I be looking for? And does wattage matter?? I've seen quite a variety in wattage between the bulbs at Lowes.

ANY advice on this project would be much appreciated!

[Nemosity]

if you could find just the high intensity LED they use in this thing, I think it would do good things, in mass numbers of course.

 

http://www.jameco.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/Product_10001_10001_2123637_-1

[ScrogBubbles]

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[Uncle Bud]

I don't have any real experience with LED grow lights, but I was also looking into them. The only company I found that had anything that looked good is called "Grow Guru", but their website is currently down. They seem to be pretty expensive for what they offer, and in my opinion, flourescents are still the best low power alternative to HID lights. I will be putting CFLs in my room for flowering.

[jayt]

The biggest problem with LED lights is that they don't penetrate the canopy. They need to be as close as possible to the plant as the light energy just isn't very strong. As time goes on I imagine that the products will get better but right now they are really only useful for side lighting and other supplemental lighting. HID lights are the way to go and will be for some time.

[Chris25cha]

Thanks Everyone....

So after more research....it seems a 7/1/1 ratio of Red, blue, yellow is ideal (atleast for now). But I was thinking it would be best to include a variety of reds(both 660 and 630) as well as a few blues.

Anyone have any good ratios for specific LED color configurations??