ECO Farm Z6–600 Samsung LM301B LED Grow Light VS Iluminar 630W iLogic™8 Full Spectrum LED Grow Light

 If your house tends to be dark and drafty, it’s probably not the ideal environment for growing plants. But you don’t have to give up on being a plant parent thanks to the existence of grow lights. Grow lights can be used for houseplants that need bright light, which is not always available in every home (or in any home during the dark days of winter). And they can provide the proper light for starting plants from seed.

Without sufficient light, your houseplants will struggle and generally look unhealthy. And if you have planted seeds, they need strong light once the first leaves emerge; otherwise, they get spindly and flop over. Thankfully, there are tons of grow lights to choose from. You can get standard fixtures with two cool white fluorescent tubes — an inexpensive option. There are also combos of cool white and natural daylight fluorescent tubes, LEDs, shelving kits, hang lights, and more. Here, we’ve laid out some of the best grow lights to consider to ensure your plants thrive.

What is LED grow light?

Without knowing what LED photosynthesis is, you can’t make any idea how to use it. LED grow lights are mass-produced devices that simulate the Sun and provide the best artificial light source for plants to photosynthesize.

Major types of LED grow light

1. LED grow light panel
There are panels of the square, rectangular or triangular shapes. Their ease of installation and versatility in use make them the most common model in horticultural lighting in a private home. There are generally offered with predefined colour distribution according to the advertised use.

LEDs grow light panels in private use. The panel is a fairly widespread type of horticultural lighting because it combines several advantages, such as reasonable power, a large cover surface, and ease of installation, which makes it a fairly versatile piece of equipment.

They are made up of several dozen LEDs for the smallest model, up to several hundred for the largest. Their construction is quite compact, with a power supply and cooling system integrated into the same box as the led.

There are panels in the shape of a square, rectangle, or triangle, but the most common and the most practical shape is the rectangle, which is often more suitable for an area containing plants.

To install a panel, once unpacked, all you have to do is hang it above the plants using the fixing system provided, then plug it directly into the main socket.

2. LED grow light bar
LED mild bars are one of the pinnacle alternatives for indoor growers because of their software and insurance. Whereas furnishings may be cumbersome and hard to match into tight spaces, mild bars are typically longer and greater slim overall. This approach that they match notably into high-density manufacturing centres like maximum vertical farmers are using, and the elevated duration of the bar makes insurance greater workable and dispersed.

3. LED grow light bulb
Energy-saving, high efficiency.
Lamp life is over 30000 hours.
The lamp emits less heat while illuminating.
The lamp emits a high amount of photons to help plants have a high photosynthetic yield.
The lamp has a specialized light spectrum to help stimulate flower growth

ECO Farm Z6–600 Samsung LM301B LED Grow Light

Features:

This ECO Farm LED grow light uses a high-quality and durable driver and top trash can LED generation and 6 passive cooling light bars to provide full spectrum and wide coverage light for vegetable and flowering growth stages. It covers 5'x5' Veg footprint and 4'x4' flower footprint. The high energy efficiency of 2.7umol/J produces a total PPF output of 1501 umol/J, which produces uniform light spread very close to the crop canopy, and provides excellent effects for indoor planting, greenhouses and planting tents. Compared with conventional similar wattage HPS solutions, LED lights can achieve 30–40% HVAC capacity and up to 30–60% increase in output. IP65 wet environment protection grade, waterproof and dustproof. The LED plant growth lamp adopts high-quality aluminum heat sink design to efficiently dissipate heat. It has no additional fans, and the quiet planting environment has zero noise.

Iluminar 630W iLogic™8 Full Spectrum LED Grow Light

Features:

The Iluminar Grow Lights is designed to outperform the competition with additional diodes and a tuned spectrum to deliver iconic results. The new iLogic™8 has actual heating fins that help dissipate the heat. As for hanging and anything like that, each has two swivel points on either side so that you can have it properly sitting level. The cable that is included is NOT waterproof, If they buy additional waterproof connectors that slide over this RJ14 cable and twist over, it becomes waterproof and no more issues with any type of water, spraying down, cleaning, etc. The way to take off a bar is the same way — hold the pin down and slide to your left.

What To Consider Before Buying An LED Grow Light

1. Light Spectrum
Some LED lights produce only some colour frequencies. However, because we’re trying to replicate the natural sunlight, which features all the colours, we need a full spectrum LED. A full-spectrum LED lights produce all the colours necessary for every stage of the growing process.

Some of the light spectrum colours include;

Red Light- It is essential for the latter stages and for the buds to flower.
Blue light- Helps in the earliest stages and is the first colour that plants can absorb.
Purple light- Used the same as the blue light; however, it’s not as effective as the blue light.
White light- This can be used alone and is effective for every growing stage. They have all colours and are therefore considered as full spectrum.
The best LED grow lights should also have a uniform spectrum, such that if you have five plants under one light, they all get the same spectrum.

2. Size/Coverage Area
When it comes to the size of the grow light, you need to think about the number of plants you’re planning to grow and also if you want something portable. You also need to consider the amount of space you have for placing it.

The coverage area of LED lights is the area that the light can illuminate at once. For optimum results, the surface area of the plantation unit must be smaller than or equal to the coverage area of the LED grow light.

If some parts of the plants are outside the illuminated area, it might cause non-uniform growth. You can also install lenses to either decrease or increase the coverage area of your LED grow light.

With these things in mind, you will be able to find the size of a grow light that perfectly matches your needs.

3. Power
Manufacturers use different metrics to measure the power of lights, so it can be a little bit difficult to compare the LED grow lights. Most of the time, the brightness of LED lights is measured in lumens.

However, to measure the light intensity in terms of light that can actually be absorbed, scientists use photosynthetic photon flux (PPF), measured in μmol/second or photosynthetic photon flux density (PPFD) measured in μmol/m2/s.

PPF indicates the number of photons emitted per second, while the PPFD indicates the density of light distributed per square meter per second. The higher the PPF and PPFD, the more effective the light should be.

It is important to note that the bulb wattage is not a good indicator of a powerful LED. To know how powerful light is, look for its actual power draw or actual power consumption, commonly measured in watts.

4. Type
There are different types of grow lights to consider, depending on the plants you have, the amount of natural light, and the location of the plants. These types include;

Light Bulbs-It consists of a single light bulb and is excellent for growing small leafy greens with a full spectrum
Light Bars- These are a single row of LED diodes that come in different spectrums, and they act as a supplement light to a main source of light.
Light Panels- These are the most common and suitable for a full state of growth.

5. Heat Output
Using a grow light that emits a lot of heat can damage your plants. Most LED lights give off very little heat relative, but some may produce a lot of heat. It is quite important to find one that has a built-in cooling system to ensure the temperature is regulated. Some have aluminium heat sinks, while others have fans.

6. Reliability
With the price of some of these LED grow lights, they are a significant investment, so you need to ensure that they last you for a long time. To find out the reliability of a grow light, you need to check the warranty as well as the reviews from buyers.

Furthermore, when it comes to installation, some grow lights types may require more effort than others. Also, some, especially the ones with fans, make some noise, and this should also be considered before making any purchase.

Conclusion

Professional LED grow lights produce enough light for commercial and large-scale growers. They also work for both veg and bloom. Most professional growers prefer LED grow lights for plants, because, unlike traditional HID or HPS, they offer a wide band spectrum — while saving you big on energy.