Viparspectra KS5000 500W LED Grow Light VS TotalGrow MH Lumyre 480W LED Grow Light

 LED lights were first introduced to the market to replace the traditional incandescent and fluorescent lights.

People eventually made that switch, although it costed more than the traditional lights.

It was only a matter of time when LED lights became affordable for households. They became competitively priced when compared to the usual lights, with the bonus of lasting longer.

With LED becoming a standard for lighting in homes and offices, the horticulture industry wanted the same features and sustainability.

Thanks to technology, we now have LED grow lights making a niche of its own in growing. Manufacturers are also on their way to drive down prices to make it more competitive versus the traditional grow lights that use HPS or CMH.

Should you want to invest in LED grow lights, you may want to read further on what you need to know in choosing a fixture for your indoor garden.

What makes good LED grow lights so much better?

i. Full spectrum
One of the unique but required features of a good LED grows light is the full spectrum similar to the electromagnetic radiation spectrum of daylight. The full spectrum waveband has a wavelength energy range of 100–800 nm wavelength. The ultraviolet light lies on the extreme left with a wavelength between 100–400 nm. Visible light lies between 400–770nm while infrared light goes beyond 770nm. Different plants require energy of varying wavelengths because of the chlorophyll component. The absorption spectra of chlorophyll are predominant in the visible light with red and blue light dominating.

The other green light is not absorbed but reflected by the chlorophyll component giving off the green appearance of the plants. The LED grow lights provide a wide range of light energies that enable plants to conduct photosynthesis for their growth and maturation. They have an adjustment circuit to help you monitor the amount of light energy administered to the plants to prevent desiccation. This allows you to grow your plants at any time of the year without any interruptions from the weather and environmental energy changes.

ii. High par Value
Understanding PAR and how it makes plants grow is critical to a good grow light. LED grows lights have been built to produce a high Photosynthetically Active Radiation (PAR) optimal for initiating photosynthesis in your plants. The PAR ranges for most plants lie between 400–700nm. The PAR ranges are synonymous with the light temperature measured in kelvins. Most of the radiations are between 3000–5500 kelvins that give you warm to white color respectively. Our LED grows lights are not limited to the 400–700nm PAR range because of the inbuilt full spectrum. This enables the lights to induce different plant photomorphogenic responses necessary for survival. The high PAR value harmonizes the different spectral powers of the beams produced with the appropriate wavelength.

As a gardener, it is important to understand the different plant phases and their energy requirements. These phases may include propagation, vegetative, budding, flowering, and finishing. LED grows lights can be optimized depending on the plant light requirements. The high PAR value from our LED grows lights enables plants to thrive through all these phases effectively.

iii. Well built
To do indoor growing, you need to have well made lights. These LED grows lights are well built to ensure they produce and last.. Often, the grow lights on the market come disassembled and require professional expertise for installation. The process can be tedious and inconvenient. The LED grow lights are built for easy installation despite the professional expertise. Our grow lights come with an installation package with guidelines on how to attach them to your garden. Our light fixtures come with an adjustable cord for attachment to the ceiling. These futuristic adjustable lights enable the light supply to your plants to adequately replace the sun easily. The lights have lens-enabled reflector casings to enable the concentration and focusing of the light and heat energy to your plant.

iv. Energy efficient
With our LED grow lights, you do not need to worry about the heavy electricity costs. Our lights are energy efficient with less consumption but bright illumination. An average LED grow light can consume less than 0.8 kW of energy per hour. Other grow lights have been known to consume over 1.5Kw/hr. giving our lights an energy-saving advantage. The energy consumption is also dependent on the plant stage, for example, flowering and vegetative stages require different amounts of light energy.

The automation installed with the lights enables adjustment of the energy supplied to the plants. This reduces the total power consumption thus a lower electricity bill. The amount saved can be utilized to expand your indoor garden. Our grow lights are built with different coolers to reduce the heat dissipated to the surrounding. The more heat dissipated by a light fixture, the higher its energy consumption. Our lights offer you the best option for your indoor garden lighting needs.

Viparspectra KS5000 500W LED Grow Light

Features:

VIPARSPECTRA LED Grow Light uses market-leading Samsung LM301H diodes (3.10 μmol/J) and Osram 660nm diodes, more energy-efficient LEDs that increase crop yields and save operating costs. High-end components give the KS5000 incredible performance. The KS series is designed for individual or commercial growers who want to optimize their growing space for maximum crop yield while producing the highest quality crops. The KS5000 Dimmable Grow Light with Daisy Chain allows you to connect up to 100 KS5000 grow lights to your commercial grow, horizontal and vertical farming, greenhouse grow, pipe grow, hydroponics, 4x4 grow tent. A built-in dimmer allows you to dial in the perfect PPFD for your plants at all growth stages. The KS5000 features a detachable power supply that can be remotely mounted on the side of a rack or on an adjacent wall to dissipate heat from your grow space.

TotalGrow MH Lumyre 480W LED Grow Light

Features:

TotalGrow LED grow lights feature multiple high-intensity light strips in a slim profile and built-in power supply to distribute the ideal light intensity evenly across your growing area to meet your growing goals. Superior, customizable full spectrum supports efficient, high-quality growth of any life stage and crop variety. This plug-and-play solution with direct daisy chaining is easy to implement, has low up-front and ongoing costs, and sustainably produces high-quality crops. The efficacy of this LED grow light is as high as 2.8 μmol/J to meet the light intensity your plants need. Robust, reliable, ideally shaped design for ease of use and excellent uniformity.

Things To Consider When Buying an LED Grow Light

Power
The first thing you need to look at is the power the LED fixture provides.

When it comes to power, this aspect does not just cover wattage, but other specifications, such as Photosynthetic Photon Flux (PPF), the efficacy, and average Photosynthetic Photon Flux Density (PPFD).

PPF vs PPFD

PPF
PPF refers to the amount of light produced by a source, in this case, an LED grow light, per second; measured in umol per second.

Now, if you have a grow area that measures 36 square meters, and your strain needs around 500 umol per square meter, you need 1,800 umol/s of light for the growing area.

Thus, you will need an LED grow light that produces 1,800 umol per second. You can use several in tandem to get the required PPF.

Note that PPF does not automatically equate to the amount of light a plant receives, but rather how much is produced by a source.

PPFD
PPFD, meanwhile, is how effective your plants can use the photons from the light. You would want something that distributes something evenly across the grow area.

If you run a commercial-sized facility, you will need a PPFD of around 1,500 to 2,000 umol/s per square meter per second, which can be supplemented by a CO2 enrichment system and other environmental controlling systems.

But, if you only have a small grow area, 1,000 will be too much, as it would be a waste of energy, since small-time or personal growers rarely use control systems for environment and CO2 enrichment.

Lastly, Efficacy deals with how much photons you can get on the same power consumption.

Spectrum
Some LED grow lights are full spectrum, which gives it adjustable properties to adapt to different phases of growth.

Ideally, you would want to get a full spectrum, which includes UV lighting. That will help you save more, as you can have one set to do most, if not all, the growing phases.

Full-spectrum LED grow lights have both red and blue spectrums, as well as infrared and ultraviolet lighting. These light colors matter, as they help in different stages of growth, inducing photosynthesis, and blooming of buds.

Choosing an LED Grow Light
LEDs are the most crucial components of the grow light. These produce the light itself and help stimulate the growth of your plants.

There are many options for LEDs from different grow lights. That is one of the most advertised specifications of a grow LED, as it says a lot about the quality of light it can produce.

Some of the notable LED manufacturers used by leading LED grow lights are Samsung and Cree. They have been known for their colors, often producing deep reds to stimulate photosynthesis.

Cooling Systems
Having an efficient cooling system onboard your LED grow light is crucial, as well.

While LEDs are much colder than traditional lightings, remember that growing plants emits more heat than other kinds of plants.

That is why a lot of manufacturers of grow lights emphasize heat-dissipating systems built into their products.

For the most part, modern LED grow lights have built-in passive cooling. There are a lot of good options for LED grow lights that boast of superb cooling designs.

Conclusion

Grow LED lights can be highly beneficial for your indoor grow if you buy the right one after examining the various aspects like coverage area, efficiency, PAR value, heat emission, etc. We hope that our detailed buying guide on LED Grow lights will help you choose the best LED grow light for commercial spaces and small rooms.

All the links we have mentioned in this article are genuine and authentic. We have included the top suggestions in this article as per the latest market availability, and we will be updating our list of the top LED grow lights time-to-time for you guys. Stay tuned with us for more gadget suggestions and updates. Happy gardening!