manders Posted November 7, 2009 Report Share Posted November 7, 2009 Just noticed they are selling Quad Band LED growlights on Ebay, directly from China for around £80, has anybody tried any of these? did they arrive ok? any problems? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
manders Posted November 20, 2009 Author Report Share Posted November 20, 2009 Well the story goes like this. I bought a 90W quad band LED from Ebay of a guy in hong kong, I figured this was probably a bad move but did it anyway. It arrived very quickly and seems to work fine, although it is a bit noisier than I would like, due to the three cooling fans continuously running. Anyway, i decided to test it with my power meter. Turns out the thing is only consuming about 55W. I emailed the guy and eventually he replies saying he has to check with factory. Answer comes back, its using 90 1w LED's so its a 90W unit. I emailed him back with a photo of my power meter reading 53W and explained to him the fundamentals of a power balance. Guy asks me to send it back ($60 freight at my expense). I said no I want a discount. Eventually he agrees and I get a $60 refund. Therefore I ended up with a 50W LED UFO for under 50 quid. Still not entirely happy as I wanted a 90W one, but at least it wasn't a total disaster. The unit looks absolutely identical to the 90W units being advertised on the internet (same factory), and the label says 90W and 0.5A (reality was 53W and 0.25A). So either the guy in Hongkong pulled a fast one and switched labels, or the factory itself is mislabelling products. Either way, buyer beware... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mantrid Posted November 20, 2009 Report Share Posted November 20, 2009 Well the story goes like this. I bought a 90W quad band LED from Ebay of a guy in hong kong, I figured this was probably a bad move but did it anyway. It arrived very quickly and seems to work fine, although it is a bit noisier than I would like, due to the three cooling fans continuously running. Anyway, i decided to test it with my power meter. Turns out the thing is only consuming about 55W. I emailed the guy and eventually he replies saying he has to check with factory. Answer comes back, its using 90 1w LED's so its a 90W unit. I emailed him back with a photo of my power meter reading 53W and explained to him the fundamentals of a power balance. Guy asks me to send it back ($60 freight at my expense). I said no I want a discount. Eventually he agrees and I get a $60 refund. Therefore I ended up with a 50W LED UFO for under 50 quid. Still not entirely happy as I wanted a 90W one, but at least it wasn't a total disaster.The unit looks absolutely identical to the 90W units being advertised on the internet (same factory), and the label says 90W and 0.5A (reality was 53W and 0.25A). So either the guy in Hongkong pulled a fast one and switched labels, or the factory itself is mislabelling products. Either way, buyer beware... The fact that he gave refund without fuss may be because he doesnt want to draw too much attention. He probably knows they ar 55W and counts on fact that most people wouldnt or couldnt check the real value. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
manders Posted November 20, 2009 Author Report Share Posted November 20, 2009 The fact that he gave refund without fuss may be because he doesnt want to draw too much attention. He probably knows they ar 55W and counts on fact that most people wouldn't or couldn't check the real value. I suspect your right, he caved in pretty quick. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mobile Posted November 20, 2009 Report Share Posted November 20, 2009 (edited) I suspect a lot of the claims about LED growlights may be slightly exaggerated. I see quite a lot of them being sold with not ideal wavelengths too. The really bright red LEDs are at 630-635nm but chlorophyll a red absorption peaks are usually nearer 660-670nm. Edited November 20, 2009 by mobile Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jesse Posted November 20, 2009 Report Share Posted November 20, 2009 or the factory itself is mislabelling products. Hey, it's China, the country that is famous/infamous for cheap prices as well as for many companies selling fake products! ;-) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
manders Posted November 20, 2009 Author Report Share Posted November 20, 2009 I suspect a lot of the claims about LED growlights may be slightly exaggerated. I see quite a lot of them being sold with not ideal wavelengths too. The really bright red LEDs are at 630-635nm but chlorophyll a red absorption peaks are usually nearer 660-670nm. I'm still not convinced either, there is a lot of conflicting evidence around. Some weed growers actually found 630nm worked better. 680nm and 700nm are known to be synergistic and other combinations may be also, so you get faster growth with both of those spectrums than you do with sum of either separately and then you have to consider the carotenes/xanthophylls and not just the chlorophylls. The rate of photosynthesis measured by O2 production actually doesn't vary so much with spectrum as the absorption spectrum suggests. Just have to try and see I think. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
manders Posted November 20, 2009 Author Report Share Posted November 20, 2009 Hey, it's China, the country that is famous/infamous for cheap prices as well as for many companies selling fake products! ;-) Well we sure to avoid buying foodstuff from there... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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