ECO Farm MB720 Foldable Grow Light Bar VS TotalGrow MH Lumyre 720W LED Grow Light
For us gardeners, living in a country that has more rainy days than sunny can be a real struggle. For 9 months of the year, it seems the sun never appears. The remaining 3? Well, it’s a little hit and miss! I’ve found it’s the seedlings that struggle the most, as they simply cannot germinate without adequate sunlight.
Luckily, a lack of sunlight no longer poses a problem for many gardeners, and that’s thanks to LED grow lights. These lights are available in a range of sizes, bringing all the benefits of natural sunlight to seedlings and plants at every stage of their development. They are simply hung above your seedlings, switched on and left to work. Many gardeners see results within just a couple of days.
How Much Power Does a Grow Light Use?
Well, the amount of electricity/power a grow light uses depends on the wattage of the grow lights you are using and the number of hours the light is running per day.
Let’s say your grow light is 600 watts which is on for 16 hours per day. The average price of electricity in the US in 2022 is 13.75 cents per kilowatt-hour, which equals $0.1375 per kWh.
If you are a UK resident, the average price of electricity for you in 2022 is 28 pence per kilowatt-hour, which equals £0.28 per kWh.
The average daily energy consumption of a 600 watt LED grow light = 0.6 kWh x 16 = 9.6 kWh.
That gives us a daily cost of 9.6 x 0.1375 = 1.32 dollars per day living in the US. And for the UK residents, it’s 9.6 x 0.28 = 2.688 pounds per day.
Typically, a plant needs 14–16 hours of light per day. Therefore, the watts of your grow light purely determines the amount of electricity you use. Higher the watts, the higher the electricity consumption.
“How many watts grow light do I need?”, you might ask. It actually depends on the size of your grow space.
As a rule of thumb, you will need 30 to 40 watts per square foot. That is, if you have only one plant, you will need only 30 to 40 watts of power. 60 to 80 watts if there are two, 120 to 140 watts if 4, and so on.
ECO Farm MB720 Foldable Grow Light Bar
Features:
This ECO Farm LED grow light is designed with 8 strips for a more even and complete canopy coverage. Equipped with high efficiency Samsung LM301B diode with extremely low thermal resistance. The plant light is flicker-free and dim, with a lifespan of 50,000 hours. The LED grow light consumes 720 watts at 1994 µmol/s for a satisfactory PPE of 2.7 µmol/J covering high yield full cycle growth of 5'x5'. Plantation gardeners prefer light because it uses the highest quality diodes for high quality output. For the ECO Farm LED grow light, it uses the least energy to provide the most output. LEDs emit full spectrum light, providing maximum output and promoting all growth stages of the plant life cycle. With high efficiency, the fixture is expected to increase yield and quality production. It’s ultra-thin and has a foldable design for easy portability. This light is perfect for all commercial growing environments. The drive’s built-in design helps you save installation time. So you can simply plug in and start playing,
TotalGrow MH Lumyre 720W LED Grow Light
Features:
The TotalGrow LED grow light bars in a slim profile with a built-in power supply that evenly distributes the ideal light intensity 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 upfront and ongoing costs, and sustainably produces high-quality crops. 720W power, 2.6 μmol/J, meet the light intensity required by your plants. The high-efficiency and low-power LED configuration with 6 LED strips reduces the temperature of the LEDs, with no fans or moving parts, significantly reducing the number of possible points of failure compared to other grow lights. It works out of the box, reducing installation costs.
Things To Consider Before Buying the LED Grow Lights
1. Color Spectrum of the Lights
Knowing the lights’ color spectrum is vital when deciding which grow lights to use. There are three types of lighting: blue, red, and white.
Blue lights are very popular among indoor growers. They stimulate the plants’ flowering stage, helping them grow faster and bigger. Blue light is also useful in speeding up the time between germination and flowering.
On the other hand, red lights are used to keep the plants in their vegetative stage. This means that they will grow taller, but not as much as if they were exposed to blue light. Red light is also used during germination and cloning because it helps speed up these processes.
White light combines blue and red light; it has both red and blue wavelengths in its spectrum. White light stimulates plant growth just like blue light does, but you can also use it to keep your plants in their vegetative state as red lights do. White lights are great for when you want your plants to flower quickly or when you want them to start flowering at all.
2. Intensity
The intensity refers to how much energy is being put out by the light source. There are two main types of light intensity: full-spectrum and fluorescent lights (also referred to as “cold” lights). Full-spectrum lights are the most powerful, and they produce the most light. They also come in a wide variety of different colors. On the other hand, fluorescent lights produce a lot of light with less intensity than full-spectrum lights.
The intensity of your light source is important for growing plants because it determines how strong the plant will grow and how quickly it will grow. The more intense the light, the more energy is put into that particular area of your plants. If you want to get your plants to start flowering quickly, you should use full-spectrum lights or HPS lights (high-pressure sodium) instead of fluorescent lighting. Fluorescent lights are great for vegetative growth because they are extremely low in intensity and produce very little heat than full-spectrum lighting.
3. Color Temperature
Colors in nature are produced by how sunlight is reflected on different objects. This is why we see most plants that are green and blue. Blue light, in particular, has a lot of energy that plants can use to grow quickly.
When it comes to growing plants indoors, you will want to choose a lighting system that produces the same color temperature as your room’s natural light. This will allow your plants to use the same amount of energy from your lights as they would when they are outdoors. It also reduces eye strain because it allows you to see more clearly with your eyes while growing plants indoors.
4. The proportion of grow area and plants
When selecting lights for your grow room, consider the plants and the grow area size. If you have a small grow area, you will want to use lights that are lower in intensity and higher in lumens. This will fill the room with light and allow the plants to grow quickly. If your grow area is larger, you can choose lights with more intensity than a smaller space. This will allow your plants to grow faster and produce more buds.
5. Maintenance
You must maintain your grow room and lighting system to ensure that it works efficiently. For example, if you notice that your lights are not producing high-quality light, you need to replace them immediately. Also, make sure that you clean the lenses of your lights regularly; this will help produce quality light output. The other thing you need to do is check the ballasts now and then. If they are getting old, then change them for new ones.
6. Schedule of lights
It is best to set your lights on a schedule. It is essential to note that even these plants need a few hours of darkness every day to get some rest. For example, you can set your lights to turn on at 5 am every day and turn them off at 10 pm. Also, you can use digital timers to set the lighting system up for the night. However, make sure that you do not forget to turn off the lights before sleeping.
7. Heat emission
The heat that your lights emit during lighting will affect the temperature inside your grow room. For example, if you have set it to a high temperature, you mustn’t expose your plants to this heat for a long time. Too much heat can affect the growth of your plants and the yields. So, ensure you are setting the right temperature for your plants. This will help you to have better yields.
Conclusion
The sun does a wonderful job nurturing plants with its light, but it can not always get to plants inside your home. That’s where the best grow lights come in. Just be sure to choose the right kind for your plants, your home, and your budget.
