How good are the COB LED grow lights? 2021 Updated
COB Style LED Grow Lights: COB stands for Chip on Board. Instead of having multiple small diodes, COBs usually feature large LED bulbs. They are known for providing intense light and heat and are being preferred by a number of growers of late! These usually come in panels where multiple COBs are put together to provide the best possible light and heat. Then there are also AutoCOBs, which basically are only one bulb. COB LED grow lights are one of best grow light for you.
WHAT ARE THE BENEFITS OF USING LED GROW LIGHTS?
There are a number of benefits of using LED grow lights. First of all, they are the most electricity and energy efficient option that growers have. Grow lights tend to consume a lot of electricity, especially if you use primitive forms of lights such as High Pressure Sodium lights or Metal Halides. However, these modern-day lights are much more energy efficient and provide a much higher output of light by converting a lesser amount of electricity.
Apart from that, another huge benefit of using LED grow lights over other types of grow lights is that LED grow lights can last much, much, longer compared to them. LED grow lights have an average life span of 40,000 hours – which is massive. Furthermore, if they go bad, they are easy to dispose as well and you can be assured that they will not cause you or the nature any harm because they do not have any toxic chemicals powering them.
Pros
Really bright and offer the best PPFD PAR values
Great heat dissipation
Easy to set up
Works great with auto-flowering plants
Cons
You need to buy extra booster lights in order to get the maximum possible benefit
Pros
Easy to set up
Wide range of lights – 12-band full-spectrum LED grow light
3-year warranty
Good heat dissipation
Cons
Some users found it too intense for small setups
Buying Guide – Factors to Consider Before Buying
Now that you know what the different types of LED grow lights are and which are some of the best LED lights in the markets, let us take a closer look at some of the things that you must always keep in mind before you buy your grow lights. These are important because grow lights are quite an investment and one needs to ensure that they are getting what they pay for!
Here are some of the factors that you need to look at before you make the purchase:
Electricity Consumption: One of the best reasons as to why you should be purchasing an LED lights is that they do not consume electricity as much as the older types of lights do. Most non-LED grow lights consume as much as 30% more electricity than their LED counterparts. However, you must always take a closer look at the electricity consumption and the wattage of the light that you are buying! Given that the LED grow lights that you are going to buy have to run for about 8 to 10 hours every day, you need to make sure they don’t cost you a bomb in electricity costs.
Spectrum: Plants need ‘light’ to grow. This light can be of any type and can come from any source. However, there’s a difference between just light and optimal light. In order for the process of photosynthesis to happen at an ideal pace and rate, one needs to ensure that the lights that they are using are full spectrum LED grow lights, which can actually replicate the natural light of the sun. Plants need not only the red and blue spectrum lights, but also infrared and ultraviolet rays. Hence, it is essential that for a good growth of your plants, you get a full-spectrum LED grow light.
Heat Output: A pro-tip for those looking forward to buying new LED lights for growing marijuana indoors is that you must always look for lights which provide a low heat output. While heat is critical for the growth of your plants, you must not forget that too much of heat is the easiest way to kill your plant too! Even lights which have a low heat output need to be placed at an appropriate distance from the plants so that they do not provide too much heat. Lastly, a low heat output is good because lights with a higher heat output have a smaller lifetime as they ‘burn out’ rather quickly.
The Semiconductor Chips: Semiconductor chips form a critical part of LED grow lights. While their basic job is to convert electricity into light, they form the core of what provides the light to the plants and hence you need to ensure that the semiconductor chips that your LED panel is using is of a good quality. Brands such as Samsung can always be trusted to provide a long-lasting product which will not be easily burnt-out. Light panels that feature a chipset of at least 3 watts should be the minimum that you must aim for otherwise the light will be too weak for a suitable growth.
Growing Space: Another thing that you need to keep in mind before you purchase your LED grow lights is the actual grow space that you are going to make use of. If your grow space is large and your plants are well spread out, you would require a larger number of lights, or you would need lights which can cover a larger area – you also need to keep in mind that the larger the area a light covers, the lesser the heat it will provide to the plants – hence, all three things including the area your plants are spread in, the amount of light that the LED can provide and the heat need to be considered. A basic mathematical calculation here is that you require 32 watts of power per square foot of growing area for high-light plants.
Ease of Use: One of the most important things that people often do not consider is the ease of use! Especially the first-time growers need to ensure that the lights that they are buying are simple and easy to use. First-timers don’t need much more than a light which is as basic as plug-and-play and offers essential features like daisy chaining where you can plug one light on to another. You also need to ensure that your lights are flexible in terms of use and you can adjust the intensity of the lights so that it is easy for you to manage the different growth stages.
Durability: One of the biggest problems with older types of lights is that of durability. For those who have grown in the older setup, it used to be a common problem that the lights (especially the cheaper ones) would tend to burn out and sometimes even the glass would just burst because of voltage related fluctuations causing the chemical vapors to go unstable. However, an LED lamp built using good quality materials can last you for as many as 10 years! Another important thing that we need to talk about here is the lifespan of the lights – a good quality LED light can offer you anywhere between 40,000 to 50,000 hours of light. 50,000 hours is basically continuous usage for 5.7 years – and considering that most growers don’t need more than 12 hours a day, it would mean the lights can last your for as many as 10 years! This is a huge benefit over the older types of lights which used to burn out in as few as 8,000 to 15,000 hours.
Brand: While there’s an old adage in the markets that ‘the brand doesn’t matter’, that is actually incorrect because the brand does matter. It is not just the quality and durability of the lights but also the after-sales service and supports and companies which have a good reputation in the markets are usually better when it comes to repairing your lights in time and offering you proper refunds and replacements as opposed to a random company which you’ve seen off Amazon with like 2 good reviews!
Price: The money that you are going to invest is obviously important. A good LED grow light can set you back by a couple of hundred dollars but when you look at the fact that you need multiple such lights in order to cover your entire growing operation, you need to give it a serious thought that are the lights worth it – or would you rather work on traditional old-fashioned lights. However, the one thing that comes in the favor of these LED grow lights is the fact that they basically pay for themselves in terms of the savings that they make you when it comes to electricity costs when compared to older lights.
Warranty: Last but not the least, warranty services are pretty important and they are something that you must keep in mind before you purchase an LED grow light for growing marijuana indoors. The warranty is an essential element of after sales services and you need to ensure you get the most out of your brand with regards to this!
Final thoughts
LED grow lights are a great solution for today’s indoor plant grower. When buying full spectrum LED grow lights, you need to consider their durability. The construction should be of high quality. If not, then you’d be wasting your hard-earned money. LED grow lights provide the spectrum of light your plants need. If your plant doesn’t get enough light it will not grow strong. Then the productivity of the plant will decrease as well. So, if you don’t get enough fruits and flowers from your indoor garden, you can use some cheap led grow lights. Also, if you need to save them from snow or cold by providing enough daylight for your plants.