Apollo UFO vs HHE COB: LED Grow Light Experiment (Hydroponic Lettuce)

I've been using my Apollo Horticulture UFO SMD light for nearly a year now. After acquiring my latest LED grow light by HHE, I saw an opportunity to run some side-by-side comparisons. The HHE COB (84w) light had been labelled as "200w" while the Apollo (109w) is still labelled as "180w". Using bogus wattages creates a certain expectation on the part of a consumer. If the HHE is touted as 200w then the performance should be 11% greater than a 180w model. But is this the case?

NOTE: The lights in this video are grossly outdated!
Watch my latest LED Grow Light Reviews:
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Atreum Lighting HYDRA-1000
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ViparSpectra P1000:
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ViparSpectra XS1000:
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Spider Farmer SF1000:
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Mars Hydro TS1000

I devised a simple, unbiased experiment to test these grow lights against each other. Planning this experiment sparked a renewed interest in hydroponics, leading me to the "Kratky" method.

Here are the basic parameters for this experiment:
- HHE 64x3w COB (84w) vs Apollo 60x3w (109w) SMD UFO
- 9 Lettuce Plants each (Tom Thumb)
- Kratky's Method of Hydroponic (non-circulating)
- Identical Nutrient Solution
- 17 Hour Light Cycle.
- Grow Area: 24" x 24"
- Distance: 15"

The Apollo Horticulture LED light draws 30% more power. But it uses the SMD construction method for its LEDs, rather than the "more efficient" COB style. The spectrum of each light is clearly very different. But which light will have the best lettuce production?

You can see them growing side-by-side in a time lapse video which spans the course of 23 days. We have hydroponic lettuce. We have LED grow lights. We have time lapse. There's a lot going on here!

#IndoorGrowing #UrbanGardening #ArtificialLighting
#Hydroponics #GrowYourOwn #LEDlighting

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[Albopepper]

_Check out my other reviews:_

This UPS power station can backup a grow light!


_Learn more about artificial lighting and plant growth:_

[issysissypoo]

You put a lot of time and hard work into this experiment. Your results are helpful to consumers. Thanks.

[cliffwebb]

AWESOME AMAZING video. Heres why I love this and your other videos: 1) You GROW to test. Loads of videos are just blah blah review - waste of time. 2) You test with common sense and fairness - explaining clearly pros and cons. 3) Your presentation - clear, and quality. Thank you SO MUCH for taking the time to show this video. :-)

[punkyroo]

I'm glad I found your channel, I was wondering about those Apollo Horticulture LED lights.

[MSLBushcraftSurvival]

What if you increase the distance of the COB Led Lamp?
The inner lettuce should not be burned anymore and the outer lettuce plants would get a bit more light!?
Your test is very good and scientific as always, great vid!
I guess for final results a second experiment is necessary, with optimized distance of the COB Led Lamp.
Would be great to see that....
Thumbs up

[richardaffonso]

Awesome video. I am in the market right now for some lights. I was going to buy a bunch of COB lights. Seems to me that technology is moving much faster than are mouths can keep up with. It's all so new and the manufacture will say anything to sell. Again, great video. God bless.

[drgreenthumb]

Thank you for doing this test it i wanted to and you made it so easy. Great video! keep it up :)

[DMPB-fiir]

your comment of heat from led means less heat as in physical heat not light heat as it concentrated light which in affect causes the tip burning from excessive saturation.. and lets also address your reference about the amount the light spread the light focus of the led or cob the reflectors used to cup the leds can vary greatly in beam shape size and diffusion from 10 % to 60% or more and can vary even in shape a concentrated small oval to a very elongated oval. even at the time that hhe cob was released it was know to be too tight a focus at center due to no diffuser over the led to disperse the light and had an ineffective parabola cone which even the apollo had issue with the diffuser. . i am currently working on a design for my own grow area that uses a dim-able set like the spider farm with the same out leds and same output as the spiderfarm 2000 has the same out leds but in 12 strips 12 inches long and movable to configure as needed in my grow chamber to over head or overhead and from sides both at same time and no not for Medicinal"Tomatoes . the samsung leds in their horticultural application they offer from samsung is the most advanced led spectrum usable for plant growth made commercially today spiderfarmer uses the same ones i use

[richishere]

nice video. subbed. I bought a prakasa chineese led cob, 300w and I done the test. Pulling 300 from the wall. 😊

[extendedp]

3rd video I haved watched of yours, subbed. I have a question, my mom likes orchids, and has a couple older 4ft x 4 level grow light set ups that use T12 florescent bulbs. Her bulbs are getting weak now, and was wondering if it is worth replacing them, or getting a different set up? Either T5 or led? Either way hopefully using the existing plant stands. Thanks to anyone that has opinions or options!

[GiGaSzS]

Thank you for a very good LED light comparison!
It would be really good to compare the same wattage vs the lights.

And power ratings can also be somehow misleading. You probably don't have equipment to measure the real power consumption (I have come across some manufacturers that had even 50% higher/lower power consumption that they were claiming, but they had it written in a way which power consumption can mean many things!!!)

For price fluctuation: these LED fixtures, especially the ones called "grow" LED fixtures are really overpriced. I have taken a look at the bare LED chip/crystal prices and they don't cost usually half the price of the fixture OR there is also a case of old LED chips usage and they are really expensive and not as efficient as the new technology. The technology of LED lights is exponentially improving over the last few years, so much that when new technology comes out there is already a better one near its release. It is going on something like with "computers"(processors) a couple years ago. I cannot emphasize how happy I am that this technology is becoming more and more affordable and better, as there are many reasons why LEDs can be better light sources even for out eyes if used correctly.

I have found out that using LEDs with sufficient cooling and a constant voltage/current source (rather than the one that blinks them or compared to alternating current in almost all of the lamps over the world that are used to light places), makes my eyes less tiring, I feel better and my eyesight is being improved all of a sudden!!!

I am looking to make a similar light experiment with LEDs but using individual color LED chips that I was able to source and get for a reasonable price from different manufacturers. The only thing that I lack of is the methodology of growing plants in a "closed"/artificial environment but I hope that I will be able to quickly learn a good and not too complicated way to make my experiment.

[oscarc]

Great videos! I have around 30 tropical fruit trees with the sizes varying from 1' to 7' kept by the window in a room measuring 6' x 12'. I would greatly appreciate, if you could help me with What light combination I should use. Four CFLs with 85 watt and 6500k are currently running... Thank you in advance.

[Zeldkamp]

Do you have a video on how you start your seeds in the vermiculite? Love your videos, I've learned so much!!

[GrowGrowshop]

hallo nice video bravo !!! can y ask to you some think? wath kind of hydroponic plant you used in this video is very close from heart !!!! looking very tanks and have a good day

[jamespeavy]

I think you should try the apollo again set a few inches higher and see what happens

[FramedProductions]

I think you would do best by breaking up that COB into 4 single COB LEDs and focusing it in between the plants. That way you get a better dispersion without any of the plants being directly under it.

[sparrow]

I'd like to see it again but at 20", because it seemed scewed because it was close for both sides. but especially at the left

[goodgoat]

All manufacturers seem to be rating their lamps by the potential wattage if the LEDs are driven at full power. So a lamp with (60) 3 watt LEDs would be called a 180 watt lamp. In reality the majority of these lamps are NOT driving the LEDs at full power but at something lesser. For example, if the 180 watt listed above uses only 140 watts, each 3 watt LED is only using 2.33 watts. This means slightly less than the full potential light of the LED but also less heat and a longer life. The LED is running at 78% (2.33 / 3) of the wattage but might give 85% of the light depending upon the LED.

Some manufacturers also list the actual wattage that the lamps consume which gives a better idea of the light output since each lamp manufacturer exaggerates differently to arrive at a nice round number. There are other variables such as LED efficiency, white color temperature, light spectrum, and the reflector which would affect plant growth.

Bottom line, keep watching comparison testing videos like this one.

[growroom]

the test is done with many daily hours of light?

[josephlarsen]

have you retried this experiment with greater distances?