Using LED lamps indoors....

Hello,

I am growing some seedlings of trees indoors, and I want to keep them in good health during winter.
I have a south oriented window, but still I want a good light on the seedlings.
I used before compact fluorescent lamps to grow indoors; but now I want to experiment with LEDs.

I dont need much power. Currently I have a solar table lamp, with 4 leds, total 0.4 watt.
But I think I can buy much more light lumens, for a very cheap price off ebay.

I think a LED lamp between 2 watt to 10 watt is enough.
Ideally solar charged or USB charged.
There are many cheap deals in eBay, around 10 USD. That´s the price I look for.
And the strongest light intensity I can get. Around 300 lumens or more.

- I look at these ebay options:

1) Solar lamp for camping 4w 300lm http://www.ebay.com/itm/4W-LED-Solar-Powered-Light-Bulb-for-Camping-SUS-/291930949731?hash=item43f870c863:g:~yIAAOSwx2dYGyxl

2) Solar lamp for camping 2w 130lm http://www.ebay.com/itm/2W-130LM-Portable-Bulb-Rechargeable-Light-Solar-Energy-Lamp-15w-Equivalent-LED-/322281155329?hash=item4b09742b01:g:DFAAAOSwq5pXQMc0

3) Flashlamp  3w 180lm (300 meter range) http://www.ebay.com/itm/Solar-Powered-3W-LED-USB-Rechargeable-Flashlight-Torch-3-mode-Camping-Light-Lamp-/142040762495?var=&hash=item21124a087f:m:mnF7mwUJMLxD8_DCkeHa9yA

4) Camping lantern solar 3w 300lm (20 meter range) http://www.ebay.com/itm/7-LEDs-3W-300LM-Solar-Powered-Lantern-for-Outdoor-Camping-/291843253983?hash=item43f336a6df:g:4ikAAOSw0UdXrFeV

5) Typical chinese hydroponic lamp 3w or more http://www.ebay.com/itm/3W-1600W-Full-Spectrum-LED-Grow-Light-Panel-For-Indoor-Garden-veg-Flower-Plants-/112082327924?var=&hash=item1a18a09974:m:m7Fn6ClSx7O7Xv8rmJ04QHA disadvantage, most leds are red, which could create tall thin seedlings, and its not solar charged. Also total of lumens is not specified, which makes me not trust much on these ones, as they seem too cheap. Each led is about 0.2w

6) Also hydroponic lamp, 6w, each led has 2w, so it is a much stronger light, 100lm http://www.ebay.com/itm/6W-10W-LED-Grow-Spot-Light-Bulb-Lamp-E27-GU10-Hydroponics-Plants-Flower-Lighting-/272386440482?var=&hash=item3f6b7f3d22:m:mbOFiNE0cqfanrtxt93d02A

7) An even seemingly better blue/red LED lamp, better because each led is 3w, which is considered the minimum. Total lumens unknown. http://www.ebay.com/itm/15W-21W-27W-36W-45W-54W-LED-Grow-Light-Panel-For-Hydroponic-Veg-Flowering-Lamps-/152109733343?var=&hash=item236a7255df:m:m-DmZQuXllaYnfwz6BpC7PQ

Can someone recommend a good one? Which light seems to be the best and the strongest, from the selection above?

Your choices # 5 and # 6 are the right type light.  
For plants, the best lights will be slanted towards the red spectrum for growth and the blue spectrum for flowering, this is why most commercial growers that grow indoors will have both halide and sodium light bulbs.
Second choice is a full spectrum light source and you can find LED units that fill that need but they will be a little more expensive on the front end, but cheaper to run overall.

Redhawk

6W red+blue LED grow lights €0.99 each
http://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/291285139300

I've got a few tens of these, they work but it's too early in my efforts to give any meaningful data or appraisal

EDIT, since I purchased, seems the price has gone up to £2 each. I have bought 6W LED grow bulbs from various ebay sellers at €0.99 so worth having a shop around.

EDIT 2 here are some at £0.99 plus £1.99 delivery regardless of quantity ordered http://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/252368302646

I've bought from both these sellers with no issues

I added a new option.
I read that leds should be 3 watts each, to provide the right amount of lumens per led.
Option #7 could be above 500 lumens.

Perhaps I will buy one of these to try, but I find it handy to also have a solar charged led growing lamp.

I experimented with 12V LEDs for a while but now I find it better to connect my solar power to a cheap $5 cigar lighter type inverter and then run to the 230V AC LED bulbs. Seems disingenuous to go from solar DC to AC, but the ease of finding wiring and connectors in my eyes makes up for the losses in the inverter. At least at this early stage in my experimentation with indoor growing. Maybe later I will put some more effort into an all 12V system.

Hello Steve,

I ordered the 6W grow lamp LEDS, as they were very cheap.

However each individual of the 3 LEDs is just 2W. I think it is recommended that each led is at at least 3W.
Nevertheless as it is very cheap, I tried it.

What have you grown so far with them?

Could you kindly post some ebay links to the 12 LEDs, 5$ cigar lighter inverter and solar panel. As I am a beginner on these things so I am trying to understand what to buy and not make mistakes.
I was really interested in buying a solar lamp for the plants too, as I have a white light solar table lamp and this works fine for some plants, though light is weak (its only 0.5 Watt)
Would you recommend any of the 3W camping solar lamps I posted before?

Many thanks!!!

> Hi I am new here and not good at growing anything, but the need has arisen to grow some food in the window, but where I live is a "cloudy hades". So I have been researching and taking feedback etc.. This post jumped out at me. I have used the old incandescant type grow lights years ago and not really much good. I have tried lettuce again, as it's "supposedly" the sunny time of year and it started out better but the light did not last. I do not have the excess power to run grow lights and can not go the inverter route, so it's got to be 12v.  I became amazed this week when I found how much the grow light tech has changed just in the last couple years. Makes it doable at least in winter. So I just bought 2 of these:
12 volt USB Grow lamp

The other option was the 12 v strips that come in 1 to five meters and then hire a handyman to wire up-more hassle than not, but great for a DIY. I saw a guy do a great lamp w/ that 12v strip and you might be able to search youtube for it.

They will ship next week, so I will be testing them at that point. Do not know if they will make it in time to help the lettuce much, but plan on growing other things. The reviews seem OK. What I like is plug and play. I can clip it to the shelf or over the plants and then I just need the car plug adapter-have an extra laying around. Not powerful as grow lights go, but also low enough watts I can make it work w/ the small system I live on and still charge the batteries.

The general consensus with LED lights still they are not as good as cfl, hps and metal halide etc for serious growing in terms of the price. They are certainly getting there interms of quality of light but you will pay quite alot upfront for good ones.

I think we are on the cusp of them beating the old aternatives for both price and light quality but it could be a few years before they really get there.

http://timbergrowlights.com/

these guys offer a diy kit

Do you have a window that gets some sun? Then you wont even need the LED light for growing chives. I grow them in a pot indoors for convenience.