The Basics Of Plant Lighting

So you're running 320+238=560 watts in that space? Heheh, I think you have enough umols now. :slide:
 
Graytail said:
So you're running 320+238=560 watts in that space? Heheh, I think you have enough umols now. :slide:
Click to expand...

Ya thats about right. the optic pulls 370w but you need to acount for the drivers and fans.

Ya it should translate to nice plants once i get things dialed. I do plan on adding a 54w uvb bulb. Seems like the science is there on UVB bennies.
 
Looks to me like the plants responded very positively to to 3590s right away.

Heres a couple that give a sense of the scale of things. The overall length wall to wall at 3' high is about 50 inches. The width gets to be about 26 inches as plants fill out. Adding the wings obviously brightened up the whole space. Will the plants branch out and grab that energy? You know it.

The left plant is Sugar Punch 15 gal i have extremely high hopes, its a very fine strain. The other large plant is Destroyer. Both of those looking very sativa. The smaller plants are cuttings that i'm flowering in small pots.

8-4.jpg


New PC and new photo processing so excuse the learning curve please.
 
Hey Vondankenhoek... really like watching your DIY LED project... do you have a journal you are keeping for this ? I didn't see a link in your sig and would love to sub.
 
VonDankenhoek said:
Ice, thanks for your encouragement. Just as i suggested to GT, think about doing a DIY. It's not very expensive, great learning along the way and a super supportive network of DIYers. MOST IMPORTANTLY if you select the best stuff and have a good budget you can blow just about anything commercially made out of the water.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the reply VonDankenhoek...

I definitely will be doing a DIY project in the near future but still researching exactly what I would build. When I do it, I will have "prototype" in mind, as I want to build a LED that addresses the issues that current LED's on the market have that I have been taking notes on.

Also I have been doing a ton of research on plant morphology due to light reaction as well as spectrum efficiencies and photosynthesis so I will be doing a little bit more than just doing all white LES chips (vero, CXB/CXA). I think the LED (light emitting surface) chips are good, and damn near perfect, but still lack in the deep red, Indigo/blue/green and also deep blue/UV area so I will be addressing those areas as well as adding Green mono diodes to the panel. I can't unfortunately share the ideas I have too much because I do plan on eventually making lights to sell, professionally, but still a couple years out from that being a reality yet. My goal is to match the suns spectrum with a slight bit more deep red but with other improvements too that I can't talk about. (too many greedy LED companies would take my ideas and run with them)

I just see so many things that can be improved on the current state of the lights so I hopefully will be able to get the DIY going soon, at least for a couple prototypes to run and test before deciding to take it to manufacturing.

I definitely have mad respect for the DIY crowd and I will be one of you very soon :) I will say that they will include LES chips though (haven't decided between vero for the price or cree for the extra effiency and Lumen maintenance.
 
Vero likes a high current, at high currents they're close as efficient as the Cree chips.
Vero being a bit cheaper, Cree a little more efficient.

If you run them soft, Cree is the way to go as the efficiency of the CXB scales a lot better for lower currents than Vero.
 
HydroDyna said:
Vero likes a high current, at high currents they're close as efficient as the Cree chips.
Vero being a bit cheaper, Cree a little more efficient.

If you run them soft, Cree is the way to go as the efficiency of the CXB scales a lot better for lower currents than Vero.
Click to expand...

my light runs 4 veros @2.1mA and 4 cxb 72v @.7mA. 40% & 56% efficient respectively.
 
I've also recently embraced the LED trend for cultivation.
While I've traditionally favored HPS Sodium lighting, escalating electricity costs have pushed me to switch.
However, I've encountered a setback with LEDs: I find that the growth phase tends to drag on longer than expected. I've tried all types of lights for cultivation, and while LED is one of the best, the truth is that the results with HPS Sodium are clearly superior.
 
pacogollo said:
I've also recently embraced the LED trend for cultivation.
While I've traditionally favored HPS Sodium lighting, escalating electricity costs have pushed me to switch.
However, I've encountered a setback with LEDs: I find that the growth phase tends to drag on longer than expected. I've tried all types of lights for cultivation, and while LED is one of the best, the truth is that the results with HPS Sodium are clearly superior.
Click to expand...


a lot depends on your led choice. you can also run dedicated rigs. i run dedicated led flower rigs, makes a massive difference. full spec rigs are a one size fits all, mine are tailored.
 
Back
Top Bottom