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LED- this should be interesting...

Hinky

Hinky

I picked up an Electrotech 12" LED traffic light for next to nothing- according to this spec sheet it's putting out 630nm. While the lens itself is red, according to this spec sheet the LEDs are 630nm as well as having the red lens.
http://www.iqtrafficontrol.com/products/full-ball-specs.htm

I've had it on for a couple hours- though it sure looks like a heat lamp it doesn't put out any heat. I figured I'd subject the Bolivian Rainbow to it for a couple weeks since it's a mature plant. It's sitting on the floor of the lab, so it's still getting quite a bit of ambient full spectrum light as well as the red glow.

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Now thats thinking mate. Please let us know how it goes, come to think of it i wonder how the green and amber colours would fair?

How did you hook the power to the sucker? Just a couple of wires or what?
Great idea gungadin!!
 
The Electrotech LED traffic lights are standard US AC household current- 120VAC. I just hardwired a spade plug into it and plugged it in to a wall socket. Done. The unit is sealed, and doesn't weigh that much so I have just hung it from the wiring itself.

I would expect that down on the wrong side of the world they wire up their traffic lights to take 240VAC, take a look on your evilbay :)
 
It looks like there is smoke inside the lens. Right next to the high octane racing fuel.
Looks cool though. You should have lots of flowers and fruit soon.
 
leds in every shape and form seem to be getting experimented with, i wonder how long it will be until the mainstream panels start to come down in price.
That said you do get more satisfaction when you get success with something you've cobbled together yourself.
Leds are the way forward
 
Speaking of cobbled together...:

I got 5 of my brightest blue panels and a little one with 4 cree supers on for a couple days. It's more than I need now.
The red crees are so bright they make sharp shadows on the wall too. My plants are in a growth spurt.;)
 
yeh they look good, there seems to be alot of leds about iv made up a few of my own boards, the first is just blue for seedlings and the second is a mix of red and blue for adult plants.

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hi well i bought leds at the right wavelength and the brightest i could find them in that wavelength,the blues are 130,000mcd and the reds are 150,000mcd and i made the board out of mdf and i run them off a 12v transformer and you solder them up and depending on the leds you will need certain resistors
 
there is 150 10mm leds over the 2 boards it cost me about £35 for the leds and i got the mdf and the wire for nothing so its not to bad and both boards only use 10 watts
 
the biggest cost i'd say when making your own is the time it takes.
You can always buy the bits cheap, but you have to weigh up the time and cost against the price from off the shelf.
I myself i always think i can do that cheaper (but it does take longer)
 
millworkman said:
Whats the approximate cost of something like this?
Click to expand...

That varies WILDLY. I picked the Electrotech 640nm traffic light up on evilbay for $40.

You can pick up a low power LED 14 watt/120VAC kit for $45, or you can pick up a high power Cree 10 watt/120VAC kit for $60, or you can piece together your own from www.ledsupply.com

Low power LEDs are good for a small budget and for fine-tuning your spectrum but the newest Cree and Luxeon power LEDs have the most bang for the buck.
 
yeh theres time involved i dont know how long my small board took me but the big one took me about 8 solid hours, personally i dont think you can buy led grow lights off the shelf that are as bright as the ones that can be made yourself and i did not mind soldering mine up i think it was worth the time i put in and the power saveing is aways a good part :D
 
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