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lighting Growing under 120w Led growing lights
- Thread starter Chilidude
- Start date
The Leds i am using are 6-band and costs 230 euros a piece. These leds are constantly being tested and developed by a company in Finland, so these are not some random blue/red growing lights.
One of my bigger Lemon drop was growing about 1 inch a day, so i think these leds do really work just fine. Most of my chilis have started to develop plenty of flower buds and the chili stems are very thick.
They are 55x2w and the leds used are manufactured by Epistar and Bridgelux. Colors used are red/blue/white/orange/yellow. This led light is putting out 350 lux at a distance 2m, but i am using them at the distance of about 30 centimeters and dont put them any more than 40 centimeters away from plants, if you want to have any results.
The developer himself said i can put the lights close to the plants for best results and also the lights dont output any noticeable heat, so why should i put them farther from the plants????
I may put some reflective material to the sides.
It's true the heat output of the LED lights is such that you can have them quite close to the plants without burning them, but I'd always thought the main reason to have the lights close to the plants was to reduce side-scatter of the light output so the majority of the light was on the plants and not shining out into the room. By putting reflective material on the sides of the grow area you're re-directing what would be wasted light back onto the plants.
It is not the side-scatter that is the problem with leds, it is that the led effective output will diminish very fast, when you put it farther from the plants.
Really? How can this be? Are photons from LEDs less energetic than they are from other sources? I knew that the light output from LEDs was incoherent light, and would tend to scatter more the further you went from the point of emission and figured that was the reason they were less effective the further away you placed the plants. I'm certainly willing to learn if that isn't true.
Depending on the particular LED design the side lobes could contain a significant portion of the energy. Just like a conventional lamp, putting the light down close to the plants allows more of the emitted light to hit the leaves. Using reflective material on the bottom and sides of the grow area will work just as well for LEDs as for fluorescent or HPS setups. The total lumen output of the lamp is fixed, but the total lux that hits the plants depends on the geometry of the setup.
With LEDS,the angle of the bean can determine the distance away from the plant you can use them without loosing Lumems.
I also think that since LEDs with a smaller angle don't put off much light sideways(mini Spotlights.
You wouldn't need side reflection unless you had reflective material parallel to your light source.
The Leds point light straight at whatever angle and usually you keep the source as close as you can to a certain extent.
Side reflection of light without a paralell reflector wouldn't get much light to reflect.
I like 30-40 degree angles when I can get them.100+ lm.
If you don't use optics on the wider angled LEDs the light that reaches almost any reflector from a distance might not be usable by your plants.
Low Lumens don't start the chemical or whatever you call it process in the leaves.
That is why if you pulse an LED at a higher mili amp it's the same as having no light on at all.
It looks like your LED is super bright but the pulsed MA. doesn't give the plant time to react to the pulsed light.
It looks like the LED is brighter and on all the time to the eye but the plant knows better...
For me,since I have a Lux meter.
I use it to find the sweet spot for my panels,in general.
This will give me an idea about where to place my lights to get the max. of however you want to measure your lighting.
In general,I'm placing my LEDs at a distance where the plants get the most lumens per sq meter.
If my LEDS are at the sweet spot I can easily assume whatever par they put out is at max. lumens for whatever LEDs I have in that panel.
If you are into par,it should also give you the highest par THOSE LEDS are capable of putting out.
Close or to far away makes a difference in what wave lengths cover what area in whatever lumens they put out.
Red gets lost a lot easier than blue depending on wave length,more or less.
You'll also notice different pepper varieties like more Blue in 430 or? where some like high red or more lower red wave lengths.
Manzanos LOVE high red and less blue for me so far.
Annuums like about a 6:1 ratio of red to blue (430nm and 470nm blue and 620nm to 670 nm. red.)
BUT since no 1 LED puts out exactly the same light as another at the same MA and voltage.
Nothing is written in stone.
I don't test individual LEDS AND different batches vary a lot.
I think that is a good thing.I want to reproduce EVERY wave length the sun puts out IF I can in my DIY LED panels.
What I'm saying is compare a flashlight to a laser pointer.
Flashlight lights stuff up good close up but to light up the same Sq Ft. with a laser you have to be a lot farther away,depending on the beam of the laser to get the same lumens...
I also think that since LEDs with a smaller angle don't put off much light sideways(mini Spotlights.
You wouldn't need side reflection unless you had reflective material parallel to your light source.
The Leds point light straight at whatever angle and usually you keep the source as close as you can to a certain extent.
Side reflection of light without a paralell reflector wouldn't get much light to reflect.
I like 30-40 degree angles when I can get them.100+ lm.
If you don't use optics on the wider angled LEDs the light that reaches almost any reflector from a distance might not be usable by your plants.
Low Lumens don't start the chemical or whatever you call it process in the leaves.
That is why if you pulse an LED at a higher mili amp it's the same as having no light on at all.
It looks like your LED is super bright but the pulsed MA. doesn't give the plant time to react to the pulsed light.
It looks like the LED is brighter and on all the time to the eye but the plant knows better...
For me,since I have a Lux meter.
I use it to find the sweet spot for my panels,in general.
This will give me an idea about where to place my lights to get the max. of however you want to measure your lighting.
In general,I'm placing my LEDs at a distance where the plants get the most lumens per sq meter.
If my LEDS are at the sweet spot I can easily assume whatever par they put out is at max. lumens for whatever LEDs I have in that panel.
If you are into par,it should also give you the highest par THOSE LEDS are capable of putting out.
Close or to far away makes a difference in what wave lengths cover what area in whatever lumens they put out.
Red gets lost a lot easier than blue depending on wave length,more or less.
You'll also notice different pepper varieties like more Blue in 430 or? where some like high red or more lower red wave lengths.
Manzanos LOVE high red and less blue for me so far.
Annuums like about a 6:1 ratio of red to blue (430nm and 470nm blue and 620nm to 670 nm. red.)
BUT since no 1 LED puts out exactly the same light as another at the same MA and voltage.
Nothing is written in stone.
I don't test individual LEDS AND different batches vary a lot.
I think that is a good thing.I want to reproduce EVERY wave length the sun puts out IF I can in my DIY LED panels.
What I'm saying is compare a flashlight to a laser pointer.
Flashlight lights stuff up good close up but to light up the same Sq Ft. with a laser you have to be a lot farther away,depending on the beam of the laser to get the same lumens...
They are called superoots air-pots. Google them up to find out, who is selling them in your country.
Spring is coming and the chilis have started to notice it. 
The chili in the middle is Pimiento de padron and it seems, that this chili likes to grow in the airpot. It has developed a very thick stem and has been putting out leaves and flowers like no tomorrow.
Plenty of healthy looking roots visible in the soils surface.
The chili in the middle is Pimiento de padron and it seems, that this chili likes to grow in the airpot. It has developed a very thick stem and has been putting out leaves and flowers like no tomorrow.
Plenty of healthy looking roots visible in the soils surface.
