-
Do you need help identifying a 🌶?
Is your plant suffering from an unknown issue? 🤧
Then ask in Identification and Diagnosis.
lighting LED Grow lights
- Thread starter Oziam
- Start date
Yeah, they look pretty decent on paper. Would be interested to see how they stand up to their HPS, and MH equivalents. Certainly far less expensive to run.
AlabamaJack
eXtreme
you be the judge...these are under two 90 Watt UFO 5 band LEDs...seeds were planted about the end of January...scorpions, naga morich, and 7 pot...biggest ones are scorpions...
It is recommended that you should augment the LED light with HID or Metal halide for an hour or two a day...I am not...all the light these are getting is LED light and what little ambient light is in the garage from opening and closing the door or when I turn a light on...
also one of these lights will cover an area 4' X 4' if the light is 4' from the top of the plants...I used them for seedling growth as a last stage before transplant to 3" containers...after I transplanted all the seedlings to 3" containers, I put the two lights closer together and have them about 18-22" above the plants...the literature says that you can grow to flowering/fruiting with a 90 watt LED if the LED is not more than 24" from the plants...
what is your opinion...
I am going to grow these under LED for the entire season...
It is recommended that you should augment the LED light with HID or Metal halide for an hour or two a day...I am not...all the light these are getting is LED light and what little ambient light is in the garage from opening and closing the door or when I turn a light on...
also one of these lights will cover an area 4' X 4' if the light is 4' from the top of the plants...I used them for seedling growth as a last stage before transplant to 3" containers...after I transplanted all the seedlings to 3" containers, I put the two lights closer together and have them about 18-22" above the plants...the literature says that you can grow to flowering/fruiting with a 90 watt LED if the LED is not more than 24" from the plants...
what is your opinion...
I am going to grow these under LED for the entire season...
Either MH or HPS give more light per watt than any other source including LED. You will not bring a chile plant to fruit with 15 watts for 2 square feet.....takes more like 30-50 watts/square foot to do that.
Watts means nothing as far as light output goes except for older filamented regular light bulbs.
I have LEDs that are 3 watts that put out 50lumens and 1 watt ones that put out almost 200 and visa versa.
Watts is how fast your meter spins-voltage times amps.
It's like saying I have a faster car,because it gets 30mpg instead of 5mpg..
Even with Fluoros ,watts means nothing as a measurement of light output.
I have T12 that are all 40 watts but put out anything from 1500-3500 Lumens.
I also have T8 that are 32 watts that put out the same range of Lumens.
I get pods from my fluoros and LEDs easily.
I also seem to have to use less Lumens with LEDs in general.
In general , all the light from LEDs is plant usable so I don't need to crank up the Lumens from a less pure light source to get the right brightness ,of plant usable light , as I do with other sources that put out a ton of useless wavelengths of light along with usable wavelengths that is in lower proportions.
I don't know what percentage of light from non LED sources is usable in general.
I just go by what my plants show me they like.
I also don't care for most of the store baught LED panels.
Most of the stuff they say about them is misleading and sometimes pure BS.
They give LEDs a bad name.
I especially like how if a pannel uses 100,1 watt LEDs they sell it as a 100 watt pannel.
Most people don't know that you can ,for example,run 6 , 350 MA , 2 volt , 1watt LEDs in a string and that string only uses 350ma at 12 volts.That equals 2.1 watts,not 6 watts.
But the 6 ,1 watt LEDs are advertised as 6 watts.100 as 100 watts etc.
Depends how you hook them up as to what the watts will be.
Once again,watts has nothing to do with lumens.
Of those 6 LEDs you could have 3 that are 100lumens. and 3 that are 150 lumens or any combination of other lumens.
As long as all the LEDs run on the same miliamps you can assemble them in any combination of lumens you want that equals your power sources voltage and amp. output.
If your power supply is 12 volts at 1 amp. you can run any number of LEDs on it as long as you stay at or under 12 volts at 1 amp.
That can be any number of LEDs,depending on their power needs.
No matter how many LEDs you run on that supply you will never use more than 12 volts at 1 watt.
Your LEDs could put out any number of Lumens using that power supply,depends on the output of the LEDs you choose to use.
If the above example of the 6 LEDs were 100 Lumens each,that string would be 600 Lumens.
The 12 volt , 1 amp. supply will run 2 strings of the 6 LEDs I used as an example above -1200 lumens.
The above can change according to LED angle etc. as far as how far away you can put your pannels etc.
You loose Lumens with distance,as with any other light source.
Wider the LED angle the closer you need them to be to the plant and or the tighter together you need to group them on your pannel.
I make my own LED growlights.
Much cheeper in general,but labor intensive,and I can use any wavelength of plant specific light I want in any combination.
I have LEDs that are 3 watts that put out 50lumens and 1 watt ones that put out almost 200 and visa versa.
Watts is how fast your meter spins-voltage times amps.
It's like saying I have a faster car,because it gets 30mpg instead of 5mpg..
Even with Fluoros ,watts means nothing as a measurement of light output.
I have T12 that are all 40 watts but put out anything from 1500-3500 Lumens.
I also have T8 that are 32 watts that put out the same range of Lumens.
I get pods from my fluoros and LEDs easily.
I also seem to have to use less Lumens with LEDs in general.
In general , all the light from LEDs is plant usable so I don't need to crank up the Lumens from a less pure light source to get the right brightness ,of plant usable light , as I do with other sources that put out a ton of useless wavelengths of light along with usable wavelengths that is in lower proportions.
I don't know what percentage of light from non LED sources is usable in general.
I just go by what my plants show me they like.
I also don't care for most of the store baught LED panels.
Most of the stuff they say about them is misleading and sometimes pure BS.
They give LEDs a bad name.
I especially like how if a pannel uses 100,1 watt LEDs they sell it as a 100 watt pannel.
Most people don't know that you can ,for example,run 6 , 350 MA , 2 volt , 1watt LEDs in a string and that string only uses 350ma at 12 volts.That equals 2.1 watts,not 6 watts.
But the 6 ,1 watt LEDs are advertised as 6 watts.100 as 100 watts etc.
Depends how you hook them up as to what the watts will be.
Once again,watts has nothing to do with lumens.
Of those 6 LEDs you could have 3 that are 100lumens. and 3 that are 150 lumens or any combination of other lumens.
As long as all the LEDs run on the same miliamps you can assemble them in any combination of lumens you want that equals your power sources voltage and amp. output.
If your power supply is 12 volts at 1 amp. you can run any number of LEDs on it as long as you stay at or under 12 volts at 1 amp.
That can be any number of LEDs,depending on their power needs.
No matter how many LEDs you run on that supply you will never use more than 12 volts at 1 watt.
Your LEDs could put out any number of Lumens using that power supply,depends on the output of the LEDs you choose to use.
If the above example of the 6 LEDs were 100 Lumens each,that string would be 600 Lumens.
The 12 volt , 1 amp. supply will run 2 strings of the 6 LEDs I used as an example above -1200 lumens.
The above can change according to LED angle etc. as far as how far away you can put your pannels etc.
You loose Lumens with distance,as with any other light source.
Wider the LED angle the closer you need them to be to the plant and or the tighter together you need to group them on your pannel.
I make my own LED growlights.
Much cheeper in general,but labor intensive,and I can use any wavelength of plant specific light I want in any combination.
Below is a pic of my BJ's I planted early Feb (pic is 1 week old);
They just get 4-5 hrs direct sun from dawn then shade and in garage at night.
I just thought the led would be good to raise seedlings til they're ready for nature!
Looks like it will do the job!
AlabamaJack
eXtreme
you didn't have a question about comparison...simply stated some facts and I just showed you what they looked like...I have no doubt that plants in the sun grow better so whats your point?...
My point is by the look of the growth rate using them to raise from seedlings would suffice but personally I would'nt for the entire season! That's all.
AlabamaJack
eXtreme
K...understand now...thanks...
the reason I am growing these under the leds for the entire season is just to see how they to all year under artificial light...not expecting much, but that will quell my curiosity...I will pull the other non-scorpion plants out in about two or three days and harden them off and keep the scorps in there isolated...thats another thing I like...if I can grow one plant under a 90 watt LED to mature fruit, I can make sure the seeds are pure...I can see it now...all the bedroom closets in the house with LEDs in there...boy, the wife would freak...actually she might blow a gasket...
LOL
QUOTE: if I can grow one plant under a 90 watt LED to mature fruit, I can make sure the seeds are pure...
Yeah thats a very good point, cross pollination is impossible to control growing outdoors, even if you use the self-pollinate paintbrush method.
Anyway I just bought one off ebay(225 red-blue leds), will use it to raise my seedlings and over winter.
Cheers, Good luck!
MH = 80-120 lumens/watt
HPS = 120-200 lumens/watt
LED = 100 lumens/watt
Lumens is a measure of light energy, watts is a measure of electrical energy and this is basic physics.
Lumens/watt and Watts/square foot are relevant to lighting intensity/energy which is relevant to photosynthesis.
HPS = 120-200 lumens/watt
LED = 100 lumens/watt
Lumens is a measure of light energy, watts is a measure of electrical energy and this is basic physics.
Lumens/watt and Watts/square foot are relevant to lighting intensity/energy which is relevant to photosynthesis.
Your Lumens per watt changes with each LED ,Fluoro , or other light source you use.
The #10 LEDs I used as an example were 100 Lumen,I also have stars that run on the same voltage and ma. that are 190Lm,240 and 290.
Only Those specific LEDs in that example put out 1200 lumens from a 12 watt power supply.
My point is that you can only figure out Watts per Lumen for each specific bulb and power supply you use(doesn't matter if it's a Ballast,transformer or whatever).
In general the older the tech the less Lumens you'll get per watt.
Saying a certain watt per Lumen for all of a specific light source is misleading.
All Fluoros aren't the same watt per Lumen , All Halides aren't the same watts per Lumen etc.
The only reason watts became a standard was when all regular light bulbs used the same filament so at X watts they always put out X amount of Lumens.
Even now with tech changing they say that a bulb puts out the same Lumens as a 100 watt bulb did but now it only uses 50 or something watts.
Watts per Lumen changed dramatically and is changing practically by the day.Remember when a 1 meg hard drive was big?8in.Floppy disks?
The only way to figure watts per lumen is by knowing the specific Lumens that light source puts out and see what your power supply is.
Then divide the two and get your watts per lumen.
Watts per Lumen is great for figuring out how efficient your light source is pertaining to your bill at the end of the month.
but using it to say that all leds are 100 lumens per watt,or all fluoros ,halides or whatever isn't factual.
From Cree.
Cool-White 200 Lumen K2 Star LED
K2 Star Documentation
Luxeon K2 Documentation
# White TFFC K2 Star LED Features: 200 lm @ 1000mA
# 275 lm @ 1500mA
# 170 lm @ 700mA
# 95 lm @ 350mA
# 1500mA - Max Drive Current
# 3.65Vf - Typ. Forward Voltage
# 6500K - Typ. Color Temperature
# 150° C - Max Junction Temp.
# Lambertian Radiation Pattern
# LXK2-PWC4-0200 Emitter
200 lumen - 4 volts ,at 1 amp. (4 watts)thats only 50 lumens per watt.
I just looked at the data from my 10mm LEDs.
They run on 300ma not 350ma.
So the 12 volt 1 amp. supply runs 1 more string of 6 LEDs.Add another 600Lumens...150 lumens per watt at the source.
Like anything else someone might want to prove.I'm sure I can find data about any light source that will make any other specific source look better or worse than another.
There are tons of dimmer LEDs out there that use the same power as brighter ones.
The same goes for everything from toasters to vibrators(LOL couldn't resist).
It is smart to figure Watts per Lumen when buying a product but grouping one products stats as a standard for all similar products of that kind is not the way to do things.
All Ford Pickups aren't the same,All Toyota pickups aren't the same,all pickups aren't the same though some are...only some...
Unless you work for the Gov. ...then your job is to twist everything to look like something it isn't.
"Lumens/watt and Watts/square foot are relevant to lighting intensity/energy which is relevant to photosynthesis."
Doesn't make sense in the context you are using it.
Since Watts/Lumen isn't the same with every light source that makes your Watts per sq. ft. useless as a way to measure light intensity.
Watts has nothing to do with Photosynthesis,Lumens do.
Only way the above would make sense is if All of any specific light source put out the same watts per Lumen.
Since they don't in the real world,and watts per lumen changes by the bulb and power supply you have at the time.
Your way to judge what type of light source is not an accurate way to decide on a light source.
You have to check out the specific light source you want to use,several companies and product lines.
Once you have the data about several specific units that could fit your needs,you can look at other light sources to compare them to each other.
Putting all of one kind of light source in a box and saying they all have the same watts per Lumen might be screwing you out of finding the most efficient light source among all of the sources available.
I like LEDs as a toy to play with and have very good results with what I've made as I experiment with them.
I Loved my Vtec Fluoros too.
Best Fluoros I ever used.If I could still get them I'd probably never tried LEDs.
The T8's I had to replace my T12 with are way hotter than T12's were.
T8's fried the ballasts in the t12 fixtures...
Halides and such are too much hassle for me-heat,replacing them more often etc..
Just my fluoros kept my room 80+ degrees in the winter.Halides would cook my butt.No windows...
Thats why I started messing with LEDs.More Lumens and the power supplies are lots cooler.
Just replacing a couple Fluoros dropped the temps. down 10 degrees.
My problem isn't anyones choice of light sources,it's the constant misrepresentation of what some consider as a ruler to measure all light sources.
A 1 watt bulb doesn't always burn 1 watt and give out x amount of lumens.
Watts per Sq. ft. only pertains to any 1 specific light source,you can't use it as a general rule of thumb for all light sources.
Especially with all the "Go Green"crap going around.
Watts per Lumens varies drastically these days with all light sources,similar or not.
The #10 LEDs I used as an example were 100 Lumen,I also have stars that run on the same voltage and ma. that are 190Lm,240 and 290.
Only Those specific LEDs in that example put out 1200 lumens from a 12 watt power supply.
My point is that you can only figure out Watts per Lumen for each specific bulb and power supply you use(doesn't matter if it's a Ballast,transformer or whatever).
In general the older the tech the less Lumens you'll get per watt.
Saying a certain watt per Lumen for all of a specific light source is misleading.
All Fluoros aren't the same watt per Lumen , All Halides aren't the same watts per Lumen etc.
The only reason watts became a standard was when all regular light bulbs used the same filament so at X watts they always put out X amount of Lumens.
Even now with tech changing they say that a bulb puts out the same Lumens as a 100 watt bulb did but now it only uses 50 or something watts.
Watts per Lumen changed dramatically and is changing practically by the day.Remember when a 1 meg hard drive was big?8in.Floppy disks?
The only way to figure watts per lumen is by knowing the specific Lumens that light source puts out and see what your power supply is.
Then divide the two and get your watts per lumen.
Watts per Lumen is great for figuring out how efficient your light source is pertaining to your bill at the end of the month.
but using it to say that all leds are 100 lumens per watt,or all fluoros ,halides or whatever isn't factual.
From Cree.
Cool-White 200 Lumen K2 Star LED
K2 Star Documentation
Luxeon K2 Documentation
# White TFFC K2 Star LED Features: 200 lm @ 1000mA
# 275 lm @ 1500mA
# 170 lm @ 700mA
# 95 lm @ 350mA
# 1500mA - Max Drive Current
# 3.65Vf - Typ. Forward Voltage
# 6500K - Typ. Color Temperature
# 150° C - Max Junction Temp.
# Lambertian Radiation Pattern
# LXK2-PWC4-0200 Emitter
200 lumen - 4 volts ,at 1 amp. (4 watts)thats only 50 lumens per watt.
I just looked at the data from my 10mm LEDs.
They run on 300ma not 350ma.
So the 12 volt 1 amp. supply runs 1 more string of 6 LEDs.Add another 600Lumens...150 lumens per watt at the source.
Like anything else someone might want to prove.I'm sure I can find data about any light source that will make any other specific source look better or worse than another.
There are tons of dimmer LEDs out there that use the same power as brighter ones.
The same goes for everything from toasters to vibrators(LOL couldn't resist).
It is smart to figure Watts per Lumen when buying a product but grouping one products stats as a standard for all similar products of that kind is not the way to do things.
All Ford Pickups aren't the same,All Toyota pickups aren't the same,all pickups aren't the same though some are...only some...
Unless you work for the Gov. ...then your job is to twist everything to look like something it isn't.
"Lumens/watt and Watts/square foot are relevant to lighting intensity/energy which is relevant to photosynthesis."
Doesn't make sense in the context you are using it.
Since Watts/Lumen isn't the same with every light source that makes your Watts per sq. ft. useless as a way to measure light intensity.
Watts has nothing to do with Photosynthesis,Lumens do.
Only way the above would make sense is if All of any specific light source put out the same watts per Lumen.
Since they don't in the real world,and watts per lumen changes by the bulb and power supply you have at the time.
Your way to judge what type of light source is not an accurate way to decide on a light source.
You have to check out the specific light source you want to use,several companies and product lines.
Once you have the data about several specific units that could fit your needs,you can look at other light sources to compare them to each other.
Putting all of one kind of light source in a box and saying they all have the same watts per Lumen might be screwing you out of finding the most efficient light source among all of the sources available.
I like LEDs as a toy to play with and have very good results with what I've made as I experiment with them.
I Loved my Vtec Fluoros too.
Best Fluoros I ever used.If I could still get them I'd probably never tried LEDs.
The T8's I had to replace my T12 with are way hotter than T12's were.
T8's fried the ballasts in the t12 fixtures...
Halides and such are too much hassle for me-heat,replacing them more often etc..
Just my fluoros kept my room 80+ degrees in the winter.Halides would cook my butt.No windows...
Thats why I started messing with LEDs.More Lumens and the power supplies are lots cooler.
Just replacing a couple Fluoros dropped the temps. down 10 degrees.
My problem isn't anyones choice of light sources,it's the constant misrepresentation of what some consider as a ruler to measure all light sources.
A 1 watt bulb doesn't always burn 1 watt and give out x amount of lumens.
Watts per Sq. ft. only pertains to any 1 specific light source,you can't use it as a general rule of thumb for all light sources.
Especially with all the "Go Green"crap going around.
Watts per Lumens varies drastically these days with all light sources,similar or not.
Actually, if you want to measure how effective a light is, look at mols per day per watt. Who cares how many lumens or footcandles a light provides per watt if most of that light is not used for photosynthesis? 100 lumens from a properly configured LED light is going to be far more effective than 100 lumens from a CFL.
It's been several months, but I did an analysis of different lights. Things have changed a bit because LEDs get cheaper and are adding more spectra, but at the time, the best light one could buy, based on mols per day per dollar, taking into account the cost of the light, how long it should last, coverage area and the expense to run it was a 600 watt MH.
Mike
It's been several months, but I did an analysis of different lights. Things have changed a bit because LEDs get cheaper and are adding more spectra, but at the time, the best light one could buy, based on mols per day per dollar, taking into account the cost of the light, how long it should last, coverage area and the expense to run it was a 600 watt MH.
Mike
Thats something I've noticed with LEDs.
My plants seem to do very well under less Lumens than my fluoros put out.
At first when I started messing with LEDs I baught a ton of 5mm LEDs in about 15 or so wavelengths of red and Blue.
Covered just about all the wavelengths between 620nm - 680nm and 415-490.
Over 5000 of the little buggers.
Soldering killed a bunch of boring nights at work...
I was really supprised to see 5mm LEDs in low Lumens do great with my sprouts.
A 3 in. X 4in. pannel is only 100lumen give or take.
For sprouts I was suprised I wasn't getting tall stretched out starts.
I think since other light sources are only a percentage of plant usable light you can get away with less lumens.
I have to admit I'm guilty of overdoing the Lumens with LEDs though.
I have 1 more 16in X 16 in panel to make then I can set up one of my shelves with LED Stars.
It'll be about 200 stars above and put out(on paper) 3 red wavelengths and 2 blue at somewhere around 7000 lumens
then I have 5mm Leds I'll put vertically around the 3 sides for another 10,000+ lumens.
Those measurements are at the source so I'd half them as far as lumens at the soil...
I have a Red Savina doing well under a 12X16in panel now thats about 18in tall by almost 3 ft.wide and a Galopagoense thats 3+ft. tall by 2+ft wide under another star Panel.Both are recovering from deaths door from a massive mite attack.
Budding out and setting pods too.
I'm switching from stars to 10mm Leds but am having a problem finding 430nm and 660nm in 100lm or greater.
Still better than the stars that put out 35-60lm each at the voltage and ma I'm running them at.
The 10mm are also a tighter angle beam.They don't need regulators either like stars do.
My panels will only be 2ft. away because thats my shelf spacing.
If I had the room I think my panels could still be ok from a lot farther away.
Right now if you look in my window at night it looks like UFO central.
LEDs used to be a lot less lumens and more expensive just 2-3 yrs. ago than now.
The 100 Lumen 10mm weren't around just a couple years ago and when they hit the market they were about $1.20 minimum each,they are under $1.00 now.I think I paid about $.80 last time and can get a better price now depending on how many I buy.
Lots more choice in wavelengths too.
If I had a real job that I actually had to do something at I probably wouldn't be able to assemble my LED panels.I wouldn't have the time.
But I get paid to be here and I gotta do something besides walk the dog on cat patrol.
Besides,if I find my panels don't work in the long run,I'll put them on my boat.
See how many UFO sighting get reported when I go night fishing. LOL
My plants seem to do very well under less Lumens than my fluoros put out.
At first when I started messing with LEDs I baught a ton of 5mm LEDs in about 15 or so wavelengths of red and Blue.
Covered just about all the wavelengths between 620nm - 680nm and 415-490.
Over 5000 of the little buggers.
Soldering killed a bunch of boring nights at work...
I was really supprised to see 5mm LEDs in low Lumens do great with my sprouts.
A 3 in. X 4in. pannel is only 100lumen give or take.
For sprouts I was suprised I wasn't getting tall stretched out starts.
I think since other light sources are only a percentage of plant usable light you can get away with less lumens.
I have to admit I'm guilty of overdoing the Lumens with LEDs though.
I have 1 more 16in X 16 in panel to make then I can set up one of my shelves with LED Stars.
It'll be about 200 stars above and put out(on paper) 3 red wavelengths and 2 blue at somewhere around 7000 lumens
then I have 5mm Leds I'll put vertically around the 3 sides for another 10,000+ lumens.
Those measurements are at the source so I'd half them as far as lumens at the soil...
I have a Red Savina doing well under a 12X16in panel now thats about 18in tall by almost 3 ft.wide and a Galopagoense thats 3+ft. tall by 2+ft wide under another star Panel.Both are recovering from deaths door from a massive mite attack.
Budding out and setting pods too.
I'm switching from stars to 10mm Leds but am having a problem finding 430nm and 660nm in 100lm or greater.
Still better than the stars that put out 35-60lm each at the voltage and ma I'm running them at.
The 10mm are also a tighter angle beam.They don't need regulators either like stars do.
My panels will only be 2ft. away because thats my shelf spacing.
If I had the room I think my panels could still be ok from a lot farther away.
Right now if you look in my window at night it looks like UFO central.
LEDs used to be a lot less lumens and more expensive just 2-3 yrs. ago than now.
The 100 Lumen 10mm weren't around just a couple years ago and when they hit the market they were about $1.20 minimum each,they are under $1.00 now.I think I paid about $.80 last time and can get a better price now depending on how many I buy.
Lots more choice in wavelengths too.
If I had a real job that I actually had to do something at I probably wouldn't be able to assemble my LED panels.I wouldn't have the time.
But I get paid to be here and I gotta do something besides walk the dog on cat patrol.
Besides,if I find my panels don't work in the long run,I'll put them on my boat.
See how many UFO sighting get reported when I go night fishing. LOL
It depends on which type of led light you get.
The ones with the traditional 5mm LEDs are not very good and probably wont be enough unless you get a crazy amount of them.
The ones with high output surface mount LEDs (CREE or similar ones) work really well. I have a Procyon 100 and it works great. You will fruit no problem indoors with them. They are a little expensive though.
The ones with the traditional 5mm LEDs are not very good and probably wont be enough unless you get a crazy amount of them.
The ones with high output surface mount LEDs (CREE or similar ones) work really well. I have a Procyon 100 and it works great. You will fruit no problem indoors with them. They are a little expensive though.
In your Picture of LEDs you have a 5mm with a colored lens.
They aren't usable in general.
They are white light with a lens that makes them whatever color.
Get clear lens LEDs in whatever wave lengths you want to use.
Frosted lenses aren't any good either.
I at first got 5000+ 5mm LEDs(because they are dirt cheep) and mounted them on 3in X 4in. circuit boards- 14 x 8=112 LEDs per board.
It takes about 6 boards to grow a sprout as an average.
Takes about an hour per board to assemble.
Like stated above you need a ton of them but 5mm come in more wave lengths than just about any other size LED I've found.
I only got 5mm at first to play with because they are cheep and I have a lot of time on my hands. LOL
Since I have them ,I use them vertically to promote branching of my plants.
In general each board puts out 100 lumen +/-. depends on the LEDs power requirements,thats just an average.
5mm LEDs usually run on from 20-30ma each.
Most strings are from 3-6 LEDs long,depending on the LED you can get about 58 strings on a board thats using 12 volts.
Blue wavelength usually are strings of 3 or 4 LEDs at 30ma and reds are mostly strings of 5-6 LEDs at 20ma,so thats why the number of LEDs that fit on a 3X4 board isn't always the same.
The longer the string the less room needed for resistors and the more LEDS fit on the board.
Also my boards are run on 12 volt power supplies of whatever amps. I could get-the more amps. the better.You can run more LED the higher the amps.Longer strings the more volts your supply needs to put out.
I use 12 volts and shorter string because if an LED fries only that string of 3-6 goes out.It's easier to find the bad LED to replace.I don't have to go through 20 LEDs to find the bad one.
5mm LEDS at their max.(Notice Leaf size-boards are 3X4in,pairs of two-6 or 8 inches.Leaves are pretty big if you compare.Seed was sown on Jan. 1 and the plant is now over 3ft. tall)
Panels
Each panel is assembles with 2 plus and 2 negative wires for input and output.Them I wire nut whatever ones I want together and twist tie the boards to bamboo skewers tor use.
That way I can change them in whatever combination of wavelengths and colors I want to and run as many as the particular power supply can handle that I'm using at the time.
In genera,5mm Led panels are good for up to 18 inches away from the plant-depends on the LEDs mcd/brightness and angle of the beam your Leds are.
They aren't usable in general.
They are white light with a lens that makes them whatever color.
Get clear lens LEDs in whatever wave lengths you want to use.
Frosted lenses aren't any good either.
I at first got 5000+ 5mm LEDs(because they are dirt cheep) and mounted them on 3in X 4in. circuit boards- 14 x 8=112 LEDs per board.
It takes about 6 boards to grow a sprout as an average.
Takes about an hour per board to assemble.
Like stated above you need a ton of them but 5mm come in more wave lengths than just about any other size LED I've found.
I only got 5mm at first to play with because they are cheep and I have a lot of time on my hands. LOL
Since I have them ,I use them vertically to promote branching of my plants.
In general each board puts out 100 lumen +/-. depends on the LEDs power requirements,thats just an average.
5mm LEDs usually run on from 20-30ma each.
Most strings are from 3-6 LEDs long,depending on the LED you can get about 58 strings on a board thats using 12 volts.
Blue wavelength usually are strings of 3 or 4 LEDs at 30ma and reds are mostly strings of 5-6 LEDs at 20ma,so thats why the number of LEDs that fit on a 3X4 board isn't always the same.
The longer the string the less room needed for resistors and the more LEDS fit on the board.
Also my boards are run on 12 volt power supplies of whatever amps. I could get-the more amps. the better.You can run more LED the higher the amps.Longer strings the more volts your supply needs to put out.
I use 12 volts and shorter string because if an LED fries only that string of 3-6 goes out.It's easier to find the bad LED to replace.I don't have to go through 20 LEDs to find the bad one.
5mm LEDS at their max.(Notice Leaf size-boards are 3X4in,pairs of two-6 or 8 inches.Leaves are pretty big if you compare.Seed was sown on Jan. 1 and the plant is now over 3ft. tall)
Panels
Each panel is assembles with 2 plus and 2 negative wires for input and output.Them I wire nut whatever ones I want together and twist tie the boards to bamboo skewers tor use.
That way I can change them in whatever combination of wavelengths and colors I want to and run as many as the particular power supply can handle that I'm using at the time.
In genera,5mm Led panels are good for up to 18 inches away from the plant-depends on the LEDs mcd/brightness and angle of the beam your Leds are.
Cheaper than What?
Do you want to buy a Yugo or make a rolls royce?
Home made panels are exactly what you built spec wise-Lumens etc.
No BS snake oil salesman giving you watts as a way to judge lumens or say their panel is gods gift to man.
In general,you can build a grow light that,in my opinion , is a lot better for the cost of a quality commercial one.
You won't get a panel that the LEDs are run at voltages or ma. that will fry the leds in a shorter time because the seller wanted the max lumens they could get at the wavelength they advertised.
Depends on what you are looking for and the time you are willing to put into building your own grow lights.
Cheep isn't really the point of making your own.
It's more like a home made panel, for about the same price ,can usually put out more Lumens and cover more plant usable wave lengths than a generic commercial one.
Stuff similar to some of the stuff I made for myself that is made by commercial vendors costs big bucks-$1000. for some depending on where you buy them.
Costs me a couple hundred +/- to make a similar product.
Assembley can be time consuming,thats why they get the big bucks for them commercially.
Gotta bargain with Hong Kong suppliers and check out the data sheets for the LEDs before you buy them.
If time is $ then making your own is way more expensive than a generic UFO or whatever.
I enjoy assembling my panels and playing with them.
Cost to me is $ spent on actual parts, not the time it takes to assemble the LEDs and whatever else that it takes that doesn't involve my paycheck.
Boils down to you'll probably spend about the same as a commercial panel but a home made one will crank out more lumens in more plant usable wave lengths and not burn out as fast if you do it right.
Your home made panel will also be designed to cover the area you specifically need covered in the proper amount of plant usable light.
In general,the Quality LED grow lights I checked out were way out of my budget range.
There are some really good sounding ones out there if you can beleive the specs they advertise...
I just found more bunk crap out there than good stuff in general.
I also only grow peppers,nothing else.
Different plants like different light wave lengths.Even between pepper varieties.
For instance Pubescens do great under mostly red LEDs in low lumens where Chinense like blue and red in higher Lumens.
Gotta figure out what you want out of an LED panel,what wave lengths in the lumens you'll need for the area you want to cover etc.
There is no simple answer to your question without more info about what you want to use them for.
Right now 10mm LEDs are pretty good.100 lumens each in the basic wavelengths plants like.
About $1.00 each or lower.Depends on how many you buy at a time.
Perf boards are about 7-10 bucks for a 7in X 12 inch board.
Resistors vary from $2. to $4. per 100. depending on ohms and amps.
Power supplies are from $2.00 to $30.00 at surplus stores or swap meets.
The 5mm LEDs were about $12. for either 1000 or 1500.
I got 200 for 99cents on FleaBay once too.
I prefere to find vendors on E bay but deal with them without ebay just using pay pal.
15% cheeper from the start.
Do you want to buy a Yugo or make a rolls royce?
Home made panels are exactly what you built spec wise-Lumens etc.
No BS snake oil salesman giving you watts as a way to judge lumens or say their panel is gods gift to man.
In general,you can build a grow light that,in my opinion , is a lot better for the cost of a quality commercial one.
You won't get a panel that the LEDs are run at voltages or ma. that will fry the leds in a shorter time because the seller wanted the max lumens they could get at the wavelength they advertised.
Depends on what you are looking for and the time you are willing to put into building your own grow lights.
Cheep isn't really the point of making your own.
It's more like a home made panel, for about the same price ,can usually put out more Lumens and cover more plant usable wave lengths than a generic commercial one.
Stuff similar to some of the stuff I made for myself that is made by commercial vendors costs big bucks-$1000. for some depending on where you buy them.
Costs me a couple hundred +/- to make a similar product.
Assembley can be time consuming,thats why they get the big bucks for them commercially.
Gotta bargain with Hong Kong suppliers and check out the data sheets for the LEDs before you buy them.
If time is $ then making your own is way more expensive than a generic UFO or whatever.
I enjoy assembling my panels and playing with them.
Cost to me is $ spent on actual parts, not the time it takes to assemble the LEDs and whatever else that it takes that doesn't involve my paycheck.
Boils down to you'll probably spend about the same as a commercial panel but a home made one will crank out more lumens in more plant usable wave lengths and not burn out as fast if you do it right.
Your home made panel will also be designed to cover the area you specifically need covered in the proper amount of plant usable light.
In general,the Quality LED grow lights I checked out were way out of my budget range.
There are some really good sounding ones out there if you can beleive the specs they advertise...
I just found more bunk crap out there than good stuff in general.
I also only grow peppers,nothing else.
Different plants like different light wave lengths.Even between pepper varieties.
For instance Pubescens do great under mostly red LEDs in low lumens where Chinense like blue and red in higher Lumens.
Gotta figure out what you want out of an LED panel,what wave lengths in the lumens you'll need for the area you want to cover etc.
There is no simple answer to your question without more info about what you want to use them for.
Right now 10mm LEDs are pretty good.100 lumens each in the basic wavelengths plants like.
About $1.00 each or lower.Depends on how many you buy at a time.
Perf boards are about 7-10 bucks for a 7in X 12 inch board.
Resistors vary from $2. to $4. per 100. depending on ohms and amps.
Power supplies are from $2.00 to $30.00 at surplus stores or swap meets.
The 5mm LEDs were about $12. for either 1000 or 1500.
I got 200 for 99cents on FleaBay once too.
I prefere to find vendors on E bay but deal with them without ebay just using pay pal.
15% cheeper from the start.