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DIY LED plant light project

  • #21
Av, Looks interesting. Personally I would go for a warmer white, but the combination of white, red and blue on a single tri-star looks interesting. Did you get a price?
 
  • #22
Just found them on Luxeon Star website. Interesting to see that once the initial custom mounting fee is paid then they are added to the pre-defined list, where anyone can order them.

They also do quads. Might be interesting to try a white, blue, red, orange combination, as that's what I currently have in my LED growlight.
 
  • #23
Carl,

I would have to check the email, but I think the Tri-star was 21-ish USD, but being a custom build there was a 25 USD assembly fee
Probably should have done it myself, my soldering skills are pretty good.. but oh well, this way I know there is no thermal damage.

Im anxious to see how it performs
Butch
 
  • #24
If you have already paid the mounting fee, then your selection should now appear in pre-defined list for others to purchase, minus the one time fee.

A one time custom mounting fee will be applied to each different custom tri-star LED assembly that you order.
 
  • #26
Wow, it's good to get back on the forums after a long break and see how we've progressed to LED lighting in the CP world. Now, to the meat and potatoes. I agree that LEDs have great potential. The problem is that there has been little REAL development in them for use with plants. Yes, the ones ya'll have mentioned are more or less in the right direction, there is still much left to be desired. This is the exact thing I am researching for my Master's thesis so we are doing a lot of experimental work with LEDs. The problems with the high output lights is that passive cooling has not been adequate for cooling unless using a pretty significant heat sink. It would also be worth noting that LEDs lose a lot of efficiency if they get hot so the heatsink is particularly important. Even the ones in our greenhouses have lost some of their "gusto" from the summer heat.

Ya'll have touched on this, but I'm gonna jump a little further on this; the nice thing about LEDs (and sometimes a problem too) is that they are manufactured at a very specific wavelength. So you gotta get pretty specific when choosing colors.

I have found that dimmers are an absolute must. Since LEDs do fade and lose power over time it's important to be able to get adequate light early on at a lower setting and then bump things up as necessary. We try to give our plants ~100PAR and as noted ours lost some power over the summer from the heat and I had to go in and adjust the dimmers to get my PAR back up.

I'd be very interested to see pics of anyone's setup and get some technical specs if anyone wants to share. I love this kinda stuff... which is why it's my field of research... LOL

Finally, there are some LEDs that have been specifically tailored to plants. Phillips has their GreenPower lights that I am specifically working with http://www.ecat.lighting.philips.com/l/oem/led-systems/led-horticulture/20556/cat/#. There is also Orbitech http://orbitec.com/store/led_lighting.html. These are the ones we are currently working with. There are other companies out there, but it's important to note that a lot them are making some pretty wild claims based on little no research. I would know, because I'm one of the ones doing that research.
 
  • #27
Hey Wesley,

Excellent input :)

Im very familiar with the orbitec product line, just way out of my price range....

Here is some early, informal playing around with high CRI White LED's from a couple years ago...
(I want LED's that grow plants well but dont look like "typical" LED plant lights)
http://www.terraforums.com/forums/showthread.php?122604-White-LED-experiment&highlight=white+luxeon

We just a few good ol' Cp'ers playing around with the new technologies ;-)
FWIW I do use active cooling

Butch
 
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  • #29
Wesley,

I have stated before that I have not had much success with white only LEDs as grow lights. What colour combinations are you working with and are you using them as the sole light source, supplementary or both?

The red¦blue¦red¦white LED grow light I use is 12W (12 x 1W LEDs) and has forced air cooling. My U. campbelliana grows like a weed under it.
 
  • #30
I don't know the USA price but the Philips Greenpower LED Flowering Lamp are available in the UK for ~£47 GBP ($75 USD).

UPDATE: I found a USA vendor for this lamp and they sell it at $68.89. I don't know if I am allowed to post links on this forum though.
 
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  • #31
I think its ok,
I found one really quick using google
http://www.hortamericas.com/horticultural-lighting-incl-led-grow-lights

Id like more technical data to look over if you can provide anything....
Wavelengths, secondary optics, distances, power levels, design criterias other than photosynthesis, etc etc etc :)

are the philips units the ones you mentioned that are already suffering from thermal degradation?
 
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  • #33
SX - fort the Phillips, the link Butch provided is good. Unfortunately in all situations for the pre-fabbbed stuff they are still very pricey. If it's not, I would question it. As for the DIY, I guess it's a matter of factoring in time and effort and what you value that. The actual materials from what I've seen seem to be adequate so go for it!

Butch - interesting stuff, I only had time to glance at what you had tinkered with but I will definitely read more in depth later. So the full concept of what I am doing is looking at using Red and Blue Combinations as a supplemental light source for producing plug trays in greenhouses. We are attempting to provide roughly 100PAR and also have particular goals with DLI. I'm not sure exactly what all I can divulge since all this belongs to the University. We are using the distances from the light source provided to us by the manufacturer and are adjusting the power to get our desired PAR and overall DLI. Since this is for plug trays (not pretty house plants for intance) our criteria are a little different. We want our plants to have compact growth with short internodes and leaf petioles and highly developed root systems. We use the term pullability on whether plugs come out of the tray with the root system and soil intact. We are also looking at stem caliper and a specified quality index. We've noticed that all LEDs no matter what brand or type are subject to thermal degradation and have to be adjusted from time to time.

mobile - I've actually got an article somewhere talking about LEDs and horticulture and some of the broader goals of what is being sought for lights. Lemme dig it up and I'll post it later.
 
  • #34
ahhhh, your design goals have already answered a couple of my questions.....

Understandable about the confidentiality, but of course anything you can add to the discussion would be most appreciated,
 
  • #36
I've been doing a fair bit of internet research on LED grow lights recently. Lots of good stuff out there, but also a lot of misleading and/or contradicting information. Seems like the 'hot' subject in LED grow lights in recent times is the far-red band.
 
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  • #37
Butch, glad I answered your questions. I'm always happy to add as far as my own knowledge allows. I just finished a rep Tuesday and will be doing data analysis shortly. I'm looking forward to seeing the results of my labor!

mobile, Yes! Far-red is the up and up. I'm actually about to start a project with far-red and a combination of reds and blues... once I get everything setup which is a slow process since I'm the one that gets to do the setup and figure everything out from scratch. As for the misleading and/or contradicting information, there are a number of researchers that are currently working to develop a standard for LEDs in general and as plant lights. I am not familiar with their work specifically other than the fact that they are working to eliminate a lot of the bad information and keep people honest about their claims. I read your post on the CPUK forums. I am actually working with their growth chamber bars in a greenhouse (counter productive, I know). We're using them to develop a guideline for creating actual lights for the greenhouse setting.
 
  • #38
For so red got no respect, to hear many talk you would think it was blue that only mattered....
So much incorrect "Tribal knowledge" when it comes to plant lighting

Wes, well now you didnt answer allllllllllll my questions ;-)
 
  • #39
I always throw lots or red at my plants under artificial lights. That's why I have a preference for warm white lamps. Far red is a little harder to achieve though until recently, but now there are LEDs in that band available. Incandescent lamps always had far-red of course, but with those there is the issue of heat.
 
  • #40
Butch, Far red (Fr) light seems to be hit or miss for a lot of people both in and outside academia. I myself am still working on that knowledge with my literature review. Some say it's the coolest thing since sliced bread and others say it's inconsequential. So far from what I have read my conclusion is; it depends. It tends to delay certain physiological responds while improving other responses. For instance, I recently read a paper where Fr light enhanced the number of floral buds, but delayed the actual flowering.

At one point, it was said green light was of no use, but it's since been shown to have it's own purpose as well. It helps facilitate canopy penetration.

Incandescent lamps certainly still have perks which is why they are still being used in the Horticulture industry. With them being phased out, people are kind of scrambling for alternatives. CFLs got some use, but there is the even bigger issue of Hg and it has been found that the whole on/off cycle greatly reduces their lifespan. LEDs seem to be the next logical step (curtailing HID and HPS) lights, but we're still trying to figure out what really works. My research is specifically hoping to have lights developed specifically for greenhouses within the next year in trial in actual industry greenhouses. My fingers are crossed of course because I want to still be around for that!
 
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