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Hello everyone, sorry for my english :)

I open this topic to share my experiments with LEDs.

I made a long study of white LEDs, I discovered that their light is better than the common fluorescent lamps.

I Improvements concern the emission spectrum and light intensity.

For now, I made a 100-watt ceiling for large terrariums, is also developement 14 watt ceiling by a for small terrariums..

With the experience I have also created a spreadsheet for fluorescent lights and terrariums, is now in the process of setting up a spreadsheet for the LEDs.

The following are my creations, the 100-watt ceiling led, this is a very powerful ceiling, suitable for one square meter terrariums.

up view with components and electric wiring

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down view whith led lens

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ceiling on

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one meter test

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half meter test

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that is all !

Prompt

Edited by Prompt
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blue and red are a hoax to spend lots of money to people, plants need to grow well many more colors, blue and red are the basic colors only for chlorophyll type A.

The sun radiates light is color white, fluorescent lamps emit white light, the MH lamps emit white light, there is a reason!

The white LEDs are much better than other lamps mentioned above, in addition to the blue and red are many other colors that are received by the plants. Some of my highland nepenthes below this led ceiling are become a beautiful red color.

My study and my experimentation starts from basics scientific subjects, I have long studied the properties of plants and saw that the emissions of the white LEDs are good for their growth.

The latest LED lamps on the market are in fact white light!

Prompt

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it is recomend use reds and blues leds... people said that whites do not works well... true or false?

As Prompt already wrote, white leds are much better. My personal experience is the same - the best is combination of warm and cool white. Red and blue leds can work (if they have the right wavelengths, which chlorophyle absorb the most) and most importantly they can spare the energy costs, but i think they are not as good as the white light, which is more natural.

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I also use LED light as I show you in another topic, succsessfully. I am wlling to improve the effiiciency of my lights wiht more powerfull LEDs. I am waiting for the new CREE XM L 2 to be aviable for purchasing them. They are the most efficiency LEDs on the market. That is, the same current consumption, but more light.

I also find white LEDs really good for growing plants.

By the way, Prompt, wich LEDs are you using in your set up?

Thanks!

Edited by The body snatcher pod
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I'm glad that some of you use white LEDs.

the LEDs used on my ceiling light are cree xm-l t5 and Q4, the last cree on the market are cree xp-g2, really good in lumen / watt ratio.

Prompt

But XM L is a superior technology. XP G-2 Is the remake of the old (but good) XP G, based in a previous and older technology than XM L. Of course XP-G is gorgeous, but XM L is even better. But the really good thing is the new XM L 2 is about to be aviable in the market. Is a remake of the XM L technology, and is a very good improvement. Up to 20% more light with the same current. I think is worthy wainting for them. I asked LED TECH when they will be aviable, and they said me about five weeks.

Another question I have for you is why are you using T5 BIN in your XM L, when T6 or U2 or U3 have more light output? Lower BINs like T5, T5, T3... have more CRI, but less light output, and on the contrary, higher BINs have more output, but less CRI (Color render Index). I think for our plants is better higher outputs than higher CRIs.

Thank you!

And yes, I use mainly white less, very succesfully. My plants are very red and growing very fast. I also use a few red and white LEDs just to boost certains wavelengts, but most of the light in my tank is white.

Edited by The body snatcher pod
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I was wrong :), the warm white are of type t2 while the cool white are of t6, I have them bought in china on the site ledrise, the prices are very competitive.

I did not know the LEDs xm-l2, this is good news!

The red LEDs can be avoided, because the warm white cover pretty well the red peak of chlorophyll A.

Prompt

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Thank you for your reply! So, all your LEDs are XM L? I think if you are working with CREE brand, XM L is the best choice. How hard are you driving them?

You can find some nice info googling LED CREE XM L 2 online! I think you will be purchasing some sooner, he he he. :-) I waiting for them to be aviable at LED TECH, but I will keep and eye on LEDRISE too. I want them mounted on PCB star. Otherwise is a pain for me to solder the wires properly.

Yes, with cool and warms white LEDs you can cover pretty well the lights needing of plants. A white LED is a blue light emiting LED with a phospour coatage converting part of this blue light en others wavelengt. You still have a lot of blue in cool white, and some red, (more red in warm white) But I find interesting keeping some blue and red (specially 660nm red) to boost those peaks on chlorophyll A. Specially the 660 nm red, a little far for white leds, even for warm white.

But is true that given enought intentsity of light, plants grow gorgeously with only white LEDs.

Thanks!

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I have been reading this thread with some interest as I have used LED's for a few years now.

The Technology is moving quite rapidly and is difficult to keep up but is certainly improving.

I currently use a custom made targeted wavelength lamp that uses top quality chips and drivers, it is awsome.

I do have some comments on your posts however.

blue and red are a hoax to spend lots of money to people, plants need to grow well many more colors, blue and red are the basic colors only for chlorophyll type A.

Blue and red light at the correct wavelengths target both Chlorophyll A & B, and with the addition of a small percentage of white to pick up on other less useful wavelengths you get a much more efficient grow light than using just white, as much of the white spectrum is not used by the plant and so is wasted.

I don't think NASA developed this technology as a "hoax"!

The sun radiates light is color white, fluorescent lamps emit white light, the MH lamps emit white light, there is a reason!

The Sun radiates all manner of wavelengths including ones we as humans cannot see. We happen to see the spectrum making up white light only.

Humans invented the lamps you describe to see in the dark and in order to render colours correctly, they aim to produce a light as near to the natural spectrum of daylight. They did not invent them for plant growth and laterly have merely been adapted.

The white LEDs are much better than other lamps mentioned above, in addition to the blue and red are many other colors that are received by the plants. Some of my highland nepenthes below this led ceiling are become a beautiful red color.

I agree that LED's are the future as they are far more efficient than the other forms mentioned, however, the results you have obtained are no different from those provided by the correct level of light from any source.

To improve on efficiency you must remove the "wasted" wavelengths.

My study and my experimentation starts from basics scientific subjects, I have long studied the properties of plants and saw that the emissions of the white LEDs are good for their growth.

The emissions of most white lights are "good for growth" but some better than others. However, I would not say that white is best and clearly not most efficient.

The latest LED lamps on the market are in fact white light!

I am not sure to what you refer, if it is the newer more powerful chips, that may be true but they are not intended for growing plants they are for looking at them.

Prompt

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it is recomend use reds and blues leds... people said that whites do not works well... true or false?

They all work, if the correct lamps are selected, however using targeted wavelengths ie blue and red, reduces the wasted element within the white spectrum.

eg if your selected white light has 20% red and 10% blue wavelengths that the plant uses, then most of the remaining 70% of output is effectively wasted.

So broadly speaking, 100w of white light could be replaced by 30-40 w of targeted light to achieve the same results.

Edited by Dicon
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As Prompt already wrote, white leds are much better. My personal experience is the same - the best is combination of warm and cool white. Red and blue leds can work (if they have the right wavelengths, which chlorophyle absorb the most) and most importantly they can spare the energy costs, but i think they are not as good as the white light, which is more natural.

Just providing lots of light may be good, but you can say that about any lightsource.

If you want a natural look, then white light is best.

If you want most efficient then targeted wavelengths are best.

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Yes, with cool and warms white LEDs you can cover pretty well the lights needing of plants. A white LED is a blue light emiting LED with a phospour coatage converting part of this blue light en others wavelengt. You still have a lot of blue in cool white, and some red, (more red in warm white) But I find interesting keeping some blue and red (specially 660nm red) to boost those peaks on chlorophyll A. Specially the 660 nm red, a little far for white leds, even for warm white.

This is much better information, and if you want a more natural look and are less concerned with efficiency it may appeal to more growers.

However if you want maximum Bang for your bucks, then increasing the red and blue ratios and reducing the white ratios will give better growth watt for watt.

But is true that given enought intentsity of light, plants grow gorgeously with only white LEDs.

But it is true that given enough intensity of light, plants grow gorgeously with ANY white LIGHT

Thanks!

Edited by Dicon
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Blue and red light at the correct wavelengths target both Chlorophyll A & B, and with the addition of a small percentage of white to pick up on other less useful wavelengths you get a much more efficient grow light than using just white, as much of the white spectrum is not used by the plant and so is wasted

I don't think this is completely correct. Plants use a huge range of wavelengths it is just that the chlorophyll absorbtion peaks correspond to red and blue wavelengths. The rest of the wavelengths are not wasted, they are just used less efficiently. It all comes down to what you get for your money in my opinion; if you can get cheap white spectrum lights that blast the plants with high enough intensity light you may get more useful light for your money. You need to take into account both the purchase cost and the ongoing running cost and average this out over the projected lifespan.

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Plants use most red and blue peaks, but they also use the rest of visible wavelenths, even the green light! As Stephen said, the rest wavelengths are not wasted, but less used than red and blue. However, is not a huge difference but for the green light. (The most reflected and non absorbed light)

You can get a little more efficience set up using a more targeted lights. But if you want to display it in your living room is not the best colour to enjoy. I think the difference in saving costs between using only red/blue light, and white light can be given in big set ups like greenhouses or comercial aplications. But in a small tank, differeces in costs are very small.

Anyway, in spite of using mostly white to display my plants better, I keep using some blue 450nm and red 660nm to boost up the most efficience wavelengths.

Edited by The body snatcher pod
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