Beacon of Light
Flashlight Enthusiast
- Joined
- Dec 9, 2005
- Messages
- 2,054
I didn't know of a proper place to post this, heck probably not even in the right forum, but I wanted the expertise of some of the more knowledgeable than I about using LED's as grow lights. The little I've heard I read from a plant forum but they arent experienced with LED's per se just HID or Fluorescent or HPF? lighting.
I was wondering if I can set an array of multi LED flashlights 4-6" away from 2 or 3 small containers surrounded in a white box to reflect the light around it and add a few red LED's from a couple Energizer headlamps for good measure. I read the proper wavelengths of light they need, but how do you determine what each flashlight puts out. All I know is the Lumens approx output.
From another forum:
"You don't need reflectors for LEDs, they are already very directional. You are always welcome to try new things. Your best bet is to wire up an array of deep red ultrabright LEDs (look for 690 or 680 nm), mix in a few blue 420nm to keep the plants sharp and away you go. Or you could experiment with different colours but it seems fairly certain that this is the best combo. Don't try to run it off batteries, you'll want several watts to light even a small flat of seedlings and you want to run them for 12-14 hours a day. You can get 100mW ultrabrights for 50c or so, maybe less now, and an array of 50-100 is a good starting point. Try growing some lettuce or petunia and see how it goes."
I was wondering if I can set an array of multi LED flashlights 4-6" away from 2 or 3 small containers surrounded in a white box to reflect the light around it and add a few red LED's from a couple Energizer headlamps for good measure. I read the proper wavelengths of light they need, but how do you determine what each flashlight puts out. All I know is the Lumens approx output.
From another forum:
"You don't need reflectors for LEDs, they are already very directional. You are always welcome to try new things. Your best bet is to wire up an array of deep red ultrabright LEDs (look for 690 or 680 nm), mix in a few blue 420nm to keep the plants sharp and away you go. Or you could experiment with different colours but it seems fairly certain that this is the best combo. Don't try to run it off batteries, you'll want several watts to light even a small flat of seedlings and you want to run them for 12-14 hours a day. You can get 100mW ultrabrights for 50c or so, maybe less now, and an array of 50-100 is a good starting point. Try growing some lettuce or petunia and see how it goes."