Thread: LED Grow Light
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Old 02-22-17, 01:29 PM   #5
natethebrown
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[QUOTE=jeff5may;53601]The Epistar/Epileds modules used in this build are a direct product of this strategic alliance. So much for the "Cheap Chinese junk" argument.


Good to know! I was vaguely familiar with some of these goings-on but thanks for all of the detail. It is reassuring that my few $ aren't truly going to waste.

Quote:
Originally Posted by jeff5may View Post
For growing seedlings, the light intensity should fall into a range mainly dictated by the plant being started. Spectrum is not as important in early stages of growth. The "purple/magenta" spectrum work 99% as good as the 3500K to 5000K "white" spectrum. Keeping the intensity where it needs to be for the seedling is WAAAY more important: not enough and you have spindly twigs, too much and you get bleached or scorched leaves. With these 10W chips, I imagine you could bleach and scorch seedlings pretty easily if you weren't careful.
Again, good to know about the color spectrum. I have a suspicion that I will have too much light intensity, but I figured it is a lot easier to unplug LED COBs than it is to take the whole setup down to attach more on later.

Quote:
Originally Posted by jeff5may View Post
I also figured out that the little regulator boards are dimmable. For a seedling shelf, it would be awesome to make a static mount for the lights and just dim or brighten them at will. Eliminating a chain or cable rig to raise and lower the lamp assemblies would take a whole lot of hassle out of the process.
Great idea! Really and truly, this grow light build was just a launching point for me to get back into electronics work. I am very much a "nuts and bolts, not volts" type of guy, so this project was more of an educational and experimental project than anything else. I hadn't picked up my soldering iron in years and yesterday was the first time I tested the current draw with my meter I purchased 3 years ago... I definitely want to expand this project, in the future, to have much easier usability, control, and functionality but still keep costs down. Eventually, I am going to use some version of this setup for an indoor aquaponics system.
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