Any recommendations for a par meter

Week4@inCharge

Week4@inCharge

Well-Known Member
chronnie49 said:
How were you calculating par using lux? I take lux and multiply by .015 but maybe there is a better way i don't know about.
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Look for the kelvin of your led setup (I'm just assuming you have a led lighting kit here) and choose the corresponding HIGH CRI LED for calculations from this site. It's dam near accurate.

Convert Lux to PPFD - Online Calculator | Waveform Lighting

Online calculator to convert illuminance (lux) to PPFD (micromoles per second per meter squared).
www.waveformlighting.com www.waveformlighting.com
 
Lenin1917

Lenin1917

Well-Known Member
If you have a newer iPhone the Photone app is really accurate, doesn’t hit extended par ranges like far red/ir but thats just a little math.

migrolight.com

PAR meter APPs tested

What is the best par meter app for grow lighting? For iPhone owners the PPFD App is the most accurate PAR meter with the most features including making your own PAR map. The PPFD app also has the most free features. Android users should use the Photone app or pair the PPFD app with the Uni-T lux...
migrolight.com migrolight.com
 
Lenin1917

Lenin1917

Well-Known Member
DoubleAtotheRON said:
@bk78 .... @2com was telling me about the Photone app for newer phones, and it rated against the Apogee within the same parameters as you were saying.. like 10-30 par. I downloaded it, and was pretty impressed for free. Well, you gotta pay like $5.99 for the type of light your using, but what I really like about it is it gives you DLI (Daily Light Integral). So you just choose how many hours a day you're on (12/12 or 18/6 or 24/0) and it gives you a recommended level you should be at, and at what phase of the grow you're in (week). Pretty cool. iPhones require a diffuser that you make out of copy paper (very easy), but Android does not require a diffuser.


That's why I looked into this Photone app... its free, and pretty damn accurate. I paid like $100 for a HydroFarmer Par meter and didn't use it but a few times, but this app is pretty spot on, and it has more features... besides that, I observe the plants for light stress.
Click to expand...
best $6 I ever spent
 
bk78

bk78

Well-Known Member
Lenin1917 said:
If you have a newer iPhone the Photone app is really accurate, doesn’t hit extended par ranges like far red/ir but thats just a little math.

migrolight.com

PAR meter APPs tested

What is the best par meter app for grow lighting? For iPhone owners the PPFD App is the most accurate PAR meter with the most features including making your own PAR map. The PPFD app also has the most free features. Android users should use the Photone app or pair the PPFD app with the Uni-T lux...
migrolight.com migrolight.com
Click to expand...
Not accurate on my iPhone 12 Pro at all
 
C

chronnie49

Well-Known Member
Week4@inCharge said:
Look for the kelvin of your led setup (I'm just assuming you have a led lighting kit here) and choose the corresponding HIGH CRI LED for calculations from this site. It's dam near accurate.

Convert Lux to PPFD - Online Calculator | Waveform Lighting

Online calculator to convert illuminance (lux) to PPFD (micromoles per second per meter squared).
www.waveformlighting.com www.waveformlighting.com
Click to expand...
The numbers are almost the same using that calculator as they are multiplying by .015 so that's good to know. Par is 800 with the calculator and 750 when you multiply.
 
LeastExpectedGrower

LeastExpectedGrower

Well-Known Member
Week4@inCharge said:
hate when that happens! hope you get it sooner than later.
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I mean, given that I didn't even expect or intend to buy it until this past Tuesday, I can't really get too worked up about things, but I was hoping to spend some time measuring and comparing this weekend (removing plants from the tent, measuring from heights and different brightnesses and all), so it'll have to wait until mid next week or next weekend.
 
LeastExpectedGrower

LeastExpectedGrower

Well-Known Member
bk78 said:
Interested to see how the iPhone XS reads compared to my newer sensor I tested. My was pretty consistent at around 100 ppfd off from my pulse and photobio
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Yeah, me too. I wish I had a decent & calibrated Apogee to test against too, but whatever. No place locally that rents them or anything. Though at 'consistently 100ppfd off,' it would be fairly easy to calibrate to that. Assuming I find both reasonably close to each other I'd probably calibrate the Photone to match and then use both in different ways. Super convenient to just grab my phone, set it for DLI and spot check every once in a while.
 
DoubleAtotheRON

DoubleAtotheRON

Well-Known Member
LeastExpectedGrower said:
Yeah, me too. I wish I had a decent & calibrated Apogee to test against too, but whatever. No place locally that rents them or anything. Though at 'consistently 100ppfd off,' it would be fairly easy to calibrate to that. Assuming I find both reasonably close to each other I'd probably calibrate the Photone to match and then use both in different ways. Super convenient to just grab my phone, set it for DLI and spot check every once in a while.
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You get your Phantom meter in?
 
LeastExpectedGrower

LeastExpectedGrower

Well-Known Member
DoubleAtotheRON said:
You get your Phantom meter in?
Click to expand...
It literally JUST arrived moments ago.

IMG_2959.jpg

People weren't kidding when they said this feels cheap...Certainly is super lightweight and plasticy. I hope they spent on the sensor and electronics and saved on the cases... Tonight is a feed night for me, so once the lights come on just after 5 I'll do that and do some test/comparisons.
 
DoubleAtotheRON

DoubleAtotheRON

Well-Known Member
LeastExpectedGrower said:
It literally JUST arrived moments ago.

View attachment 5084331

People weren't kidding when they said this feels cheap...Certainly is super lightweight and plasticy. I hope they spent on the sensor and electronics and saved on the cases... Tonight is a feed night for me, so once the lights come on just after 5 I'll do that and do some test/comparisons.
Click to expand...
Cool... it'll be interesting to see how your comparison is to BK's... I know in the instructions on the app, it says to use a certain weight of paper for the diffuser, and I believe you guys are using different phone models... I'll be tuning in!
 
LeastExpectedGrower

LeastExpectedGrower

Well-Known Member
DoubleAtotheRON said:
Cool... it'll be interesting to see how your comparison is to BK's... I know in the instructions on the app, it says to use a certain weight of paper for the diffuser, and I believe you guys are using different phone models... I'll be tuning in!
Click to expand...
I had to dig out an old Samsung Galaxy tablet from my road gear to find a something with a camera, since my phone will be busy. ;) Luckily I had one that I used to use for IEM mixing on stage that is just sitting around these days.
 
Week4@inCharge

Week4@inCharge

Well-Known Member
LeastExpectedGrower said:
Yeah, me too. I wish I had a decent & calibrated Apogee to test against too, but whatever. No place locally that rents them or anything. Though at 'consistently 100ppfd off,' it would be fairly easy to calibrate to that. Assuming I find both reasonably close to each other I'd probably calibrate the Photone to match and then use both in different ways. Super convenient to just grab my phone, set it for DLI and spot check every once in a while.
Click to expand...
The one thing I wish the Apogee had.. that DLI. Gonna calibrate the Photone later on... or try too.. :D I was up early rearranging pots and couple lights for the optimum spread of light,
 
LeastExpectedGrower

LeastExpectedGrower

Well-Known Member
Week4@inCharge said:
The one thing I wish the Apogee had.. that DLI. Gonna calibrate the Photone later on... or try too.. :D I was up early rearranging pots and couple lights for the optimum spread of light,
Click to expand...
Yeah, shortly (like in about 15 minutes)...I'll stop being lazy and get down to the tent for feed/inspection & lighting fun. My tent is pretty small (60" x 32" x 80") and I've got 3x HLG 225's which are supposedly good for 2x2 or 3x3 strung across the 60" width, so there's really no serious 'dead spots' in the tent.

To test the meters, I'll unplug 2 of the 3 and get out the tape measure and use some boxes to get reasonable measurements at the usual distances. Once that's done, I'll plug everything back in and do some PPFD/DLI measurements at canopy levels and let 'em ride.
 
Week4@inCharge

Week4@inCharge

Well-Known Member
Just finished a quick comparison between the Photone (android) app and the Apogee. I loaded the Photone app to another android phone I had laying around (LG) and long story short, it's not reliable. Even after a calibration. For one spot after calibration it did good, other areas of measurement off the Photone app were not even close though. 500 PAR measured on the photone app was 800+ on the Apogee. The Photone app for Android is still in beta so maybe they'll fix something later on. The lUX meter to PAR calculation (using the website link above) is much more reliable than the Photone app. If your on an iPhone you might have a totally different experience. My 2 cents..
 
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