DIY LED grow lights experiences

Fonzarelli said:

No. It's something with the lamps. Very disheartening for sure. Greenwithenvy says he uses a switchable 1000w set to HPS and works fine so you might want to consult with him over in Icmag. Let me know if you get it to work.

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At advanced tech lighting they say Philips cmh higher than 450 watts tend to overload and shouldn't be used unless there is a safety shut off circuit that senses an overload. Do not use switchables. They can cause overload too. I would run multiple 330's. 4 of those would cover close to the same area as 2 860's and run less watts.

• What was his soil mixture and nute regimen for the C99? I would like to know what is working well for LEDs.​
  
  
  
  

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a basic soil + a bit of solid nutrients and algae + biobizz grow and bloom and topmax

After finding the 95 CRI Oslon WW LED and discovering the perfect spectrum of those, I went a head and took a look at other High CRI (>90) LEDs from different manufacturers.

Oslon 95 CRI WW (LCW CQ7P.CC):

Nichia 119 90 CRI:



Both are warm white LEDs with a color temperature of 2700K. You can see that the graphs are very similiar (peeking at about 625nm instead of the typical 600nm peak of low CRI bins) this is because a high Color Rendering Index seems to be requiring more of a deep red (630nm+). You can be fairly sure that Cree, being a company with very efficient LEDs and very bad datasheets (using average values for their spectral distribution charts), is having the same or very similiar spectral distribution in their high CRI LED offerings (XP-G2 and XM-L2).

Instead of using the Oslons with their high forward voltage, low efficiency and low maximum current, you can simply use the Cree counterparts and have the same 625nm peak with a lot of output in the 650-700nm range without the cons of Oslons.

hi Tebos,

yes Cree will make high CRI XTE-2 and color XTE-2

http://ledsmagazine.com/news/10/5/9?cmpid=EnlLEDsMay292013

Yes it could be nice to use those high CRI WW leds, but we need lenses, the angle is to wide IMAO.

I still don't have the answer about radiometric efficiency of high CRI oslons. I got samples but they are low bins.

I had the graph of the XTE 3100K R2 i'm using:

radiometric efficiency is 28,4% minimum at 85°C 700mA, 32% at 25°C 700mA

here is the graph



at present i still don't know if high CRI WW is the way to go. Neutral white high CRI could be interesting too, because of better radiometric efficiency.
I'm waiting for laboratory results.

Here is the spectrum graph of my 3 last engines:


the yellow one is 1RB 2XTEWW 2R625 2HR2T
the purple one is 3XTEWW 1R 3HR3T
the blue one is 1RB 2XTEWW 1R625 3HR3T

we can see that the wide angle of the XTE has an impact on the spectral curve

blue peak is too big (but fine for a veg/bloom versatile spectrum) and works fine for flowering with some strains. But in the future is will reduce it, using NW 4000-5000k instead of a blue led.

...still searching for the graal....


here is the Thunder Bloody Mary auto after 17 days under the 3WW 1R 3HR (purple graph)



i switched her to a NW/red spectrum, another lamp with higher wattage, because she is too big now for the first lamp, and she is healthy but i think that she needs more blue, the buds shape was a bit strechy

So GS, simply put you think WW blue range is inadequate for flower due to wide angle? (purple curve) This is one of the main questions I have for flowering dedicated fixture.

I'd rep you if I could GS, great info! Checking out the data sheets on the XPE2.

That 3100K XTE graph is valuable data, thank you!

Counted boxes, about 12% blue output.

Hi TB,

i'm just hesitating:

- WW ?
- WW high CRI?
- NW ?

WW is not inadequate, the spectrum is very interesting to give far red, yellow, amber and red (and blue), but WW has a lower radiometric efficiency than NW or red leds, so we have to use only the best WW emitters. The best ones are Crees, and Crees needs a lens if they are mixed with oslons SSL80.
A lens has a cost and a lens will loose some flux, 10% at least.

The questions are:

- is green useful for bloom phase (at high intensity i mean)? I believe that green is used by plants when it is high intensity light, able to cross the leafs.
- what is really useful in WW spectrum? I think it is far red (emerson effect), and IR (useful to increase leaf temperature in low temp grows). Are yellow and amber really needed?
- is an high CRI WW more efficient than a lower CRI WW (i still can't answer to this question, there are too many parameters, only a laboratory measure can say it, and it is very pricey.We can calculate it only if we have the right graphs. A company gave me an answer to this question, but they are a brand distributor, the result is not impartial, so i can't take it into account.)

I still believe that high radiometric efficiency is more important than spectrum.

Only narrow angle <90° can give high intensity light and penetration. It is possible to have high yields with 110-130° leds, with a small grows and a scrog, but it is a "2D" grow.
Potentially a "3D" grow can give more yield.

Thanks GS, I appreciate the in depth consideration. Yet another wrench in my machinery, but very worthwhile info to chew on.

green surfer said:

yes Cree will make high CRI XTE-2 and color XTE-2

http://ledsmagazine.com/news/10/5/9?cmpid=EnlLEDsMay292013

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Yes, those XP-E2 are already available and probably the most efficient color leds today.

Where do you get the information about radiometric efficiency from?

Oh I see what they did. They made new XPE2 white LEDs but they are still using the same old XPE color LEDs. The XPE2 whites are binned at 85c but the colors are still binned at 25c and have the same output.

Yeah I think the new numbers are not out yet

Heck, you're right, at least they got rid off the lower bins. How do they compare to Oslon color leds?

The Oslon 630nm red must be using a different chip than Cree. The top bin Oslon (JU) is 31.7% (700mA 50c). The top bin XPe (P3) is 42% (700mA 50c). The Oslon deep red on the other hand really kicks butt 3T bin 41% (700mA 50c).



Top royal blue bins listed:
Luxeon ES M4R bin 55% 700mA 50c (63.6% 350mA 50c)
Cree XTE Q04 bin 50.5% 700mA 50c (60.7% 350mA 50c)
Oslon SSL 3U bin 44.5% 700mA 50c (52.6% 350mA 50c)
Cree XPE P01 bin 40% 700mA 50c (51.5% 350mA 50c)

The XTE is binned at 350mA 85C and the Luxeon is binned at 700mA 25c. The other two are binned at 350mA 25c and seem to be really cut down by running at higher current levels. It is the current droop that is killing them, the temp is no problem.

SupraSPL said:

Oh I see what they did. They made new XPE2 white LEDs but they are still using the same old XPE color LEDs. The XPE2 whites are binned at 85c but the colors are still binned at 25c and have the same output.

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The XP-E2 red has a much better thermal resistance than the XP-E red. 10 °C/W for the XP-E red, 5 °C/W for the XP-E2 red.

the new XPE-2 color is not available yet, efficiency will be 15% better than the old ones.

Holy balls you guys are intense... My interest in LED is growing but I can see I have soooooooo much to learn on the topic it's gonna keep me real busy for a long time...

green surfer said:

the new XPE-2 color is not available yet, efficiency will be 15% better than the old ones.

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At Mouser they are! Same bins, same efficiency for the color XP-E2.

Quick link please to xpe2?

At Mouser for example.

green surfer said:

the new XPE-2 color is not available yet, efficiency will be 15% better than the old ones.

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from what I understand, it's confusing as I believe that only applies to the white led's..

I think only thing they changed is to go to higher output. not higher lumen