lumens?
- Thread starter Mr 816
- Start date
Dannoo93
Well-Known Member
Found on grass city
What is a lumen?*And how do they work?I have decided to put this sticky together, To explain and teach everybody as to exactly what a*Lumen*is. And how they work!What is a lumen?A lumen is a form of measurement, It's used to measure the "Total number of packets" aka "Quanta" of light produced by*any*light source.What does this mean?Well, broken down it basically means that every light emitting source produces what is called a "Lumen". it is the very "packet" or "particle" of light that is emitted from the light source itself. Depending on how many lumen's the light source can produce, Is in direct relation to how far the lumen's themselves can travel. meaning the higher the lumen output, The further the light particles emitted will travel. Also meaning the lower the lumen output, The less distance the light particles are able to travel.*So what does this mean in regards to grow lights?The higher the output lumen's of your light. The further into your plants and grow area the light particles can travel. meaning more of your plant is receiving light. a lumen rating of 50,000 will penetrate a grow area far more than one at 20,000If i have two 20,000 lumen lights, does that make 40,000 lumen's?This is a little tricky, But i will do my best to try and explain.If you have your grow area, And we call your light source (A) and we called your plants (B). (A) has a single bulb at 20,000 lumen's. at (B) a few thousand have disappeared thought the distance traveled to the plant itself. meaning (B) would have (Say for discussions sakes) 15,000 lumen's. then at the mid way point of (B) you might have 6,000 then at the pot none at all.*So what does this relate to two 20,000 lumen bulbs?Well believe it or not, but if you were to get a "Lux meter" and measure a 1 meter x 1 meter grow box with a single 20,000 globe. You will get 20,000 lux.However if you have TWO 20,000 globes. you will still get 20,000 lux.Why though? That doesn't make any sense, Twice the lux should mean twice as much!unfortunately it doesn't actually work that way. when we measure the lumen output we are not measuring "Light" as a solid object as perceived by human eye. we are in-fact measuring the ability for EACH INDIVIGUAL particle itself to travel. so even if you have TWO 20,000 lumen lights, each particle emitted from both lights would still only have the ability to travel 20,000 lumen's.How then do i get more lumen's?There is only one way. Get a light source with a higher output of lumen's.What if i covered my grow with 10 5,000 lumen CFLSAssuming you have randomly placed the cfls around the plants themselves, this means each section of the plant is receiving 5,000 lumen each, the plant isn't receiving 50,000 lumen's tho. its a more even spread of lumen's at a lower rate. Which in turn will give you a more even yielding plant with Skinner buds as the lumen's can not penetrate deep into the buds themselves.What if i only can afford a low lumen light source, but want to make best use of my light sourceThere are a few methods or things you can take into account when looking at utilizing all of your lumen's.The first thing is the distance in which your light source and plant itself need to relieve heat issues, This is important as. If you have a 40,000 lumen light but its 2 feet above your plant, your already loosing 20% or so of your lumen's just traveling to your plant. meaning when they hit the first part of your plant the light particles are already only at 80% intensity.a 40,000 lumen CFL hung within inches of the plant will by far better utilize the lumen output as not as much is being wasted in the distance traveled to the plant.Another good idea is to use smaller dwarf plants or auto's as they do not require as high a lumen output as they are smaller plants. this is why seedlings and clones work best at close range cfl. they are making the most of the lumen output.So what things then do i take into account with my lighting and grow room?Size of your grow*- The larger the grow area itself, the more lumen output you are going to want, And you are also wanting to even the lumen output across the entire top to even the plant growth. There is no point in having 50,000 lumen in 1sm and only 10,000 in the other 1sm. You want to try to even the spread of lumen's out.*So if you have a 1 meter by 1 meter grow box. And you wanted 20,000 lumen's across the top, you can get away with a single 20,000 lumen light.*however if you had a 2 meter by 1 meter grow box. and you wanted 20,000 lumen's across the tops, you would need two 20,000 lumen lights spaced evenly apart. this gives TWO light sources BOTH emitting 20,000 lumen's to DIFFERENT sections of the grow room. so its not doubling the amount of lumen's in the room. It is only SPREADING them out. once again picture it as billions of tiny light particles floating in the air..**** I really hope this made sense to everybody. I just wrote it quickly off head because i felt allot of members here would really learn something from this. I shall go through and edit it and make it look better with time.
What is a lumen?*And how do they work?I have decided to put this sticky together, To explain and teach everybody as to exactly what a*Lumen*is. And how they work!What is a lumen?A lumen is a form of measurement, It's used to measure the "Total number of packets" aka "Quanta" of light produced by*any*light source.What does this mean?Well, broken down it basically means that every light emitting source produces what is called a "Lumen". it is the very "packet" or "particle" of light that is emitted from the light source itself. Depending on how many lumen's the light source can produce, Is in direct relation to how far the lumen's themselves can travel. meaning the higher the lumen output, The further the light particles emitted will travel. Also meaning the lower the lumen output, The less distance the light particles are able to travel.*So what does this mean in regards to grow lights?The higher the output lumen's of your light. The further into your plants and grow area the light particles can travel. meaning more of your plant is receiving light. a lumen rating of 50,000 will penetrate a grow area far more than one at 20,000If i have two 20,000 lumen lights, does that make 40,000 lumen's?This is a little tricky, But i will do my best to try and explain.If you have your grow area, And we call your light source (A) and we called your plants (B). (A) has a single bulb at 20,000 lumen's. at (B) a few thousand have disappeared thought the distance traveled to the plant itself. meaning (B) would have (Say for discussions sakes) 15,000 lumen's. then at the mid way point of (B) you might have 6,000 then at the pot none at all.*So what does this relate to two 20,000 lumen bulbs?Well believe it or not, but if you were to get a "Lux meter" and measure a 1 meter x 1 meter grow box with a single 20,000 globe. You will get 20,000 lux.However if you have TWO 20,000 globes. you will still get 20,000 lux.Why though? That doesn't make any sense, Twice the lux should mean twice as much!unfortunately it doesn't actually work that way. when we measure the lumen output we are not measuring "Light" as a solid object as perceived by human eye. we are in-fact measuring the ability for EACH INDIVIGUAL particle itself to travel. so even if you have TWO 20,000 lumen lights, each particle emitted from both lights would still only have the ability to travel 20,000 lumen's.How then do i get more lumen's?There is only one way. Get a light source with a higher output of lumen's.What if i covered my grow with 10 5,000 lumen CFLSAssuming you have randomly placed the cfls around the plants themselves, this means each section of the plant is receiving 5,000 lumen each, the plant isn't receiving 50,000 lumen's tho. its a more even spread of lumen's at a lower rate. Which in turn will give you a more even yielding plant with Skinner buds as the lumen's can not penetrate deep into the buds themselves.What if i only can afford a low lumen light source, but want to make best use of my light sourceThere are a few methods or things you can take into account when looking at utilizing all of your lumen's.The first thing is the distance in which your light source and plant itself need to relieve heat issues, This is important as. If you have a 40,000 lumen light but its 2 feet above your plant, your already loosing 20% or so of your lumen's just traveling to your plant. meaning when they hit the first part of your plant the light particles are already only at 80% intensity.a 40,000 lumen CFL hung within inches of the plant will by far better utilize the lumen output as not as much is being wasted in the distance traveled to the plant.Another good idea is to use smaller dwarf plants or auto's as they do not require as high a lumen output as they are smaller plants. this is why seedlings and clones work best at close range cfl. they are making the most of the lumen output.So what things then do i take into account with my lighting and grow room?Size of your grow*- The larger the grow area itself, the more lumen output you are going to want, And you are also wanting to even the lumen output across the entire top to even the plant growth. There is no point in having 50,000 lumen in 1sm and only 10,000 in the other 1sm. You want to try to even the spread of lumen's out.*So if you have a 1 meter by 1 meter grow box. And you wanted 20,000 lumen's across the top, you can get away with a single 20,000 lumen light.*however if you had a 2 meter by 1 meter grow box. and you wanted 20,000 lumen's across the tops, you would need two 20,000 lumen lights spaced evenly apart. this gives TWO light sources BOTH emitting 20,000 lumen's to DIFFERENT sections of the grow room. so its not doubling the amount of lumen's in the room. It is only SPREADING them out. once again picture it as billions of tiny light particles floating in the air..**** I really hope this made sense to everybody. I just wrote it quickly off head because i felt allot of members here would really learn something from this. I shall go through and edit it and make it look better with time.
Krondizzel
New Member
This HAD to have taken forever to post on your phone.
Krondizzel
New Member
That's cheating. Ha, just kidding.. I have some more lumen stuff to post here as well if you don't mind me adding to your thread
strain horder
Active Member
Measure of light intensity from light source. Learn the "inverse square law" to understand how lumens are effected by distance from light source.. Also look up PAR and get an understanding of that as well.