Timber? Platinum? Looking For Led Help (for Aquaponics Setup)

[MW7945]

On my website I have some new Deep Red 700nmnm/Royal Blue 460nm and Far Red 730nm/UVA 385nm boards using lumileds SunPlus 20 diodes top horticulture diodes in the industry to date.

Ahh, now your posts make more sense.

 

[MW7945]

OK, so I did a bunch of research based on some of the suggestions you guys made, and here is what I came up with.

First, I found these articles very insightful:
WHICH IS BETTER: UVA OR UVB?
https://www.blackdogled.com/blog/which-is-better-uva-or-uvb/
HOW TO COMPARE DIFFERENT GROW LIGHTS
https://www.blackdogled.com/blog/how-to-compare-different-grow-lights/
ABOUT 1, 3, 5 AND 10-WATT DIODES AND COB OR "INTEGRATED" LEDS
https://www.blackdogled.com/blog/led-types/

Some of my take-aways from these are:

• I think the 5w and or COBs are where I want to be, as it seems these types of lights are the best at "canopy penetration", and in my case, shining through water and seaweed.
• I am going to try and stick to lights that can do UVA and NIR (365 - 750)
• Of course these are from Black Dog who are trying to sell their products
• I would love to have Black Dog, but they are just too expensive and too large for my needs

So, narrowing my constraints with this information, I have narrowed my choices down a bit. Here are some of them, not necessarily in any order:

Optic 2 COB 3000K & 5000K

- Very close to what sixstring was recommending + with added UV and IR
- Cheap for what they are @ $300
- A little powerful for what I need @ 205w, not dimmable
- Spectrum is really good and 380-780
- Not sure where they are made or how reputable this company is

Amare SolarSPEC 100 CREE

- All 5w LEDs, spectrum is 410-760, not great but good
- Pricey at $395, but probably a get-what-you-pay for deal
- Power consumption right where I want it at 100w, they have a slightly larger 150w too (same price)
- Seems like one of the more reputable brands

Advanced LED Diamond Series XTE 100
https://advancedledlights.com/products/led-grow-lights/xte-100/
- A combination of 5w and 3w LEDs, same spectrum as the Amare
- Great power consumption at 80w
- Obviously a good brand

Those are the main three I currently have. I do feel compelled to note some honorable mentions here, even though they are in the Chinese LED category, they seem to be the "better of" those:

VIPARSPECTRA High Penetration Series HP300 or PAR450


- The first one is just $89 and the 2nd $189, that is so cheap even if they only lasted through the 3-year warranty and broke, they would not owe me anything
- These are all 5w LEDs (Bridgelux/Epileds), first one 130w
- The 450 is a bit big at 210w, but it looks like it is well cooled, which is the main problem with 5w LEDs, especially from a Chinese source, and it is dimmable
- One downside is they have IR but not UV


So, aside from these choices, I really do like the Timber COBs lights and kits. Looking at the spectrum, it looks like if you did put say a 3000K and a 5000K together, you would get between 410 and 750 or so. It would be great though if someone could help me add strips that added 365 to 410, actually that is probably all I would need since 750 is probably high enough into NIR. I don't see much difference between the three different types of COBs though. I could even go with three, and do 5000/3000/5000K in a line or something.

Think I am on the right track?

-JCL

Pretty much all of the lights you mentioned are made in China. You can literally just get COBs and buy a reptile bulb or two for $10 for UVB. I'd go with Timber. Or, you can always check out Quantum boards.

 

[jcl123]

On my website I have some new Deep Red 700nmnm/Royal Blue 460nm and Far Red 730nm/UVA 385nm boards using lumileds SunPlus 20 diodes top horticulture diodes in the industry to date.

Do you have some links you can share? I was looking here: https://growgreenled.wordpress.com/ and I see some mention of this. I would like to see some pictures or something.

Looking around, it looks like there are some good options from some of the Chinese suppliers:
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/10p...id=12c7516e-0c8d-46c0-8218-662330049787&tpp=1

Lots of other configurations available, including even some all-UV COBs. But, I see some issues with this:
- Sunlight only contains a very small amount of this light, even the commercial LEDs with this spectrum have like 1-4 3w or 5w LEDs out of an array of 40-90 others. Not sure how I would get the "right" amount of this light compared to the COBs I might pair them with. Especially if you get into dimming, not sure if "excess" light in this frequency range is a problem, possibly. I guess that is an advantage with the Optic 2's
- Frequency range - looks like each LED has a range of about 5nm, so to cover 365-410 would require 4-5 LEDs, and if I only need a total of 3-4, I guess that would work if I put them in the center.
- Then I would just need to figure out how I setup the drivers and such. Be nice if I could get a kit or something close to plug and play. Maybe I will call Timber and see what they say.

What I may do is just get the Timber's and see how it goes, see what the results are and see if I really need the UV's that much anyway.

-JCL

 

[jcl123]

Pretty much all of the lights you mentioned are made in China. You can literally just get COBs and buy a reptile bulb or two for $10 for UVB. I'd go with Timber. Or, you can always check out Quantum boards.

Yeah, I will bet even the Black Dogs are made in China, or maybe just assembled in USA. Sorta what I am saying that it depends on the situation.

I am looking for UVA not UVB, so I don't think the reptile bulb is what I want to do, but maybe adding a black light or something would do a similar thing.

But I agree, I think I am strongly considering going with Timber.

I think that is better than doing the Quantum boards, because I think the COBs are going to penetrate the water and sea weed better.

-JCL

 

[jcl123]

Ok, I just talked with Dan from Tember, this is definitely the way to go. He answered all my questions, this is going to be awesome.

Thank you very much for all of your suggestions.

-JCL

 

[AvidLerner]

Do you have some links you can share? I was looking here: https://growgreenled.wordpress.com/ and I see some mention of this. I would like to see some pictures or something.

Looking around, it looks like there are some good options from some of the Chinese suppliers:
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/10p...id=12c7516e-0c8d-46c0-8218-662330049787&tpp=1

Lots of other configurations available, including even some all-UV COBs. But, I see some issues with this:
- Sunlight only contains a very small amount of this light, even the commercial LEDs with this spectrum have like 1-4 3w or 5w LEDs out of an array of 40-90 others. Not sure how I would get the "right" amount of this light compared to the COBs I might pair them with. Especially if you get into dimming, not sure if "excess" light in this frequency range is a problem, possibly. I guess that is an advantage with the Optic 2's
- Frequency range - looks like each LED has a range of about 5nm, so to cover 365-410 would require 4-5 LEDs, and if I only need a total of 3-4, I guess that would work if I put them in the center.
- Then I would just need to figure out how I setup the drivers and such. Be nice if I could get a kit or something close to plug and play. Maybe I will call Timber and see what they say.

What I may do is just get the Timber's and see how it goes, see what the results are and see if I really need the UV's that much anyway.

-JCL

here is a link on my7 blog about the GG 200w boards
https://growgreenled.wordpress.com/2017/09/15/grow-green-samsung-lm561c-pcb/
regarding the UVA and Far red boards, I am still testing the first set. They seem to work well with an lpc-60-1050 driver. I have 4 leds per board and 24 far red leds per board for two channels. I will post pic later today.

 

[AvidLerner]

The one on the right is the UVA and Far Red bd

 

[Schkronis]

Looking around, it looks like there are some good options from some of the Chinese suppliers:
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/10p...id=12c7516e-0c8d-46c0-8218-662330049787&tpp=1

3W Epileds arent good options at all.
XPE, XPG-2 are really good ones. RapidLed sells them with everything you need to get em working.

 

[Burned Haze]

Been running (2) Timber redwood VS 600w LED (6) COB for replacement of one 4x8 of (2) 1000w Nanolux DE

results ( only been 1ish months) so far = Par meter shows 600 average for DE in middle, LED middle 800-1000 par . 800 LESS Total less watts, Way less heat for one flood tables worth ( can't wait to buy anther 2). Anther bonus is not having to replace bulbs and they are water resistant . love the craftsmanship fosure