5 April 2017 LED light (Plant Growing)
Posted on April 5, 2017 by Durgan
http://durgan.org/2017/April%2... 5 April 2017 LED light

Four growing containers were made to facilitate small plant growth. There is room for six pots in each bucket for a total of 24 which is a reasonable amount for a home grower. Various seeds are started and grown to a reasonable size prior to placing in outdoor garden about May 25. Experimentation indicates the light is adequate for the purpose indicated, precluding much more expensive lights. Main advantage being very little heat is produced by LED lights.

Details of construction. The parts used were obtained locally 22 liter bucket beverage trade, 110 volt fan ordered off the internet, LED lamp from the local hardware store. lamp fitting a trouble lamp cord and socket. Vent holes and fan hole were made using a soldering iron and melting the plastic as required. Approximate cost: bucket $3.00, fan $25.00,LED Lamp $40.00,lamp electrical fitting $12.00. Total cost ~$80.00.They should last several years. Power
consumption LED and fan is about 35 watts.

I had been wondering why no LED lights were made to fit 4' fluorescent fixtures, and there, in Home Depot, there they were. T-8s I was stunned. I have a box of T-12s. But I'll bet they will be in T-12s soon and I will buy them.

The box didn't have Kelvin temps on it that I can tell, and I like 5000, but I'll bet they last a decade! My tubes die after 2 years, so that would be great.

Yardenman said:I had been wondering why no LED lights were made to fit 4' fluorescent fixtures, and there, in Home Depot, there they were. T-8s I was stunned. I have a box of T-12s. But I'll bet they will be in T-12s soon and I will buy them.

The box didn't have Kelvin temps on it that I can tell, and I like 5000, but I'll bet they last a decade! My tubes die after 2 years, so that would be great.

Bloody amazing. I didn't know such a thing existed. Specs are a bit unclear. What is the equivalent watts? I read 40 watts but this would appear to be low for the size of the bulb. Also they appear to be very cheap which is surprising.

LED Lamps have some new terms for most. I have been digging up relevant information.
PAR 38 means Parabolic Anodized Reflector. The 38 means, thirty eight times 1/8 inch diameter bulb so a PAR 38 means 38 times 1/8 inch for a diameter of 4 and 3/4 inches. No seller bothered knowing this. So my LED flood lamps are 4.75 inches diameter with a built in PAR reflector. Simple.

Spectrum for growing may be of interest. The bulbs are rated as 3000 Kelvin or 6000 Kelvin which indicates blue at 3000 and Red at 6000. Use the Blue 3000 for seedlings, but my experimenting indicates that either is suitable. This area is mostly sales hype at the present time.

Power consumed should be around 25 watts.

Lumens or light intensity should be around 1000.

So for a bucket lamp choose PAR 38, 100 lumens, 25 watts, 3000 Kelvin. The bulb screws into a typical socket. They should cost around $40 and supposedly last forever.

There are some fancy types in a frame that cost in the $300 to $400 range. They are good bulbs for large deep pocket producers not the typical home grower.

The LED 4ft T8 replacement tubes I have seen are cool white (4000°K). I decided to get the 4ft LED shop fixtures instead when I needed to replace a couple of shop lights, since you can get them in 5000° and 6500° colors. Plants seem to grow under them as well as under T8 or T12 shoplights of the same color.

We bought some T-8 replacement LED bulbs for our city hall and they were so much brighter than the old fluorescent bulbs. I wonder how that would affect growing seedlings. I also have six old T-12 shop lights and either will replace those shop lights with LED fixtures or will rebulb if LEDs ever are available in the T-12 size.

Do you still have bulb placement at about one inch above the plant? Any heat differences between LED and fluorescent?

I now consider fluorescent passé for plants. LED's are typical screw in fittings and often have parabolic reflectors for focusing of the light.

Florescent do have heat which is much reduced using the LED's. I am using the LED inside a 22 liter pail and I do use a fan but it is primarily to agitate the plants strengthening the stems.

I once had an 1000 watt HUD(?) but you needed an AC to cool. So for a number of years I have only used what I can get from the Sun.

I have four pails with PAR 38 LED's and they are more than sufficient for my gardening seedlings. Six growing pots for each pail.

I have also put LED's in the hallway and they are more than sufficient. I replaced a circular fluorescent. I do have some four foot fluorescent fixtures in bathroom and kitchen, (T12) which if there are four foot LED's when required I will replace.