Checking over my DIY LED plan

Hello, i am un-hijacking alohamahalo's thread http://boards.cannabis.com/indoor-li...ed-lights.html and starting a new one here. I plan to make three units, 2 -50w units(roughly) and 1 40w unit(roughly). utilizing LEDengin 5w 660nm for the 40w and a combo of 5w 460 and 660 for the veg lights.

Plan is to use {http://reefledlights.com/shop/mean-well-lpc-60-1050} (mean well lpc 60-1050) to run the emitters. I'm finding out at the moment whether or not i have i utilize all of the available power or not, but, i did finally find out that driver automatically sense the voltage required per string, and as long as its within spec, everything is adjusted automatically, heck yes.

I'll be going with the LZ1 series of emitters LedEngin, and i notice that the 460 comes in two variations, the "blue" and the "dental blue". The light output is measured differently, radiant and luminous, i'm familiar with luminous, but not sure how radiant flux is measured. so, i see that the "blue" is very low, and i understand this is measured in how bright it is to human eyes(lumens) and not plants, but, the rating is still horribly low..(for "blue") So, "dental blue" and "blue" outputting the same exact light frequency(nm/wavelength) does anyone know what the difference is?

so, i know, find the Vf of the emitters, might as well use highest rating, and put the strings within spec, and keep the number of strings under the rated max wattage output. So, one question is it more efficient to run higher voltage/larger strings or a larger number of small strings?

other than that, does it look like i have any wholes here?(am i missing anything)

peaces :)

i dont know what the difference is but i used the "blue" ones and they work. i wish i could help you with the differences. maybe WEEZARD will chime in and help out. i used the meanwells and they work well although i used different drivers for diff wavelenths so i could control the spectrum kinda and am not sure in your case which would be more efficient. cant remember where but read somewhere that the life of the led increases(correct me if im wrong please).
anyway hope what i said helps.
good luck
alohamahalo

The biggest difference is cost, dental blue being more expensive.

Hey Weezard, is there any other difference....like say the dentals have more photon energy?

Inquiring minds want to know.

OM

I was kinda hoping khyberkitsune would chime in here and explain the "blue" vs "dental blue" difference, but if Weez has some info to pass around, that works also.

As far as these units go, i'll probably put together the veg lights first, as they are more needed, but, that being that case, i'd like to try to find the differences between the two emitters. thanks for the replies guys

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by alohamahalo

cant remember where but read somewhere that the life of the led increases(correct me if im wrong please).
anyway hope what i said helps.
good luck
alohamahalo

---

?? hmm, i mean, i dunno, can't really see why though. I'd think as long as the varying colors are on their own strings(or given the right voltage) i don't see any issues.

haha. yeah. im not sure. just read that somewhere. and yeah. it would work on one driver but i just wanted to control the spectrum a lil so i used a diff driver for each color. good luck with the build brah!
cheee!!

Most commercial LEDs use 460-470nm blue due to cost savings. The most efficient photosynthetic response is at 445nm and 420nm (which is even more expensive unles you use T5 actinic or dual actinic bulbs). Note that the aquarium market always leads the indoor growing market and they are using 445-455nm.

If you are on a budget, use 460-470nm. If you want the best possible go 445nm.