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How good is this method? In my theory it could be the way to grow of the future, but as i understand it these suckers will not be cheap. Has anyone here any experience of L.E.D. growing cos i`m really keen to know more of the pros and cons.
Cheers all.
Interested in growing things indoors, but never wanted to mess with the expense and hassle of grow lights? Traditional grow lights generate lots of heat and use enormous amounts of electricity, raising your monthly electric bill by noticable amounts.
But now there is a simpler solution for indoor growing. LED technology!
These LED grow lights stay cool, and use only a miniscule amount of energy. Choose the Pro bar upgrade for a brighter more productive light system.
The SolarOasis Ruby Pro-Grow Light lets home plant growing enthusiasts custom tailor their grow lighting environment. This low-voltage design, which mounts with a single screw, provides extended flexibility for the indoor plant grower.
What Can You Grow?
With a single three light bar, there are a couple of different options. With herbs, African violets and other high to medium light plants, you can grow as many plants as you can fit in a 12 inch by 24 inch space, and you will want to hang the grow bar 18 inches above your plants.
But if you are growing something like lettuce, which requires lower intensity light, you can raise the grow bar to 36 inches high, and grow all the lettuce plants you can fit in a 24 inch by 36 inch space underneath the grow bar. That's a lot of fresh lettuce!
Lower Energy Use
Conventional grow lights consume between 100 watts and 1,000 watts of power to operate. Each SolarOasis Ruby Grow Light uses less-than 2 watts of power. This energy savings becomes more and more important as energy costs continue to rise. On average, SolarOasis grow lights use 33-times less energy than comparable metallic vapor lights (based on 3 Ruby Gro-Bars per 400 watt MH light). Three LED Gro-Bars containing three LED lights, used 16-hours per day, at $0.10 per KilowattHour, will cost about $21 per year to operate. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) estimates that every Kilowatt of energy produces 1.5 lbs of carbon dioxide (CO2). The EPA estimates that for every 7,300 lbs of CO2 prevented is equivalent to planting one acre of trees. Based on these EPA estimates, each 400 watt metallic vapor light replaced by SolarOasis Ruby Grow Lights will yield a savings in energy-produced CO2 equivalent to planting nearly 1/2 acre of trees per year.
Longer Bulb Life
Based on data published by the manufacturers of components used in the LED grow light, the expected SolarOasis bulb life is 20,000 â?? 100,000 hours. This is ten to fifty times longer than typical glass grow light bulb life expectations. Replacing glass bulbs every year adds a lot to the expense of a growing system. Now you won't be changing expensive bulbs every year.
Hope that helps some.
Damn, those sound great.. So how many watts would I need for a 1 square foot grow box and 1 plant.. Anyone know?
ANY IDEA WHAT THE LUMENS AND K TEMP ARE ON THESE LIGHTS?
It would be really easy and pretty cheap to make your own LED lights, All you need are some basic elcetronic skills, and some LED's.Check ebay for a wholesale lot lot of LEDs. Also LEDs produce little to no heat.
http://www.dansdata.com/caselight.htm
The link contains pretty much all you need to know about building an LED light
I can find loads of places that sell LEDs but alot of sites don`t state the Kelvin temp, would it be as simple as blue for growth and orange for bloom ?