Calling out to Weezard for LED advice

[MdmPele]

I love this thread and I've not even finished page 1!

interested in LED's for life these days.

moving to Hilo (from Portland OR) May and electricity is more than 2x here. which got me interested in LEDs in the first place

I like the cake pan lamp

anyway -- I'll be doing a bunch of reading here.

Now, on the 2-3 week extra finish time, has anyone here tried reptile UVB CFL bulbs to aument the light spectrum?

I've been flowering under 436w t-5 in red with 3 UVB cfl's. The change when I first added them was nothing short of fascinating/miraculous!

It enhances the trichome production.

ok, back to reading

[DreadedHermie]

In pidgin, "choke" means too much.

I am lolo. Derrr....

I'm sure you caught the initial joke.

"Lost Sheep Dream of electric Bo-Peep.
Leds Still Do."

That seemed straightforward enough. However, I googled "Electric Bo Peep" to see if I was missing something obvious and learned:
[attachment=o215078]

Now that's obvious.

[Weezard]

I love this thread and I've not even finished page 1!

interested in LED's for life these days.

moving to Hilo (from Portland OR) May and electricity is more than 2x here. which got me interested in LEDs in the first place

I like the cake pan lamp

anyway -- I'll be doing a bunch of reading here.

Now, on the 2-3 week extra finish time, has anyone here tried reptile UVB CFL bulbs to aument the light spectrum?

Did read that someone tried them.
No dramatic result.
Also not a double blind study,so...

So, try 'em if ya gottem and let us know.

Close as I have to personal UVb info?
Got an array that I bought on E.
It has a mix of red, blue, violet, UVb, and IR. on it.
irradiated one side of a WW all through bloom.
Then dried buds from that side and the opposite side.
Cured 'em, tried 'em.
Objectively, no weight difference, no size difference
Subjectively, no effect difference.
Not what you'd call a definitive test, ya?.:hippy:
I'm not organized enough to do it right.

And, I'm results oriented, so, I just hung a large CFL for any missed light frequency and invited the girls to he'p themselves.

I've been flowering under 436w t-5 in red with 3 UVB cfl's. The change when I first added them was nothing short of fascinating/miraculous!

Did you add them after the "stretch" or at the beginning of flower?
Did you have some non-UVb siblings for a comparison?

It enhances the trichome production.

ok, back to reading

Not claiming to have a lock on the most efficient growlight.
Just thrashing about and getting acceptable results for 1/10th the energy of HPS.
Pretty happy with the current setup.

Building a more powerful version to see if it speeds production or adds bud mass. :weedpoke:


I'll have dimmers on this one.
Will run them at full power for a full bloom cycle.
IF, (and that's a big if), I can save 2 weeks and get bigger buds with twice the energy cost, it's all good.
Then, I'll "do the math" to see if it's cost effective in Watts per ounce.
If not, I'll turn 'em down to the minimum energy consumption for my present yield and be patient.

If you decide to use 15W. ledengin 660nm. leds, be aware that Mouser only has 26 left as of yesterday.
Seems they were an experimental, limited run and Ledengin is not presently shipping them.

Anyroad, welcome to da Beeg Guy's Land.

Aloha nui loa,
Weezard

[Weezard]

Wow, DH!

You flatter me!
Not that I didn't enjoy it, just sayin I noticed.:1baa:
Mahalo nui!

Avatar. Little boy. Arms race. Shoe banger,
"We will bury you".:S2:
'Snot like dat, brah.:hippy:


Actually, I was afraid someone would snatch up the last 38 660s.
And I only need about 15 amps, but the headroom will make for a long and happy life for the base P.S..
Need 10.5V. for 1.2A.
Got 12V. , so, dimmers.
The 8amp dimmers are $16 ea. w/shipping.
Got the 10"X10"X1.5" 'sink for a song on E.
<sings> How much is dat froggy inuendo?
Twenny dollah n change.
Dat should wash all da "crunchy" from dem pants, Ya?
I'll send ya some 'sink porn when it arrives.

'bout dem Meanwells. I'd leave the case off dem pups.
Regardless of the heat conduction afforded by the plastic.
Even it it was a good conductor, it's still one more layer between them and the air. It's all about how fast one moves the heat away.
An ideal 'sink is infinite in it's capacity. Or so massive that it may as well be infinite. These li'l pups are far from ideal, so we need to hand off the heat to the air and keep that air moving, so, fins an' fans.:twocents:

"I was (am) planning to do a separate thread for my build log. No sense dragging innocents through my carnage unneccessarily."

There, I disagree.
The "frying of the light" may be the most useful part of this thread. Could save folks a lot of grief.
I'm leaving my errors as a warning to always get a second opinion, 'cause no lizard is perfect, and some of us are highly medicated most of the time.:stoned:
And, you handled it with such grace and humor that it is instructive as well as entertaining.
"Drag 'em Dan-o."

""Weezard, please be in my thread!"
Done!
Mahalo fo' de invite!

Dr. Weezard-o

[MdmPele]

Not claiming to have a lock on the most efficient growlight.
Just thrashing about and getting acceptable results for 1/10th the energy of HPS.
Pretty happy with the current setup.

Building a more powerful version to see if it speeds production or adds bud mass. :weedpoke:


I'll have dimmers on this one.
Will run them at full power for a full bloom cycle.
IF, (and that's a big if), I can save 2 weeks and get bigger buds with twice the energy cost, it's all good.
Then, I'll "do the math" to see if it's cost effective in Watts per ounce.
If not, I'll turn 'em down to the minimum energy consumption for my present yield and be patient.

If you decide to use 15W. ledengin 660nm. leds, be aware that Mouser only has 26 left as of yesterday.
Seems they were an experimental, limited run and Ledengin is not presently shipping them.

Anyroad, welcome to da Beeg Guy's Land.

Aloha nui loa,
Weezard

Mahalo for the welcome. What island you on?

If the UB on your light was an LED, then you only had UVA. They have not produced any higher UV led's yet (as of my last internet research in about september 2008)

UVB is the color that tickles the trichomes as I understand. It sure did/does in my all-flouro flower room. 26w cfl with 5-10% UVB will also put out about 30% UVA... very little UVC, the purifier color range. (thankfully I wear transitions glasses)

I aske because (someone) mentioned adding 45w cfl for the added spectrum.

[Weezard]

I am lolo. Derrr....



That seemed straightforward enough. However, I googled "Electric Bo Peep" to see if I was missing something obvious and learned:
[attachment=o215078]

Now that's obvious.

"Do androids dream of electric sheep"?*
Do dey count dem 'til dey fall asleep?

Oh hell no!

Once dey spy dat fine Bo-peep.
Dey head fo' bed,
but dey no sleep.

Mahalo fo' da eye candy, brah!

*(Original story, Philip K. Dick.
Basis for the movie, Blade Runner.)

[Weezard]

Mahalo for the welcome. What island you on?

If the UB on your light was an LED, then you only had UVA. They have not produced any higher UV led's yet (as of my last internet research in about september 2008)

UVB is the color that tickles the trichomes as I understand. It sure did/does in my all-flouro flower room. 26w cfl with 5-10% UVB will also put out about 30% UVA... very little UVC, the purifier color range. (thankfully I wear transitions glasses)

I aske because (someone) mentioned adding 45w cfl for the added spectrum.

That would be me.
I hung a 45W. CFL in the bloom room, but did not see enough difference in yield to measure.
So, took it back out and now use it to start seedlings.

You are correct those leds are just barely UVa.
Don't have a "curve on 'em but was kinda hopin' that the "skirt" would be wide enough to provide some shorter wavelength UV. Already had a CFL for the short UV
No matter. no discernable difference.

Now, about my questions...
"Did you add them after the "stretch" or at the beginning of flower?
Did you have some non-UVb siblings for a comparison?"

LEDs are great for producing choke trichomes,
Got good bud from red and blue alone, so now, I'm increasing the intensity of the dichroic light:weedpoke: just to see what happens yieldwise.

"What island you on? "

Um,
"welcome to da Beeg Guy's Land"

Kona side.

Aloha,
Beeg Guy

[DreadedHermie]

Okay, I can relate to drunken Welsh poets: Rage, rage against the dying of 'dem $31 lights (or, if purchased in quantities suitable for genocide, $29). WTF, now I know. (Wait'll Pele gets to the part where I smoke my lunch money! There should be a parental advisory on that episode. Reminds me of the old "Ever see a grown man cry?" magazine ads featuring a bottle of fine Scotch whisky breaking on the pavement.)

Got 12V. , so, dimmers.
The 8amp dimmers are $16 ea. w/shipping.

What kinda dimmers these? What kinda current regs? (Gonna explain in yer build log?)
Also curious about the lenses. I've got my light maybe 9" above plant tops. Could be lower but the light distribution looks real good jes' like that :thumbsup: (but my space is small). If you're lensing the leds you must have your lamp further away. Just trying to figger if I'm missing out on something here....:detective1:

"Do androids dream of electric sheep"?*
Basis for the movie, Blade Runner.)

AHA! I think that's credited, maybe at the beginning of the movie. A google search of "electric sheep" looked like it was leading me into some PtP sites I didn't quite trust. Then, I got distracted... What a beautifully cast flick, though. Maybe a Brion James avatar for awhile...

P.S. Got so tired last night I conked out, woke up and worked some more, then conked out again :stoned: (5 am) and didn't wake up till noon. Unfortunately, I left the flap on the flower closet open so there was 5 extra hours of (low-level) light disturbing my girls. Now, I must watch for "the dreaded hermie." How redundant. However, I remain optimistic. :thumbsup:

[Weezard]

Okay, I can relate to drunken Welsh poets: Rage, rage against the dying of 'dem $31 lights (or, if purchased in quantities suitable for genocide, $29). WTF, now I know. (Wait'll Pele gets to the part where I smoke my lunch money! There should be a parental advisory on that episode. Reminds me of the old "Ever see a grown man cry?" magazine ads featuring a bottle of fine Scotch whisky breaking on the pavement.)



What kinda dimmers these? What kinda current regs? (Gonna explain in yer build log?)

Soitenly!

But here's da skinny;
Not a current reg.
But, if I resistor limit the max. I can start at full on and turn it down to suit my targets.


eBay Store - led-world2007:: DC 12V 8A LED Dimmer adjustable brightness controller

Also curious about the lenses. I've got my light maybe 9" above plant tops. Could be lower but the light distribution looks real good jes' like that :thumbsup: (but my space is small). If you're lensing the leds you must have your lamp further away. Just trying to figger if I'm missing out on something here....:detective1:

Not really! I just hate to waste Watts

It's them damn 'lectric sheep and their lambertian spread again, wasting my hard earned Watts ! <grumble grumble>

YO!
YOUSE TWO EWES GET OFF MY GRASS!!!

By directing all the light to exactly where I want it I can raise the lamp up out of my way and still get great results.
Going by the difference between my lensed and unlensed 5W arrays.
Pointing the photons straight down multiplies the lamp power X 3+ !
At a very reasonable, one time cost.
And, it gives better penetration to the lower bud sites.

Do have to be carefull though.

Keep an eye on da stretchers.
Any closer than ~3" and you can bleach large ,round white, spots into your leaves.

AHA! I think that's credited, maybe at the beginning of the movie. A google search of "electric sheep" looked like it was leading me into some PtP sites I didn't quite trust. Then, I got distracted... What a beautifully cast flick, though. Maybe a Brion James avatar for awhile...

Ugh! grottiest scene in an incredibly beautiful flick.
Ick!
Not for the squeamish.

The art direction is superb though.
Makes it worth Al the gore.

P.S. Got so tired last night I conked out, woke up and worked some more, then conked out again :stoned: (5 am) and didn't wake up till noon. Unfortunately, I left the flap on the flower closet open so there was 5 extra hours of (low-level) light disturbing my girls. Now, I must watch for "the dreaded hermie." How redundant. However, I remain optimistic. :thumbsup:

I think it gonna be OK, depending on the strain.
One 5 hour, low level screw-up probably won't hurt WW.
Two or three day running?
Then I'd worry.

Don't ask,
but do tell.

Mahalo nui loa for da use of da hall.
Weeze.

[DreadedHermie]

Ugh! grottiest scene in an incredibly beautiful flick.
Ick!
Not for the squeamish.

I was sorry to learn just now that Brion James died of a heart attack almost 10 years ago. So Rutger, but yeah, a little unnerving. Something quirky from the idyllic past next, I think.

Makes it worth Al the gore.

Him I remember. Invented the hole in the ozone, right?

Pointing the photons straight down multiplies the lamp power X 3+ !

Sooooo- where'd ya find the lenses?

One 5 hour, low level screw-up probably won't hurt WW.

:S2: :S2:

WW. That's rich. No, this is a French strain called "La Merde Dans le Sac."

Oops. Time for work again. Hermie