LED suggestion

[jnad]

Hello!

I might be helping av friend of mine to build a small scrubber, this time the scrubber is going to be 2-sided and placed on top of thank as usual :D

In this project I will look into the possible use of LED for lighting.
There have been some great posts in this forum about the use of led in scrubbers and if I have understood it right the 660nm colored led is a good way to go.

The size of the screen that is going to bee lightened is: 10x10 centimeters or maybe 15x15 centimeters.

I see in previous threads that the 3W 660nm led is recomended, but beacuse this is going to be a very small scrubber the leds is going to be very close to the screen. The distance between the screen and led will maybe be around 1 inch.

I dont now if a 3w led will burn the algae on the screen on this short distance, i dont now if it in this case is better to use 1W 660nm led or the solution to burned algae with 3W is just to use less lighting hours pr day.

Would appreciate recommendations to lead diodes/setup for this size og screen and short distance between leds and screen?

Thought maybe I could use something like that, but the disc is too large (25x25cm):
http://www.ledwholesalers.com/store/index.php?act=viewProd&productId=421

jnad

[Ace25]

Sounds like 1w LEDs would be the better route to go on the scrubber you describe. I do believe 3w @ 1" would burn the algae.

Slightly different topic but it relates, I did find out the use for blue LEDs on a scrubber and now understand more about my tests I ran. Blue LEDs won't grow algae. It isn't the spectrum used for growth, but what it does do is tell the algae to "open up" and start taking in CO2. So blue light is the "breathing" spectrum for plants, red light is the "growth" spectrum for plants. This explains why when I tried all blue light I didn't get any growth, and when I put 2 3w royal blues in line on my test with reds I got no growth in the blue area but good growth at the edges where a little blue overlapped the reds. Blues are needed it would appear, but you don't need much blue and you need it spread out. My mistake what I put blues in place of reds, I needed to put 1 blue right next to a red in the center of the array. I will be doing that today to test. On my scrubber one side will have 6 3w 660nm reds, the other side will have 6 3w 660nm red and 1 455nm Royal Blue. If my thinking is correct, I should see more growth on the side with the royal blue.

So that being said, right now on the scrubber you describe, I would try 9 1w LEDs in a 3x3 pattern. 8 of them 660nm red, and 1 in the center that is a 455 blue or 430nm blue if you can find one. I think you will get good results but not having tried that exact scenerio myself I can't say with certainty.

[jnad]

Sounds like 1w LEDs would be the better route to go on the scrubber you describe. I do believe 3w @ 1" would burn the algae.

Slightly different topic but it relates, I did find out the use for blue LEDs on a scrubber and now understand more about my tests I ran. Blue LEDs won't grow algae. It isn't the spectrum used for growth, but what it does do is tell the algae to "open up" and start taking in CO2. So blue light is the "breathing" spectrum for plants, red light is the "growth" spectrum for plants. This explains why when I tried all blue light I didn't get any growth, and when I put 2 3w royal blues in line on my test with reds I got no growth in the blue area but good growth at the edges where a little blue overlapped the reds. Blues are needed it would appear, but you don't need much blue and you need it spread out. My mistake what I put blues in place of reds, I needed to put 1 blue right next to a red in the center of the array. I will be doing that today to test. On my scrubber one side will have 6 3w 660nm reds, the other side will have 6 3w 660nm red and 1 455nm Royal Blue. If my thinking is correct, I should see more growth on the side with the royal blue.

So that being said, right now on the scrubber you describe, I would try 9 1w LEDs in a 3x3 pattern. 8 of them 660nm red, and 1 in the center that is a 455 blue or 430nm blue if you can find one. I think you will get good results but not having tried that exact scenerio myself I can't say with certainty.

Thanks!

I will try to find some 1W 660nm and some blue of 1W, i do think Osram also have 1W 660nm leds.

What you say about the need of blue light match this text from Osram website, if i understand it correctly Osram recomends 10-30% mix with blue leds:
http://www.osram.com/osram_com/News/Tra ... 660nm.html (http://www.osram.com/osram_com/News/Trade_Press/LED_OptoSemiconductor/2010/100921_red_LED_660nm.html)

Here is a panel matching what you saying about red and blue, to bad the panel is to big for my setup :(
http://ledwholesalers.com/store/index.php?act=viewProd&productId=398


jnad

[jnad]

Hello!

I see that Osram has the 3w 660nm red version also in a 1W size, but i dont seem to find a place to by it. Is there anyone that knows a webshop that have the 1W version?

And do the 1W leds need to be mounted on a heatsink just like the 3W leds?

jnad

[Ace25]

Not sure where to find 1w OSRAM LEDs, only seen the china 660nm 1w LEDs. As for the heatsink, you still need some type of backing for the "star" type of LEDs, but a simple sheet of aluminum should be enough to cool the 1w LEDs, no need for a heasink with fins. A fan will always help but probably not required, but test the temp of the heatsink you use to make sure it doesn't get hotter than recommended specs for the LEDs.

[jnad]

Not sure where to find 1w OSRAM LEDs, only seen the china 660nm 1w LEDs. As for the heatsink, you still need some type of backing for the "star" type of LEDs, but a simple sheet of aluminum should be enough to cool the 1w LEDs, no need for a heasink with fins. A fan will always help but probably not required, but test the temp of the heatsink you use to make sure it doesn't get hotter than recommended specs for the LEDs.

Thanks ACE25!

Have been looking around on the internett for 660nm china led and drivers, but it is difficult to find.

Du you have any links to some places to by these things.

jnad

[kerry]

I got mine from here: http://myworld.ebay.com/ledtoplights&ss ... 1543.l2533 (http://myworld.ebay.com/ledtoplights&ssPageName=STRK:MEFSX:SELLERID&_trksid=p3984.m1543.l2533) . I thought I had a bad driver as it said it would handle 4-7 3w LEDs. with four it blinked. So I figured I would add two 12,000K to the display and it works fine now.

[jnad]

Hello!

Another led bulb come up:

This is a dimmabel bulb , when dim down the effect, will it do any changes in the red 660nm wavelenght leds, will it still be 660nm when dimmed?
http://www.ebay.com/itm/PAR38-Dimmable-660nm-RED-and-450-nm-Blue-LED-Grow-Light-/200576337615

jnad

[kotlec]

Dimming has nothing to do with wavelenght. Dimming is done via pulsing . on-of-on-of .... ;)

[jnad]

Hello!

Thanks for aswering.

Do you led users out there think this dimmable 1x12W bulb will work on a small 1 sided screen?

http://www.ebay.com/itm/PAR38-Dimmable-660nm-RED-and-450-nm-Blue-LED-Grow-Light-/200576337615

jnad

[Ace25]

That looks like a pretty good light to me for your purpose/screen size. Can't say 100% that it will work without trying it but I would say 95% chance it will work fine. If I was in your situation I would seriously consider buying that light because it is all built and ready to go, just screw it into a light socket and flip a switch. Nice job finding that bulb.

[kotlec]

One small can be double size of another small. So thats hard to answer.
Generally speaking I dont see why it should not work.

[jnad]

Thanks for your answers.

Ace25: Were looking a long time on the internet for this bulb, actually believe I reached the end of the internet :D :shock:

Think i will pace a order to check out this bulb.

jnad

[jnad]

Whooow!

100USD shipping costs to Norway was a little tooooo expensive :shock:

Maybe i i must look in to DIY some led light again :?

jnad

[inkidu]

A 1 watt or a 3 watt or even for that matter a 5 watt led could all be the same led.
It is all a function of the power you put to the led.
You generally want to go with less led that can handle more power and ideal run them at a lower power. IMO This can help greatly with there useful life.
EX. An Osram hyper red can be run at 400mA or 1A so essential that is what makes it roughly a 1 watt (2.35 Vf * .4A) or a 3 watt (2.6 Vf * 1A)
I would be very hesitant to buy any non-brand led from ebay.
Rapid Led has the Osrams for what I think is cheap. Outside of buying a 100 of them from Mouser I can't even come close to that price.
Add the company sells heatsinks that are ready drilled and tapped and could easily make a great DIY project.
Look into the Cree XT-E royal blues they are the newest and have great effeciencey.
http://www.cree.com/products/pdf/XLampXT-E_ROY.pdf
Also Meanwell makes great led drivers. The Taiwanese are great at integrated circuits. The driver can be the most important part of the build.
The right ones will have a way to adjust the current/power so you can tweak what works. And do not forget that the driver comes with a warranty.
Always keep in mind why you want to go with led. IMO
Longevity

Hope this helps.

[jnad]

Thanks