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Thread: Help and advice for building a LED unit

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    Help and advice for building a LED unit

    As above, I am considering building a LED setup for my ATS.

    My screen is 6" x 6" and the effective size of the lights can be 7 1/2" x 8 1/2 ". My initial thoughts are 4 red and 3 blue to each side (each 3w)

    What I want to know apart from is the lighting suitable is basically - how to do it and what other parts do I need. As you can guess, I know nothing about

    electrical work. Any thoughts, ideas and info gratefully accepted.

    Dennis

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    4:3 Too many blue.

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    I agree, 5:2 or 6:1 on the red:blue ratio.

    rapidled has most of what you need, and even solderless options. leds, adhesive, heatsink, drivers.

    ledsupply.com has a product called LED Seal that will spray a protective silicone layer to protect the LEDs if they won't have any type of casing or splash shield.

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    I would go 6:1 or even as far as 8:1 on the blues. 4:3 is definitely way too much blue.

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    Still at the thinking about it stage at the moment but looking at the Rapidled setup for easey fitting, but thinking of the 6:1 ratio on each side as the solderless units come in 7 fittings

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    Quote Originally Posted by Floyd R Turbo View Post
    I would go 6:1 or even as far as 8:1 on the blues. 4:3 is definitely way too much blue.
    With what you learned today, do you still feel that the case? I am thinking 5:2 is now looking even better, 1x 455nm and 1x 420nm for the blues.

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    Well those studies I keep referring to that NASA and I think Cornell did that showed the ratio of I think 6.5:1 red:blue keeps coming back to mind, the question that is still nagging me is what was their unit of measurement to arrive at that ratio. It is radiant flux, par, wattage, etc. The anecdotal evidence suggest that just going by a pure # of LEDs ratio gets you pretty close. Also this seems to have been mimicked to a large extent by more of the plant-growth fixtures you see on the market. My guess is that they followed what their customers wanted. In the initial stages of the LED grow light industry, I'm sure there were all kinds of experiments with all kinds of plant types that generally arrived at some kind of seemingly optimal ratio, and thus this is why everyone now makes fixtures with this ratio - because it is what works. The hydro guy who helped me design my fixture basically said do 7:1 ratio of LEDs

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    Totally understand all that, but that is for terrestrial plants. When throwing saltwater and the bacteria into the mix, it is appearing more and more that the blues have more of a positive effect for our needs than they do for hydro.

    Here is another one that will get your brain spinning.

    On terrestrial plants, Blue = Vegetative growth, Red = Flowering. I have seen some recent LED grows using only 420/455/475 blues for the entire veg cycle and then switch to 8:1 reds when it comes time to flower.
    http://www.advancedledlights.com/pro...Made-LEDs.html

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    Getting more confusing now guys. Had made my mind up to go 8:1 but now it looks like it may/should be 7:2.

    I have been looking at the Satisled LED's and my order when I get round to doing it will be

    1 x driver for 18 x 3w
    4 x heatsinks 240 x 76 ( will need 2 each side )
    14 x 3w red high power LED's (660-670)
    10 x 3w royal blue high power LED's (have to buy 10 as min order no.)

    My only question now is, do you wire up + to + etc or + to -

    Told you I don't understand electrics.

    Dennis

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    Algae doesn't have a vegetative part of the cycle as far as I know. People who have tried to grow algae using only RBs or CWs get growth, but reds get better growth. Also look at the SM100 test with the e-shine fixture, and all the other tests he has done. If 5000-6500K worked better than 2700K, everyone would be using it. Blue alone doesn't work, heavy in red works, bottom line. 6:1 to 8:1 ratio. I see no reason to stray from that range.

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