Right now they are. I am using a diffuser at the present and the screen is fairly mature. Not really getting "burning" just not as much growth as I would like.
Right now they are. I am using a diffuser at the present and the screen is fairly mature. Not really getting "burning" just not as much growth as I would like.
I have 2 suggestions. First, I would place a small square of black electrical tape over the diffuser, lined up in front of each blue LED. Just a square, same length as the width of the tape. See if this makes a difference. The blues may still be overpowering the rest of the screen.
Leave everything else alone and give that a week or two and see if you notice a change.
Since you're not burning the screen, I would not reduce hours.
However, you may benefit from removing the diffusers if your screen is mature. The issue is the blues - you have to knock down the intensity. Have you seen my pics of how I wire the blues in parallel within the series string? This really helps, because blues have more radiant power than the reds, so you don't need them at as high of a drive current. Wire them so that the run at 1/2 current and you can remove the diffusers completely, which will up the intensity and may allow you to reduce the hours and get the same growth. Meaning that as you increase load, you can increase the hours again to compensate
L4 fixture
one side
Closeup of parallel wired blues
Ah. I had no idea it was that simple to switch and then switch back again. I thought some sort of splitting and combining devices would be necessary.
Thanks again!
Oops, that brings up another question... Those are all "3w"? (I know, they aren't 3w anymore, but just catagorizing them.) Or are you dropping down to 1w for the blues in parrallel? (I wouldn't assume that's not prossible, or at least not recommended, but electrical engineering is not my strong suit...)
re-read post #45, yes they are all 3W, and blues are supplemental and do not count towards the wattage total for screen sizing purposes. The 2 blues at 1/2 power actually have more output that a single blue at full power, because LEDs get more efficient as you dim them (or less efficient as you drive them harder, however you want to look at it)
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