LEDs to grow plants

[Hagakure]

http://www.makezine.com/blog/archive/2006/...owing_leds.html

wish there was more info on what they did, but still, might spark some ideas.

would be cool to poke a whole lot into the lid of a foam box and wire them up on the other side. less space taken up by a light means more room for plants.

[Monk]

Hell yeah, this used to be a pipe dream, so to speak, but now these guys, SolarOasis LED grow lights, sell a great commercially produced version. Too bad I quit doing indoor gardening before I discovered this. I saw them through this vendor, Peaceful Valley Farm Supply. Basically, they cost $21 US to operate per year(!) for the equivalent of a 400W metal halide lamp with almost no heat production. Talk about clandestine! Larger, more efficient arrays are available, making it possible for the system to pay for itself quick enough to make it worth the initial capital investment (they are expensive.) This pdf, Light Comparison, explains why something that consumes so little power is so much more efficient than a 1kw HPS lamp, though the explanation is a little incomplete as it does not show enough details of the LED efficiency. All in all, they sound like the ideal thing for someone who wants a quiet, cool, compact (even closed) system that requires very little power.

[kadakuda]

there are some ideas in this thread

http://www.shroomery.org/forums/showflat.p...e=1&fpart=1

[NorthernComfort]

I've seen similar ballast replace MH lights on marine reef fish tanks.

Wish the price would go down.

Tracked down a 250W MH equivilant for $600USD and the 400W MH equivilant for $1000USD out of China.

[kadakuda]

leds are cheap if you wire them...

[chilli]

leds are cheap if you wire them...

How do you do this?

[Hagakure]

illegalbrain - the last post of the shroomery thread says how to do this.

[kadakuda]

i am no electrician i am in the midst of trying to figure it out as well...without burning my house down. there is some great info on wiring on that site...i am just to thick to understand the electronic parts.

[devance]

http://www.sciencedirect.com/science?_ob=A...ca56f3b1d872f9d

http://www.wired.com/medtech/health/news/2003/10/60786

'Photobiomodulation by light in the red to near infrared range (630–1000 nm) using low energy lasers or light-emitting diode (LED) arrays has been shown to accelerate wound healing, improve recovery from ischemic injury in the heart and attenuate degeneration in the injured optic nerve. Recent evidence indicates that the therapeutic effects of red to near infrared light result, in part, from intracellular signaling mechanisms triggered by the interaction of NIR light with the mitochondrial photoacceptor molecule cytochrome c oxidase. We have demonstrated that NIR-LED'

'DNA synthesis in muscle cells quintupled after a single application of LEDs flashing at the 680-, 730- and 880-nanometer wavelengths, according to Whelan.'\

'Ordinarily, mitochondria -- the engines of the cell -- turn sugars into energy. They do so with the help of an enzyme, cytochrome oxidase, which carries electrons during the energy-transfer process. Whelan's theory is that light particles from the LED give the cytochrome electrons it ordinarily would get from sugar. Light becomes a substitute for food, basically.'

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I was thinking maybe the infrared type LEDS as a experiment on plant growth shouldn't be neglected.

Its amazing the mitochondrial photoacceptor molecule cytochrome c oxidase could absorb and use infralight as a energy source.

[tuamai]

Hell yeah, this used to be a pipe dream, so to speak, but now these guys, SolarOasis LED grow lights, sell a great commercially produced version. Too bad I quit doing indoor gardening before I discovered this. I saw them through this vendor, Peaceful Valley Farm Supply. Basically, they cost $21 US to operate per year(!) for the equivalent of a 400W metal halide lamp with almost no heat production. Talk about clandestine! Larger, more efficient arrays are available, making it possible for the system to pay for itself quick enough to make it worth the initial capital investment (they are expensive.) This pdf, Light Comparison, explains why something that consumes so little power is so much more efficient than a 1kw HPS lamp, though the explanation is a little incomplete as it does not show enough details of the LED efficiency. All in all, they sound like the ideal thing for someone who wants a quiet, cool, compact (even closed) system that requires very little power.

Wow!! This is the new revolution in indoor plant growth!! No telltale heat emissions! No telltale high electric bills! This is a pipe dream come true!