Smartlamp LED grow test

[KaliKitsune]

250 watt? Just rip the 12v power supply out of a computer, you've got all the power you need there. Short the green wire and it'll turn on. Instant 12v with all the amperage you need and protection you need.

 

[ledgrowtester]

Hate to break the news to you, but on the cooling side you haven't got a clue what you are talking about.

LEDs do produce heat, just much less than HID. The difference is that LEDs must be cooled or they burn-out. At the very least, the light output from the LEDs is decreased.

That is why all LED lights have a cooling system unlike HPS etc. The systems out there are usually air-cooled. This company makes both. These systems are used by the Canadian government Agriculture department for its research which is what got our interest to start.

What got me laughing is water-cooled LEDs. I know for a fact there's almost negligible heat inside of an LED, as the clear glass acts perfectly as a heat conductor. If those LEDs produced any significant heat to damage themselves, the glass around the LED itself would get equally hot for as long as the light is on. In other words, this does not happen, and it's purely a marketing gimmick easily seen through by those with any modest knowledge of basic electronic engineering principles. If you wanted more efficiency, you'd water-cool the transformer/ballast used to step down the voltage to those LEDs to increase the efficiency of the transformer.

 

[KaliKitsune]

Hate to break the news to you, but on the cooling side you haven't got a clue what you are talking about.

LEDs do produce heat, just much less than HID. The difference is that LEDs must be cooled or they burn-out. At the very least, the light output from the LEDs is decreased.

That is why all LED lights have a cooling system unlike HPS etc. The systems out there are usually air-cooled. This company makes both. These systems are used by the Canadian government Agriculture department for its research which is what got our interest to start.

Did you not read where I said negligible heat? Let's go over some basic material physics, and you'll understand why what you're saying is FALSE.

Blue LEDs are made from indium/gallium/occasionally selenium alloy. The alloyed semiconductor has a breaking down point of over 800 degrees, just about the same range as a solar panel, which is made from the same material but in a different process - LEDs don't get that hot internally, there's not enough joules to make that happen, the wires are just too thin to support that kind of energy transfer. In other words - Laws of Thermodynamics and the Conservation of Energy say "no" very firmly to needing to cool an LED. You'll kill it faster by overvolting it than you would by failing to keep it cooler than ambient temperature.

Simple science, that's all it is.

 

[ledgrowtester]

You're right that the over-volting is more serious and that the heat is not great -- the water temperature goes up about 3 degrees running through the bars. That having been said, I spoke to the manufacturer when I had my water issue and they confirmed that with hi-power LEDs failure to remove the heat will blow-out the leds. The engineer I spoke to said they have seen it before when people didn't run the water properly.

 

[KaliKitsune]

You're right that the over-volting is more serious and that the heat is not great -- the water temperature goes up about 3 degrees running through the bars. That having been said, I spoke to the manufacturer when I had my water issue and they confirmed that with hi-power LEDs failure to remove the heat will blow-out the leds. The engineer I spoke to said they have seen it before when people didn't run the water properly.

Their engineers should check out lumilux - they've solved the heat issues with their ultra-power LEDs by making the entire packaging the heatsink. That makes absolute passive cooling possible even in tight clusters.

 

[ledgrowtester]

Just a quick update to let you know we aren't dead ; we are waiting for our new medical grow permit so we can start test 2.

The government isn't fast, but, hey, at least they're slow.

We'll post an update as soon as we are able to start the new grow.

 

[tesla]

Is watching with a little skepticism.