LED Lights

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foxd
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RE: LED Lights

Post by foxd »

An update on the LED bulbs:

Definitely not impressed with the LED bulbs from Lights of America, but I guess you get what you pay for. (3 for $15) They just don't put out enough light. (I think the package info confused Lumens and Watts.) They will eventually work their way down to the basement which doesn't need much light.

Meanwhile, I have noticed higher quality LED lights are starting to be sold in stores like Walmart and Menards. Still pricey though.

I have also ordered some LED grow light panels since I have had a fluorescent fixture fail. A review soon.
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The legal issues that will arise when the undead walk the earth are legion, and addressing them all is well beyond what could reasonably be accomplished in this brief Essay. Indeed, a complete treatment of the tax issues alone would require several volumes.
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foxd
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Re: LED Lights

Post by foxd »

The LED grow panels arrived yesterday. I took one apart and looked at the circuit inside. The 225 LEDs are soldered to a large circuit board in a 15 by 15 grid pattern. The circuit consists of 5 series circuits of LEDs hooked in parallel. Each series circuit consists of 45 LEDs, 33 of which are red and 12 of which are blue. A DC voltage is fed to the circuit board from a separate power supply circuit with a full wave bridge rectifier, three capacitors and a couple of resistors.

I will post some more details when I get a chance to more closely examine the boards.
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The legal issues that will arise when the undead walk the earth are legion, and addressing them all is well beyond what could reasonably be accomplished in this brief Essay. Indeed, a complete treatment of the tax issues alone would require several volumes.
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foxd
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Re: LED Lights

Post by foxd »

I measured voltages across the LEDs. 1.79 V across the red LEDs and 3.01 V across the blue. Total Voltage applied to the LED panel is 95.5 Vdc.

I had mentioned the LEDs are laid out in a grid pattern, but forgot to mention the spacing. It is 2 cm between LEDs.

It looks like the lights may be easily repairable if they develop problems. Definitely need to trace out the power supply circuit and identify component values.

As a side note I found a cheaper price on the panels after they had been ordered.

I have installed two of the panels and placed some Luffah seedlings under them. They look dark gray in appearance since the light lacks any green component, but judging from the growth over the past few days I would say that they are providing plenty of just the
right light for the plants. The only downside is that the pants look like they are under some alien sun with everything ranging from deep shades of red/blue/purple/gray. I'm going to look around for a source of green LED lights just to improve the plant's appearance. If I can do this then the lights on the upper shelf of the living room greenhouse are getting replaced with LEDs once the fluorescent fixtures die.

The panels are fairly thin and the light fairly directional. It is easy to tell what area the light is illuminating. Various websites give a coverage area of 1.5 square feet , but this may just be the surface area of the light. I will do some more experimenting with the spare panel.
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The legal issues that will arise when the undead walk the earth are legion, and addressing them all is well beyond what could reasonably be accomplished in this brief Essay. Indeed, a complete treatment of the tax issues alone would require several volumes.
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foxd
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Re: LED Lights

Post by foxd »

The search term to locate the best prices on these is 2501MX. From what I've found on the web I think some companies buy them and repackage them in a different, more colorful box and resell them at a considerable markup.

I have traced out the power supply circuit and there does not appear to be any difficult to get parts. I don't think I can build one for less than it costs to buy it, but I am reassured that I can at least repair it cheaply.
light_circuit.GIF
light_circuit.GIF (6.75 KiB) Viewed 2928 times
Southern Indiana.
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The legal issues that will arise when the undead walk the earth are legion, and addressing them all is well beyond what could reasonably be accomplished in this brief Essay. Indeed, a complete treatment of the tax issues alone would require several volumes.
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foxd
Posts: 3221
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Re: LED Lights

Post by foxd »

Here is the circuit diagram for the array of red & blue LEDs.
light_circuit2.GIF
Southern Indiana.
My Bamboo List.

The legal issues that will arise when the undead walk the earth are legion, and addressing them all is well beyond what could reasonably be accomplished in this brief Essay. Indeed, a complete treatment of the tax issues alone would require several volumes.
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