uva and uvb leds

9

95'ZR1

Active Member
I know uvb diodes are not out yet but are supposed to be out in 2015 does anyoneknow which ccompany is producing these and will they perform better then the normal reptile lights.

also can someone point me towards some uva leds. I'm looking for the highest output and most efficient. Doesn't matter the cost since I'm building it myself it will ultimately be cheaper than a store bought panel.

I'm currently using 5000k cxa3070 with a few 450 and 480 cree blues in veg and in flower im using cxa 3070 3000k and 5000k, cree 630nm and 670nm.

Having great results and it's been very steady the last few grows with a slight improvement in yield, density, trichome production so I'm thinking I hit my limit from these lights so that is why I would like to bring some uva into the flower room.

does anyone still use IR? Does it make a difference? If so what wavelengths and what diodes?

If @SupraSPL or @Positivity could chime in here I always appreciate your input and thoughts.

THANKS,
 
Positivity

Positivity

Well-Known Member
IR 730nm is a mainstay in my garden now. Ledengin makes good high powered ones if trying to cover a big area. Otherwise there are lots of cheap options on ebay or stevesled.com....etc. flowers promptly every time. Efficiency dosen't matter much to me as i use them at 5 minutes end of cycle.

As far as uv, there are a few options, led or t5 mostly.

I've used 365nm, Ledengin 5w. There are different versions of the same size emitters, so make sure to check temp droop on datasheet as some perform much better than others.

There is a obvious effect using them. You can see a bit of a oily shine on the leaves and weathered trichomes. I ran them a bit too hard and for a full 12/12. A bit detrimental to plant health at the high level i was using. I'll be trying different things with them in the future as i see potential but havent got there yet. So if using uva I would use smaller 3w emitters ran softly, maybe 500ma.

Much easier and broader spectrum are the t5 arcadia or reptisun. They cover uvb, uva, and a few other nms which seems to do the trick. A member on another site did measurements and was able to get the right intensity at about 2' from a t5, about 250um from what i recall.

The t5 also supposedly maintains its output for at least a year which is nice. I dont have a uvb meter yet so i cant check that. Before I change them out I'd like to do a measurement to see what I've lost with time though.

some people say they cant notice a difference..so mileage may vary...:razz:
 
9

95'ZR1

Active Member
Why do you only use IR for 5min at the end of cycle? What is it supposed to do?

i use 730nm to put the girls to "sleep" i use 8min at lights out.
 
mc130p

mc130p

Well-Known Member
in dark room, i can see our TiSa laser tuned to 840nm, but not much longer than that.
Positivity said:
IR 730nm is a mainstay in my garden now. Ledengin makes good high powered ones if trying to cover a big area. Otherwise there are lots of cheap options on ebay or stevesled.com....etc. flowers promptly every time. Efficiency dosen't matter much to me as i use them at 5 minutes end of cycle.

As far as uv, there are a few options, led or t5 mostly.

I've used 365nm, Ledengin 5w. There are different versions of the same size emitters, so make sure to check temp droop on datasheet as some perform much better than others.

There is a obvious effect using them. You can see a bit of a oily shine on the leaves and weathered trichomes. I ran them a bit too hard and for a full 12/12. A bit detrimental to plant health at the high level i was using. I'll be trying different things with them in the future as i see potential but havent got there yet. So if using uva I would use smaller 3w emitters ran softly, maybe 500ma.

Much easier and broader spectrum are the t5 arcadia or reptisun. They cover uvb, uva, and a few other nms which seems to do the trick. A member on another site did measurements and was able to get the right intensity at about 2' from a t5, about 250um from what i recall.

The t5 also supposedly maintains its output for at least a year which is nice. I dont have a uvb meter yet so i cant check that. Before I change them out I'd like to do a measurement to see what I've lost with time though.

some people say they cant notice a difference..so mileage may vary...:razz:
Click to expand...
i have to maintain a hood for tissue culture and we use a UV lamp to sterilize the hood when not in use...but according to the manufacturer, UV bulbs have a very short lifetime, such that the anti-microbial activity of the light is pretty much non-existent after 3-6 months of use. It still lights up and looks purple, but the intensity isn't there anymore apparently. Idk about the UV bulbs you're using though, but I suspect they have a short lifetime too for putting out the rated intensity levels.
 
Positivity

Positivity

Well-Known Member
mc130p said:
in dark room, i can see our TiSa laser tuned to 840nm, but not much longer than that.


i have to maintain a hood for tissue culture and we use a UV lamp to sterilize the hood when not in use...but according to the manufacturer, UV bulbs have a very short lifetime, such that the anti-microbial activity of the light is pretty much non-existent after 3-6 months of use. It still lights up and looks purple, but the intensity isn't there anymore apparently. Idk about the UV bulbs you're using though, but I suspect they have a short lifetime too for putting out the rated intensity levels.
Click to expand...

Yea...not stating anything as a fact. Just what I've experienced and take from it. There is a shortage of information on this subject and the few people who have taken it on dont post often or are no longer with us. So..i figure ar least you may get a penny worth of use out it better than nothing.

I did a quick lookup on infrared being non visible as i dont like posting things I'm not sure about. Apparently people have different abilities to see higher wavelengths...some can see up to 850nm. But it seems generally accepted that it is non visible. When you run a 365nm led you see a light hint of violet. That is not the color representing 365nm its more probably a bit of higher nm being emitted by the led...same with 730nm except it would be red.

Guod once posted the oslon hyper red graph. It showed dominant wavelength and peak wavelength. We see the dominant wavelength of 642nm but the actual centroid wavelength is 657nm....something like that, i should know its in my thread somewhere..

image.jpg


As far t5 uvb maintenance. I saw once where a arcadia rep stated that it will output 90% at 1 year. I forget the time used in a year..it wasn't 24/7. I'll probably get a uvb meter soon...i personally want to see how it compares to a brand new bulb after a year of use.
 
SupraSPL

SupraSPL

Well-Known Member
Great info guys!

95, I can't speak to the IR, but regarding UVA and UVB, I developed the suspicion that it is wasted watts after sampling many crops of buds grown in friends HPS grows. They are plenty potent, flavorful and patients love it. The LED buds are even tastier and more potent, without UV of any kind. I attribute that to the response of the 450nm deep blue, which are very high efficiency as far as LEDs go and not too shabby in terms of photosynthesis.

I did try a few different UVB reptile bulb fluoros and the buds closest to them matured more quickly and turned brown, which I do not prefer. I like the trichs bright and from my experience the patients in general do also. Fluoros are relatively low efficiency, experience reflector losses and contribute gadgetry/wiring/heat to the canopy. So my conclusion is that the watts are much better spent elsewhere, especially if you have an eye toward yield, heat and efficiency.

That said, maybe certain varieties will react differently. I did not experiment long so maybe for those who are growing only for themselves and are looking for a new experience it might be a great thing.
 
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9

95'ZR1

Active Member
Thanks for all the info guys. Yea ialways cconsidered 730nm to be far red but technically it is IR so my mistake @Positivity.

Well looks like I will stay away from the reptile uv bulbs and maybe explore the option when uv leds start becoming more popular. I didn't notice a nice decrease in the finishing time of the plants when I started using the 730nm. My buddy was saying I'm wasting my time etc etc sinceiit's only a small wattage and only running a few minutes per day. But now he's the stupid one since I'm finishing roughly 7-10 days quicker.

@SupraSPL how much 450nm do you have on relation to 100 watts actual output of your 3000k 3070s? And are you running any 5000k along with it or just the 450nm?

thanks
 
SupraSPL

SupraSPL

Well-Known Member
I added 4 watts of Luxeon ES blue to 100W of CXA3070 3000K with 30W of reds added also, that works out to 16.5% blue overall.

I also have some modules that are CXAs only (13-14% blue), so the red/white/blue modules are only a slight increase in blue %. But the CXA-only modules are more efficient, more convenient and easier to get the photons into the canopy because you can use a small reflector. They are also a lot easier to build and cheaper LOL. But I already had the reds and blues on hand so I figure I might as well use them.
 
captainmorgan

captainmorgan

Well-Known Member
UV LED's have been on the market for quite some time but the UVB are extremely expensive and only used in scientific and medical. The best bang for your buck is T5 HO reptile bulbs. You have to be careful about how much you use and the time of exposure because too much will hurt the plant and will even lower yield. The right amount will increase resin and potency.
 
9

95'ZR1

Active Member
Yea I'm in the same position i already have a bunch of cree 450,480,630 and 670nm just collecting dust so that's why i figured i would play around with the spectrum some more to increase my yields. I've been growing the same pineapple chunk and blue dream plant for a long time now I'm thinking about cutting it down from 6 of each plant to maybe 2-3 of each and trying some new strains. I would absolutely love to get a good GSC cut and something that yields like big bud. I just love the smell and taste of the PC as well does the patients
 
cityworker415

cityworker415

Well-Known Member
captainmorgan said:
UV LED's have been on the market for quite some time but the UVB are extremely expensive and only used in scientific and medical. The best bang for your buck is T5 HO reptile bulbs. You have to be careful about how much you use and the time of exposure because too much will hurt the plant and will even lower yield. The right amount will increase resin and potency.
Click to expand...
Just FYI.
On my CLW 440 I use uvb for 30 mins x 2 in the day cycle. Joy

Sent from my DROID RAZR HD using Rollitup mobile app
 
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