Why not just use Neutral White LEDs for flower? Why add the 630 and 450? There is already plenty of these 2 wavelengths in Neutral Whites. With that being said, check out the high power 50w to 100w Neutral White Spot Light LEDs. Much penetration and has the full spectrum already. There are a few threads with people having great results using only the whites.
Usually light attenuation refers to aquatic plants since the light has to travel through water. Why do you ask?
Hey Fonz, I just got a couple of sticking points with this;
You must remember there is no such beast as a full spectrum LED. LEDs do not produce white light as much as they produce light that we detect as white. And as I see it you cannot depend on any white LED to supply needed spectrum, even when you've got the spectral data in hand since variables like heat/cooling issues, binning, and lying salespeople will alter your spectrum. And besides Neutral white LEDs are terrible in 630, they contain more green, blue and yellow than red and their peaks and output are weak compared to a LED with a dedicated spectrum, at least for this week. And any FR/IR in a white LED light will not be enough for flowering. It's usually just poor production, unless you know some whites really kicking out the FR/IR. So while whites good for plugging holes in your spectrum and general plant health I believe, you can't rely on them for specific spectra nor their output for flowering. And for the record my flowering panel contains 5 4500K Neutrals as well as 5 12000K Cools, so you're preaching to the choir on this one
.
I use 2x20 watt 5500K white LED lights to supplement my LED panel in my veg cab, and for germinating and I'm starting to believe that all the wattage in the world doesn't matter without a specific PAR levels. While maybe Cree and a handful of other companies can get good levels in certain spectrums with white LEDs, probably due to their technology, most companies don't. It's probably something to do with the phosphorous conversion process of the LED, where lots of energy is wasted. Hopefully this will be a thing of the past and an all white flowering panel will be common, especially after someone discovers a solution to the blue-green diode dilemma. Anyhow here's an interesting article on comparing two ways of making white light with LEDs. This will probably be effecting our decisions on what white LED to choose in the near future.
http://ledsmagazine.com/features/9/7/6
And I'm wondering about attenuation because when I look at my grow area, the plants are just so bright in appearance I'm wondering if its all reflection and fluorescence or that there must be some spectral shifting going on and I'm thinking it's attenuation and not just the added white lights.
Anyway I'm baked and that's my 2 cents.
). Ultimately I'm probably going to have to get a 630+450+White panel, (or panels), to use for flower and keep the 660+730 panel higher until late flowering, but I still want to finish some SLH's which are running now before making up my mind. And from what I've also read some 730 is very good for germinating since it seems to help with root development. Another reason to buy some Red/FR spots perhaps?
