BobCajun
Well-Known Member
It's crazy how much light these things crank out, at least right in front of them. An interesting thing I found is that with a 14w LED "bulb" with diffuser cut off if you take a reading right up in front of the diodes, like just almost touching them, it's still only 9000 fc, whereas down farther under an array of said bulbs amounting to about 30-40w /sq ft it's 8000 fc. So the thing with these LEDs is that it's actually impossible to get beyond a certain brightness by getting closer after a certain point. Weird thing is that plants can still get bleached under a 14w bulb, even about 4-6" away. Maybe it's just plain heat that does that, idk.Here are my numbers on this,
First off, my Par meter was calibrated with A-Mars factory, B- Mars with lenses, Mars300 with lenses is 1500 par at 18inches, No BS, unreal huh? Thats without messing with the spectrum. I replaced over 40 diodes to 4000k and 6 Fullspectrum 3W diodes, this rig is running at 125 watts at the wall
12inches-1999 MAXED
LUX=80,000
18in- 1300 PAR
47,000 LUX
24in 800 par
29,000 lux
33 in 450 par
16,000 LUX
My scrog is at 33 inches.
and at 33inches, its only 1500 FC and 4,500 FC at 18inches
Maybe the most amazing thing to me about the LEDs is how they maintain brightness even at considerable distances, I guess because their light is directed downward more than with an arc tube or filament so it may not drop off drastically like those point sources.