FlytrapCare Carnivorous Plant Forums

I moved into my new appt and brought about 10-15 plants with me. I can grow them on my porch and they would get sun from 6am -1pm but im on the bottom floor and im facing the parking lot and its 8 feet from the main walk way. im kinda worried about someone stealing them.



http://www.amazon.com/Roleadro-Generati ... grow+light


The plants are now sitting on a little plastic end table to the right where the sun is hitting the brick so there semi hidden but not much. So i was thinking about getting a led grow light for inside and i can put a light fan on them to simulate airflow. My questions are would this light work? and how much would it cost per day to run?
20160515_072529 by Alex Littig, on Flickr

That light you linked would work...possibly too well, it's really bright... That 400W light is probably as bright as 6-10 48 inch T5HO bulbs. Assuming the description is right for the 400W model, it uses 200W (runs the LEDs at 50% power). Where I am power is expensive, $0.25/kWh, at that rate and using a 16 hour photo period such a light uses $0.80/day, or $24/mo. This is about half the price of running florescents. For 15 plants I would think you want a smaller light, you can probably have hundreda of VFTs under that light.

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edman007 wrote:That light you linked would work...possibly too well, it's really bright... That 400W light is probably as bright as 6-10 48 inch T5HO bulbs. Assuming the description is right for the 400W model, it uses 200W (runs the LEDs at 50% power). Where I am power is expensive, $0.25/kWh, at that rate and using a 16 hour photo period such a light uses $0.80/day, or $24/mo. This is about half the price of running florescents. For 15 plants I would think you want a smaller light, you can probably have hundreda of VFTs under that light.

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Ok so maybe the 200w grow light that only has 1 led should work ?

Probably...I think it depends on how big the thing you intend to light is.

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With that light, you're also paying to generate parts of the spectrum the plants won't use. That's why the blue/red LED grow lights are popular.

How long the LED unit will last compared to the alternative is also a factor to consider, especially when it only has 2 LEDs. I've been hesitant to use LED grow lights because every time I've had an LED flashlight, the LEDs have burned out very quickly. I know the technology itself is very capable of being dependable, but I don't know how to identify the duds.

xr280xr wrote:With that light, you're also paying to generate parts of the spectrum the plants won't use. That's why the blue/red LED grow lights are popular.

How long the LED unit will last compared to the alternative is also a factor to consider, especially when it only has 2 LEDs. I've been hesitant to use LED grow lights because every time I've had an LED flashlight, the LEDs have burned out very quickly. I know the technology itself is very capable of being dependable, but I don't know how to identify the duds.

For the lifetime, the tricks to extend it are run it below max power and provide proper cooling. The good ones will thus have fans and will state they use LEDs that add up to far more power than the device has. The link above you can see it has cooling fans and the description says it has 400W of LEDs but uses 200W of power. Flashlights will often skip those rules, if you only use them for short periods they won't die so they can sometimes get away with it.

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xr280xr wrote:With that light, you're also paying to generate parts of the spectrum the plants won't use. That's why the blue/red LED grow lights are popular.

How long the LED unit will last compared to the alternative is also a factor to consider, especially when it only has 2 LEDs. I've been hesitant to use LED grow lights because every time I've had an LED flashlight, the LEDs have burned out very quickly. I know the technology itself is very capable of being dependable, but I don't know how to identify the duds.

Led flashlights are another hobby of mine. Mostly the higher end stuff. Most of the stuff i have now is modded by "Sky Lumens". So basically a high end military grade led flashlight that had the guts ripped out and replaced with a programmable driver higher thickness wiring and much improved heat sinking. I have led flashlights that take 6 imr 18650 batteries that blast out 20,000 lumens and some that can shine a mile. If you want a extremely reliable led flashlight check him out. Iv had 100s of his lights and never once had a problem and i run them hard. Most of the cheap led lights are make very very poorly with crappy headsinking which inevitably results in led death

http://skylumen.com/collections/v54-lights

20151126_221546 by Alex Littig, on Flickr
20151126_221923 by Alex Littig, on Flickr

This light below uses crees new XHP35 led which is domeless and emits 2500 lumens and can be focused very very well resulting is 600,000 CD at 1meter. This is my favorite and most impressive light by far due to how far it throws.

20160225_083520 by Alex Littig, on Flickr
20160225_084042 by Alex Littig, on Flickr

Dang, you better be careful not to start a forest fire with that thing!

xr280xr wrote:Dang, you better be careful not to start a forest fire with that thing!

the light output is really not that hot i would say warm. I used to have a fire fox FF4 which is a 65 watt HID flashlight that outputs 6500 lumens and i could ignite paper in just a few seconds. I sold it because I had it on for about 2 min and the glass lens heated up to 500 degrees and i turned it off sat it on my bed and 10 min later i jumped on my bed and the glasss bumped my leg and I got burned bad. I think ill stick to led....

I have to say....I'm really glad that there are people on this forum who know so much about lighting! And that they are willing to help others! I know next to nothing

3-4ft T5 fluorescent bulbs would work well for how many plants you have. They are cheaper too. Just make sure you don't place them too close the first time (probably around 8 in. from the tip of the plants). Your plants will tell you when they are adjusted and needs more light.

http://www.amazon.com/Future-Harvest-De ... evelopment