Man'O'Green
Well-Known Member
Excellent definition of light terms all in one place. Thanks for the tip.
Rider's first foray into LED strip lighting: Samsung H Series GEN3
Excellent definition of light terms all in one place. Thanks for the tip.
I don't - I confuse high energy consumption at the wall with a high monthly electric bill and the requirement to run the microwave during a very restricted part of the day.
But I can unplug that without causing a sudden onset of darkness in the grow area
.Electrical usage isn't everything - but it is a thing.
If you don't know how much electricity your lighting consumes, it's okay to say so, lol.
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- #23
Rider509
Well-Known Member
For those that are new to the science and language of lighting I'd like to try to help make some sense of it. I'm def no expert and won't get butthurt if someone jumps in and corrects me. This is necessarily simplified so don't crucify me if you've got your PhD in particle physics.
Lumens are the term most of us are familiar with. When you're comparing light bulbs at the store they all have lumen ratings printed on the box. That's great for general lighting because lumens relate to the way our eyes process light. We know that a higher lumen rating means more light output. And we all know that there's a visible difference between a warm white and a cool white and a daylight bulb. It's a difference we can see because the light energy of a warm white bulb reproduces light more on the red end of the visible spectrum, while a daylight bulb reproduces more light on the blue end of the spectrum. Sometimes the packaging will list a number followed by a K, which is degrees Kelvin. The important thing to know about that number is that a low number, like 3000K or 3500K is going to produce a warmer more red light, while a high number, like 5000K or 6500K is going to produce a "whiter" light because it's producing light higher in the blue spectrum. The degrees Kelvin, i.e., 3500K or 5000K, tells us which part of the spectrum is dominant.
PAR
Plants don't see light the way we do. They absorb radiated light energy, and the range of usable energy that they absorb is called photosynthetically active radiation, or PAR for short. PAR is the light that plants can "see" and use.
PPF
Light is made up of photons. The photons that are in the range that plants can use are called photosynthetic photons. A measurement for the total amount of light, visible to humans, that a device outputs is luminous flux which is measured in lumens. But since we are interested in PAR, or the light that plants use, we measure the total PAR output as photosynthetic photon flux, or PPF. PPF is measured inside a sphere where the total energy is captured. It's like a light grenade going off inside a sphere. It measures the total light splattered over the inside of the sphere but tells us nothing about how much light actually got on whatever portion of the sphere we wanted to cover with light. So we need a measurement that tells us how much of that light went where we needed it.
PPFD
We have the total energy of the photosynthetically active radiation (PAR), known as the photosynthetic photon flux (PPF). But now we need to quantify the density, or how much of the energy reaches the plants. The measurement of how much of the energy reaches the plants is the photosynthetic photon flux density, or PPFD.
Think of PAR as plant light. PPF is the measurement of the total plant light produced. And PPFD is a measurement of the plant light that reaches the plant.
...to be continued
Lumens are the term most of us are familiar with. When you're comparing light bulbs at the store they all have lumen ratings printed on the box. That's great for general lighting because lumens relate to the way our eyes process light. We know that a higher lumen rating means more light output. And we all know that there's a visible difference between a warm white and a cool white and a daylight bulb. It's a difference we can see because the light energy of a warm white bulb reproduces light more on the red end of the visible spectrum, while a daylight bulb reproduces more light on the blue end of the spectrum. Sometimes the packaging will list a number followed by a K, which is degrees Kelvin. The important thing to know about that number is that a low number, like 3000K or 3500K is going to produce a warmer more red light, while a high number, like 5000K or 6500K is going to produce a "whiter" light because it's producing light higher in the blue spectrum. The degrees Kelvin, i.e., 3500K or 5000K, tells us which part of the spectrum is dominant.
PAR
Plants don't see light the way we do. They absorb radiated light energy, and the range of usable energy that they absorb is called photosynthetically active radiation, or PAR for short. PAR is the light that plants can "see" and use.
PPF
Light is made up of photons. The photons that are in the range that plants can use are called photosynthetic photons. A measurement for the total amount of light, visible to humans, that a device outputs is luminous flux which is measured in lumens. But since we are interested in PAR, or the light that plants use, we measure the total PAR output as photosynthetic photon flux, or PPF. PPF is measured inside a sphere where the total energy is captured. It's like a light grenade going off inside a sphere. It measures the total light splattered over the inside of the sphere but tells us nothing about how much light actually got on whatever portion of the sphere we wanted to cover with light. So we need a measurement that tells us how much of that light went where we needed it.
PPFD
We have the total energy of the photosynthetically active radiation (PAR), known as the photosynthetic photon flux (PPF). But now we need to quantify the density, or how much of the energy reaches the plants. The measurement of how much of the energy reaches the plants is the photosynthetic photon flux density, or PPFD.
Think of PAR as plant light. PPF is the measurement of the total plant light produced. And PPFD is a measurement of the plant light that reaches the plant.
...to be continued
- Thread starter
- #24
Rider509
Well-Known Member
LMAO! I don't know.
I don't know because the stuff is still in FedEx trucks scattered all over hell and back. I could give a qualified guesstimate but until it's all assembled and operating at temp while plugged into a watt meter, I don't know.
Scrogdawg
Well-Known Member
Thanks for the general overview Rider. I'm gonna have to search up that article and do me some reading. All of a sudden I have a curiosity.
- Thread starter
- #26
Rider509
Well-Known Member
Ever wonder why you can't convert lumens to PPFD? They are measurements of two different things. It'd be like trying to convert a quantity of ABBA to Led Zeppelin.
Led Zeppelin
Hey, hey mama said the way you move
Gon' make you sweat, gon' make you groove
Ah ah child way ya shake that thing
Gon' make you burn, gon' make you sting
Hey, hey baby when you walk that way
Watch your honey drip, I can't keep away
ABBA
You're so hot, teasing me
So you're blue
but I can't take a chance on a chick like you
That's something I couldn't do
There's that look in your eyes
I can read in your face
that your feelings are driving you wild
Ah, but girl you're only a child
See the difference? Robert Plant would have railed that chick in the ABBA song.
(with apologies to SweetSue and the other women of 420, even though none of them ever grace my threads)
Led Zeppelin
Hey, hey mama said the way you move
Gon' make you sweat, gon' make you groove
Ah ah child way ya shake that thing
Gon' make you burn, gon' make you sting
Hey, hey baby when you walk that way
Watch your honey drip, I can't keep away
ABBA
You're so hot, teasing me
So you're blue
but I can't take a chance on a chick like you
That's something I couldn't do
There's that look in your eyes
I can read in your face
that your feelings are driving you wild
Ah, but girl you're only a child
See the difference? Robert Plant would have railed that chick in the ABBA song.
(with apologies to SweetSue and the other women of 420, even though none of them ever grace my threads)
Scrogdawg
Well-Known Member
Slow day at the shop?
Whats an ABBA?
Whats an ABBA?
Stillalive420
Well-Known Member
unorthodox grow methods (that's so me) and I'll provide alternative lighting (I need this)
Bro! You don't know ABBA?
I think we're about the same age so it makes sense though.
They're a group from the 60-70's that was yuuuuge.
- Thread starter
- #30
Rider509
Well-Known Member
Sweet baby jeezus, Scrogdawg! If you've never been tortured by an ABBA song on the radio then you're the luckiest man alive. Syrupy sappy crap.
Tunkers
Well-Known Member
Mama Mia! I think SD is a secret little dancing queen and has a sweet ABBA record collection. Just didn't want anyone catching him out.
Bahahahaha
Stillalive420
Well-Known Member
I'm not touching that one ABBA, how the fuck did that even come up, holy hell abba, ABBA.... And I thought you were serious growers lol
Scrogdawg
Well-Known Member
A..fuckin..men brother.
Scrogdawg
Well-Known Member
I grew up on Zepplin, Floyd, The Who, Skynyrd, Black Sabbath and on and on and on....................Not fucking ABBA, Boy George and The Bay City Roillers. But hey, you fuckers feel free to dance the night away.
Stillalive420
Well-Known Member
I'm not a grower, but being as I grow for personal... I've researched various topics over 25+ years and I'm not over learning something new..
Scrogdawg
Well-Known Member
Fuck all to learn here apparently...
- Thread starter
- #38
Rider509
Well-Known Member
Fuck all to learn here apparently...
HA! You ungrateful buttdart! I go outta my way to put it in terms even a Canadian can understand... and this is the thanks I get? bwahahahahahaha
Nice thread man! Was looking at some cheap LED t5 fixtures on a site to use as cloning and mothering lights. Gosh these Samsung lights kick the crap out of those in efficiency tho :S lots of good info in here, thanks to the person who mentioned the fluence article!
Stillalive420
Well-Known Member
Ha buttdart that's funny stuff right there
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