Beings that the T5's are phosphor driven it would seem there is alot of redundancy in the same spectrums that the induction is already covering and peaking at 630/660 in phosphors is actually more red to the eye but still heavily weighted in blue. Why not go with just go 630/660 diodes in some kind of panel so you know exactly what you've contributed? The 'poor man's' approach will still mean having to replace T5 lamps and lumen depreciation that the diodes would not suffer from.
Hiya Gordobo! Both valid points. Ideally you really would want even distribution at whatever spectrum's the phosphor is missing. The first order of business will be knowing the spectrum's the induction lamp is missing. Complimenting the missing induction spectrum's with another fluorescent get's tricky because the T5 phosphors are highly unlikely to peak where the induction lamp, in this case a 5K, would be missing. I'm not saying it can't be done but if it were that easy the phosphors would already be available in blends that let you order them suspended in the the induction lamp to begin with. I would agree that this approach would be better served by diodes that meet the spectrum's on both the veg and flowering side that this induction lamp might be missing.
I'm looking for a solution for that and read that some digital timers leak voltage to LEDS.I have two mechanical timers now but would like a single solution.Can you help me out on that?
Does someone make a 120v 1000 watt timer that would turn the main lights out and turn the 730 on in one unit?
Hey Captain! I actually forgot about the voltage leakage issue with digital timers so that is a good catch. I would go with a mechanical flip relay system that utilized a NO/NC set of contacts that dropped power to the 730nm diodes at lights out. The trick will be reliably regulate that 10 minute timeout you chose using a single control solution. I like the op-amp comparator circuit inda-gro built since @ 5 minutes it uses a transistor drive circuit which takes the 730 diodes down in a series of gradual steps instead of just turning them off completely like a resistive-capacitor (RC) circuit will do. You can definitely accomplish the same thing with what you're doing with a basic RC circuit that resets itself every cycle but it'll need it's own power source, independent of the main lights on timed circuit.
In the case of the inda-gro pontoon their board has to run the 730nm diodes, charge the lithium-ion batteries and control the time out circuit all while fitting inside the pontoon housing to limit the amount of exposed wiring that you might find yourself facing with your approach. May end up at the same place you're just going to have more moving parts.
Only found 2 companies selling a 730 nm fixture,both had 3 year warranty and one was $120 plus shipping vs $150 with free shipping.When I called both the more expensive was very informative and told me of the trouble they had with unreliable chips from different manufacturers when developing the fixture.I thought about DIY to do it cheaply but since it's critical in flower I opted for the more expensive and tested solution with a warranty.
You were smart to catch this since I've seen advertised 730nm 'flowering initiator' lights get read under a quantum meter that had a high limit of 700uMoles. hmmm...
There's not a high demand for this fixture/diode so they're likely to be more expensive. Going Made in America gives you some assurances that your actually getting a 730nm diode and that you'll get support should there be any warranty type issues.
