Hello,
I live in a country where LEDs are only really sold for home lighting and are very expensive. Importing pre-made LED systems would essentially double the price with customs duties and taxes. However, there is a DIY store (Hornbach) that sells LED lights on a semi flexible tape, plus all of the adapters, etc, needed.
They seem to be just like the 4.8w ones I found in this link:
http://www.led-tape.com/single-colour-led-tape
They have blue (51 lumens per meter) and red (115 lumens per meter) single colors in the 4.8 watt per meter, using Epistar 3528 SMD chips, but I cannot find the wavelength listed at the store (found some info online, below). So my first question is how big of a difference are there between the blues and the reds, or should I be safe?
I plan on using them in a tall computer tower stealth grow, and it seems to me I could mount them directly to the metal case inside (they have a metal foil tape backing) which would provide 10kg of heat sink. Also, I could install the blues in the lower part and reds up above so the seedlings would get mostly blue, then as they grow taller and flower they would get mostly reds.
A quick calc shows I could buy 15m (cut in 50cm lengths mounted side-by-side) which would give me 72 watts in a computer case - which I think is going to be plenty. With the other stuff (12V adapters, etc) I think I could put this together for under $100, with the cheapest imported alternative from the UK costing over $400 for 90w (with shipping, insurance, customs duties and taxes). Plus there is the fun factor of a DIY project like this.
Any ideas on how this should turn out? How can I find the wavelength of these? I tried looking for Epistar 3528 LED tape and found a table here: http://www.mssledsupport.com/_d271268040.htm that says the Reds are 619-635 and Blues are 463-475. Again, I cannot find the specific info on these specific LEDs at the store, I am just hoping that Epistar 3528 means the same thing, no matter what.
I grow low-smell automatic strains in soil-and-wick and have an internal height of 70cm in the case. With c. 100w of CFL's I've gotten some good yields, but the temps were always high.
Thank you for your help,
Ward.84
I live in a country where LEDs are only really sold for home lighting and are very expensive. Importing pre-made LED systems would essentially double the price with customs duties and taxes. However, there is a DIY store (Hornbach) that sells LED lights on a semi flexible tape, plus all of the adapters, etc, needed.
They seem to be just like the 4.8w ones I found in this link:
http://www.led-tape.com/single-colour-led-tape
They have blue (51 lumens per meter) and red (115 lumens per meter) single colors in the 4.8 watt per meter, using Epistar 3528 SMD chips, but I cannot find the wavelength listed at the store (found some info online, below). So my first question is how big of a difference are there between the blues and the reds, or should I be safe?
I plan on using them in a tall computer tower stealth grow, and it seems to me I could mount them directly to the metal case inside (they have a metal foil tape backing) which would provide 10kg of heat sink. Also, I could install the blues in the lower part and reds up above so the seedlings would get mostly blue, then as they grow taller and flower they would get mostly reds.
A quick calc shows I could buy 15m (cut in 50cm lengths mounted side-by-side) which would give me 72 watts in a computer case - which I think is going to be plenty. With the other stuff (12V adapters, etc) I think I could put this together for under $100, with the cheapest imported alternative from the UK costing over $400 for 90w (with shipping, insurance, customs duties and taxes). Plus there is the fun factor of a DIY project like this.
Any ideas on how this should turn out? How can I find the wavelength of these? I tried looking for Epistar 3528 LED tape and found a table here: http://www.mssledsupport.com/_d271268040.htm that says the Reds are 619-635 and Blues are 463-475. Again, I cannot find the specific info on these specific LEDs at the store, I am just hoping that Epistar 3528 means the same thing, no matter what.
I grow low-smell automatic strains in soil-and-wick and have an internal height of 70cm in the case. With c. 100w of CFL's I've gotten some good yields, but the temps were always high.
Thank you for your help,
Ward.84
