would these work for diy?

...you've made 129 posts here since joining on March 16th?

Welcome. 8)

I have some led strips left over from some night flyer rc plane projects and was wondering if I can use these to make a grow light. I have red, green, blue and white.

here is the link to the strip:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Super-Bright-White-5M-300-LED-3528-Flexible-Light-Strip-/220750258465?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item3365bda121

whaddya guys think?
Nope. Those are crap.

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They (i.e. SMD 3528's, mounted on a strip like that) max out at ~1.5w/linear foot. They're only rated at an IF=20mA, and 50mA MAX. Don't even think about driving these much past 20mA, though, as their RLI vs. IF curve starts tanking even faster than Lindsay Lohan's career. :roll:

Sure, you could layer a bunch of these next to each other, but there's not enough throw with these to do you much good. After all, they're only 1/17.5th (i.e. 0.05714, or ~5.7%) the power of 1w emitters!

If you're serious about growing something (all the way to harvest), I'd stay away from any LED rated in millicandela, if I were you.

But if you're growin' for a colony of Lilliputians, they'd be perfect. ;-)


If ya want to perfect your Bonsai growing skills a la ScrubNinja and his CCFL's, though, by all means, start a journal. Could be interesting.

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Now, if you had - let's say - a strip of 5050's (about 3x the 'throw'), and had them in close proximity all around the plant, you might get somewhere. But for normal purposes, you'll want to use at least "1w" (i.e. 350mA) emitters and up.


Cheers,

-TL
 
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