Fonz, Until recently, whites in general were too expensive, which is/was the primary motivation to mix spectrums
HPS is primarily yellow, and yet...
Analog was among the first I've seen to incorporate NWs. No doubt due to reading that the Magenta (R/B) alone was spectrally challenged for mj at least
On 8/8 Analogue said "fwiw, the cree neutral whites added 21.7 watts. i have more modules to install but may use them for a veg light I'm not sure. watts of HPS before. we are at 63% of the wattage we used to use for HPS.
On 8/14 Rives said Looking very nice, Analogue. Regarding your earlier post on the white LED's, I had been using the white circuit on my new "Volks" fixture to get some clones rolling. They responded so well that I pulled out several of the 660nm reds and added 3 more of the cool whites for a total of 6 cool whites and 2 reds evenly divided on two drivers, about 104 watts gross. I'm going to continue vegging with this arrangement and see how it works out.
Rives is using CWs cause he owned them
I contend that since the NWs have all the spectrums in abundance that the plant will use what it needs and not be held back. Now I could be wrong about this, it's just a hunch, but evidence seems to be mountng.
If I had the need (and spare cash) I would buy a DIY specifying all CREE NWs and another mixing colors then do a side-by-side
Analog said that he hasn't really seen a difference between adding the extra white and not having the white in there. I don't think he has had enough time to experiment with it though. He just said that after adding the neutral white leds, he hasn't noticed a big change.
We can't use this one grow to go by. We need to compare other grows. More info, LOTS MORE.
I like the idea about using the Cool whites and a couple Reds. He said he's using that mixture for veg, so it would make sense that there is much less red in it. The Cool whites were recommended to me awhile ago from someone else and I was doubtful at first, but he made a few good points that they are very much more efficient than neutrals or warm whites. That's a huge plus since we are all trying to conserve energy while producing similar results to HID.
See, I look at the HPS lamp and I see how deficient that spectrum is, yet it works. Quite well for some, especially in hydro. I've also read that yellow light can be harmful to plants. It's very contradictory information we have here. You would think a red/blue spectrum WOULD work the best since plants absorb up to 95% of that wavelength. Yet, many have quite a few problems using a red/blue only spectrum.
I have a tendency to believe from this that LUMENS do actually play a role in bud density. Lumens do refer mainly to the Green, Yellow and Orange wavelengths since those have the highest quantum yield(energy per photon packet or whatever).
I know that Neutral Whites work well on their own for veg through flower. I'm sure Cool whites would work fine on their own for veg, but not for flower. If whites are the only color used, than I would go with Neutral Whites. I like how simple it is. I would like to see more grows utilizing them as a stand alone light source.
All of these other "multi-colored" light brite style 100-band bullshit LEDs are really starting to piss me off. When are these companies going to stop lying to their customers and just produce something that works. What we need is a single point, high quality light source that emits 300-600w like a HPS or MH does, but with a nicer spectral output like that of a Neutral White led.
Until then, I don't think we will see the same bud density as HPS or MH unless it's through some kind of red/blue type of mixture that actually works. Don't think it will happen though, because I am now starting to believe that green, yellow and orange play a huge role in bud density because they are BRIGHT and put out the highest lumen output over all of the other wavelengths in the entire spectrum. They also have the ability to penetrate the canopy and get to the bottom parts of the bush.
If anyone does try some grows with Neutral White leds, use the ones that are 100w-100 chip under one lens with a really nice reflector added onto the board. Try 5 of them on separate heat sinks and put them in a 4' x 4' area and I think we will start seeing the density we are looking for but don't forget to wear your shades because it's gonna be super fucking bright in there. Holy shit that was super long.
