LEDs! Who's With Me!?

[ReefPlant]

I guess i'll start off by saying that up until now i've never had a house, yard, or greenhouse for that matter. I have always had windows, but animals and easy crowding led to 'still thirsty' success... Interest has it's artificial way of winning though.
I have used halides, LEDs, and fluorescents to grow just about everything in my entire living collection for the last 5+ years. I have had my loses in learning but push to turn just as much.
The flame still burns and the fire is bigger for us all. I don't think any grower of all things good should quit in His/Her quest for another great reason to wake up!
However, bulb replacement, bulky ballasts, potential bulb failure, grow-op alteration, cooling/ventalation (waisted heat energy your paying for), and simply accomodating some of the beasts needed to have your very own piece of the sun! tax and discourage me sometimes. Not to mention other up-and-coming growers.
This bring me to my next point and question! Who's With Me!?
Does anyone have a grow-op running completely off LEDs? I am about to get 10, 45w LED panels (250w halide output)in a range of spectrums to switch all of my lighting over. I'm very excited to see what they really look like over the plants as well as their response (While we're at it, we can set up a little CO2/NonCO2 test .) This could really change the way i grow, and can grow, in the future with the space i'm given.

[snow]

i,m no expert but i,ve heard that they are short in the right spectrum. i,ve not heard of anyone successfully using them to grow orchids.

[AboutOrchids]

Sorry I can't give you advice, but I'd like to know your results. LED's are very energy efficient, and don't have the nasty toxic components that fluorescents have, so I've thought about switching my lights.

[ReefPlant]

I don't mind supplementing, but as a base, i'll keep you posted on their performance. I want to setup a few experiments between the spectrums. This may take a little but i'll learn as i grow.

[Corwin]

There's a guy on a french forum who is rather advanced in his trials with leds. He uses LUXEON STAR 3watt

5 white LED + 2 blue LED + 2 red LED for an acceptable light (for the human eye) - or 7 white LED + 2 red LED in a 3x3 config (or 4 White + 1 red in a cross config). Don't forget the lens because those lights could be dangerous for the naked eye (I quote). Roughly 3,5v per LED, they should be mounted on a heatsink

With a 9 LEDs spot, he gets about 2800fc at about 18 inches

There's a lot more on this forum, some of that stuff pretty complicated, and you can only see the pictures if you're connected - and it's in french

Some link that might be of use : http://www.national.com/vcm/NSC_Cont...D_Lighting.pdf and http://cache.national.com/ds/LM/LM3421.pdf

[Magnus A]

Very interesting!

There are alot of people talking that LED can not work but most of them do not seem to have tested. Arguments you commonly see is, to weak light, to expensive , wrong wavelength and so on. I have wanted to test myself but has not have the oppertunity (read money) to invest in this!

It would be very useful if you dare to test and report your findings! Keep us updated!

[Corwin]

I just ninja'd a picture for you to have an idea of what i'm talking about. It's one of his early trials, with colors more adapted to the plant growth than to visual aspect of the plant. (The plants look horrible with so much blue). As the white leds also sends in the blue spectrum, white and red only are an acceptable compromise.

[ReefPlant]

After a few days of playing around i finally got to work. Here is the system so far. I'll keep you all in the loop as to what happens next, we'll wait and
More pictures of the orchids to come!
Thanks again for all the encouragement everyone!

[calvin_orchidL]

Fascinating - keep us updated!

[snow]

great pictures. hope you.ll have good luck. keep in touch.