Simpler LED lighting
10:44 am in electronic components, Materials and Resources, Projects in Process, questions by Alexander Tome
Has anyone tried using RGB LED Light strips as a grow light for their plants? I’m wondering if this would provide the right spectrums of light? With the right controller, you can have incredibly precise control over the color of the light, plus they are available with a waterproof feature.
I’d like some input from people that have greater understanding than I on the subject before I drop the $300 or so this particular system will cost me to build, please! 
Here is the strip: http://www.superbrightleds.com/cgi-bin/store/index.cgi?action=DispPage&category=BARS&Page2Disp=%2Fspecs%2FFLS-RGB.htm
The controller: http://www.superbrightleds.com/pdfs/LDK-RGB3.pdf
Update:
I was just reading on a website that plants get the best use of light in the violet/ blue and then red range, with the interceding green/orange/yellow range pretty much not doing much of anything. If I just set these to produce strong violet/blue colors, that’s pretty much the same thing, right?
I’m no expert (yet
) but what I read so far is that there are no LEDs which provide exactely the right wavelength (425nm which is violet and around 665nm which is some dark red)
Precise info here: http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_pFQ0wrHWd1k/St4V0NN2CuI/AAAAAAAAAFg/FGKwRvOB9g0/s320/action_spectrum_en.jpg
So you might still waste some energy, but it might still be better (per Watt) than CFL.
The green is wasted though. It’d be great if it was a RB strip so you would probably get more (useful) LEDs per $ or €
Most likely. You could actually probably get away with just a bunch of blue LEDs, without the fancy RGB LED strips and controller.
There is a local hydroponic place here in Ottawa that has done some work with LED recently. But the problem is that the suppliers tend to go out of business quickly. So if you have an issue or need replacements, you can’t find help.
LED is probably still about 5 years away from competing with MH and HPS lighting systems. CFL is just coming to that point now with products like Sunblaster…
Okay, good to know. Thanks for your input! I’ll start looking into making an inexpensive, aesthetically pleasing CFL set-up, then. Or possibly try to find some LEDs that produce a more effective wavelength. I sooo thought I had it figured it out so I could easily switch between violet and red on the same system for growth/bloom phases, too! Alas.
LED grow lights can produce exact wave lengths for the plants’s need. It is the Red and Blue bands which the plants need to start their photosynthesis with proper ratio of red and blue.
LED grow lights also use very little electricity and it is also environmental friendly. (no mercury, or toxic gases, etc).
A well designed LED Grow light should have very small foot print on space, especially for the indoor farmers.
HPS/MH are only good for the plants because of the heat that it can generate. As for the light source, the plants only take 10%, the rest are all just wasted in the air because of the yellow colour.