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| DIY: LED "flourescent" tubes. | |
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| Topic Started: Aug 16 2015, 07:44 PM (259 Views) | |
| Pro Veritas | Aug 16 2015, 07:44 PM Post #1 |
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Upstanding Member
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OK, so my folks some time ago swapped out their old fluorescent tubes in their kitchen for some lower running cost LED spotlights. My mother absolutely hates them, doesn't like how they create shadows (something fluorescent tubes didn't do) and has really done nothing but complain about them for the last 2 or 3 years. So my father is thinking of installing LED "fluorescent" tubes to try and cut down on the earache he's getting; and he's asked my advice. I've never used LED "tubes" and I don't even recall ever being in a room with them, so I was wondering if any of you guys have any experience of them, what kind of light they provide, their quality and lifespan etc. Any advice greatly appreciated. All The Best |
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| Tigger | Aug 16 2015, 09:30 PM Post #2 |
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I don't have any at home but we've fitted loads in recent years, generally cheaper to run and good lifespan if you buy decent quality, cheaper ones tend to have poor heat dissipation and heat kills or shortens the life of LED's. Not keen on them myself as I find the light they give off rather cold if that makes any sense, the shade of light can also vary slightly from seemingly identical emitters which can be a bit disconcerting, ok for showrooms and supermarkets but I'm not the biggest fan of them in a domestic setting, still a traditional light bulb fan if the truth be told! Edited by Tigger, Aug 16 2015, 09:31 PM.
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| nute | Aug 19 2015, 07:42 AM Post #3 |
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You tend to get what you pay for with LED lights. As Tigger says the longevity is dictated by the efficiency if the cooling of each individual diode. Decent quality tubes come with all of the electronics integrated within the tube and some are directional so you can direct the light to where you want by rotating the tube. You can also get them with an opaque outer covering which gives a very even light distribution and let's you have a choice of colour temperatures, (warm white/cool white etc ). They can also be dimable. If you get decent ones they should be good, wouldn't get them from eBay. |
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| RoofGardener | Aug 19 2015, 09:28 AM Post #4 |
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Lord of Plantpots
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At the risk of spamming PV's original question; does anyone have experience of using LED lights for growing plants ? |
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| AndyK | Aug 21 2015, 07:59 PM Post #5 |
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LED's spotlights should not cast shadows. If they do, you have probably bought the wrong type. I am replacing the whole house with LED spots and unlike halogen lights, they give near 180 degree light coverage because the LED elements are surface mounted on the face of the bulb. Halogens are recessed far into the bulb and so only give a very narrow downlight beam. |
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| Rich | Aug 21 2015, 08:07 PM Post #6 |
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Senior Member
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Cannabis anyone?
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| Steve K | Aug 21 2015, 08:17 PM Post #7 |
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Once and future cynic
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Yes that should be the case but I've been using such LED GU10's for a fair while now and they do cast shadows far more than the halogens. Seems the SiC chips are of themselves giving a very orthogonal light pattern I direct them partly onto the ceiling for greater diffusion A year ago I'd have sworn by LED lights, the available ones were going up in brightness (the early ones were not good) and coming down in price. But I've had so may fail now the 50,000 hour life boasts are just a joke. |
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| Tigger | Aug 21 2015, 08:26 PM Post #8 |
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They wont work, natural light is made up of several wave lengths some of which are essential for plant growth, artificial light, unless designed specifically to grow plants, will not have correct spectrum to promote that plant growth. |
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| Tigger | Aug 21 2015, 08:32 PM Post #9 |
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You tend to get what you pay for, cheaper ones actually lose brightness over a surprisingly short period and are prone to almost imperceptible" strobing" if the rectifier that supply the voltage is of dubious quality, in my opinion LED's still need a bit more development, the thing at the moment seems to be pushing light output, (lumens) ahead of long term reliability. Horrible things unless used in a torch! |
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| Steve K | Aug 21 2015, 09:02 PM Post #10 |
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Once and future cynic
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As you posted earlier, the issue may well be poor heat dissipation in the cheaper ones. But I've had very poor experiences of halogen GU10 reliability too so for now will persist with the LEDs. They certainly took away the issues I had with an overloaded lighting circuit (but I've now paid out to have that split into two) |
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| AndyK | Aug 22 2015, 07:43 AM Post #11 |
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If you open one up, you will find it will be one of the 60 odd components that make up the driver circuit that has failed, not the LED. They don't need development, they work fine, well the CREE ones do anyway, I know the guys at the FAB personally. The whole lighting circuit needs to be changed to 12V and 12V DC LED's fitted. |
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| johnofgwent | Aug 22 2015, 02:37 PM Post #12 |
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It .. It is GREEN !!
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no, you need high pressure sodium ones for that, and that means keep shorting out the leccy meter
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| RoofGardener | Aug 23 2015, 09:01 AM Post #13 |
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Lord of Plantpots
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I switched my halogen spotlights to LED some time ago. I'm afraid I don't know what TYPE of LED; they're just the £8.00 ones from Wilko's. The old halogen spots lasted about 3 months or so each. I've had the LED ones for double that now, and not a single one of them has blown. So far so good. As for the growing lights; it's for onions. (strange, but true). I'm having a stab at growing some Prize onions for next years local Flower and Veg show, and I've read that to get the REAL monsters you need to considerably extend the 'daylight' period during winter. However, I can't afford to run sodium lamps for hours per day. |
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| Steve K | Aug 23 2015, 10:39 AM Post #14 |
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Once and future cynic
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You can get LED growing lights. It's all about wavelengths and LED UV torches have been on sale for some years now but now people are selling them as growing light panels I guess at least a proportion will be for legal purposes but the reduced detectable heat emissions must be very attractive for certain specialist purposes |
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| Pro Veritas | Aug 23 2015, 12:21 PM Post #15 |
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Upstanding Member
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My father has a pretty good record with onions on his allotment, and at the village horticultural show. But there was a guy in the village (dead a good few years now) who won year in year out with his onions. His motto was simple: "A shower of water a day, a shower of shit on Sunday". All The Best |
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| AndyK | Aug 23 2015, 08:28 PM Post #16 |
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I'm not sure why you say that, a quick check of wiki says that LED's are actually the best light source for plant growth because the wavelengths can be tailored to the right spectrum. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grow_light |
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| RoofGardener | Aug 24 2015, 12:38 PM Post #17 |
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Lord of Plantpots
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There seem to be quite a few of these "dual frequency" units on Ebay. I might give one a try, and see what difference it makes this winter. Thanks for all of the help everybody. I will let you know how it goes !
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| nute | Aug 27 2015, 09:12 PM Post #18 |
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As it happens i have just had to put a new set of lights up in the garage and decided to try an LED tube. Just put it up tonight and its really very good. Nice even white light, ideal for tinkering on the workbench. |
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| johnofgwent | Aug 27 2015, 10:01 PM Post #19 |
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It .. It is GREEN !!
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perhaps i was referring to horticulture of a completely different sort of plant altogether (!) mind you, if those led lights do work for waccy baccy the vietnamese round here will be delighted, the choppers will no longer find them with their FLIR ... |
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| RoofGardener | Aug 28 2015, 01:57 PM Post #20 |
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Lord of Plantpots
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Hmm... would the red LED's really show out on a FLIR screen ? |
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| Deleted User | Aug 28 2015, 03:07 PM Post #21 |
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Don't worry about the weed growers they will all be out of work soon, we will legalize after the US has finished getting in position for global domination of the cannabis market. |
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