Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Good thread here from Karen

http://backyardaquaponics.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=18&t=3047&st=0&sk=t&sd=a&hilit=led+growlights

This may help...

https://eapbiofield.wikispaces.com/file ... ectrum.jpg

In my own experience, you need so many so close to the plants that you effectively end up at the same power consumption as fluoros with about the same results.

And fluoros are easier.

There's a vid on youtube somewhere of a guy doing a side by side comparison of HID sodium or metal discharge with LEDs using the hidden growing plant of illicit choice . The HIDs won even on a kWhr basis.

AHH Tamno42 BUT they'r green ,, they save the whales , they may just be ORGANIC and carbon neutral,,,it doesn;t matter if they DON'/T work as long as these blood sucking greens can make a dollar:)
These companies make the banks look so VERY nice and friensly.

I have placed LED lights in my house ,,m sheesh I should have known better than to fall for another green/whale saving / save the Planet piece of manure ,, but anyway , I persist,, I will soon have 18 holes in my kitchen ceiling to TRY and get what was promised ..... add labour and fitting costs , plus extra for the FAINT Led globes and it has cost me a fortune.18 Globes in a kitchen of about 10 square metres,,,?????
a 4 foot twin flouro ..... would have done nicely, would have saved me $100 plus in fittings ,, $100 in led globes ....., how do I keep falling for this greeny money making crud?

Sounds very pretty Chappo, like stars on a clear night, hope you got the southern cross in there

Imho flouros t5 not compacts (too hard to make reflectors and stop them overheating) you also need to keep them v close to the plants so you need some way of adjusting your light array.

I've seen 18 normal downlights in 10 sq mtrs Chappo... thought was the norm... or a way for sparkys to do a little value adding to the bottom line...

Sorry you fell for $100 led globes that don't work for you. I "fell" for $38 LED downlights that are around the equivalent of 30W halogen downlights. 4 are absolutely perfect for the lighting in my paino/fish room, equivilent in power of 12W instead of 120W plus they last a lot longer. Still there are rip of merchants out their who charge $100 for a 1W LED downlight.

We use LEDs for all of our home lighting, 240V GU10 lamps at $13 each in downlight fittings at $3 each!! (bought a job lot of 100). The lamps have a life of 10000+ hours, use 1/10th the power that 240V halogen GU10s use and don't have a wastefull transformer used for 12V halogen systems.
We get them online from: www.onlinelighting.com.au and have never had any trouble with supply or delivery. Unlike a couple of other suppliers who will remain nameless!
We use warm white in Bedrooms and Bathroom etc (they have a yellowish tinged light similar to incandescant) and cool white in Living areas and Veranda lighting(more akin to the light colour produced by Fluorescents).The Lounge ceiling is 3300mm high and the LEDs cope with the lighting levels required because they were designed to light that area! They are placed at about 1200mm grid centres, and 600mm from walls; totals 16 fittings in an area of 6m x 5m. I have additional ceiling mounted track Gallery Lighting when required for lighting paintings and feature lighting for sculptures, but the LEDs are fine for general use of the areas. Warm white above the Spa in the Bathroom are an excellent choice for that type of space. We also have some 12V twin pin G9 LEDs on the Kitchen 'Turn" track system, but they dont seem as reliable. Some of the individual LEDs in the 12V lamps die after only a couple of weeks.
Overall, if correctly designed for, they save a lot of money and provide even, non-glare lighting for a long time.
We have tried CFLs, but found that they interferred with AM radio signals and took a little while to "warm" up when switched on. We only use CFLs (just 2 Batten fittings) in the shed only as it doesn't get used much and I can't be bothered changing them at the moment!
All in all, we are very happy with the LEDs and haven't had to replace any yet after 3 years of service in some rooms.
Cheers IanK