Supplemental lighting

[wuwuorganics]

So I have acquired quite a little collection of things that I bought at "cheap" rates throughout my recent addiction to leds. I have yet to put any kind of strip light together, but have 8xf-series 80cri 4k and 20xeb gen3 90cri 4k strips still waiting to be assembled. That said, I am playing around with the idea of how, if even at all, I would supplement these for more full cycle type applications. I'm not really even sure what application I plan to use these in (veg or flower), as expanding on things is still a bit in the distance, but have the itch to try and play around with some things.

I like the looks of the 660/730 buddies and may just grab a few of those as one possible use as they seem pretty well rounded and offer a lot of versatility. I have also been looking at maybe grabbing some more eb gen3 90cri strips, but this time getting 20 of the 2700k and just working those into the builds similar to the vesta strips. Which leads me to my last last little bit of reading/browsing last night. I was looking into the bridgelux thrive line of products that I had heard about and really liked the spectrums they showed. I was only able to find cobs being offered right now in the thrive spectrums (but they seemed reasonably priced and like a possible option as well even though I know nothing about cobs/holders/heatsinking required for them) but they seemed like it could help balance the blue peak while still being a boost to the red a bit. Looking at something like the 3000/3500 as possibilities. https://www.bridgelux.com/products/thrive -- there's a link so you can kind of follow along with my ramblings.

I'm sorry this is all kind of just dumped out there, but really am just curious on what different opinions are on the options out there. The ones I listed are just fresh in my mind and it seems like there are tons of options/variables to consider. I know this is all very open ended and vague, but it'd be nice to try and gather some more direct info from some people if possible since I don't need to get them up and running asap.

[TEKNIK]

Are thrive available now?
I will test them when they are, numbers seem a little high.

[wuwuorganics]

I only found the "sell" sheet and didn't even see a product code for any type of strip yet. I just like the looks of how the blue region could help even things with the high 450ish peaks on my strips while still adding a little bit more red to the overall spectrum too with something like the 3000 or 3500. Please let me know if I'm way off base with my thought process here, just what has been wandering through my inexperienced mind when it comes to all things led.

For a little more clarity for what I'm envisioning is building like four individual fixtures (4 f-series strips per xlg-100 and 8-10 gen3 per xlg-100 or something along those lines). edit: Each fixture I'm thinking will be roughly a 2ftx2ft type frame as that seems like it will fit a nice size for all my future endeavors, thinking 2x4ft tents would be ideal for playing around with different lighting and soil techniques. Not having it all worked out in my head at the moment, and also not having the space just quite yet, is why I'd like to gather a bit more info before I make a few last purchases and really get into everything.

Your new buddies look awesome though. I will definitely have to show you and growlightsaustralia some support and grab some. Would 2x660 and 1x730 running all 3 in parallel on an xlg-25 work?

[TEKNIK]

I havent tried to use 2 660nm and 1 730nm on an XLG driver running in parallel. It should work, i just need to make sure the forward voltage would be high enough. You can also operate Buddies on 24V constant voltage and that would be a better option so you could run side lights as well as top lights. Side lights do make a big difference when they are placed correctly.
I'm working on a special blue type of Buddies that will be pretty good.
Its a bit hectic here at the moment and my hands are tied.

[PeteR_1]

IMO, 80 and 90 CRI White PC (Phosphor Converted) LED are all usually deficient in Violet wavelengths, with 80 CRI LED having Deep Red and Far Red deficiency. I have Bridgelux Vesta 2750, will Build several Samsung F series Gen3 4000K fixtures and they "suffer" from these deficiencies;
80 CRI LED Strips ... would benefit from both Violet LED and PC (Phosphor Converted) Red LED supplements.
90 CRI LED Strips... would benefit from Violet LED supplements.

Samsung LM561C 80 and 90 CRI LED with PAR (400 - 700nm) and McCree (300 - 800nm) overlay

280mm, 560mm or 1120mm LED Strips with two (2) tuneable Channels of Violet and PC RED is my idea of the ultimate supplement for almost any White LED.

Violet ~ 420 nm and PC Red "Optimal" Supplemental Spectrum

I was about to purchase the PC Red Buddies but saw that they are not recommended for top-lighting, (already decided on using my T8 Bypass LEDs for any required intra-canopy lighting).
Buddies... https://growlightsaustralia.com/product/buddies/
T8 Versa Bypass (Single-end Line Voltage) LED... https://greenlightdepot.com/collections ... 9103116331

PC Red Spectrum ...

PC RED.png (11.72 KiB) Viewed 3529 times

The LED manufacturers typically have White LED with 660 nm Red as standard, Cree uses a 70 CRI White plus 660 nm Red LED, Samsung uses a White (?) plus 450nm Blue, 660 Red and sometimes 730 nm Far Red, they are still deficient in Violet and usually Far Red (when no 730 nm is added).

Cree Horticultural Linear LED

Cree Horticultural... https://www.cree.com/led-components/app ... rticulture
Cree White plus Red LED... https://www.cree.com/led-components/med ... Design.pdf

Samsung Horticultural Linear LED

Samsung Horticultural... https://www.samsung.com/led/lighting/le ... re-linear/
Samsung Study White LED compared to White plus Red... https://cdn.samsung.com/led/file/resour ... 181121.pdf
Samsung L2 Horticultural LED with 240 Watt Driver... https://grow-it-led.com/wp-content/uplo ... 8x1152.png

[TEKNIK]

You can use PC red as top lights. Not sure why it suggests not to, they are not as efficient as the 660nm or 730nm types. The 660nm is over 60% more efficient than the PC reds that's all.

The phosphor used to make PC red is excited best with 450nm, it is possible to excite the phosphor with a near UV pump but efficiency would be lower.

Nothing wrong with using PC red as top lights as they are designed to do that as well as side lighting.

[PeteR_1]

You can use PC red as top lights. Not sure why it suggests not to, they are not as efficient as the 660nm or 730nm types. The 660nm is over 60% more efficient than the PC reds that's all.

The phosphor used to make PC red is excited best with 450nm, it is possible to excite the phosphor with a near UV pump but efficiency would be lower.

Nothing wrong with using PC red as top lights as they are designed to do that as well as side lighting.

@TEKNIK ,
Thanks for the reply...

Do you know the PPF (umol/s) for the PC Red and 660 nm Deep Red Strings.? Thanks.

Looking forward to the release of your Blue supplements...

[TEKNIK]

Im still finishing testing, in full lockdown here so its difficult to get to my machine.
PC red is 1.5 2.1m/joule, 660nm is 2.5 3.5m/joule at 24V 0.72W per Buddy

The 660nm types use the second most efficient 660nm chips available, I actually cant even get the best ones to test, although they look the same as the PC red Buddies they are very different.
Pricing is very agressive on the 660nm and 730nm strips also.
You can use the 660nm and 730nm on constant current drivers too. They can be run upto 500mA per strip on constant current. When using them in constant voltage 24V they are 300mA per strip.
They do need to warm up to hit maximum current at 300mA as they require the voltage to drop to hit maximum output.

The way I have designed Buddies is completely different to anything else I have seen on the market.

I am only able to do this because of the strict voltage binning I am supplied which allows me to design in different ways there were not possible in the past.

PC red is good too, its also alot cheaper. It a matter of deciding if spectrum or performance is more suitable to you.

[PeteR_1]

Im still finishing testing, in full lockdown here so its difficult to get to my machine.
PC red is 1.5, 660nm is 2.5

The 660nm types use the second most efficient 660nm chips available, I actually cant even get the best ones to test, although they look the same as the PC red Buddies they are very different.
Pricing is very agressive on the 660nm and 730nm strips also.
You can use the 660nm and 730nm on constant current drivers too. They can be run upto 500mA per strip on constant current. When using them in constant voltage 24V they are 300mA per strip.
They do need to warm up to hit maximum current at 300mA as they require the voltage to drop to hit maximum output.

The way I have designed Buddies is completely different to anything else I have seen on the market.

I am only able to do this because of the strict voltage binning I am supplied which allows me to design in different ways there were not possible in the past.

PC red is good too, its also alot cheaper. It a matter of deciding if spectrum or performance is more suitable to you.

Thanks...

With supplements Spectrum is most important.

[TEKNIK]

I agree that spectrum is important, hard to go past that efficiency of the 660nm though. From what I have seen regarding red spectrums is efficiency come in first then spectrum.
If there was only a 20% difference then I would choose spectrum over efficiency but 60% difference is a pretty big deal. This all relates to your electricity prices of course. If you get cheap electricity then who cares about efficiency. Most of the world pays alot for electricity though and that's where efficiency is a big deal.