heliospectra

wanted to let some people in on the helio, maybe some have seen it over at another site, but a lot of cool folks here..

I ripped it open, ok didn't rip it open, but opened it up to see inside.. interesting thing is it has dual lens'.. ok can't find the pics, have to update later.. second, how do I upload more then one pic??? ok can't even figure out how to load pics...

Click Upload A File button thx

I like where this is going.

Just an " info bomb" from me ...
I've just remembered a MIT report ,about the MARS ONE expedition ,
where they express their-pretty serious- doubts & concerns about the success of whole mission ...

(MIT scientists suggest that the mission will fail and eventually all the volunteers might/will face serious trouble and eventually death within less than a year or so ,if I remember correctly ... )

On that report ,at page 10 :

We assume the use of LED lights in the Growth Lighting System
(GLS) to minimize power use, and assume that it will be similar to the Heliospectra L4A Series growth light;
a current state-of-the-art commercially available option.
875 LED units are required to provide full coverage of
the 200m2 growth area.

875/200 = 4,375 L4A units per square meter

Retail price of each unit is ~ $7500
That means $ 32812,5 per square meter ...

I dunno ...
It does not seem sane to me ...None of these ...
( 3062,5 Watts per square meter ?
And that is considered as "minimisation of power use " ? .. )

Still ,MIT guys ,for sure, they are aware of things ,I surely do not know or can't even think of ...
I 'm just assuming ,that using ~$33000 of COBS per square meter ,they might have had greater results than ...Ok ,drop it ...

Still ,I'm eager to see if a single $7500 / 700 W L4A unit can grow same or superior quantity and quality of herb , than a 700 W / ~$1000 DIY COB light fixture ,as most of us ain't going to travel to Mars ,to grow lettuce and who knows what else ..

So ,down to Earth ...
Please ,satisfy the thirst for this particular knowledge ..

Cheers.

stardustsailor said:

Just an " info bomb" from me ...
I've just remembered a MIT report ,about the MARS ONE expedition ,
where they express their-pretty serious- doubts & concerns about the success of whole mission ...

(MIT scientists suggest that the mission will fail and eventually all the volunteers might/will face serious trouble and eventually death within less than a year or so ,if I remember correctly ... )

On that report ,at page 10 :

We assume the use of LED lights in the Growth Lighting System
(GLS) to minimize power use, and assume that it will be similar to the Heliospectra L4A Series growth light;
a current state-of-the-art commercially available option.
875 LED units are required to provide full coverage of
the 200m2 growth area.

875/200 = 4,375 L4A units per square meter

Retail price of each unit is ~ $7500
That means $ 32812,5 per square meter ...

I dunno ...
It does not seem sane to me ...None of this ...
( 3062,5 Watts per square meter ?
And that is considered as "minimisation of power use " ? .. )

Still ,MIT guys ,for sure, they are aware of things ,I surely do not know or can't even think of ...
I 'm just assuming ,that using ~$33000 of COBS per square meter ,they might have had greater results than ...Ok ,drop it ...

Still ,I'm eager to see if a single $7500 / 700 W L4A unit can grow same or superior quantity and quality of herb , than a 700 W DIY COB light fixture ,as most of us ain't going to travel to Mars ,to grow lettuce and who knows what else ..

So ,down to Earth ...
Please ,satisfy the thirst for this particular knowledge ..

Cheers.

Click to expand...

I thought the big selling point of the heliospectra lights was the multiple 'spectrum channels' that could be adjusted individually. Ideally getting all the wavelengths in 'just' the perfect combo for the desired effects. More of a 'bench testing' light for scientific studies. Could be wrong.

bicit said:

I thought the big selling point of the heliospectra lights was the multiple 'spectrum channels' that could be adjusted individually. Ideally getting all the wavelengths in 'just' the perfect combo for the desired effects. More of a 'bench testing' light for scientific studies. Could be wrong.

Click to expand...

It might as well prepare breakfast ,drive the kids to school ,walk the dog,do sky-diving and wash the dishes ...

Let us focus to the whole point ..
Can it grow like 700W of CXA /CXB 3590 and/or 700 W of VERO 29s ?
Or is it better than a $7500 COB fixture ?

'Cause if it can't , it's just a high-tech ,fancy ,well designed, programmable,
scientific / lab use disco light ,worthing $7500 and nothin' more than that ..
So ..
Focusing to the point ...

Down to Earth ...
In the COB-Land ...

Cheers.

A US grow OP purchased over a million dollars worth of helio lx panels after a trial run with them.........Think they saw good things

Can't remember the specifics, froggy posted it in one of the stickies a bit back....

PSUAGRO. said:

A US grow OP purchased over a million dollars worth of helio lx panels after a trial run with them.........Think they saw good things

Can't remember the specifics, froggy posted it in one of the stickies a bit back....

Click to expand...

I remember that also ....
I wish I had a million bucks ,to make fully programmable COB led grow lights ,
for the same grow OP...
(Probably would have thrown some UVb leds in also ....)
Then ,we could have had a decent comparison ...


Cheers.

The price of electricity would have to be insanely high to justify the cost and yield savings. We earthlings don't have the same budget as nasa. Looking forward to a review! Thx

_MrBelvedere_ said:

The price of electricity would have to be insanely high to justify the cost and yield savings. We earthlings don't have the same budget as nasa. Looking forward to a review! Thx

Click to expand...

Uhm...I seriously doubt that the personel of MARS ONE expedition ,will have to pay for electricity ...
..

Then,again I 'm assuming ,that the budget for 875 units ( $ 6 562 500 ) of LED lights ,is rather high ,even for NASA ,when with the same budget they could have more efficient LED lights and probably much more wattage than 612,5 KWatts ..

Utilising CXB 3590 ,driven really low ,the efficiency would 've been well above 50% ,
while still for $ 6.5 ml budget ,total power would have been well above 612,5 KWatts ...

Add to that the thermally efficient blue diodes under the LES of CXB 3590 ,and not green,amber, red & FR thermally sensitive monochrome LED diodes ...

Still ...
MIT guys ,are pretty much more informed on the subject than we are ....
As for the Earth ...

Review of the light is rendered rather obsolete for me ..
I'd prefer to see a complete grow from start till end ,with a single fixture ...
More or less ,most of us know pretty well what 700 W of COBS can do ...
( Especially if one spends $7500 to build a super efficient COB light ... )

What I want to see is ,if that fixture is worth of it's price and if the monochrome diodes combination it boasts ,
can really deliver higher quantity and quality of herb ,than the blue diodes + phosphor doped LES of COBs can ...

I'm really eager to see that ...

Can this light compete or even excel against our humble COBs ?

Do you want my honest opinion ,or at least a hard guess on that one ?

Nope.Not even close.

But then I might be totally wrong about it ...

That's why I want to see that LED light in action ....

Cause it's 700 Watts of monochromatic leds ...
Worth of $ 7500...

If it fails ...
I will not bother to make any comments ...
I've made enough already ,since I've became an active member of this forum ..

If it does not fail and manages to live up to it's myth ...
Then,the next generation of my DIY lights will be boasting ,every available monochrome LED
and fully programmable driving ,etc ...

I'm mediterranean ...
"Straight-forward approach " ,is written in my DNA,all over ...
Any gordian knot is untied by just a single sword slash ...

So ....Hic Rhodus,hic salta ...

Looking forward for a Heliospectra grow thread...

Cheers

stardustsailor said:

It might as well prepare breakfast ,drive the kids to school ,walk the dog,do sky-diving and wash the dishes ...

Let us focus to the whole point ..
Can it grow like 700W of CXA /CXB 3590 and/or 700 W of VERO 29s ?
Or is it better than a $7500 COB fixture ?

'Cause if it can't , it's just a high-tech ,fancy ,well designed, programmable,
scientific / lab use disco light ,worthing $7500 and nothin' more than that ..
So ..
Focusing to the point ...

Down to Earth ...
In the COB-Land ...

Cheers.

Click to expand...

this is a light to study spectrums, not to grow with. that's what the commercial lights they sell are for.

sethimus said:

this is a light to study spectrums, not to grow with. that's what the commercial lights they sell are for.

Click to expand...

I've to admit that we're on the same wave,here ...

Still ...

Say that this is the case ..
I 've couple of questions ...


- MIT scientists suggest to MARS ONE expedition ,875 units of a $ 6 562 500 budget and 612,5 KW power ,
only for the volunteers of the expedition to study the spectral effects of light on plants ,at Mars ?

-That US based -large- grow OP paid $ 1 ml ,just to study the spectral effects of light on mj or to grow the herb
for commercial purposes ?


Well ?

By now ,personally ,I'm pretty much aware that monochromatic LED combinations :

-Either they are used to supplement natural sunlight or HID lights ,in northern and/or urban based greenhouses.( When the main PAR light source is lacking certain wls like the sunlight during winter in northern areas ,where it lacks red and FR wavelengths or in case of HPS lacking blue wls ).

-Either they are used as the sole energy source for non-light needy plants ( like lettuce ,spinach and other leafy greens or seedlings of higher plants ).

-Either they are used to study the spectral effects of light on plants ,as you've mentioned.

Higher fruiting /flowering plants ,need all the PAR spectrum of 280-780 nm ,
( UVB included for UVR8 plant photoreceptor )


in order to grow close enough to each species genetic potential ,under artificial lighting conditions.

Aka "UV enriched white light" ....

Several approaches can be utilised in order to achieve such light quality ...

The most "straight-forward " method is of course the " excitation-conversion " ,used for
some years now in the unefficient fluorescent lamps ,where a drop of Mercury is heated, becomes ionised gas and then it excites the aproppriate phosphor layer inside the glass tube or the modern -highly efficient- PC LEDS or COB LEDS ,where a high energy photon source (UV / BLUE diodes ) is used to excite again an aproppriate phosphor ....

Another way -I would not characterise this method ,most here know how I feel about it already- is to
use plenty of monochromatic LED diodes of totally different thermal,electrical and radiant behaviour ,in
order to "make" white light .And then try to make the emitted light to be evenly distributed in physical space both regarding it's quantity & quality .

Monochromatic LEDS can be used also to "enhance" another source of complete PAR ,for plant growth ,like in the case of FR ,deep red ,Blue and UVb leds ,in cases that a special plant attribute has to be induced or promoted or
inhibited .

This fixture ,worth of $7500 , is a great " toy -tool " for lab white shirts ,I've to agree on that ...
But for real -life applications ,is way expensive ,way complex for the average farmer/grower and there are much more efficient alternatives around ,already .

Still...

I want to see a Heliospectra grow ...
It's been a while since I saw a good scandinavian comedy,anyway ...

I know I get harsh and bitter ,but please someone prove me wrong ,Watt for Watt ,
and I will shut -up forever ,change my 'nick' to WhiteCircusClown and start worshiping the MONO LEDs .

Until then . ...

WHITE PC LEDS/COBs RULE !

PERIOD.-

Cheers.

Completely off topic. But I wonder if anyone has made an induction UV-B bulb.