On 2/19/2018 11:47 AM, songbird wrote:
Gary Woods wrote:
...
Only barely related: has anybody else tried LED grow lights for plant
starting. More pricy than cheapo shoplights (which I fitted with
solid-state ballasts- worth it in lower power use), but way more light
for the power use.

not yet and probably won't any time soon. i just
don't have the room for starting things here.

one of the factors from the previous lights was that
they also put out a certain amount of heat which can be
important for growth/germination. so in the end the
energy savings may not be there if you have to make up
for the heat differences.

if you've already spent the $ for new bulbs and
ballasts i'd probably keep with those until the bulbs
and/or ballast failed and were due for replacing.

we got almost 20yrs out of the shop lights/bulbs we
were using.

it is really down to the math though in the end. if
you use them enough to make it worth it...

our almost whole house light bulb switching to LEDs
will pay us back pretty quickly and we have much better
lighting now than before.


songbird

Looking at internet I think it best to buy LED lights designed for
growing plants as their output is in the most useful part of the spectra
for plants. You would not like them in the house for normal use as they
would be a different color.