Pictures, not that I can remember, but I have seen them in person, and at a
casual glance, inside the vinyl tube, it's hard to tell the difference. You
can easily see the difference upon close inspection, and the light quality
gives it away too.

--

Ray Barkalow - First Rays Orchids - www.firstrays.com
Plants, Supplies, Artwork, Books and Lots of Free Info!


"Reka" wrote in message
...
wrote:
Reka wrote:
Ray wrote:
LED's are basically worthless if you're trying to generate heat. They
are
designed to be "cold light".

I'd bet your friend has small "rope lights" on incandescent bulbs, not
LED's.

Do you know of a link to show me the difference, Ray?

Think of miniature Christmas tree lights. Those are incandescent. They
get hot because they have a white-hot tungsten filament.

Now think of the little glowing status lights on your computer. Those
are LEDs
LEDs are solid state devices. They put out very little heat. A string
of single LEDs would be useless for either light -or- heat.

J. Del Col

I know the difference between LED and incandescent. I was wondering if Ray
had seen pictures of LED rope lights and incandescent rope lights.

Reka

Ray wrote:
Pictures, not that I can remember, but I have seen them in person, and at a
casual glance, inside the vinyl tube, it's hard to tell the difference. You
can easily see the difference upon close inspection, and the light quality
gives it away too.

The idea of these things strung all over a plant room brings to mind
the image of a tacky chinese restaurant. Maybe they could be equipped
with blinkers, just for kicks.

J. Del Col

On 5 Sep 2006 06:15:06 -0700 in . com wrote:

Ray wrote:
Pictures, not that I can remember, but I have seen them in person, and at a
casual glance, inside the vinyl tube, it's hard to tell the difference. You
can easily see the difference upon close inspection, and the light quality
gives it away too.

The idea of these things strung all over a plant room brings to mind
the image of a tacky chinese restaurant. Maybe they could be equipped
with blinkers, just for kicks.

Can one of the folks here write up a fake academia article as to the
need of that?

The fiance is grinning and bearing it with the shelves and lights moved
into her front parlor.
An excuse to put blinking rope lights in there is worth it, but she
knows my writing style.

Last night was most amusing...
Her Ex: "What the hell is that" (He noticed the grow lights for the
first time while picking up swim stuff for the eldest)
Her: "Oh that's where Chris is growing his pot."
pause
Her: "It's the orchids and violets."


--
Chris Dukes
elfick willg: you can't use dell to beat people, it wouldn't stand up
to the strain... much like attacking a tank with a wiffle bat

I seem to recall hearing that landscapers somewhere would wrap the lights
around marginally hardy palms and other plants to provide a couple degrees
on really cold nights. I assume they use the incandescent ones.
-danny

wrote:
On 5 Sep 2006 06:15:06 -0700 in . com wrote:

Ray wrote:
Pictures, not that I can remember, but I have seen them in person, and at a
casual glance, inside the vinyl tube, it's hard to tell the difference. You
can easily see the difference upon close inspection, and the light quality
gives it away too.

The idea of these things strung all over a plant room brings to mind
the image of a tacky chinese restaurant. Maybe they could be equipped
with blinkers, just for kicks.

Can one of the folks here write up a fake academia article as to the
need of that?

I found a cheap buffet frame that I want to convert to a growing case.
The inside dimensions are 50" x 17". After I measured it, thought that
the inside was a little shallow (14" or thereabouts). for a florescent
light, even though it is long enough for a 4' light. I researched the
LED grow lights. One was 3" diameter and had 64 LED's (yes I counted
them) It had 44 white, 10 red, 10 blue per 3" unit. I think I would
need 3 for the inside of the cabinet. With a socket and wiring, it
would still need about 2" clearance.

Now for the leap. The inside has 850 sq inches. With 1/2 inch
diameter (estimate) for the rope lights, theoretically it would take
1700 linear inches for a solid line of the ropes. There would be a
reduction based on the loss for curving around the inside at corners
and for the spiral. A 20' (240") rope light has a LED every 6"or 40
LED's total. I would use 4 strings of white, 1 each string of red and
blue LED, total 1440 linear inches. I would practice first with 1/2"
rope first for exact length and installation pattern, then order the
light strings during the preparation. (You have to have time for the
paint to dry)

During assembly, I would invert the cabinet, Seal and paint the inside
with white exterior paint, line the top with Mylar. Add (current
estimate) 4 strings of white in clear tube, between that add the
colored LED strings, add a fine wire grid for support (Okay chicken
wire). The total number of LED = 240, the equivalence of 4 of the 3"
units. The rope lights are prewired with plug, insulated, and rated
for outside use. The light would be more diffuse, not concentrated on
points within the grow cabinet, and still only require 1/2" clearance.
The inside sealed and reflective, the doors acrylic, drawer glides for
the trays, a hole drilled into the bottom to collect run off, drill
holes in the back for cords passed through a split rubber grommets.
Power strip attached to the back of the cabinet for timer and fans. It
might be a real kluge, then again it might work and be attractive.

In the meantime, my recently deflasked seedlings are on shelves with
shoplights on timers. Each shoplight has 2 ea 6500K bulb, one light
per shelf about 14" above the plants. Maybe not the best, but seems to
be working for now. I could lower the lights some, they are on the
greatest distance from the plants. 2 racks, 4 shelves, 4 lights.

Nancy

LED rope light is listed as 1/2 Watt/ft and Inc. rope ligh is listed as
5.5 Watts/ft.

www.centsibleholidaylighting.com/

http://www.christmaslightsetc.com/pr...CategoryID=130

Joe T
Lit up in Baytown

Reka wrote:
wrote:
Reka wrote:
Ray wrote:
LED's are basically worthless if you're trying to generate heat. They are
designed to be "cold light".

I'd bet your friend has small "rope lights" on incandescent bulbs, not
LED's.

Do you know of a link to show me the difference, Ray?

Think of miniature Christmas tree lights. Those are incandescent. They
get hot because they have a white-hot tungsten filament.

Now think of the little glowing status lights on your computer. Those
are LEDs
LEDs are solid state devices. They put out very little heat. A string
of single LEDs would be useless for either light -or- heat.

J. Del Col

I know the difference between LED and incandescent. I was wondering if
Ray had seen pictures of LED rope lights and incandescent rope lights.

Reka

jtill wrote:
LED rope light is listed as 1/2 Watt/ft and Inc. rope ligh is listed as
5.5 Watts/ft.

www.centsibleholidaylighting.com/

http://www.christmaslightsetc.com/pr...CategoryID=130

Joe T
Lit up in Baytown

Darn, my recollector is broken. I thought the LED's were farther apart
on the rope and less expensive. Maybe they were an older model or on
special clearance after Christmas when I researched them before. Seems
like they were preassembled in various lengths, now I don't remember.
While the price was still fairly high it was ball park with other light
sources that took more energy and produced more heat.

I need to keep some of my nuthatch research for future reference. That
way I would have links for supplies and calculations for power and
estimated light output. I threw out my scratch paper and didn't save
the links. You'd think I'd learn.

That's the story of my life. Make expensive modifications to a $5
cabinet because it would look neat in our old house and T. would
approve of the decor. I definately would not qualify as the brightest
light in the rope.

Well danny all i can say now is Holy moly! 54 watts!!!
I missed that one totaly as I searched with T5 lamp only and did not get
anything like that. A search with T5 54watt now shows me what everyone
is talking about. May I add OUCH! also, one replacment lamp costs as
much as I pay for a two lamp 40 watt fixture.

Okay I'm not as bright but I stick with dirt cheap for now.

By he way for those who have space for it Harbor frieght and tools has
their 10' X 12' greenhouse on sale for $599.99 or about the same price
i've seen on some of these fixtures.


Grow well and bloom magnificently
Dusty


"danny" wrote in
:

Apparently these are high output T5 fixtures. The bulbs that came
with my fixture say they are 54W / 4200 lumens each, 216 watts for the
four tube fixture. That lumen output doesn't sound all that great for
the amount of power but it's ok I guess. They claim to be some sort
of grow bulb so the lumens/watt may not be the highest possible? I
just did a quick search and found another 54W grow bulb that claimed

to be 5000 initial / 4700 mean lumens. The eight tube fixtures are
432 Watts, so their output should be comparable to my 400W metal
halide fixtures but spread more evenly.. -danny

"Dusty" wrote in message
. 17.102...
"danny" wrote in
:
I'm not sure if your are getting all good information from the Guy at
the hydoponics shop. I've looked up the T-5 lamps specifications and
I only see about a 10% gain in light over a standard 40 watt. However
being small as they are you may be able to cram a lot of lamps close
together and get a higher amount of light.You could also do that with
T- 8 lamps which are a lot less costly. Here's the specs as I found
them between T-5's & T-12's;

T-5 lamp Width 5/8 in. Length 48 in. 28 Watts Rated Life
36000 Hours
F28W/T5/830 Color Temperature 3000K Lumens 2900 Initial/2726 Mean
F28W/T5/865/ECO Color Temperature 6500K Lumens 2700 Initial/2480 Mean
...
Grow well and bloom magnificently
dusty

I've got 15 of the cheap two-lamp shoplights and I'm going to keep right on
using them. You can't beat the value. When you need more headroom over the
plants or need to cover a larger area with a single fixture, that's when all
of these more expensive options come into play. Wish we had a good spot for
a greenhouse, but we don't.
-danny

"Dusty" wrote in message
. 17.102...
Well danny all i can say now is Holy moly! 54 watts!!!
I missed that one totaly as I searched with T5 lamp only and did not get
anything like that. A search with T5 54watt now shows me what everyone
is talking about. May I add OUCH! also, one replacment lamp costs as
much as I pay for a two lamp 40 watt fixture.

Okay I'm not as bright but I stick with dirt cheap for now.

By he way for those who have space for it Harbor frieght and tools has
their 10' X 12' greenhouse on sale for $599.99 or about the same price
i've seen on some of these fixtures.


Grow well and bloom magnificently
Dusty

Yeah Danny I also use the cheap 40 watt fixtures but I use what is called a
strip light. It's a few bucks more than a shop light but there's no
reflector so I can stack them right next to each other to get a higher
concentration of light. When you have 8 or 10 40 watt tubes side by side on
one shelf it seems really bright. Catts and oncidiums grow and bloom under
my set up but I have to watch the oncidium spikes or they grow into the
lights when i turn my back.

Grow well and bloom magnificently
dusty

Actually, lights with reflectors direct more of the bulb's light toward the
plants. Without one, you only get the part of the bulb facing directly
toward the plants. With them, you get most of the "back" side as well, and
if it's truly well designed (most shop lights aren't), the usable light
intensity is quite a significant percentage.

If you took the strip light concept to its ridiculous limit - bulb right
against bulb - you only "use" the light from about the bottom 30%-40% of
each.

--

Ray Barkalow - First Rays Orchids - www.firstrays.com
Plants, Supplies, Artwork, Books and Lots of Free Info!


"Dusty" wrote in message
. 17.102...
Yeah Danny I also use the cheap 40 watt fixtures but I use what is called
a
strip light. It's a few bucks more than a shop light but there's no
reflector so I can stack them right next to each other to get a higher
concentration of light. When you have 8 or 10 40 watt tubes side by side
on
one shelf it seems really bright. Catts and oncidiums grow and bloom under
my set up but I have to watch the oncidium spikes or they grow into the
lights when i turn my back.

Grow well and bloom magnificently
dusty