L.E.D. vs HALIDE/T5/VHO

[StirCrazy]

Originally Posted by sphelps

Steve, the fact that you measured a 40% drop in par and 32% drop in LUX would suggest the two are directly related. The difference of 8% is minor considering the likely test conditions and equipment used .

A decrease in PAR is simply a result of an overall decrease in intensity which could be measured in LUX. The argument was that LEDs last longer than halides because they don't suffer the CCT shift meaning a more stable PAR reading over time, I suggested this isn't the case.

wohwoh man, I never said they wern't related only not the only factor. the simmple fact is if the big blue spike shifts to the left, PAR will drip off as it shifts compound this with a decrease in intensity and it will be compounded.

you can not gage PAR out put with LUX, two totaly diferant and unrelated measurments. you are in one case measuring the amount of the emitted light with in a specific wave length, in the other you are measuring the amount of visiable light that falls on a given area. kind of a mass vs PSI but of different componants. Like I said in the previous post, no two MH or T5, ect age identicaly. this is due to various factors, including gas concentrations/types inside and so on. LED eliminates this by using a solid state chip encapsulated with no air/gas/ect surounding the chip, but they do have a problem as mentioned... heat. if they are allowed to warm up they will go through a reduction in PPF, which rises again once cooled. this can be as much as a 30% reduction in as little as 1/2 an hour with out any cooling and no drop in intensity. so using a heat sink and fans properly is a twofold benifit.. maintains the PPF output and the life on the LED. I think you would need the fans personaly, other wise the fixtures would be huge inorder to give each LED enough heatsink to make passive cooling possible. by having fans and preperly using them you will be able to produce lighter, more sleak fixtures. for what it is worth I had 4 computer fans running over my sump for 8 years starting and stopping 4 times a day. although they were coated with salt spray they still worked..

Steve