50w LED Spotlight

[MrFancyPlants]

Currently my indoor plants are crowded under a single tiny T5 (I should look up the wattage, but it is small) next to the window on a tray. My plants usually limp though the winter emerging in the spring with a funny color to them when viewed in natural light. I'd like to try out an enclosure type setup by putting some of my humidity loving tropicals inside an aquarium and get a new light source for them.
So I just took the plunge and ordered a relatively cheap ($60 w shipping) 50 Watt LED Waterpoof Outdoor Security Floodlight 100/240V AC 3702WH. The idea struck me when I was following some of the aquarium/reef inspired threads and I was contemplating doing my own GPU type buildout, which, I might go ahead with if this particular light doesn't cut muster. It just seemed like a convenient way to get a pre-built light source that offered a lot of lumen for not much $ or energy consumption.
It looks light my "spotlight" has a 50 watt LED multichip in it, although the specs aren't real specific. It really could be a 30 watt chip in there and they are counting the consumption of the built in driver.
I was curious if anyone had an idea of how I could either calculate or measure the Lumen, Kelvin or PAR that I'll get out of this setup.
I realize that often you get what you pay for, so I am not expecting spectacular results. I won't receive the light for a while because it is being shipped from Hong Kong, and I will be out of the country for a while myself, but when I do get this set up, I'll be sure to keep everyone appraised of the results.

Thanks,
David

 

[tmmason10]

I'm not much of help here, but most of us have tropicals that limp through winter. I for one, would love to see results with LED so please keep us posted.

 

[MrFancyPlants]

24w 6,400 kelvin t5 is my current setup, so I think this flood light should be an improvent at any rate. How often do I need to swap out the t5 bulbs?

Edit: googled my own question and found recommendations for 10-18 months replacement period for t5s.

 

[MrFancyPlants]

I recieved the light that I ordered the other day and just got around to wiring up a plug for it. This is my trial run with it over a jar w/ a willow ficus that hasn't enjoyed it's late season repotting. I have a electronic thermometer/ humidity meter in there so I can see if the temp climes unreasonably high. Fingers crossed.

I try to avoid looking directly at the microchip as it is bright enough to leave spots in your vision for a few minutes. I would love to get a more scientific measure of lumen output since I'm not even sure if this is really a 50 watt chip. A spectral output graph would be pretty interesting to look at too, but I'm not sure what instruments would be required to measure that.

any thoughts or suggestions for my experiment? I realize this isn't real scientific.. More like flying by the seat of my pants, but if this test subject responds well at all, I'll probably buy another and put them both over a fish tank with a few more tropicals inside.

 

[edprocoat]

Powerful looking light, at that close to your plants I have to ask are you going for extra cripsy or just well done?

ed

 

[MrFancyPlants]

Thank you, it does look powerful, but it is only rated at 50w, since it is the new fangled LED. Kevster posed the question on a separate topic: is there such thing as too much light? I'll be monitoring the temperature closely for the next few hours, but so far the fixture is only slightly warmer than ambient and the temp in the enclosure is 75f.

I am a little nervous though and may heed your advice if the temp continues to climb at all. Do you think it might still cook even if the temp holds at 75?

 

[tmmason10]

I would try and get a temp reading from the top of the tree if possible. It is tough to give it too much light as its impossible to plug the sun into the wall, but its the heat that it gives off that would worry me.

 

[Redwood Ryan]

75F is nothing. I've got setups that occasionally get into, and stay in, the mid 90s with no problems.

 

[MrFancyPlants]

Overnight the enclosure temp climbed to a max of 82. I'm not too concerned about the test subject, so I may let it ride for a few days and see what happens. I have a friend who is going to give me an old fish tank of his, so I'll report back when I get that set up. I'm not sure if I'll buy another one or two of these lights or if I am going to attempt the higher powered led microchip/GPU type setup.
Does anyone have an idea of how long it would take to start seeing results from an indoor lighting upgrade? A week or two?

 

[tmmason10]

[REFLIST][/REFLIST]

Overnight the enclosure temp climbed to a max of 82. I'm not too concerned about the test subject, so I may let it ride for a few days and see what happens. I have a friend who is going to give me an old fish tank of his, so I'll report back when I get that set up. I'm not sure if I'll buy another one or two of these lights or if I am going to attempt the higher powered led microchip/GPU type setup.
Does anyone have an idea of how long it would take to start seeing results from an indoor lighting upgrade? A week or two?

Honestly, and Ryan may disagree, but the lights don't make your tree explode with growth. You won't start seeing significant results for at least a few weeks. In my experience the lights keep the tree happy for the winter, rather then have it weaken in a windowsill.

 

[MrFancyPlants]

Signs of new growth on this willow leaf ficus that was previously in decline. I know it is not conclusive, but I'll keep you updated. I am going to try and reduce the amount of water in the jar over the next few days.

 

[tmmason10]

Looks good! That certainly seems to be a good sign. Keep doing what your doing.

 

[MrFancyPlants]

Lots of new growth from the end of each branch, and even a new back bud on the trunk in less than two weeks. I imagine that most of this progress from the struggling little tree came from the increase in heat and humidity, but I am also satisfied that the new light is more effective than my single 24w t5 setup that I was using before.
I just recieved a hand me down aquarium from a friend, and plan on moving the rest of my tropicals (that will fit) into it this weekend. Here is a question: would Mediterranean plants (bay, olive) react adversely to a high humidity environment? What about a coffee plant or jasmine?

 

[JudyB]

I only know about olive, they appreciate a dry environment.

 

[MrFancyPlants]

This setup isn't ideal, but I'll keep working on it. I ended up having to repot a couple plants to get them to fit and I am stacking them together to try and maximize the light exposure and to try and keep the heat and humidity up. I may end up getting a smaller aquarium and or another of these lights. The hand me down aquarium is just to big for me.

 

[MrFancyPlants]

So, I was so excited a about the preliminary results that I doubled down and got another 50w led floodlight. The price on the one I got of amazon before went up, so I ended up getting one from a different manufacturer. It looks very similar, but it is different. The case is about 1cm shorter, so it doesn't fit perfectly on top of the aquarium like the other one so I will have to do some garage style engineering to mount it right. Interestingly, the packaging labels it at4500 lm, which is surprisingly close to my internal estimate. I am having a soldering party tomorrow w a couple friends to attach a plug to the wires it was shipped with, and then I'll be able to roughly compare the quality of light produced.
With the aquarium setup instead of the jar, I found that the temperature was not getting high enough due to the efficiency of the led, so I threw a reptile light into the enclosure, that my friend gave me with the aquarium since they both used to belong to his pet turtle (rip).

I'll post another update this weekend.

 

[MrFancyPlants]

The soldering party was a success, so no more twisted wires and duct tape. Here is the latest variation on the setup, although I need to figure out a way to lock in some more of the heat and humidity. I am Pretty excited with the response of growth to the new lighting. The willow leaf has an entire new set of leaves in just a few weeks. The newer light seems slightly brighter, smaller and hotter than the first one, but they are pretty close.

Please let me know if you have any ideas on how I could improve my setup. I could see myself moving to smaller pots in the future so that I can cram more plants in. Because of the higher humidity I prob won't have to water as often.

 

[MrFancyPlants]

50w led update

So I wasn't real pleased with the growth since I moved to the large aquarium. Some of the leaves were looking a little dry. This could be due to the quality of the light, but I am hoping that it was more of a heat and humidity issue. So last weekend I spent a big $15 on a standard 10 gal aquarium so that I could boost the heat and humidity again. Also here is an update on the original test subject a little ragged looking, but new signs of growth since the increase in humidity. I am curious if the new benjamina growth is looking a little yellow, but I suppose some more time will tell.

 

[Redwood Ryan]

Looks like spider mite damage on those Willow Leaf Ficus leaves in the last picture.

 

[MrFancyPlants]

Well I am pretty happy with the growth rate and even foliage density and back budding with the new lights. I am pretty sure I still have a critter problem though. The plants seem to be managing better in the smaller aquarium now though. The newest leaves seem pretty healthy, and the darker green "sun" leaves as well, but some that sprouted in the bigger tank look the weakest.