What do you think of these lights?

[escualida]

I got these a while ago and they seem to be working alright but I can't really tell. Can someone take a look at them and let me know if they look like they provide enough light?

HQRP 225 LED Grow Light Red Blue Orange White Hydroponic Plant Fruit Flower Lamp | eBay

Thanks

[NYCorchidman]

One can't really tell by just looking at them. lol

BUT, I do have LED light set up with these creepy blue/purple light bulbs.

I grow mini phals and paph maudia and even plain green leafed one. All grow and flower fine under this kind of light.

What do you grow under this setup??

[DavidCampen]

The Ebay description says that the input power is 14 watts. At best this might equal 50 watts of T5 fluorescent but I would guess that it is really equal to 25 watts or less of T5 fluorescent, probably less.

You should buy a light meter to make some measurements. Typical light meters have a green filter in front of the photocell to make it better match the response of human vision and that will need to be removed if you are going to compare different colors of light.

[escualida]

And how much should it equal in terms of T5 fluorescent?

NYCOrchidman I have everything under there right now, mostly phals and catts. I guess I just wanted something that would give a lot of light but not heat and use up as little energy as possible. Where did you get the ones you use? I've noticed that your phals flower really well and mine have been putting out only minimal buds. I thought it might be that I was underwatering them because I thought the lights were enough but maybe I'm wrong.

The description also says what the color output is and I have no idea if they're good for orchids at all.

[DavidCampen]

Originally Posted by escualida

And how much should it equal in terms of T5 fluorescent?

What do you mean by "should"? To expand on what I said before; my opinion is that high quality LEDs emitting at 660 nm and operating in a well designed fixture could convert input power (electricity) into light that would be absorbed by a plant to provide energy for carbon fixation at an efficiency of 1.5 to 2 times that of T5 fluorescent lamp fixtures. Some knowledgeable manufacturers make inferential claims of an efficiency of more like 3 times that of fluorescent lighting but I have my doubts. Some less knowledgeable manufacturers imply efficiencies far in excess of 3 times but I consider these claims to be absurd.

The description also says what the color output is and I have no idea if they're good for orchids at all.

Those colors should be fine. Colors at each end of the spectrum have some function in promoting different types of growth - I believe that red is said to promote vegetative growth while blue promotes fruiting (flower development) but I use LED lighting to supplement natural light so I haven't paid much attention to this. Then people get into fine tuning the light color by adding things such as orange, someone else would have to tell you what orange light does.

[ronaldhanko]

That's quite a set-up. I've never seen anything like it and am very interested in hearing how these do. I use HO fluorescent lights and do fine with them.

[escualida]

They've been there for a few months now and they all seemed to be doing fine. I think I read that it's the other way around - red is for flowering and blue is for veg growth. I have another that is half blue and half white bulbs and all my seedling sized plants are under there, they seem to be doing really well.

I have all my blooming sized plants under the one I linked to and they seemed to be happy, although I'm noticing that the leaves some of my phals are growing are ending up much shorter than the older ones. Some are the same color and some are lighter which I think is good, but the plants look odd with such short leaves now. I've read other posts where some people think it's a good thing and some think it's bad... that's why I decided to defer to people who are more expert on lighting than I...

[NYCorchidman]

You are right about the light. Red/orange is for promoting flowering.

Mine is this one Indoor kitchen garden products by Sonnylight offers led grow lights and seed kits for herb gardens

It is rather small setup, but that's what I wanted.

Regarding my phals blooming, once they spike, I move them to a natural light just because the spikes tend to get too tall and I have to maintain certain distance between the light source and the plant under my LED setup.
The same with my paphs. Most of my paphs have very long spikes. I can adjust the height of the light, but it is pointless as the light source must be no further than 6 inches away from the leaves.

That's why I mainly have rather flat plants like phals and paphs.

With much stronger light setup like High Pressure sodium light, I guess it matters less.

[DavidCampen]

Originally Posted by NYCorchidman

...
I can adjust the height of the light, but it is pointless as the light source must be no further than 6 inches away from the leaves.
...

And that is ironic since perhaps the biggest advantage of LEDs over fluorescents is that the LED fixtures could be designed so that the light is tightly focused and thus could be mounted high above the plants, but none of the manufacturers do this.

[NYCorchidman]

No, some of the biggest advantage of LED light over others are lower cost (almost nothing!) to run and nearly no heat generated, I thought.

I thought things like high pressure sodium light is something that can be quite far away from the plants while still giving enough light.
The dowside is that it generates too much heat and it is expensive. well, at least for me, it is.