Waveform Lighting, anyone?
 

Hi,

Anyone use Waveform Lighting?

The PhotonPanel 100W grow light has been recommended but I wanted to get some more opinions on it.

Below is the link:
PhotonPanel™ 100W Grow Light Panel



– Waveform Lighting

I am new to growing under lights and am way way overthinking it. Thanks for the help!

Natalie

Looks like its perfect for growing.

However, for the same price and form factor you could get an HLG-100 which is made with better diodes, and a better spectrum. In the spec sheet for the PhotonPanel they say you get 334 PPFD at 12" in contrast the HLG website shows you get an average of 480 PPFD at 12" across a 2'x2' square with a maximum of 640 PPFD at the center. You can get it in 3000k or 4000k.

Same price
13 less watts
38% more lumens per watt

HLG-100

I have the 3000k version and have it hung around 30" above the tops of the plants for medium to high light plants for 12-14 hours a day. Great light, I use it for growing tomato and pepper seedlings in the spring since I have a different lighting setup for my orchids now. In short, the HLG-100 is the same form factor but better in pretty much every way. If you don't need that much power (the HLG-100 covers a 3'x3' ish area) you can save $50 and 43 watts for nearly equivalent performance to the PhotonPanel with the HLG-65 (covers roughly a 2'x2' area for orchids).

HLG-65

Thanks Fish for the recommendation.
The HLG certainly is superior, but I do worry if in my case the lights will be too strong?

To give some perspective, I am converting a cabinet to a grow space - it is 36 inches wide, 55 inches high, and 16 inches deep. The first glass shelf is about 22 inches from the top of the cabinet with a peg board to hang minis.
The lower shelves will likely be for begonias, my other plant love. Much of this is glass, so light would not be so contained as in a reflective grow tent. (Below is an image- it is untraditional, but I can make it function well with a lot of work and adjustments).

The purpose of the cabinet is to explore higher light compact orchids (like catts, etc) and to grow miniatures on the pegboard. But I primarily grow bulbos, paph, and phal. Would such a strong light burn the leaves of these genera?

What I like about the Photopanel is that it will essentially cover to the top of cabinet, snugly, dispersing more light. But please correct me if this is not important, and a shorter albeit strong light will be sufficient. I am new to this!

Thanks again for your help.

Take a look at the LED lamps offered by theorchidhobbyist.com.

Not only have they been designed and built using spectrophotometer and PAR meter input, they are very well made. To me, for a "plug-and-play" choice, there are none better.

The lamps are available in 24", 36" and 48" lengths to suit your needs. Considering the cabinet dimensions, I would think the shortest ones would work the best, and they're inexpensive, allowing you to add more light as needed (they daisy-chain together, so you'll only use one plug, even if you ended up with lamps for every shelf).

Thanks for the suggestion Ray.
I really considered these, but the thing is, I won't be able to keep the light 6inches from the orchids - the catt types etc - as suggested by Jeff. The cabinet won't work that way, since my set up is unconventional. I'd need a light which has a good output but can have some distance from the plants & still be effective. That said, a lot of these higher lights are beasts and I worry they'd burn my lower light plants, even from 15 inches.

Now that I see the space I would highly recommend the lights that Ray suggested, the form factor of the waveform or the HLG is not the best bang for your buck. The orchid hobbyist lights will be perfect to mount inside your shelves. The recommended heights are from the top of the plants. Since you have 22" to work with a 6+" cattleya will be <16" away from the light source. You can also buy 2-3 of the linear bars to increase the light.


I have 2 HLG-65 panels lighting a 48"L x 24"W x 20"H on a shelf currently, and use a dimmer because I can make a better "photon blanket" with the panels dimmed down as opposed to weaker lights close to the plants. They will allow you to grow pretty much any plant (height nonwithstanding).

https://i.imgur.com/jy6tldg.jpg

Rotary Dimmer

Thanks Fish, that is helpful. Glad the image added clarity with what I am working with. You think buying two led bars per shelf will be sufficient for higher light orchids?

Since you probably can only fit the 24" bars inside there I'd definitely go with 2-4 of the bars as they are only 10 watts. you can always put a an upside down pot or some kind of block to raise a plant closer to the light. However a 12" plant (pot+leaves) will be in the proper range already. I wish the orchid hobbyist would post better specs on their webpage- they're presented without any context or explanation- it would be easier to figure out how much you need. Also try emailing the owner- he may have that information.

I think I can fit the 36 inch....it'll be snug but I'll remeasure the interior.

You are right that the specs are a bit lackluster on the website. Part of the reason that I was hesitate to go down that route.

Out of curiosity, why would the panels not work? is this based on how the leds disperse the light? I am trying to understand the science of it, and you have been very helpful!

The panels work without problems, everything depends on the distance from the plants, the spectrum and the DLI.