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Indoor Bonsai under LED lights.

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Dreamcast
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Post  Dreamcast Sun Sep 21, 2014 3:06 pm

Ryan, looks great! have the trees shown any signs of stress due to change in light spectrum?
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Post  Ryan Mon Sep 22, 2014 7:36 pm

Dreamcast wrote:Ryan, looks great! have the trees shown any signs of stress due to change in light spectrum?

So far, no signs of stress.

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Post  Dreamcast Thu Oct 09, 2014 7:47 pm

This is next LED to test, its a DIY kit from a Aquarium LED company named LEDgroupbuy, it has functions like Sunrise and Sunset, individual control over each nm, and much more, i am building it as we speak, in next update i will go over the building, functions, quality and more.
Indoor Bonsai under LED lights. - Page 6 20141010
Looks like computer parts most of it, unless one zoom in.. almost all top bin Cree chips on solid copper plates, nice stuff. Wink
Indoor Bonsai under LED lights. - Page 6 20141011

After a rather massive spidermite attack my garden have looked better... but neem oil is some good stuff. Smile
Updates on the garden and all lights coming soon.
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Post  Guest Fri Oct 10, 2014 1:48 pm

Hi Dreamcast

Look forward to see your results with the next lamps...how many more are you planning to test Cool
I think I already found a "setup" among the lamps you have tested, that will work for me.

Kind regards Yvonne

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Indoor Bonsai under LED lights. - Page 6 Empty Completely new to this ... but been working on it for a while ...

Post  laithmarmash Sat Oct 11, 2014 8:28 pm

Thanks you Ian, from http://bonsaieejit.com/ for directing me to this. I am having great success with my 5W LED system for my chilli bonsai plant. Its been going for about 4 weeks now and it seems to be loving it because on a 12/12 cycle its flowering! The start of my journey is here http://www.chillibonsai.com/plant-lover-t1/ Im hopefully going to be making a "no brainer" kit out of this eventually ... any feedback would be appreciated !

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Post  Dreamcast Sat Oct 11, 2014 9:01 pm

Yvonne Graubaek wrote:Hi Dreamcast

Look forward to see your results with the next lamps...how many more are you planning to test Cool
I think I already found a "setup" among the lamps you have tested, that will work for me.

Kind regards Yvonne

Yeah, this light is very different from the rest i tried, also fun building it my self and learning how it works in the process.

I don't know when i will stop testing lights.. i have lately read a lot about induction lights and it sounds promising, the fact that Tesla is the inventor makes it extra interesting.

I am really looking forward to see how the LEDs work for you. Smile

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Post  Dreamcast Sat Oct 11, 2014 9:37 pm

laithmarmash wrote:Thanks you Ian, from http://bonsaieejit.com/ for directing me to this. I am having great success with my 5W LED system for my chilli bonsai plant. Its been going for about 4 weeks now and it seems to be loving it because on a 12/12 cycle its flowering! The start of my journey is here http://www.chillibonsai.com/plant-lover-t1/ Im hopefully going to be making a "no brainer" kit out of this eventually ... any feedback would be appreciated !  

laithmarmash, Very cool project!! i love Bonchies Very Happy , i have looked in to a automatic watering system for my garden to, a little bigger then yours, but the same principal, having sensors and such is not necessary since i use a 100% soil-less mix, overwatering is almost impossible.
In my case i think a big water tank and a rather powerful pump watering each trees with 1 or 2 spray nozzles, good humidity is solved with the use of a grow tent.

Think you should implement a higher watt LED system, 5 watts will not be enough over time if you want good stable growth, and for a larger tree you definitely need more light, also make it overhead (and adjustable in height) rather then from the side, having to spin the plant often to get balanced growth and reposition of the water nozzle every time will kill the vibe of user friendly automatic plant system.

And there is no need for a extra white display light, today's top bin white LED chips from good manufacturers work perfect for plants, more full spectrum and most of them even sport higher lumens per watt then HID lights. Wink

Hope your project will be a huge success, please keep us updated.



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Post  Dreamcast Sat Oct 11, 2014 9:49 pm

This is also a good version for a automatic water system, reusing water should make it better for long vacations. Smile
As long as one use a soilless mix of good particle size and spray nozzles then this system will work very well i think.

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Post  Ryan Wed Oct 15, 2014 4:20 am

What color LEDs are you using for this build?

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Post  Dreamcast Wed Oct 15, 2014 5:59 pm

Ryan wrote:What color LEDs are you using for this build?

If you referring to the light i am building, then it will be a test in two stages, the fixture can only light one of the 2 LED boards at a time.

I will test these 2 LED boards.

1. Lumia 5.2 Full spectrum version.
LED layout:
Channel 1 - 3 Hyper Violet (430nm) and 2 True Violet (410nm) (Violet channel) (18v @ 700mA)  *as of June 1st 2014
Channel 2 - Royal Blue (base blue spectrum) (16.5V @ 1500mA)
Channel 3 - 3 XT-E Netural White and 2 XT-E Warm White (base white color) (16.5V @ 1500mA)
Channel 4 - Turquoise / CREE XPE2 Blue (enhanced color spectrum) (17.2V @ 700mA)
Channel 5 - - 3 Hyper Violet and 2 CREE XT-E Royal Blue (Actinic channel) (18v @ 700mA)
http://www.ledgroupbuy.com/cree-lumia-5-2-70w-full-spectrum-5-channel-cree-led/

2.Lumia 5.2 Grow version.
LED layout:
Channel 1 - XTE-E Royal Blue (base blue spectrum for vegetation) (18V @ 1500mA)
Channel 2 - 730nm Hyper Red (designed for sunrise / sunset) (11v @ 350mA) - Key wavelength to get optimal growth
Channel 3 - 660nm Deep Red (flowering spectrum) (13V @ 700mA)
Channel 4 - 660nm Deep Red (flowering spectrum) (13V @ 700mA)
Channel 5 - XT-E Warm White (high noon effect) (18V @ 1500mA)
http://www.ledgroupbuy.com/cree-lumia-5-2-65w-grow-led-5-channel-for-plants/

Will be interesting with the dimming and timer functions of the fixture, to be able to really fine tune the light spectrum should not just be useful for growing, but also interesting to play around with when photographing ones trees.
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Post  JWT Sat Oct 25, 2014 11:41 am

I was told by an orchid grower, that light over 700nm increases internodes. If my memory serves me, theory is that higher  the over 700/660 nm ratio is, the longer the internodes are. Can't say, that I fully understand it Very Happy.

There is a logic to that. High morning/evening sun (over 700nm) when compared to noon sun (lots of 660), means that plant could do better by growing to the sun.

With your plan ratio is not hight, if I understand it.

There is a lot of variation how different plant species react to different wavelengths and their ratios. This is one reason people get so mixed results with LEDs. Quite a few growers have switched back to conventional light sources too. Carnivorous plants society of leds.

If we are using full spectrum light, efficiency of the light source is what counts. High quality LEDs, metal halides, compact fluorescents, T5 fluorescents and even common fluorescents are all pretty much at the same level. There are differences, but they are at the 10-30 percent area. Other factors are also important. Like in northern countries humidity is as important as light.

Many times most important thing is, that the light produced is actually at the plants, not on the floors and walls. This means putting lights close enough and using good reflectors.

Lux meter is simple and cheap way to check this. With dominantly white light it also tells a lot of the amount of light produced. Makes it easy to compare different light sources. My meter costed like 30 bucks including postage.


Last edited by JWT on Sun Oct 26, 2014 11:13 am; edited 1 time in total
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Post  Dreamcast Sun Oct 26, 2014 10:38 am

JWT, Nice article! Thanks. Smile

In my experience the more blue present in the spectrum the shorter the internode spacing becomes, and less stretchy growth overall.
More red in the spectrum have shown to do the complete opposite, but promotes flowering very well, and i have read that red nm's also promotes very good root growth
Even though most of this stuff is now published facts since long, i still plan to do some firsthand spectrum experiments with the new LED i am now building.

Today's top brand white LEDs of the highest bin reach around +150-160 Lumens/watt, that's more then the best 1000Watt HID light can produce, and there are already LED chips reaching ~200Lumens/watt!
And LEDs also have a much more rich and balanced spectrum then most traditional light sources.
So its not to hard to see how for example ~100watt of the right white LEDs under the right circumstances can rival ~200-300Watt of HID.

You are right, also IMO one of the biggest reason for LED getting a bad name and why more and more people are switching back to traditional fixtures, is cause most people haven't used the right LEDs, most people get those cheap re-branded Chinese "Disco" panels with inefficient monochrome LED chips, power supply's and heat-management systems, sure there are some decent ones out there, but to be honest most seam to be real crap! and traditional light systems should still in most scenarios crush them in performance.
So people use those "Disco" LEDs, get disappointment, get up on the internet and let everyone know that "LED sucks!" .. and most people reading and hearing this are not aware or really interest in things like quality LED brands, factory quality control, bin codes,  nanometers, spectrum, CCT, CRI and so on..  they want a grow light that works, simple as that!
So they hear and read this over and over that LEDs are crap, and then they start to think and say the same to others and the wheel is rolling..

IMO if one really take there time and do the homework, and get good quality LEDs with the right design, spectrum etc. to fit ones setup perfectly then your trees and electric bill will thank you, if everyone would invest in proper LEDs ,not just for horticultural purposes, then nature (witch we all love) would also be happier in the long run. Smile

Since LEDs are not omni-directinal there is not as much of a need for reflectors then with traditional light fixtures, but lenses and small "cup reflectors" are often a good idea even with LEDs.
Obviously if one uses a closed reflective environment like i do then to directional light is not as necessary as in a open area, plants actually like a lot of diffused light, maybe even nearly as much as intense light...  but i agree totally that there is no reason to light the walls and floor and then a Bonsai in the middle, not very energy efficient at all!

Humidity and temperature are very important indeed, i have now put all my trees in the big tent for the winter to keep them warm, my apartment gets really cold.. Sad

Got my Lux meter for around the same price. gotta love Biltema. Smile its a good, cheap and useful tool..but a Apogee PAR meter is still on my "must get (soon) list".

Heard of this company? very interesting LED products and science behind it, straight out of Finland. Smile
http://valoya.com/
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Post  JWT Sun Oct 26, 2014 11:58 am

Ooops, you are right about blue and red. Cant leave it like that, I removed that part. That over 700 nm/660 nm thing was the theory, I took nonsense away. Thank you for pointing that out.

Other light sources advance too. It is hard to say what we use in lets say 10 years time. Meanwhile, plants need to be illuminated.  

There has been 200 lumen/W light sources for decades, they only have one yellow-orange spike in the spectrum, and are totally useless to us. Low-pressure sodium, if I remember (obviously not to be trusted). It is easy to get higher lumen values, just emphasize those parts of the spectrum that plants don't need. It is very difficult to get unbiased information of lets say LEDs spectrums and the total amount of radiation produced. Spectral distribution charts are drawn by marketing people for marketing purposes. BUT if it works for you, then it works, that is what counts.

Lumen values IMHO have limited value when used like that. That said, you can check roughly how big part of the light lamps produce end up in the plants. One can measure the impact of reflecting walls, for example, measuring light inside and outside the growing chamber, at the same distance. With a huge grain of salt one can compare different light sources, but results would not be decisive. Lux-meters sensitivity curve is almost an opposite to what plants need.

You have a meter, could you give me some values? No need to be too specific, just highest value you get under lights lets say 30cm and 60cm away. If you do, please be accurate with the distance. It affects a lot. Sorry, I'm so much into numbers Very Happy.
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Post  Dreamcast Sun Oct 26, 2014 4:45 pm

No worries, i kinda understood you got things mixed up there. Razz

Yeah, can't even begin to try and imagine what we will illuminate indoor gardens with in even 5 years time....

I agree with you, the grow light market is a jungle! especially the LED side of it, more bullshit then truth, to many small company's trying to make quick and easy money selling crap with nice BS marketing and flashy websites, but all this will get better in time now that big company's like Philips really are taking LED grow lights seriously, this will force everyone to really step up there game, and quick!, and in the end there will only be a few big players left, then prices will start to go down, and quality go up! Smile

But until then, everyone interested in LEDs must do there homework, or play it safe and stick with the well proven fixtures like CFL and HID.

I will get you those readings for you, and accurate ones to, no problem at all. Wink
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Post  Dreamcast Mon Nov 17, 2014 3:41 pm

My indoor garden is still recovering from a rather massive spidermite attack, most trees looks a little sad right now... had nothing major to do this weekend, so a good time to write some short reviews based on my experiences with each LED light i tried so far.

I hope all this to be useful information for people thinking of switching over to LED lights, will also review the grow tents for those that may be looking for simple yet effective grow chambers, maybe even just for overwintering there tropicals.

Just a quick heads up, most people are aware of the things like Tax and Customs costs when ordering stuff from overseas, but for those that are not, please make sure to check what extra costs are involved, or you may get a huge shock when your package arrive.
Since shipping is also quite high when ordering from overseas, and eventual problems or warranty issues are much more easily resolved quicker when staying within ones region, so IMO its often easiest to do so.


I will start with the LEDs.


SANlight M30.(~30Watt) EU.(Austria)

http://sanlight.info/en/products/

The unit it self is basically a large heatsink with LED chips on a aluminum plate attached to it, then a white plastic reflector plate is mounted over the LED board to direct the light, it uses no extra lenses but instead small reflector cups for each LED, its a simple yet very thought out and well executed design.
This light system is also 100% silent since it uses no cooling fans for either light or power supply.

LEDs used are top bin OSRAM witch is a high quality brand with very good reputation, to me it looks like the M30 uses a mix of cool white and red LED chips, but i cant say for sure the exact ratio.
Light being emitted is white with a tone of red, peach color may be the correct term, IMO not hard on the eyes at all.

PLEASE NOTE! If placed closer to the plants red color shadows may be visible under the canopy, so maybe not the best light to use when taking photos of ones trees.

The power supply is remote and of great quality with a good length power cable, cable between light and power supply is also of good length.

I have used the optional hanging frame for my setup, this frame is very simple in design but makes the use of multiple M30 units much easier when hanging, it also gives many options on how to arrange the units on the frame, its a great addition that makes for a lot of extra flexibility.

For small setups this light is great, one light for each tree of not to big size should work very well.

For larger setups more units and the frame option can off course be used, but if not a very organized setup then all the cables and power supply's may become quite irritating.

Its hard to say exactly how many "traditional" watts of different fixture types one M30 replaces, i have used 6 units (180watt) in a ~4x2(~120x60cm) area with around +10 smaller trees/projects, and IMO the growth have been great for the small amount of power being used in such a large area.
I have in the past used more then twice the power of CFL lights over a similar sized area, and the growth then from what i can remember was somewhere similar as with this 180watt LED setup, so there is definitely a step forward in power savings with these LEDs.
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Post  Dreamcast Mon Nov 17, 2014 3:52 pm

ApacheTech AT120W.(~170watt) USA.

http://www.apachetechinc.com/white-leds/1-white-leds-at120w.html

I have very mixed feelings about this light..

The spectrum is lovely with intense crisp 6100K white light, almost like a traditional MH light, and the growing power is great for only ~170watts.
Quality of the light fixture in general is top notch with a huge heatsink, top bin NICHIA LEDs and MeanWell power supply's.
The whole housing is made of aluminum witch is great for ultra durability and cooling, but it also makes the light very heavy (7KG)!
It is quite obvious that this light is build to last for a very long time even in harsh conditions, i would say more commercial greenhouse grade then a home gardener grade light, very high quality.

I did try to hang 2 of these in my 4x2 grow tent, but no go! not only are the lights very heavy, but the lights hanging support on the top is not the best IMO, i just can't figure out how to hang them good and stable, 4 simple hanging points would have been great!
Anyhow the parts of the tent shelf's where the lights was hanging from started to bend to the point where i was worried they would break and 14kg of LEDs would eventually fall on my trees..

I instead ended up using just one light on a stable wooden frame, not the best long term solution but a ok one for these LED trials.
So even though i like this light a lot for its quality, spectrum and growing power, the heavy weight and "strange" mountings for hanging did not really workout for me and my main setup.

Another "issue" is the extremely narrow light spread of this lights lenses, it basically acts like a giant flashlight, everything under it grows very good, but the light intensity diminishes very quickly to the sides, i have a set of extra lenses with a wider angle, but with those installed the unit really lost that lovely light intensity.

Wort mentioning is also that the 2 cooling fans in the light are very loud, i ended up replacing them with more silent ones, a quite easy process really.

This light is not for everyone that's for sure, but If one have the setup to hang this light properly then its a superb quality LED light, with the light intensity of a ~400-600MH within the lights footprint, this is from readings i found online, but having some experience with MH lights in the past i would say the intensity and performance is in that area for sure, off course this depends on hanging distance from trees as well as other factors.

The AT120 series are at least 2-3 years old and the company now makes even more powerful lights, i would suspect that the AT120 line will be discontinued quite soon.

For more information visit there webpage, IMO not the best or most pretty webpage, actually not much real valuable tech info at all.. if i had not heard good things about this company from friends with aquariums and now also tried a unit my self, then i would never had thought it was this high quality lights.
I hope they will update there site and make it more user friendly soon, there products deserve it.

!Update! After a simple modification to the lights, they are now easier to hang since the weight is distributed much better, thanks to this the bending of the growtents roof section is greatly reduced.
Indoor Bonsai under LED lights. - Page 6 20150210


Last edited by Dreamcast on Tue Jun 23, 2015 7:05 am; edited 2 times in total
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Post  Dreamcast Mon Nov 17, 2014 4:08 pm

RapidLED's ONYX Bloom.(~250watt) USA.

http://www.rapidled.com/bloom-onyx-by-rapid-led/

This light is designed exclusive for flowering plants, i have not used it for very long but so far it have worked very well, my hibiscus would not stop flowering, chili's did very well under it as well, i would say close to the ones of similar size i had on the balcony.
Unfortunately all my chili plants died from what i have narrowed down to be some kind of tobacco virus.. that was something new for me.. i love chili's and want to train some Bonchies, so just one more reason for me to stop smoking i guess.

WARNING! to everyone who has chili's, do not let anyone that smokes touch your plants!

Quality of the ONYX is very high, big heatsink and a rather silent cooling fan, Warm White ~3000K CREE XM-L2 top bin LED chips and a remote Mean Well power supply.
Worth mentioning is that the fan in the power supply is very loud and i hope to replace it with a silent one soon, just need to see that it can be done without compromising cooling of the power supply, will update on this later.

The unit is quite small for its high power output and also uses rather narrow angle lenses, so the light covrage is not the best when hanged close to plants, but since its a very powerful unit it can be hanged at rather good distances from the plants witch will then increase the light coverage some.

Would absolutely recommend this light for people wanting to induce flowers or fruits on there trees.

Worth mentioning is that there is also a ~6500K version of this light, and judging from the performance of the Bloom version then i bet the cool white version is just as good but for non flowering trees.
http://www.rapidled.com/veg-onyx-by-rapid-led/

As with all LED lights its very hard to really say exactly what the ONYX replace in terms of traditional light fixtures, there are just so many factors to consider and not just light related ones.
But there seam to be some rather common and realistic numbers floating around when it comes to high quality LED units, and that's using ~2/3 to somewhere around half the power of traditional fixtures like MH and HPS.

When calculating LED light watts, make sure its the actual power draw you are looking at!


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Post  Dreamcast Mon Nov 17, 2014 4:27 pm

And now the grow tents.

HOMEbox Q30 Evolution.
EU.(Germany)

http://www.homebox.net/en/product/evolution/q-30

One may think this tent is to small to keep any Bonsai in since it being only 1x1x2(30x30x60cm) in size, but IMO it is just perfect for small shohin trees using a small CFL or LED light, IMO the SANlight M30 is very good LED for this little tent.
Since its very small heat also builds up rather quick so the use of a small pc fan as air exhaust may be needed, it has a passive air intake on the back witch the company calls a OmniFlow, its hard to explain the design, but its a simple and clever solution that work very well with minimal light leakages.

Quality of this tent is very good overall, stable frame with good size poles and large plastic corners, big strong zippers and a thick durable outer fabric, the inside is white to reflect light and easy to wipe of i needed, the company advertise that there "PAR+" reflective material is superior to other reflective surfaces, to this i can not testify.
But i can say that it works well to reflect the light inside the tent, this makes for a very efficient setup no mater light choice since minimum light is wasted to the sides and instead reflected back at the tree.
I have tested this by hanging the M30 LED on the tent frame, and then measuring light intensity with a LUX meter both with and without the tent on the frame.

The "door" of this tent roles up and have a little hook to keep it up when open, this is a clever design witch work well, overall this tent is very well designed, of good quality and almost totally light proof, also extremely easy to assemble and disassemble quick, and it looks very nice with its all black sleek design.

If just cared for properly and not abused in any way then this tent should last a long time.

I would really recommend the HOMEbox Q30 to people looking to overwinter small tropicals, or to grow them all year round as power efficiently as possible in a stylish compact package.

I absolutely love this little tent.

More detailed information on the Q30's design/functions can be found on the company's webpage witch i linked to in the beginning of this post.
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Post  Dreamcast Mon Nov 17, 2014 4:38 pm

HOMEbox CloneBox View. EU.(Germany)

http://www.homebox.net//en/product/evolution/clonebox-view#woa-view-product-selector

This is a bigger tent from HOMEbox, i wish i could say i like this tent as much as the small Q30 tent..

The main "problem" is that this tent belongs to the Original HOMEbox line of products witch are now many years old, this is actually the only tent from HOMEbox that has not gotten its Evolution update yet, but its on its way i been told.

This is not to say its a bad grow tent, its not just as good as the Evolution line in terms of design, for example the "doors" are so heavy and uses so many zippers and flaps (for light proofing) that opening and closing the tent can get somewhat irritating at times.

Then there is the shelf's/roof witch IMO are made up of to weak steel parts, in general one shelf can hold up to ~70KG of even distributed weight with out problems, but hanging to point heavy equipment from them is a no go IMO, since they then flex and bend to much for things to feel stable and safe, this i experienced first handed when trying to hang the 2 ApacheTech units from the roof.
I have been told that this "issue" will be fixed in the new version.

Older design air intakes are used witch leaks light and do not work nearly as well as the new OmniFlow design.

It uses the same reflective interior (PAR+) as the Evolution line witch is nice, and the outer fabric feels strong and durable, the frame is also stable and well designed with good size poles, the shelf's being adjustable around every ~5-10cm in height is very nice, great flexibility to fit most needs.

One thing i really do like are the transparent windows witch can be used for viewing the trees without opening and letting all the humidity out, i really hope they keep that neat feature in the new design as well.

If i had not tested the small Q30 tent witch are of the new Evolution line and experienced that level of design quality, then i would have had less bad things to point out in this current CloneBox tent, so understand me right, this is still a good quality tent, the Evolution design is just much more refined and joyful to work with.

So would i recommend anyone buying this tent now when a new improved design is in the works, well, if you live in the EU and need a good tent in this size quick, then go for it, but if you can wait a while, then it may be well worth doing so.

I will review the new version of the CloneBox at a later date.

Hope these small reviews will be of help for someone out there. Smile

!Update!Since i modded the hanging points of the heavy lights witch made the shelf of this tent bend in the first place, there is now a much less sever bend, i still think that the shelf's could be stronger, but at least now its clear that as long as the equipment is well balanced there is no major problem with bending, and the shelf's should be able to hold the advertised 70KG.

Next up is the new DIY LED, just waiting on some final parts..


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Post  Dreamcast Sat Jan 17, 2015 12:22 pm

Looks like i fried the driver of new DIY LED... Sad  if i can't fix it myself soon it has to be sent back to the people at LEDgroupbuy, respect to those guys for being so helpful, good costumer service, yes indeed. Smile

In the mean time all my indoor trees are in the big tent over the winter, kinda crowded in there right now.. but they are all growing well and recovering fine from the spidermite attack.

Indoor Bonsai under LED lights. - Page 6 20150110

Indoor Bonsai under LED lights. - Page 6 20150111

The Hedera in the corner have grown like crazy in the last months, its even up in the roof crawling around, had to add another M30 (old version) to keep it happy.
It will be cut back hard in spring and begin its journey to become a bonsai.
So now its a total of 210Watts of LEDs in there, IMO still quite impressive using this little power over such a big area with this amount of crowded plant material and still getting this good growth. Smile

Hope everyone is having a good start of the new year. Very Happy
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Post  Dreamcast Thu Feb 26, 2015 3:35 pm

No luck in getting the DIY light from LEDgroupbuy to work Sad ... so all the electronics will be sent back to the company for better problem solving, once i get either repaired or new parts back i will try building it again, and with better luck this time i hope.

Having been curious to how well the 2 Apache unit would preform together in my big tent, i now decided to modify the units so they would be easier to hang, by simply replacing each corner screw with a hook i got 4 simple hanging points.
This also almost eliminated the problem with the roof shelf bending, now there is just a slight inwards bend but each unit hangs secure so i am happy with it. Smile
Indoor Bonsai under LED lights. - Page 6 20150210
Indoor Bonsai under LED lights. - Page 6 20150211
After some hard pruning and 3 new plastic trays it looks much more organized in there and i absolutely love this intense 6200K spectrum! feels like i have a 600Watt or two 400Watt MH in there minus the heat, stable temps at ~24-25C with just a 92mm PC fan running at 6v for extracting the heat produced by ~340Watt of LEDs + Drivers, impressive IMO.
LUX levels at ~50cm are ~60.000 under each light, ~30.000 in the middle and ~20.000 in the corners of the tent.
Indoor Bonsai under LED lights. - Page 6 20150212

Got a new light for review and testing from a company out of the UK named GrowNorthern, this light uses white and monochrome Philips LED chips and driver, it consumes ~80Watts to replace a 250Watt HID (what the company advertise).
What makes this light stand out the most is the use of a special diffuser to spread and mix the light from each LED chip very effectively, this makes for a very even light distribution without hotspots and strange color shadowing, the light is pinkish-white and easy on the eyes.
Indoor Bonsai under LED lights. - Page 6 20150213
Indoor Bonsai under LED lights. - Page 6 20150214
Its a very high quality unit build with only cream of the crop parts, more info on the light and all the parts it consists of can be found on there webpage
http://www.grownorthern.com/

Will go over this unit more later as i have gotten to know it better. Smile
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Post  Ryan Thu May 14, 2015 9:00 pm

Any updates on your LEDs Dreamcast? I'm looking to upgrade to some higher quality lights.

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Post  Dreamcast Fri May 15, 2015 1:41 am

Hey, Ryan! Have planed on doing a update for a while now, just been busy collecting and enjoying spring to much i guess. Very Happy Anyways, This is how it looked like about a ~week ago. ~420Watts of LED in the 2x4 tent, stable temps at ~28C with ambient indoor temps of ~22C. Everything is growing great and developing in a steady phase.
Indoor Bonsai under LED lights. - Page 6 20150411
I have moved some stuff around like i always tend to do, the GrowNorthern has joined the Apache lights, it is a nice little light and everything i put under it is thriving, i am impressed so far considering it only draws ~80Watts.
The Chillies i have under it right now are looking very nice, internode spacing is very tight with fat stems already, they will hopefully become nice Bonchies in the future while giving me some hot Chillies in the process. Very Happy
Indoor Bonsai under LED lights. - Page 6 20150413
Soon there will be a big Benjamina project under it, then i can really determine how well it handles a bigger tree where light penetration is crucial, the perfect ficus species for the job! Wink

On the flowering side we have the Onyx and 2 Fuchsia's, they are flowering, and flowering, and.. it never stops, i am not complaining at all, beautiful ballerina flowers and nice healthy plants! Smile
And this photo is even after i have removed a bunch of flowers, just lovely! a very good flowering light indeed.
Indoor Bonsai under LED lights. - Page 6 20150511

Still waiting on new parts for the DIY light, but i have been told it will be here soon, very excited about that one, Smile

I would be glad to give you some suggestions on higher end LED lights, let me know what size area you want to cover and the height of the area, White or Monochrome light, if you want a US made light or if you can consider importing from EU, budget, and so on. Smile


Last edited by Dreamcast on Sun May 17, 2015 11:28 am; edited 1 time in total
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Post  Tentakelaertje Fri May 15, 2015 10:17 am

Hey Dreamcast, love your work on the lights!
Can I ask how old those fuchsias in your last post are?
How did you achieve such nice stems in the Swedish cold?

Thanks in advance, Tentakelaertje

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Post  Dreamcast Fri May 15, 2015 11:05 am

Tentakelaertje, Thanks for the kind words. Smile

These 2 Fuchsia's where actually once one, it was a very big plant originally cared for by a older woman, she had it for a long time from it was a small clone, outside in the summer and indoors in winter. Since it never really experienced extreme cold there where no major die-backs, and rarely being cut back it had the chance to grow all year long to achieve a pretty good trunk, at least like you say, for this climate.

I will continue to keep them outdoors in summer and indoors over winter, hopefully they will thrive and go in to nice shallow pots by next year, would be lovely to have these 2 in full flower on display every winter. Smile


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