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How do plants capture and use light? This question has been studied and researched for decades, and researchers have long known that plants use different frequencies of light, or different colors of light, for different purposes. Some colors of light make plants grow and bloom, while others promote compact growth, and some aren't really used much at all. For example, the leaves of plants look green because they reflect green light. If a plant reflects a color of light instead of absorbing it, that color isn't used to help a plant grow.

Scientists used this knowledge to develop lamps that would let them raise plants without sunlight. Their new "grow lights" weren't developed from scratch. They took existing lamps, the same ones used to light our homes and factories, and modified them to produce more of the colors of light that are used efficiently for plant growth.

Today we have many lamps that can be used to help grow plants without sunlight. They range from incandescent bulbs to fluorescent tubes, to the very powerful metallic vapor lamps, such as metal halide and high-pressure sodium lamps. These lamps can all be used to grow plants indoors. And they all have the same problem: they produce a lot of light that plants can't use efficiently.

The lamps we use in our homes generate a lot of light in the green and yellow part of the visible light spectrum, because the human eye is very sensitive to those colors of light. Plants, on the other hand, prefer light of other colors, colors people don't see very well. So while old-fashioned grow lights will let you grow plants indoor, they waste a lot of energy making light plants can't use efficiently.

But they sure do look bright, don't they?

The LEDtronics PlantLED Difference:

Our grow lights are designed from the ground up, optimized for plant growth, not human vision. Using light emitting diodes, or LEDs, they selected the colors of light plants use most efficiently for vigorous growth and health. The result is a plant grow light that uses very little energy yet provides all the light your plants need to thrive indoors. They also used their specialized knowledge of LEDs to make sure each bulb operates optimally, providing maximum light output and maximum bulb life.

Our patent pending technology offers other advantages over conventional artificial plant grow lighting.

Low Energy Use: LEDs are more efficient at producing light than conventional glass-envelope bulbs. Depending on configuration, a typical LED-PlantBar uses less than 2 watts of power, an important fact as energy costs continue to rise.

Targeted Light Output: Unlike "broad spectrum" plant grow lights, which produce a lot of light plants can't use efficiently, PlantLED products only deliver the light colors plants want most for vigorous, healthy growth. By leaving out light plants don't need, we provide still more energy savings over conventional plant grow lights.

No "White Light" Glare: Other plant grow lights use technologies generally used to light rooms and buildings, which makes them very bright to the human eye. PlantLED products deliver light that is very bright to plants, but relatively dim to people. Your plants get what they need without the "white light" glare you don't need.

Low Heat: Conventional grow lights are very hot, running from several hundred degrees to over fourteen hundred degrees Fahrenheit at the bulb's surface. Our LED grow lights are merely warm to the touch, even after operating for hours, and are safe around both children and animals. This low heat is also safer for your plants, allowing you to place the lights as close to your plant's foliage as you like, for maximum effectiveness, without fear of burning their leaves. Delicate blooms don't fade or burn at the edges, and last longer. Lower radiated heat also means a savings in room cooling costs.

Low Voltage: Our LED grow lights are low voltage devices, running typically on less than twenty volts of electricity, making them an ideal choice for homes with children or pets.
Long Life: Typical LED lifetime is 100,000 hours. This is ten to fifty times longer than typical glass grow light bulb life expectations. Replacing glass bulbs every year adds a lot to the expense of a growing system.

No Ballast: LED-PlantBars weigh just ounces, far less than conventional fluorescent and metallic vapor systems, which typically need a ballast weighing up to fifty pounds. Some manufacturers build their ballasts right into the light fixture, making the light hard to hang in your home or office. Ballasts also burn out eventually, requiring another expensive component replacement not needed with LED-PlantBars.

No Reflector: Conventional glass envelope grow lights emit light in all directions. In order to use as much of this light for plant growth as possible, these lights are generally fitted with bulky, unattractive reflectors to direct light back toward the plants. With LEDs the reflectors are built right into the LEDs themselves, so no secondary reflector is needed. Almost all of the light generated by the LEDs in the LED-PlantBars is directed straight at your plants.

LED-PlantBar is 21 inches long and 2.5 inches wide. The optimum distance from the plant for this product is 12"-18". However the distance may vary based on the needs of the grower. For seedlings the distance should be no closer than 3". A full-grown plant that is just being maintained inside a house or office may be as far away as 24"-36".

The white light equivalent output of one LED Plant Light-Bar is approximately 100-watts. This is a good rule-of-thumb to follow when sizing up how many bars will be needed to grow plants that have been growing under traditional white light sources, e.g. high pressure sodium (HPS) or metal halide (MH) type lights. The approximation for fluorescent grow lights is about one bar per 250-watts. LED based grow lights present a challenge when replacing traditional grow lights. LEDs are low energy devices (like fluorescent lights), this means that they must be closer to the plants than high energy sources (like HPS or MH lights).

But there's a tradeoff between closeness and coverage. Because LEDs output a "cone" of light, closer means a decrease in coverage. So a balance must be attained between desired energy at the plant and coverage in square feet. Some plants require higher energy (plant closer to bar) and thus for coverage you'll need to use more bars in an offset stagger multiple bar configuration to increase coverage. Some plants require low energy to grow; so fewer bars at a greater distance are possible. PlantLED may also be hung vertically within the foliage of a dense plant for additional energy (a big selling point as traditional lights cannot do this).

Founded in 1983, LEDtronics® leads where others only follow when it comes to designing, manufacturing and packaging state-of-the-art LEDs to meet the world's constantly changing lighting needs. Our inventive product line encompasses an array of direct incandescent lamp replacement Based LEDs, low-cost snap-in and relampable Panel Mount LEDs, high intensity sunlight-visible Discrete LEDs, PCB LEDs circuit board status indicators, surface mount diodes SMT LEDs, full-spectrum rainbow RGB LEDs, Ultraviolet (UV) and Infra-Red (IR) LEDs.

Pricing for one PlantLED and one 120 volt Ac to 12 volt DC power plug is $159.95 each, quantity discounts and larger 2, 4 and 8 LED plant bar systems are available. Contact LEDtronics toll free at 1-800-579-4875, telephone 310-534-1505, fax at 310-534-1424, click here to email us or mail at LEDtronics Inc., 23105 Kashiwa Court, Torrance, CA 90505. Visit our website at www.LEDtronics.com.

The direct web link to the on-line datasheet is as follows: Indoor Lighting Plant Growing LED-PlantBars