August 15, 2020
LED lights last for thousands of hours and have better energy efficiency compared to incandescent bulbs. That makes them a great choice for household and commercial use. With all the benefits of LEDs, you may have considered using LED grow lights for your indoor plants. Is there any difference between these and traditional LEDs? We did lots of research to bring you the answer.
A light-emitting diode (LED) is a semiconductor light source that emits light when current flows through it. Electrons in the semiconductor recombine with electron holes, releasing energy in the form of photons. The color of the light (corresponding to the energy of the photons) is determined by the energy required for electrons to cross the band gap of the semiconductor. White light is obtained by using multiple semiconductors or a layer of light-emitting phosphor on the semiconductor device.
Early LEDs were often used as indicator lamps, replacing small incandescent bulbs, and in seven-segment displays. Recent developments have produced high-output white light LEDs suitable for room and outdoor area lighting. LEDs have led to new displays and sensors, while their high switching rates are useful in advanced communications technology.
LEDs have many advantages over incandescent light sources, including lower energy consumption, longer lifetime, improved physical robustness, smaller size, and faster switching. LEDs are used in applications as diverse as aviation lighting, automotive headlamps, advertising, general lighting, traffic signals, camera flashes, lighted wallpaper, horticultural grow lights, and medical devices.
Unlike a laser, the light emitted from an LED is neither spectrally coherent nor even highly monochromatic. However, its spectrum is sufficiently narrow that it appears to the human eye as a pure (saturated) color. Also unlike most lasers, its radiation is not spatially coherent, so it cannot approach the very high brightnesses characteristic of lasers.
As suggested by their name, LED grow lights are luminaires utilizing LED chips in a modern and efficient way to produce light for growing plants. LED grow lights come in many shapes and sizes but as the most essential units of LED grow lights LED chips have most of the effect on the quality of the light, i.e. spectrum (colors) and photon flux (“brightness”) produced. Since cannabis grow light manufacturers can choose the LEDs they use in their lamps, it is important to understand which kind of LED grow light best fits the specific application. One of the advantages of LED grow lights compared to traditional lighting solutions is the ability to match the light to the needs of plants.
Color variations of the LED grow lights(full spectrum led grow light) are directly connected to the intended purpose – various studies have shown that certain colors influence plant growth, affecting root and flower formation (blue and red light spectra) which practically means that the majority of plant sorts will complete a normal growth cycle if exposed to both blue and red grow lights. Adding other colors to the spectrum, such as green, far-red and deep-blue aids this process by giving plants more information about its environment and overall resulting in higher quality plants (quicker growth, more secondary metabolite accumulation etc). A spectrum that contains all colors is called full spectrum and mostly resembles the sunlight. If it has high proportions of green, the light will appear white to human eyes and while not a crucial factor for plant growth, it does make the work around these lights easier and makes visual inspection of the plants possible.
What’s the difference between LED lights and LED grow lights? Standard LED lights only provide illumination while LED grow lights have a wider spectrum of both blue and red light that promote vegetative growth and flowering, respectively.