Top Ten LEDs and LED Grow Lights

Recently the LED Grow Lights market has seen a greater interest in using White HB (High Brightness) LEDS to round out and fill in gaps of spectrum that are missing within the heavily weighted red/blue fixtures that are currently available. Here is a blurb on the LED industries latest favorite white LEDs and how they are being used.

Those looking for the best LEDs to use in their lighting devices have been given a helping hand through a list compiled by one expert.

Richard Wilson, editor of ElectronicsWeekly, included brands such as Bridgelux, Cree, Enfis, Philips and Osram in his top ten.

Mr Wilson favoured the Cree LRP-38 LED for its high colour-rendering index of 92, which puts it on a par with incandescent alternatives, and the Osram Parathom Classic, reportedly the first suitable for replacing a 40W bulb.

Philips Lumileds Altilon LED bulb was also recommended for those needing automotive headlights – it is currently used by Audi for high and low beams in its R8 model and reaches more than 850 lumens.

Other mentions went to the Seoul Semiconductor Z1 LED, the Marl 742 series and the Tyco TYC06-09.

Volkswagen exhibited its new L1 concept car at the Frankfurt International Motor Show this week, which is equipped with Osrams Joule JFL2 LEDs for its front headlights.

Rapid Electronics is a leading UK supplier of LED products and optoelectronic components for industrial, educational and consumer applications.

Now fire up those trusty soldering irons and build another LED Grow Light prototype for the gipper!

100W LED Grow Light with 3640 Lumens

Solid State LED Grow Lights are gaining traction again, this time with a press release from Dialight (Lumidrives) reporting that the Canadian Standards Association (CSA) has certified for sale its new state of the art SafeSite fixture for sale. Dialight reportedly designed its SafeSite fixture to replaces conventional 175W to 250W metal- halide and high-pressure sodium light sources with 100W LED technology for hazardous location applications. CSA Certification involves stringent testing and requires that all wiring be done with CSA-approved materials.

Additional features and benefits include:

Low power consumption
Universal input supply (120 - 277 VAC)
Suitable for all Class 1, Div 2, Groups A, B, C, D
hazardous environments T4A rated
Patent pending optical design
State of the art solid state lighting source
Self-contained wiring compartment eliminates
additional junction boxes
Weather/corrosion resistant lamp assembly and housing
5 year warranty
Resistant to shock and vibration
Instant on / off response
Wide operating voltage range
Power factor > .9
THD < 20%

This is more good news for anyone looking for a stand alone fixture that could be safely used indoors as LED Grow Lights. The newly approved Solid State Lighting fixture weighs 19lbs and consumes 85-115W (100W nominal) at 110 volts; for a total output of 3640 Lumens ( 70% lumen maintenance over 50,000 operating hours ). Now if they could start offering other models in different spectrums as LED Grow Lights everyone would have a happy holiday season to rejoice over.

LED chip maker Genesis Photonics announces new patents for white LEDs

Digitimes is reporting that:

Taiwan-based LED chip supplier Genesis Photonics yesterday debuted its latest patents on white LED technology which the company claims can produce a white LED chip without the need to combine a blue LED and phosphor.

Around two years ago, Genesis started volume production of single white LED chips using this technology with most of the products shipping to Japan, said the company. The production cost for this product is not far off from traditional blue and green LEDs. However, as the brightness of LEDs produced using this technology is still not as bright as ordinary ones, few LED makers are adopting the technology and Genesis is partnering with downstream vendors directly, stated company president Hsu Shi-Hong (transliterated from Chinese).

The company also aims for the proportion of revenues from the blue and green LED segments to reach up to 60% and 40%, respectively, in 2008, up from 45% and 55%, respectively at present, the company added. Meanwhile, the company will increase the number of its metal-organic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD) equipment to over 25 units by the end of 2008, compared to 19 units now, noted the LED chip company.

This should be great news for the overall health of the Solid State LED lighting market, more competition in the LED Grow Light industry is always good.