[Sticky] CGE Max300 Grow Light

 

You can see in the above fixture that we use one fan for the whole fixture, rather than one fan per LED module. that's due to the extruded heat sink design that runs the entire length of the fixture. One fan pulls air in from the back and pushes it out boths ends of the fixture for nice and even cooling. We also use lenses overtop of the LED chips to ensure that there is a large coverage area, and a nice colour blend. There are no hot-spots of colour under it - instead there is a constant colour. In commercial or large room settings this allows for really nice overlap of fixtures so they can be placed higher up above the plants. In a grow tent setting, it allows for a lot of light bounce since tents usually have a reflective interior. Plants get light from many angles, not just from above.

 

In regards to the spectrum of the lights, we have three different spectrums that can be chosen from in residential settings. They can be seen below with a basic run down of what they do. I'll speak to Spectrum 1 a bit more later on.

This spectrum has a high blue output for vegetative growth, and red output for flowering, with a great deal of infrared to be able to penetrate through the canopy and reach root structures and create larger leaves. This creates greater nutrient absorption, and stronger stem structures. This light can be used for taller plants or many plants in a small area.

This spectrum replicates the same spectrum as a traditional HPS light, but with a greater amount of red output to promote strong flowering.

This spectrum is a well rounded spectral output that maximizes photosynthesis. Large amounts of blue light for vegetative growth, and red light for flowering. Light amounts of yellow and green outputs also help maximize photosynthesis through the red and blue spectrums. This spectrum maximizes standard growing and flowering as the standard purple.

 

That said, the stream is currently  (February 8, 2019) using Spectrum 1. Essentially we created a fixture the emits nearly 40% of its output as infrared as you can see from the above Spectrum 1. A common misconception with the fixture is that it’s not that bright – and that’s because 40% of the output cannot be seen by humans. We can only see from around 400nm to about 700nm, where our infrared output peaks at about 740nm.

 

Infrared helps plants in a couple ways. For growers that have quite a few plants in a tent or in a small space, infrared light can penetrate through the tightly packed canopy and still get down to the base of the plant so all the leaves receive light. This is especially important for indoor growing because normally a tightly packed growing area would receive infrared light from the sun in an outdoor setting – you’re not ignoring half the plant with the Spectrum 1 output. The other thing infrared does is create larger leaf growth and larger plants. The ratio of infrared to red light in the fixture “tricks” the plant into feeling like it is under a tall tree or canopy since under usual circumstances outside from the sun, only infrared gets through the canopy. That plant then grows taller and with larger leaves to absorb as much light as possible with greater surface area since the plant tries to become more competitive. From there, the spectrum has a larger amount of red light than usual for increased blooming/flowering and tight node development, as well as about 9% blue output for vegetative growth. Since the infrared output is so strong, any more blue light is unneeded. That said, this spectrum is a fixed spectrum that works well through both vegetative growth and blooming/flowering.