Plasma will he the future but I haven't seen anything yet in a grow. I know there is a ton of R&D going on in the technology.
FYI if interested LED Grow Light - Chameleon Grow Systems - Scientifically Controlled Grow Systems PLASMA INTERNATIONAL - PLASMA LIGHT SYSTEMS and a GC thread to check out http://forum.grasscity.com/general-indoor-growing/454702-sulphur-plasma-grow-light-systems-mps.html Who will be the 1st on the G.C. block to have one
There has been a trial. Worked very well on low wattage. Check out opengrow, user Sannie gave it a run.
1st plasman light I've found on the market using Luxim plasma LiFi-STA Series by Luxim: Light Emitting Plasma These guys are using a Luxim 40-02 in an aqarium light, http://www.straylightoptical.com/slot/seashine/seashinepreliminarybrochure.pdf About $1000.00, be the 1st on your block Just an F.Y.I., S.S.
Absolutely worthless. They peak at green, and will lose to basically any other lighting technology unless the efficiency is completely insane... and even then it'll be fighting a serious uphill battle for horticulture. But of course everyone that only reads lumen counts thinks they're totally amazing. And being like the sun's emission spectra means nothing. Chlorophyll is green, therefore it reflects green and near-green, making those colors effectively unavailable to the plant. The less green you throw, the better, which is why HPS outperforms MH in terms of plant growth.
@ bulletcatcher Check this link http://www.luxim.com/pdfs/STA%2040.pdf about half way down, looks like theres red in it to me. Theres been two jounals done over on Opengrow, plasma works. S.S.
I never said there wasn't "red in it", I said the spectral peak is very near green. That's a very bad thing for a grow light, since it means the majority of your output is just lost by being the wrong spectrum.
Vs. HPS that only has 20% of the usable light spectrum our plants use. So is plasma worthless or not? thats what you originally said. Regards, S.S.
It is worthless. Just because ALL of it isn't green doesn't help much. The PEAK is right at green, which means the technology is mostly wasted. The efficiency MIGHT make up for that enough to rival HID, but it's certainly not going to be better or cheaper. And HPS throws a MUCH better spectrum. It has almost no green. While the yellow spike isn't super active, it's still WAAAAY more active than green. I'm not even really a huge HID fan, but these sulfur plasma lamps are absurd for horticulture... it just doesn't make any sense as a phosphor to use for growing since its main emission is at green.
I'm not a big fan of this Mfg. unit but they do have the charts for comparison Plasma Vs. HPS Isn't the red spec what our plants req. most during flowering? Seems to have much more in that spectrum that HPS. Even if they are manipulating the graph for effect, its fact that HPS only has about 20% or so of what our plants like. and if plasma equals HID type lighting isn't that a good thing, you won't need 2-3 watts of cooling for every watt of HID type lighting. I don't understand the green spectum issue, if its useless light to plants than who cares, shouldn't we only care about the light produced that the plant uses? So what if it produces to much green, is that a problem? HPS obviously has about 75%-80% wasted spectrum and has been the standard even with all the heat it procuces. Regards, S.S.
Uh... ok. You linked me to this: http://www.luxim.com/pdfs/STA 40.pdf That picture you put up isn't in that link. Is the picture you just posted even from a sulfur plasma lamp? edit: Ok, let me break it down for you... creating light takes energy. That means most of the input energy is wasted if the peak is at green. And then they try to claim efficiency over HID. Even if it's more efficient at making light from energy, if it's peaking at green, they won't be more efficient in terms of growing plants unless they are ASTRONOMICALLY more energy efficient than HID at making light. Even the 15% activity that you get from an HPS' yellow is infinitely more than the 0% activity you get from green light.
Also I found what you linked me to. It's some HID system. LED Grow Light - Chameleon Grow Systems - Scientifically Controlled Grow Systems plasma HID does not equal sulfur plasma. I have no idea what it actually is. edit: it claims to use the lamp you linked me to, but shows a completely different spectrum graph. My guess is that they're mixing a HPS and a plasma lamp or LEDs and a plasma lamp or something. Their site is a mess. edit2: and they show the false PAR graph that has greens better than blues. edit3: and they have all of their comparison graphs charted with a % light output on the Y axis to make HPS look bad. If it were charted by output energy at those spectrums, HPS wouldn't look like a tiny little peak in one area. edit4: jesus h christ, even their solar spectrum is completely wrong. Here's the real one: http://www.newport.com/store/genproduct.aspx?id=411919&lang=1033 &
Sorry bulletcatcher, I was revering to the Luxim 40-02 not sulfur plasma. I advised I'm not a fan of the chameleon systems, just had the most convenient graph of HPS, which doesn't change, I've only ever seen between 20%-25% of usable spectrum shown from HPS. Check these Opengrow journal link out https://www.opengrow.com/index.php?showtopic=40484&hl=plasma https://www.opengrow.com/index.php?showtopic=40312&hl=plasma&st=0 https://www.opengrow.com/index.php?showtopic=40669 A lot of great info on the 40-02 in those links. Thanx for the dialog, I'll check your spectrum link out later. S.S.
I investigated further and the chameleon system is a combo of LEDs and the plasma luxim thing, which is why the spectrum is shifted further red. Also full-spectrum lights DO seem to vegetatively grow better than HPS. I think the real factor is red light and how it supposedly affects flowering hormone. It's the only real explanation for why MH/LED/whatever could veg better but flower worse than HPS. That fact alone makes a lot of the testing they do not necessarily applicable to the most important phase of cannabis' growth (flowering). And the plasma scrog/600W HPS comparison seems to prove what I was saying. Full spectrum/HPS is kind of already laid to rest with the extensive testing of MH vs HPS. What I really want to try sometime is flowering under pure blue light. Theoretically it's more active than red light, but it would certainly prove the importance (or lack thereof) of red light/flowering hormone boost/whatever. Pure blue would also get rid of the green light non-activity conflating things. However, this plasma lamp stuff could be really really great if they can use a different phosphor other than sulfur... but there may be some reason they can't. If you could get that intensity/efficiency in a better spectrum it would be awesome I'm sure. edit: I do think luxim's lamps are sulfur plasma even if they don't say it. Or they're something pretty close anyway.
nlite has suposedly selling sulpher plasma lights for a while. I've seen a version on their site that uses CaBr2 & Argon and low sulpher to get a light that's strongest in the 3500K (red) spectrum. Here's a website for them. nlite SULPHUR PLASMA LIGHT PLASMA INTERNATIONAL LIGHTING SYSTEMS 'we are now collecting results from our earliest research installations across the globe, for both Commercial and Horticultural applications. With 90% of the system being manufactured in Europe (UK, Sweden & Germany), the European Sulphur Plasma availability is aimed to start in January 2008.' as far as I know they still won't sell them to just anyone
Looking at the plasma international site, they don't have any more info on the 3500k bulb they talk about on the other page. 3500K still isn't exactly stellar, but it'd be a lot better than the green peaking sulfur plasma.
In response to prior to the edit http://www.straylightoptical.com/slot/seashine/seashinepreliminarybrochure.pdf This is the one I'm considering, they actually contacted me this morning on a follow up. Thanx for the links, I'll check'em out S.S.