Led grow lights recommendations.

Double insulated components do not need an earth and usually, you plug an unfused two-pin plug into a fused adaptor. This is standard for shavers, electric toothbrush chargers and the like.

 

Know it sounds obvious, but not exactly sure what Double Insulated entails, but would be very wary about such cheap far east mains voltage devices being up to any UK specifications ?!

As these led lamps instructions state, they are Not water or damp proof / Not IP rated and should not be used in a greenhouse.

 

All you are doing is taking alternating current and converting to direct current which is what powers these Led. Low voltage does the job. I've got loads of this lighting running inside and out. Outside is DC to DC. Inside is AC to DC.

Easy peasy.

And these pinkish arrays really do a great job. Each of my indoor 4' × 4' areas uses only 10 watts of power and it is good coverage.

 

I take double insulated to mean no metal parts in the casing, so no chance of a shock from touching the outside of the article.
The thing I bought has a plastic casing.

I dont think these are low voltage, @CanadianLori as no transformers involved so running on 240volts AC.

 

That is unheard of in any systems over here. Interesting.

 

I didn't realise LED s were 12 volts.
It does seem stupid that there isn't a small transformer in the plug, like most things these days.

 

Actually, they are 1.8 to 3.3 volts with resistors added to allow them to run from anything from 5 volts upwards. They do require DC though and are polarity conscious.
Lori, mains here is 220v (used to be 240 - 250 volts phase to neutral/ground) I don't know about Canada but in the States, they use a Delta supply where we use a Star. The US have both 110 and 220 volts in their houses. We only have 220.

 

Yes, gentlemen. As I said! A/C must be converted to D/C to work with the lights everyone is talking about here.

I also buy D/C fans for the greenhouses which are hooked up to solar panels. No Conversion. D/C to D/C. When the sun shines, they circulate the air. When the batteries are charged and the D/C timers switch the power to the fans and lights, it is direct wired. When I did all the wiring, I avoided having to do any converting from one type of current to the other.

Of course, running off the mains in the cellar, those are just the same as what you all have, just lower voltage to start. We run 110 just like the states for most things. Only clothes dryers, stoves and the like use 220.

 

Question regarding the lights.
Can you put glass between the lights and the plants.
Only reason I'm asking is because I intend using them over my propagator but without some kind of lid its going to lose a lot of heat, so was hoping glass over the top wouldn't stop too much of the light.
But I'm guessing it will filter out the UV light, but we do that when we grow things in greenhouses anyway, dont we?

 

My LED's don't seem to heat up at all but you could just use a polycarbonate (clear) sheet to cover the propagator? The light will just glow through it. What does your propagator look like?

 

My propagator, nothing flash, just something I made years ago for germinating seeds, not really for growing them on at all.
So it had a polycarbonate lid, the same stuff as the sides, but I'm thinking that would cut out too much light, so I have found a pane of glass from some old secondary glazing that fits the lid.

I was just wondering if the glass would be cutting out any of the wavelengths of light that the plants would need.

Still waiting for the other light panel to come.

 

Hi @pete,

Doubt glass or polycarb will affect the Led light transmission that much, otherwise we would have problems growing plants in any greenhouse via sunlight.

Seems polycarb blocks UV more than glass, but apparently not detremental to plant growth ?

You could move your leds closer to the seedlings if in in doubt.

Got some Sweet Pea and Snaps seeds just coming through and have the prop covered with a clear plastic cover, be interesting to see how they develop under our led led lamp.

 

Thanks @ricky101

 

I like it! @ricky101 is right- as long as the sheet is clear, you're good to go. When you think of it, the LED's are already behind clear plastic when they're sold, so same thing.