RESOURCES

What makes induction lighting different?

Induction lamps are structurally different than other lighting types, such as LEDs, halogen bulbs, and fluorescent bulbs, that are commonly used for indoor agriculture. Induction lighting units don’t have electrodes or filaments, the items that frequently cause other bulbs to burn out quickly. As a result, induction lighting systems can have an extremely long life of up to 100,000 hours. This means more consistent lighting for your plants, since it’s highly unlikely you’ll have a bulb burn out.

Additionally, induction lighting tends to be incredibly energy efficient. This is partially due to the long life-span, which even surpasses LED lighting. However, induction lighting is energy efficient even when not taking the long life-span into account.

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Heat and Plants

While a certain amount of heat is good for your plants, too much heat is a bad thing. High temperatures promote certain pest infestations and high heat combined with moisture will unfortunately end up as mold at some point unless extreme care is taken. Mold is not only deadly to your plants it also can be very harmful to us humans. High temperatures increase the amount of water that evaporates from the plant. As a consequence plants lessen the amount of water that evaporates by keeping their stomata (the stomata are the pores on the plant) closed during the high temperatures. This slows down the whole growth process. Unfortunately, this means that no matter how much light or CO2 reaches the plants they must stop the photosynthesis process. So, there is an optimal temp for your plants and that is somewhere between 72 and 80 degrees F. Currently the most prevalent lamps used for growing are HID Lamps (high intensity discharge) like metal halide and high-pressure sodium. Hid lamps are very inefficient at turning electricity into light. Extreme heat is a byproduct of this. These lamps run at temps between 1300-1400 degree F. The INFINITY Induction lamp on the other hand run at about 200 degrees F. So we can get more useful light out of less watts because it is so efficient. As you can see heat will not be a major concern. No noisy fans, no ductwork hanging all over, no glass on the bottom of your INFINITY hood. All this adds up to savings on your electrical bills and a better climate to grow in.

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PLANTS AND LIGHT

The amount of light a plant receives has a direct impact on its growth rate. Plants tend to grow faster when available light increases, however their maximum growth rate is achieved at a substantially lower amount of sunlight than 2,000 micromoles, which is about what you get in the daytime. The point, at which a plant receives more light than they can utilize, is known as the Light Saturation Point (LSP). For most plants, the optimum level of PAR lighting is approximately 500 micromoles per square meter (~55 micromoles per square foot), and if these plants receive much over that they can reach the point of light saturation. 1000Watts is over kill in a lot of situations. Our INFINATY light is at an average 600umol/m2. So as you can see it is more that adequate. As I stated in our conversation it is where the light is located in the PAR range that counts most.

Induction grow lighting tends to be more energy efficient than many other types of lighting used for indoor agriculture. This translates to lower energy bills with a better result for your plants. Because they take less energy to run, you’ll be able to keep your grow lights on for longer, allowing for healthier plants and a greater yield overall. With the right lighting fixture, you’ll be able to take your indoor farm to the next level, while decreasing your operational costs due to energy bills.

If you’re interested in making your indoor agriculture business more efficient, you’ll want to start swapping out your existing lighting for induction grow lights. For your new lighting fixtures and all the materials you’ll need to update your lighting, contact Infinity Garden Lights today.

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Lumens and the big lie

Why are all grow lights defined in lumens? Why is the lumen useless for growers? The answer to that lies in the definition of the lumen. What does it measure? The lumen is a unit that measures light according to how effective it is at stimulating HUMAN visual response. That means what we see with our eyes. Plants on the other hand see light differently. Not with rods and cones likes human eyes, but with their leaves. What we want to know is PAR. PAR is a measure of lamp output in the spectrum that is actually useful to the plant. Now if you look at the curve of the wavelength of light (A1) and compare it to the curve representing the absorption spectrum of chlorophyll a and b, you will see that the former peaks where the latter valleys. The lumen measures the light that is least useful for plant growth. Low Pressure Sodium lamps are virtually useless for growing plants and have a very high luminous efficiency (in fact, it produces more lumens than any gas lamp available today). If lumens (or luminous efficiency) were really any indication of usefulness for plant growth, we’d all be using LPS. For any two lamps having similar radiant efficiency but different luminous efficiency, the one having lower luminous efficiency is almost guaranteed to be more efficient for plant growth. What we are looking for is high radiant output, with a low lumen rating. In addition to the chlorophylls, there are a number of other photoreceptive pigments (e.g., carotenoids, xanthophylls; collectively called “accessory pigments”) in plants that contribute to photosynthesis. These do absorb light between the chlorophyll absorption peaks. The amount and ratio of accessory pigments varies from species to species, and even among individuals of the same species. Because of these accessory pigments, the action spectrum of photosynthesis differs from the chlorophyll absorption spectrum. So we do need some light in these areas, but not a lot.

Recent developments in technology have resulted in many changes for industries everywhere, and the farming and agriculture industries are no exception. Recent years have made indoor agriculture even more feasible; technological advancements have given indoor growers more to work with than ever before. However, one simple way to improve an indoor agriculture facility is often overlooked: swapping to induction grow lighting. Could induction grow lighting be the key to improving your indoor farming?

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THE INVERSE SQUARE LAW

The inverse square law simply states that light coming from a point source such as a bulb loses strength at a predetermined rate as follows. If you place your plant right at the bulb, (1000w HID) you have 1000 watts of light on the top portion of your plant. If you move the light 2 feet away from the plant you need to square the number 2.We do this by multiplying the distance by itself. In our example that would be 2×2=4. So now we have 4 quadrants, each receiving an equal amount of light. That means 1000 watts divided by 4 is 250 watts. So now 250 watts is the light intensity you have at the top of your plants. If the light is 3 feet away, its 3×3= 9, so you have 1/9th the light intensity on your plants or 111 watts. As you can see the closer you can keep the light to your plant the more usable light is available to them. The INFINITY bulb runs so cool you can place it 3 inches from the plant. Now you have violated the inverse square law and you will be rewarded with more