Hello I used to play in a band and have some LED lights that we used for stage lighting. They are Chauvet Colorstrips and I think they're 72 W each. I have 6 of them as well as a controller so I can dial in any color I want. I also have 3 Chauvet Per 56 lights that are 24 W I think. I am wondering If they would work for growing anything? It would be nice to put them to use. Thank you in advance, Scott

interesting question. there are certain spectrums that you'll need to grow. red is like 600Nm as an example. you could probably get by with the blue, red and white spectrums. i'm curious how they change colors? a grow light has dedicated red, blue, white, yellow, orange, etc LED's in a certain ratio that the manufacturer thinks will work.

it also depends what watt the diodes are. most LED grow lights are 5 W and some 10 W are coming on the market now. if yours are only 1W or 3W, they will work but probably not well. at least to grow top shelf MJ. they just wont' penetrate very deep into the canopy.

could you post some more details on the lights you have? that would probably help.

Once you get involved with a project you will not want to experiment until after you get surplus. You are not blazing new trails. This has been going on for quite a while now. Why repeat the mistakes and false starts of others when you can duplicate success? Nothing worse than waiting
for the 6 months that a project entails only to find disappointment.
Do what others have done. Stockpile. Then experiment to your hearts content, from a position of strength.

Those strings of lights are probably not going to take you very far. Especially in the flowering stage.
Just not intense enough to matter.

I am pleased with the performance so far, of my CLW SolarStorm 880, with its 5 watt LEDs.

I was very surprised to learn the super expensive Budmaster II 1200 G.O.D LED Grow Light, has three watt LEDs.

For their high listed price, you'd almost expect 10 watt LEDs to be installed here. At almost double the 880 price tag.

RHP

rkymtnman wrote:interesting question. there are certain spectrums that you'll need to grow. red is like 600Nm as an example. you could probably get by with the blue, red and white spectrums. i'm curious how they change colors? a grow light has dedicated red, blue, white, yellow, orange, etc LED's in a certain ratio that the manufacturer thinks will work.

it also depends what watt the diodes are. most LED grow lights are 5 W and some 10 W are coming on the market now. if yours are only 1W or 3W, they will work but probably not well. at least to grow top shelf MJ. they just wont' penetrate very deep into the canopy.

could you post some more details on the lights you have? that would probably help.

Thanks for your response. I have a controller to operate the lights. With it I can mix and match any combination of red, green and blue. All 3 make a white light. On the controller there are sliders that can be assigned to each color to adjust the intensity of each color.The various intensities result in the desired color. I have 6 light bars that are 38" x 2" each containing 384 individual bulbs (128 red,128 green, and 128 blue). The light bars can be linked together to run off of one controller. With the controller I can also program each light bar to display a different color. I don't really know what a "diode" is but the label on the light bar says 32 W. Mj isn't legal where I live so I will probably just try them with the tomato,bean,basil and pepper seeds that I already have. I'm not trying to "blaze new trails" here, just trying to make use of the $1,600. worth of lighting equipment that is collecting dust. And I'm definitely not buying different lights. I don't think it would take me 6 months to find out if it isn't working. Worst case scenario, I spend a little extra on electricity to find out I have to go to plan b. (put them in the window until spring to be transplanted outside). Thanks again!

384 diodes with a total of 32w per bar means that each diode is *very* weak (.083w each) and not really good for growing. Grow lighting and stage lighting are very different. They *might* work for seedlings/algae/etc but you really should consider selling them and buying a real grow light. I'd want at least 5w diodes for growing peppers/tomatoes, etc...


Good luck!

SME

Thank you! That's what I was afraid of. I will probably end up trying to sell my lights as I am no longer playing. Obviously I don't know a lot about growing. That's why I came here. If Mj is ever legalized here, I'll likely come back for the great advice! Until then peppers and tomatoes.