What about redirecting Sunlight into your grow room?

tstick

tstick

Well-Known Member
I remember seeing a technology awhile back that was using a series of mirrored ducts to redirect outside sunlight indoors. I was going to make a thread about it after I found the website....but....as I was searching for that information, I happened onto THIS thing and thought it was pretty cool and might make an interesting discussion -maybe as a way to amend and/or shorten the amount of artificial light needed for an indoor grow space....unzip the tent for a few hours each morning or afternoon and get some of that natural spectral shift that happens with sunlight....and so on...



I realize this thing is far from perfect for "our" purposes, but, then again, theres never enough free light for indoor growers, right? And talking about new technology is sometimes fun and inspiring too, right?

:)
 
Lucky Luke

Lucky Luke

Well-Known Member
ttystikk said:
These are solatubes. Directed lighting exactly where you want it. Skylights throw the light around the room based on time of day.
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May be a country to country definition. This site seems to be the flexable tube with more turns over one with less turns..or something. To be honest we just call em skylights here. I fitted what you would call a tube to a bathroom in my old house. Easy as job and made a huge difference.

"The way a Skylight works means they are very limited in where they can be placed within the home. Traditionally they can only be installed directly over the room they are to be installed in. The advent of Tubular Skylights, tube lights and sun tubes provided a little more flexibility with positioning. However they where still limited by obstacles in the roof and the tube length required to travel from the roof to the room. The longer the tube, the more light is lost." -https://solatube.com.au/blog/solatube-skylights-vs-roof-windows/
 
ttystikk

ttystikk

Well-Known Member
Lucky Luke said:
May be a country to country definition. This site seems to be the flexable tube with more turns over one with less turns..or something. To be honest we just call em skylights here. I fitted what you would call a tube to a bathroom in my old house. Easy as job and made a huge difference.

"The way a Skylight works means they are very limited in where they can be placed within the home. Traditionally they can only be installed directly over the room they are to be installed in. The advent of Tubular Skylights, tube lights and sun tubes provided a little more flexibility with positioning. However they where still limited by obstacles in the roof and the tube length required to travel from the roof to the room. The longer the tube, the more light is lost." -https://solatube.com.au/blog/solatube-skylights-vs-roof-windows/
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The article linked above referenced large commercial grows in warehouse settings. Flat roofs make placement easier.
 
GreenLogician

GreenLogician

Well-Known Member
If you just use solar panels on the roof to power artificial lights, maybe that sort of kind of counts? :P
You don't preserve the spectrum but it could be seen as the same energy, redirected.
 
J

JDMase

Well-Known Member
Ive thought about this technology a lot since I first saw the concept for use inside big blocks of flats. Glad to see people have had the same ideas of utilising it for growing plants. Look forward to the par readings.. Outside vs through the solar tube so we can assess losses. :)
 
canadian1969

canadian1969

Well-Known Member
tstick said:
lol! THAT was what I was initially looking for! Awesome!
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notice how big those pipes are AND that they are supplementing with LED. Very cool, but you are growing during peak electricity hours, or at least around peak $. If the whole thing was solar powered (or at least net zero) that would be perfect. I get the impression they have to supplement with LED.
 
tstick

tstick

Well-Known Member
canadian1969 said:
notice how big those pipes are AND that they are supplementing with LED. Very cool, but you are growing during peak electricity hours, or at least around peak $. If the whole thing was solar powered (or at least net zero) that would be perfect. I get the impression they have to supplement with LED.
Click to expand...
Excellent point.
 
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