Guys I also really love the art form idea! I feel like an artist indeed, my dad was an artist, and I went to design school where I actually graduated on a designing a durable bicycle which went into production.
The Double Dutch transporter: https://www.google.nl/search?q=double+dutch+fiets&client=firefox-b-ab&dcr=0&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwi0o6Ts3ofYAhXQJ1AKHdMICkAQ_AUICigB&biw=1998&bih=1065 .....
It's like I hear myself talking, yes designing and building is in a way better than growing, growing is just the test where it al comes together but also the waiting game. If you have design flaws you are gonna see them extrapolated over the course of your grow which is nice and frustrating, but therefore motivating and it really makes you think progressively! There is also cost, especially electricity costs which really challenge you!
I also think there is a lot of room for improvement as far as implementation of that excellent led form factor, you really have almost limitless design possibilities.
I always have had this idea in my head that the best lamp would be the wall itself! Or the sphere balooning around the plant, like a condom for your plant lol, or a net is even better, no closed surfaces or boxes! On top of that the best way to implement the best spectrum would be to make a sphere shape and the inner surface of that sphere would be covered in highly efficient 100cri leds, or probably even multicolour just like a computer screen!
And then you go outside on your ideal day on the ideal place on earth with the ideal weather, (which doesnt exist anymore) and make a 100% perfect 3d map of all the parameters, 360 photos etc, or even make a video.
Next thing is to project that video onto the sphere shaped display. As to give your plant exactly the copy of what it gets outside, even with the sun rotating around it.
One can dream ....... Once you copied reverse engineered that sunny day to perfection, you can start tweaking it lol, giving the plant 4 suns, or 10 whatever you like.
It's not only about cri, outside its also not a constant spectrum throughout! So you'd have to copy a whole season and once you got that down and tested you can possibly start
beating nature because of tweaks you can make now because you hacked the 'code'......
Ofcourse an artificial light perfect like that doesnt exist, and never will and it wouldnt be the most efficient to have a lamp made out of leds that are never all on together.
I am talking about the absolute most leds one could cramp in a surface, and the colours mixed accordingly. I don't believe in quantum boards with a big band of red or a big band of blue on them. If you have the resolution, use it! I do understand a better mixed board is also more expensive to produce, but they can make much more complicated things, it's almost like I am watching duplo, while we already can buy lego, and even surpassed nano in other fields.
I already had some cobs so I just multiplied them and drive them softer that way you also get a higher resolution.
But if you run cobs like that, close to the canopy, it is absolutely the case you should pick the richest colour! Because they dont really mix that well by design... Well not the absolute richest colour because in real life it's still a compromize CRI/output
But leds have even more advantages, if you really think outside the box you also could design more like an octopus light with strips draped down all in between your branches and buds
Which some on here already started experimenting with which is really NICE
IF ONLY the cri was there. On the other hand :
To save electricity you have to rule out some lesser efficient colours like green, but not too much..
I am still trying to get my head around the richness in taste of an outdoor bud though....
.....
I already have a more than sufficient light for my needs for grows to come now, but maybe in a couple of years, or maybe for a friend I would build a real 3D light with just really high cri whites. If available 2 channel, warm cold.
But you could also see me build a white fabric dome with just ONE really badass SPOT on it from above or even below! or while we are at it, make that a led video beamer.....
Nice meeting you all, and thanks very much for the excellent feedback and compliments. To me it's not about how much work it takes to build, it's about the journey and evolution yessss
For long I stayed in the dark with my designs and ideas. I also waited a looong time before I could see white led FINALLY getting more efficient AND decent as far as colour goes!
I do have a tread or 2 on a Dutch forum, but this market is so niche I only get a few short reactions like, nice light dude, now put a box around it and sell it for big money.....
Well that's actualy a good joke, because chinese manufacturers do exactly that! Make it a black box with bad noisy design and charge too much...
But yeah I am thinking of moving myself over here in a next topic.
To close this rant; we are not the only ones talking DIY:
ciao
Rokus
never said, that these numbers are anything else than examples to express, that there is room for improvement! Even if there is only 10% difference ( just check out Bad Dawg‘s threads, he runs a few side by side grows), it‘s still there... and not negotiable. And I have not grown with every light, but I know how a sunlight bud is like... no indoor crop is as mellow as an outdoor crop, imo
