Yes....
We never had hidden away ,any detail about ,how one can make his/her own ,Astir panel....
In fact we had posted all the schematics and smallest details needed,so for one ,to DIY a panel like that ..
(It's not so difficult,anyway...)
We also have encouraged ,everyone who decides to DIY ,
to keep experimenting,choosing different variations of led selections,based always on white leds....
We have our reasons to do so...
Not so difficult,either to guess why....
All these I'm saying ,there're a lot of people-out there-,that can absolutely ,verify...
And always ,we get very happy to see people getting good results from their DIY panels...
As for the official Astir panels (soon ,I guess,to be released) ..
Target group there,is the non-DIYer's...
We begun as DIYers,ourshelves,also...
Still that is ,what we are...
And we respect our community...
No secrets kept ,hidden in dusty ,old chests...
Afterall ,the final goal ,remains the same..
Grow efficiently with leds...
And the basic substance needed ,for our community to succeed in that is shared knowledge.
Shared knowledge that is sourced by the numbers of people ,who they search and experiment..
No matter "winning" or "loosing"...
Usually the official "led grow panel " market ,follows
the researches and experiments done by big led manufacturers and univ/ties ....
But the latter ,are concerned mainly with the use of leds as complementary illumination,to large greenhouses....
They really care for the use of leds,in horticulture,but not in growrooms/growtents...
They go for the large scale horticulture...
Where the lights hang pretty high up (and can't be 10 panels ,10cm away from plants ,for just a space of 3'x3' or 4'x4'..)
So they use high power leds and lenses amongst other...
Yes ,because at that case ,the difference in led efficiency (droop) and losses from lens polymer/glass ,are pretty minimal ,to the gains of utilisation..
(no reflective walls or mylar,on vast greenhouses....)
And the main source of light ,remains the sun....
Leds ,there are used to fill in wls that are missing (not much 660 nm light in nothern climates-for north hemisphere-)..
Or to aid , growing just seedlings at wintertime.. (blue leds +reds)
Or to speed up flowering/fruiting (FR )...
Or -still really experimental-to protect from pathogens (UVa ) and/or enhance taste/smell /antioxidant content...
And soon for many other purposes....
But not for complete growth cycle....
Leds are not ment to be the solely light source ,regarding utilisation in greenhouses...
(Neither hids are,in greenhouses) ..
But in a growroom/growtent of the average grower,
things are pretty much different..
And probably,there are also some(?) misconceptions involved....Guh-guh...
Oh...I can't sit and write all these details,right now....
Only some researches already done ,regarding use of leds in outer Space ,can really be helpful,for the average DIYer /grower ...
( Absolutely confined grow space ,surrounded with reflective material -- controlled enviroment )
But still, those were done ,some years ago,when YAG phosphor whites didn't exist ,neither high power leds...
And still ,they have talked -amongst others-,about RGB(= kind-of-"incomplete"-white) light being the best choice (at that time/ then )and
that leds work really efficiently when placed all over the 3-dimensional growing space (intracanopy illumination) ...
Meaning a lot to us...
-"Full "spectrum-(if possible : 280-750 nm ) for complete growth ,regarding utilisation of leds as the only and solely light source..
-And with "coverage " always the best way of illumination....(multiple panels / wide emission angles / close to leaf canopy )
Reminder: Knna has talked about those, same things , some years ago,also...
Got to hurry up ,for work...
Good morning everybody....
this year is gonna be named "The led year" or smthing like that...we are going to have many grows under led lights...your instructions are unique
