All Done With Mirrors....

[SeaHiPPieS]

Mirrors reflect close to 100% of 'Wasted' Light

 

 

 

.............You know when ya spend 30 minuted to do a post and then press the wrong ficken button eh? Just happened to me.......

 

Ok take two

 

Being a newbie to hydro gardening I've made a significant discovery that others seem skeptical of - Compact fluros + Mirrors

 

Because I like to 'fuck with stuff' (how I learnt to build computers) I did away with the 'tried and tested' methods of hydroponic lighting. Everybody seems to go for the more expensive option of HID lighting - HOT and POWER HUNGRY -

 

After finding a basic set-up at a 'Hydro Super Store' in Brisbane's South side (where I paid $129 for a compact fluro) I found The Urban Gardner

site on this forum website woo woo - Their compact fluro is only $41 as I write this post - so that's about a third the flamin price huh? Check their prices http:urbangardenershop.com.au

 

To save money I decided to use a reflector (like ya put on the inside of a car to keep the sunlight out) rather than a commercial one for $39!

From there to cut a long one short - I've upgraded to MIRRORS as a reflector -

(Ain't nothing better - less ya can afford a parabolic mirror at great expense)

 

So my light meter 300mm away from the light source (without mirror) measures 'daylight' - WITH the mirror it goes OFF THE SCALE !! With Fuck All Heat

 

So here's some pix so y'all can have a look - *the light /s are laid horizontal with the mirror at 45' angles over the top of the fluro. The back of the is just warm - the front is even cooler. All in all a very cool and cheap to run and set up system that works... The left photo is obviously the one without the mirror.

 

 

 

 

When light makes multiple reflections between two or more parallel surfaces, the multiple beams of light generally interfere with one another, resulting in net transmission and reflection amplitudes that depend on light-wavelength in a complicated way. An example of this effect is the colours seen in oil films on water. Other applications include Fabry-Perot interferometers, optical coatings that can greatly lower the reflectivity of a surface, and optical filters. A quantitative analysis of these effects is based on the Fresnel equations, but with additional calculations to account for interference. The transfer-matrix method can be used to solve these problems...

 

Using Reflectors :

Just as important is the redirection of this otherwise "unproductive" light from the primary light source by positioning reflectors directly above lamps. This not only recovers "unproductive" light, but also effectively "widens" the primary light source. Hence this increase the surface area unto which light is exposed on the corals and plants, it utilizes the otherwise scattered rays to productive use. Also note in the photo that the overall light from the 1 source is much greater. A parabolic reflector (telescope or photographic quality) has the reflective metal coating on the front surface instead of behind the class layer resulting in over 99.9% reflection of much of the electromagnet spectrum. The science of the fluro generated frequencies are beyond me at this time but I'm sure gonna ask the folks at the Queensland Uni to analyze it just for fun

 

 

Edited November 11, 2009 by SeaHiPPieS

[Brown Hornet]

Hey Seahippies,

What sort of distance are you getting with the mirror? Are you able to give us an idea? You said with out mirror your day light is approx 300mm away, how far is it with mirrors?

Cheers

BH

[Crunchy]

i asked about using mirrors for light reflecting means a couple of months ago in chat, was told something like it'll burn the plants or something about the spectrum or something, can someone more experienced plz reiterate.

[Frazz]

i asked about using mirrors for light reflecting means a couple of months ago in chat, was told something like it'll burn the plants or something about the spectrum or something, can someone more experienced plz reiterate.

 

perhaps they were talking of 'hot spots' when mirrors or mylar can reflect a concentrated area of heat which can burn part of the plant , this would only be the case if you were using High Intensity Discharge lights (e.g. hps / mh) which do generate heat as opposed to fluros which dont generate much heat in comparison , like you wont get 'hot spots' with mirrors and fluros but it can happen with HID lights and mirrors or mylar ...

 

BTW i beleive mirrors reflect 99.7% available light .. by comparison flat white paint reflects 97.3% available light and will not create hot spots ..

 

[SeaHiPPieS]

Hey Seahippies,

What sort of distance are you getting with the mirror? Are you able to give us an idea? You said with out mirror your day light is approx 300mm away, how far is it with mirrors?

Cheers

BH

 

I did the same reading from the same location (300mm from light)

On the light meter 'Day Light' is supposed to be equivalent to 'sunlight'

Because compact fluros don't throw heat there is NO heat reflection - HID's are fucken HOT and any radiated heat will also be reflected by mirrors. I have seen reflectors for other types of lights which have many more angles - I worked on the K.I.S.S theory as most of us have enough trouble working out bloody 45 degrees - Let alone multiple calculations

I just wanted to share this and others will hopefully look at it's worth in this community. I've read bad reports on 'fluro' lights

but the new generation is advancing rapidly as is LED technology - this is already available

 

Oh that is Blueberry Sativa by the way from Sannies Seeds

 

 

It works vertically as well - here's a 'plants eye' view

Edited November 11, 2009 by SeaHiPPieS

[bufo marinus]

I think your wasting your time

but

if you want to re-invent the wheel,...

Just because the mirrors reflect the light doesn't mean it's necessarily much higher in luminous intensity, no matter what reflective surface is being used. My reasoning is the light level decreases dramatically, by a squared expotential, I think that's the right term? but if you start looking into this you'll come across the equation somewhere, 5/8 of fuck all is, ummm not much, and that's the main problem with flouros, even the new-u-beaut-high-powered-super-duper-bright-as-a-400w ones just don't have the lux levels to penetrate very far. Yes you'll get buds, but honestly, after you've wasted your time and smoked some nice spindly crappy nuggs, one day you'll plug a 400HPS in and kick yourself you didn't do so sooner.

Good luck with your experiment though and for sure this info is always good to look back through

[turboboots]

I think your wasting your time

but

if you want to re-invent the wheel,...

Just because the mirrors reflect the light doesn't mean it's necessarily much higher in luminous intensity, no matter what reflective surface is being used. My reasoning is the light level decreases dramatically, by a squared expotential, I think that's the right term? but if you start looking into this you'll come across the equation somewhere, 5/8 of fuck all is, ummm not much, and that's the main problem with flouros, even the new-u-beaut-high-powered-super-duper-bright-as-a-400w ones just don't have the lux levels to penetrate very far. Yes you'll get buds, but honestly, after you've wasted your time and smoked some nice spindly crappy nuggs, one day you'll plug a 400HPS in and kick yourself you didn't do so sooner.

Good luck with your experiment though and for sure this info is always good to look back through

 

 

 

haha amen bufo, you always tell it how it is

 

there is so much info here for people to go forth and do well, this wheel works stop fucking with it

[brick]

From the Medical Growers Bible. " Mirrors also reflect light, but much less than Mylar. Light must pass through the glass in the mirror, before it is reflected back through the same glass. Light is lost when passing through the glass".

[SeaHiPPieS]

I think your wasting your time

but

if you want to re-invent the wheel,...

Just because the mirrors reflect the light doesn't mean it's necessarily much higher in luminous intensity, no matter what reflective surface is being used. My reasoning is the light level decreases dramatically, by a squared expotential, I think that's the right term? but if you start looking into this you'll come across the equation somewhere, 5/8 of fuck all is, ummm not much, and that's the main problem with flouros, even the new-u-beaut-high-powered-super-duper-bright-as-a-400w ones just don't have the lux levels to penetrate very far. Yes you'll get buds, but honestly, after you've wasted your time and smoked some nice spindly crappy nuggs, one day you'll plug a 400HPS in and kick yourself you didn't do so sooner.

Good luck with your experiment though and for sure this info is always good to look back through

 

If we all thought like you the world would still be flat -

Statements like " doesn't mean it's necessarily much higher in luminous intensity " demonstrate your level of comprehension of the concept. You're saying that 2 lights is not better than one? Do some research and then have an informed opinion perhaps.

Why to lights use a Fresnel lens? Do you understand Fresnel's theory? That's next on our agenda. Amplified and reflected from a low power use source. 'Tribalists' who still watch V8 super car racing have little concept that there are many 4 cylinder cars that shit on V8's because they have more 'power' in 8 pistons

looking forward to some wisdom and not unfounded bullshit here - By the way we have the same plants in another location under HID to compare. This is get of ya arse and research stuff - Not a stoned keyboard puncher having delusions of the real world.

Over to you

Cheers

[SeaHiPPieS]

haha amen bufo, you always tell it how it is

 

there is so much info here for people to go forth and do well, this wheel works stop fucking with it

 

If people stopped 'fucking with the wheel' I'd never have gotten to take a ride at 480KPH on a 'Maglev' train in Shanghai.

Which by the way has no wheels.

If everybody had the capacity to have new vision there would be no need for 'inventors'....

Have a look outside the square - There's a whole universe on the outside....

 

To infinity and beyond !!!