bibbinator
New Member
Hello,
I have been googling to try and figure out how to go about designing and building the circuit described below, but alas I can't seem to find the correct terminology to zero in on the types of components I need, let alone the design.
Overview:
I would like to construct a device to measure for the presence of certain light frequency/frequencies. It could be done one at a time (choose which frequency to test for) or sample a range and display the results. A similar example to what I want to build can be found here:
**broken link removed**
Use:
Plants have certain frequencies of light they require for vegetation and fruit/flowering. When growing indoors, the critical frequencies of sunlight must be reproduced. Traditionally this is achieved through broad spectrum lighting such known as High Intensity Discharge and achieved using metal halide type or high pressure sodium. These are VERY hot and power hungry. The new type of lighting is with LEDs. The problem with LEDs is that they are not an ideal match in terms of the frequency of light they emit.
For example, red LEDs are typically just above the range that plants like most, so the best lights are ones where you can evaluate a large sample of red LEDs and choose the ones closest to the target frequency for the light.
I would like to build a sensor that can evaluate a spectrum of light, or take individual frequency samples, to assess the effectiveness of the light and suitability for use as a growing light. You can see the attachment for a diagram of the light spectrum.
LED manufactures of course provide diagram showing their LED frequency. I simply want my own independent way to quickly and simply evaluate the frequency for experimentation, and also to evaluate other lighting systems.
Question:
So, my simple question is: What type of detectors/components are suitable for detecting specific frequencies of light? I'm mostly concerned with the detection at this point, not the actual building of the whole circuit.
If you've read this post this far, thanks! Any help, advice or guidance much appreciated!
Brett
I have been googling to try and figure out how to go about designing and building the circuit described below, but alas I can't seem to find the correct terminology to zero in on the types of components I need, let alone the design.
Overview:
I would like to construct a device to measure for the presence of certain light frequency/frequencies. It could be done one at a time (choose which frequency to test for) or sample a range and display the results. A similar example to what I want to build can be found here:
**broken link removed**
Use:
Plants have certain frequencies of light they require for vegetation and fruit/flowering. When growing indoors, the critical frequencies of sunlight must be reproduced. Traditionally this is achieved through broad spectrum lighting such known as High Intensity Discharge and achieved using metal halide type or high pressure sodium. These are VERY hot and power hungry. The new type of lighting is with LEDs. The problem with LEDs is that they are not an ideal match in terms of the frequency of light they emit.
For example, red LEDs are typically just above the range that plants like most, so the best lights are ones where you can evaluate a large sample of red LEDs and choose the ones closest to the target frequency for the light.
I would like to build a sensor that can evaluate a spectrum of light, or take individual frequency samples, to assess the effectiveness of the light and suitability for use as a growing light. You can see the attachment for a diagram of the light spectrum.
LED manufactures of course provide diagram showing their LED frequency. I simply want my own independent way to quickly and simply evaluate the frequency for experimentation, and also to evaluate other lighting systems.
Question:
So, my simple question is: What type of detectors/components are suitable for detecting specific frequencies of light? I'm mostly concerned with the detection at this point, not the actual building of the whole circuit.
If you've read this post this far, thanks! Any help, advice or guidance much appreciated!
Brett