gradolabs
Hash me about LEDs.
This is a short article on powering LEDs with PWM.
Pulse width modulation is a fancy term for switching the power on and off, what's known as a duty cycle, to keep the junction temperature of light emitting diodes from approaching dangerous levels (thereby increasing the lifespan), while still producing adequate amounts of photosynthetically active radiation.
The duty cycle is usually shorter than a few hundred milliseconds but that's up to the manufacturer and I doubt they'll publish that data. In fact, the only company I'm familiar with that utilizes this is Grow Northern.
It was originally familiar to me as a method of lowering the speed of a dc electric motor without losing torque but I gather it's been adapted to grow lights. Anyway, now you know!
Pulse width modulation is a fancy term for switching the power on and off, what's known as a duty cycle, to keep the junction temperature of light emitting diodes from approaching dangerous levels (thereby increasing the lifespan), while still producing adequate amounts of photosynthetically active radiation.
The duty cycle is usually shorter than a few hundred milliseconds but that's up to the manufacturer and I doubt they'll publish that data. In fact, the only company I'm familiar with that utilizes this is Grow Northern.
It was originally familiar to me as a method of lowering the speed of a dc electric motor without losing torque but I gather it's been adapted to grow lights. Anyway, now you know!
