I've noticed that the current trend in LED lighting design is taking an interesting turn in respect to the spectrum.
First we saw Blurple LED's, chasing the highest PPF/watt, which fell out of favor because you couldn't see your plants properly.
Then we saw White LED's, so now you could see your plants properly, but then there was debate on the minutia of best color temperature, and high vs low CRI. Low (70) CRI's are higher efficiency, but high (90) CRI's make your plants look better and maybe easier to diagnose disease.
As light manufacturers are tying to find other ways to compete, and with the increase in unbiased third-party information thanks primarily to channels like MIGRO and Dr MJ CoCo, I think we're going to see LED light design move to what I'll coin as "Pink lights" in a war for the highest PPF/Watt while using White LED's.
Whats a Pink Light?
White LED's with a metric ton of red, as red is the most efficient. Thus the light has a "pink" character to the human eye. We're already seeing brands using this to advertise PPF/Watt's from 2.75 - 2.9.
ABOVE: Generic LED spectrums based on color temperature. Depending on CRI, around 3500k - 4000k is the "sweet spot" where the blue spike is around equal height to the spike in the Orange's. Also this is the color temperature that arguably looks most "neutral" to our eyes without being too yellow or too blue.
ABOVE: High PPF/Watt "Pink Light" spectrum from Lumatek, advertising 2.9 PPF/Watt. Notice the HUGE spike in the red channel.
Would you rather have a light that is less efficient but makes your plants look the best and easiest to see/diagnose with a pure white light, such as High 90 CRI 3500k-4000k designs (High CRI White, Low Efficiency)
or
A pure white 70 CRI 3500k-4000k Led that is more efficient but renders colors less well (Low CRI White, Moderate efficiency)
or
All-out-efficiency "pink-light" design, with the worst color rendition but highest efficiency (Pink, High efficiency)
First we saw Blurple LED's, chasing the highest PPF/watt, which fell out of favor because you couldn't see your plants properly.
Then we saw White LED's, so now you could see your plants properly, but then there was debate on the minutia of best color temperature, and high vs low CRI. Low (70) CRI's are higher efficiency, but high (90) CRI's make your plants look better and maybe easier to diagnose disease.
As light manufacturers are tying to find other ways to compete, and with the increase in unbiased third-party information thanks primarily to channels like MIGRO and Dr MJ CoCo, I think we're going to see LED light design move to what I'll coin as "Pink lights" in a war for the highest PPF/Watt while using White LED's.
Whats a Pink Light?
White LED's with a metric ton of red, as red is the most efficient. Thus the light has a "pink" character to the human eye. We're already seeing brands using this to advertise PPF/Watt's from 2.75 - 2.9.
_____
ABOVE: Generic LED spectrums based on color temperature. Depending on CRI, around 3500k - 4000k is the "sweet spot" where the blue spike is around equal height to the spike in the Orange's. Also this is the color temperature that arguably looks most "neutral" to our eyes without being too yellow or too blue.
ABOVE: High PPF/Watt "Pink Light" spectrum from Lumatek, advertising 2.9 PPF/Watt. Notice the HUGE spike in the red channel.
_____
POLL: Are Pink lights welcome for the boost in efficiency, or is it a step back to the days of Blurple's to where we can't see our plants properly?Would you rather have a light that is less efficient but makes your plants look the best and easiest to see/diagnose with a pure white light, such as High 90 CRI 3500k-4000k designs (High CRI White, Low Efficiency)
or
A pure white 70 CRI 3500k-4000k Led that is more efficient but renders colors less well (Low CRI White, Moderate efficiency)
or
All-out-efficiency "pink-light" design, with the worst color rendition but highest efficiency (Pink, High efficiency)
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