A lumen is denoted by ln and is a measure of the amount of light emitted from a particular source that human eyes can see. Only the visible light is included in the lumen measurement so invisible wavelengths such as Ultraviolet (UV) and infrared are not included. The visible range of wavelengths is 400 to 700 nanometers (nm).

Chili Peppers:

Often light bulbs and many other kinds of electrical equipment often use watts as a way to describe the items power. Unfortunately, although watts do give a general indication of a piece of electrical equipments power, it does not take into account infrared energy (heat) or, in the case of light bulbs, UV light.

For example, two electric motors can use the same number of watts but, if one motor is terribly inefficient and creates an excessive amount of heat its power to turn its shaft will be less than the efficient motor that produces less heat.

The same idea is true for light bulbs. A very efficient light will produce more lumen with the watts it uses and produce less heat (infrared energy) and UV light that are a wasted use of the watts if the purpose of the light bulb is to produce visible light. Many governments require that lumen output be on the box, although many bulb manufactures still use wattage as the main way they describe a bulb's power. To learn more about different kinds of efficient plant lights click here.

What are watts?

volts x amps = watts

The light spectrum usable by plants is between 380nm (nanometers) and approximately 720nm wavelength. Within this range the ability of plants to utilize different part of the spectrum differ and different parts of the spectrum influence plant growth in different ways. Although this whole range is suitable for pepper plant growth, it can be broken down into three main group that encourage growth to varying degrees and encourage different kinds of growth.

380-520nm This spectrum range includes the beginnings of the visual light spectrum with colors that include violet, blue and the beginnings of the green range. Light in this spectrum range promotes rapid photosynthesis and robust, compact vegetative growth.

520-610nm This is the low point of the light spectrum usable by plants. Light in this spectrum range is not utilized well by plants and includes the colors of light green, yellow, and orange.

610-720nm Light in this range encourages the most rapid photosynthesis, but also encourages long internodal growth, flowering and germination. Plants will tend to shoot up spindly, weaker growth and flower. Light in this range is red and more closely resembles naturally occurring light during the fall season.

 

A foot-candle (fc) is a measure of light in lumen (lm) for a particular size space. fc = lm/ft² Or, a foot-candle is the amount of uniformly distributed light that falls on a square foot area from one lumen of light.

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