NYC Resistor

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LED Umbrella

Ever wanted to grow grass in your cubicle? I did. But the grass kept dying. So I made a custom grow light out of LEDs, and now I have the nicest lawn on my block. Build photos, schematic, sourcecode, etc. are on the project page.

Comments
  • OMG I want one!!!! It really works!!!
  • phooky
    Dave, that's freaking fantastic.
  • Yury
    You don't need a green led for plant growing.
    Green light doesn't participate in photosynthesis.
  • alicia
    wants.
  • daveclausen
    The green LEDs give the light a more natural color. Before building my own light, I tried a commercial LED grow light which was mostly red with a little bit of blue. It worked very well, but the grass looked terrible.

    At one point I considered adding a feature that shuts down the green and blue channels at night to save energy. But now that it's all built and the grass is growing, I'll probably never get around to adding it.
  • this is seriously awesome. We need to sell kits of these :)
  • phooky
    I'm wondering now what would happen if you put the leds just above the dirt, pointing up. Gravity vs. phototropism: FIGHT!
  • Grass dont need green led's, its better idea to use yellow leds instead green, because in this case we fill up spectrum what is more need for growth. (Grass is green because it absorb red, and some blue "colors" of light.)
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