LED rope lights as small cheap heat source
 

I made my own seed germination box using cheap Xmas LED string lights under the trays in an insulated crate. It worked like a charm ! I have a small unheated greenhouse that I use to extend my season/over-winter my tomatoes and peppers grown in containers. I use layers of fabric row cover to cover them at night and they survived and even set fruit in 30 F night time temps in the greenhouse. I wasn't able to record temps under the covers though. Now I am thinking i may be able to get even better results next winter by using strings of LED lights and running them around the pots or on top of the pots. I live in Mendoza Argentina, and we are just entering Spring here, so my experiment will have to wait. I will also get more LED strings when Xmas sales come around and a Max/min thermometer for result keeping. I should add, that my power in my rural area has low power tension(don't have many watts to spare) and wood is very pricey, making the LED potential very attractive to me.

I was wondering if anyone has tried something similar here ?

Cheers Mark

Mark those lights will not put out enough heat to do any good and I do not know about providing the right light frequencies needed for growth. Maybe someone else could chime in.

jon

[QUOTE=peppero;504138]Mark those lights will not put out enough heat to do any good and I do not know about providing the right light frequencies needed for growth. Maybe someone else could chime in.

jon[/QUOTE]

Just to clarify, this is not being used for lighting, just cheap heat. They do provide heat, albeit not much. I am not trying to heat my whole greenhouse space with it, just get a couple of degrees extra under my fabric blankets during the night.

My seed germination box had an inside temperature of 28 degrees Celsius. It was inside my unheated house where the temp was 14 C. I was using 1 20w string of cheap LED Xmas lights. When my house heated up, I actually had to use one of functions on the LED string to turn half the string off as temps were going to 30 C and rising. They work great as bottom heat source better then a fridge.

If you have a string of LEDs, put them in your bed, under your blankets at home. You will see the effect it has. Yes its not going to help you late winter in cold zones but if you need 2 C, I think you could get it in combination with insulation. That might just be what you need to to overwinter pepper plants.

Other benefits of using LED lighting are you can get waterproof exterior ones, they last a long time and are low fire risk. They are also flexible and you could coil them in pots, around pots, under pots.

Your climate is almost like parts of Texas.

People have been known to string Christmas lights in small trees hear to keep them from freezing.
I dont know if LED lights will put out enough heat.
Worth

[QUOTE=Worth1;504150]Your climate is almost like parts of Texas.

People have been known to string Christmas lights in small trees hear to keep them from freezing.
I dont know if LED lights will put out enough heat.
Worth[/QUOTE]

i haven't been to Texas but I spend/spent a lot of time using Texas as my benchmark in terms of doing my research here and elsewhere. I hope you don't think i am stalking you Worth but i have read and researched a lot of your posts.

The only thing that may be very different in my climate is that i am 2500 ft above sea level and in the foothills of the Andes. So we get weather here like Zonda winds that you might not experience in Texas.

I don't know either Worth, but I do think it has some potential. I also know that LEDs are getting larger in terms of wattage with 5w becoming more common. I don't think LEDs are a single answer but perhaps another tool in a multiple variable approach. Plus its another reason to mess around in my greenhouse in winter and get some fresh air.

Cheers Mark

[QUOTE=MendozaMark;504170]i haven't been to Texas but I spend/spent a lot of time using Texas as my benchmark in terms of doing my research here and elsewhere. I hope you don't think i am stalking you Worth but i have read and researched a lot of your posts.

The only thing that may be very different in my climate is that i am 2500 ft above sea level and in the foothills of the Andes. So we get weather here like Zonda winds that you might not experience in Texas.

I don't know either Worth, but I do think it has some potential. I also know that LEDs are getting larger in terms of wattage with 5w becoming more common. I don't think LEDs are a single answer but perhaps another tool in a multiple variable approach. Plus its another reason to mess around in my greenhouse in winter and get some fresh air.

Cheers Mark[/QUOTE]

Where I lived in West Texas it was 2,575 feet and as flat as could be.
Sometimes the winds would blow upwards of 75 MPH and more.
This happens every year.
We dont have the Andes as high as what is west of you though.:lol:

Worth