New Dawn LED Flood
True 6500 Kelvin Led light source.
- High light levels at the right wavelengths for powerful plant growth.
- Perfect to use increase visible light levels and alongside UVB emitting lamps.
- Diffusion angle : 40°
- Compatible with:
- Clamp lamp.
- Ceramic lamp holder.
This range has been made to provide high light volume to targeted or large areas. Little choice has been available to the reptile market in this department. Larger and more elaborate planted setups are now appearing on various social media platforms. Brave new ideas, with more demanding plant selections, that up until this point have had problems trying to find a suitable lighting solution without the heat and running cost associated with other types of lighting.
As mentioned in previous articles, we know plants use light for photosynthesis and development. This light is described as PAR (photosynthetic active radiation) the amount of light between 400 and 700nm used for photosynthesis. This is measured in micromoles (µmol), a measurement of photons, which are particles of light and can be easily measured by a good quality PAR meter. General plant growth requires a minimum of 50 to 200 µmol/m²/s depending upon the type of plants you are growing and how much light they require. Usually, the more light you provide the better the plants will grow. This said there is a limit beyond which they are unable to use any more light and this is around 500 µmol/m²/s.
There are three models to choose from, although technically the range consists of two spots and a flood. They can be fitted into the Reptile Systems rotating ceramic lamp holder and the black clamp lamps.
The 10w spot is great for small enclosures and has a 40° beam angle for when you want to target more light onto one specific plant, giving higher light levels. The 25w spot is for medium size planted set ups and has a 25° beam angle. The 35w spot has an 80° beam angle to flood light into larger enclosures.
The New Dawn spot range are powerful, high output LEDs for large enclosures or high light demanding plants. This power can be very helpful if used on mesh topped vivariums or for covering larger distances.
Both the 10w and 25w models utilize a, tried and tested, heavy duty aluminium heatsink casing, allowing heat to be efficiently dispersed from your LEDs, prolonging their life.
With its four separate LED bundles, the 35w model is different from the other two. It has a reliable, quiet and highly efficient cooling fan to stop the LEDs getting too hot, greatly prolonging the working lifespan.
Having a colour temperature of 6500k has been proven to promote the best vegetive growth for most plants, used because plant growth is induced by the bluer end of the natural light spectrum. Natural sunlight ranges from 2700 and 7000 Kelvin. For the volume of light being produced these are still very low wattage saving you money on running costs.
The New Dawn spots and floods also have a high colour rendering index (CRI), showing your plant’s and inhabitant’s true vibrant colours.
New Dawn are a safe and reliable way to illuminate your enclosures in a natural clean light and have the benefit of promoting explosive plant growth with low power consumption.
If you have a smaller environment or require a different type of premium plant lighting, New Dawn comes in a full range of models and sizes to cover all enclosure types, working with a variety of fittings and fixtures.
The frequently asked questions are:
How long does it last?
It should give you approximately 50,000 running hours and is backed by a 2-year warranty
How many lumens is it?
141 lumens per watt, with the newer ones being upgraded to 151 lumens per watt
My lamp doesn’t work!
Please go through the standard checks as these lamps are very reliable:
- check the fuse.
- check the connection in the ceramic fitting.
Why does the 35w have 4 lights?
35w provides a wider beam for larger enclosures and the most effective way to achieve this was to separate the LEDs into four separate clusters. Therefore, this model also has the ultra-quiet fan to draw air through the unit, cooling all the components inside.
Some more information of New Dawn LEDs
LEDs have come a very long way since their original concept in the early 1900s. They have been used for every type of lighting application from standby lights on electrical appliances to high-tech headlights for cars and every other conceivable use in between.
The commercial application for growing crops and plants indoors, or in hostile environments using LEDs, is great although on a large scale would require some investment. Large greenhouses can grow crops all year round using tailored lighting outputs to promote growth, budding and flowering, adding a predictability to crop harvest times and yields. Plant growing using LEDs is still, relatively, in its early days and is very exciting in terms of development; indoor crops have been grown using LED lights even in Arctic locations. It can bring a low energy way of taking farming to remote locations, even off planet, in the form of aquaponic and hydroponic farming, as a way of sustainably feeding people and livestock while providing a clean breathable atmosphere. As we can scale this down into our own indoor planted set ups, we can create a beautiful environment for our animals, enrich our sense of well-being, whilst cleaning the air in our house.
The hobby has been blessed with an upsurge of people wanting to keep plants, either on their own or as part of an enclosure for animals. Paludaria, terraria, carnivorous plant and bio active are, to name but a few, ways in which plants are being used creatively to make eye pleasing terrascapes for domestic environment. Effectively, lighting for optimal plant growth, while making them pleasing to the human eye, is the goal.
It is worth noting that a trade-off must be made, as plants have different light absorption peaks than people. Photosynthetic light is in the red and blue spectra while human eyesight peaks more in the yellow and green colour range. Most plants still require limited amounts of light from other parts of the spectrum for other processes. This should always be taken into consideration as PAR (photosynthetic available radiation) is not the same as lumen or lux, which are more a measure of brightness to the human eye. So basically, just because an LED is very bright, by human standards, it does not necessarily mean it is the best lamp for plant growth. We should be aiming for a colour of around 6500 Kelvin, which is considered best to cover all bases. We have designed the Reptile Systems New Dawn range to satisfy all these criteria and have an on-going development process to improve as we discover more, and affordable technology becomes available.
We get asked two general questions about New Dawn:
Why do you make so many different types of plant lights?
All the New Dawn range include 141 or 151 lumen output chips and have a colour temperature of around 6500k. As this is not a ‘one size fits all’ solution, we have come up with a comprehensive range of lighting to fulfil all your needs. This is why we have New Dawn compacts, spots, T5 and Proten LED bars. They each serve a lighting solution for different situations. For example, a 10w spot will spread light in a very different way than a 10w T5. We have the 10w spot to punch down the light further as LEDs have a weird physical law that governs their output over distance. This is called the inverse square law, as you move further away the output is reduced by a squared factor. Therefore, if you take a reading at 1m and another at 2m it is not halved it is quartered, at 3m it is reduced by a factor of nine and at 4m by sixteen and so on, e.g. 100 at 2m is 100 ÷ 4 (2²) = 25. The use for different lamps will be explained in further episodes.
Why use the name New Dawn?
Quite simply really, each day starts with a new dawn as the sun’s powerful life-giving light bestows its gift upon the world, also we like the lyrics to the Nina Simone hit song as it gives an organic feeling of happiness.
