The Radiant LED L4a series 10 fixture by HelioSpectra of Sweden is a new high tech LED light aimed at high level research. Just about really, really nice fancy feature you can think of has been packed into the clusters of LEDs which were selected for horticultural use.
The Heliospectra Radiant LED L4a series 10 has 240 discrete LEDs and a total power draw of 600 watts. All that power is divided among four identical modules of 60 LEDs each with seven different colors. The three shades of blue LEDs will be familiar to most reefers with 445nm royal blue, and two diodes of near-UV with peaks that cover the spectral range from 400-420nm much like the Radion Pro for reefs.
The other colors of the Radiant LED L4a include far red, amber, green and infrared; some new research has indicated that green light is indeed beneficial to plant growth and the infrared spectrum is not provided for photosynthesis by for photomorphogenesis to induce certain physiological changes in plants. Our favorite attention to detail though is the use of different primary optics (lenses) for each different color of LED, a nice touch but probably superfluous in the grand scheme of indoor plant growing.
Other bells and whistles of Heliospectra’s Radiant L4a include programmable light schedule, multiple channels of color control, web connectivity and a real-time estimated spectral output during adjustments as we already have in Ecosmart Live for the Radion Pro and will eventually see with the AI Vega. The Radiant LED L4a is packed with tons of electronics and some really beefy heatsinking, which comes at the cost of having a really big boxy light fixture.
If there’s some features that we haven’t mentioned, there probably in there but there’s only so much to be gleaned from Heliospectra’s website. The exact manufacturer of the LEDs hasn’t been mentioned, probably because the light just sorta launched in March of this year and it is targeted at researchers and scientists who have no qualms spending their grant money on the Radiant L4a for the princely sum of $7,500.
You read that right, this is definitely not a consumer grade or hobbyist friendly LED light. Nevertheless, Heliospectra is a serious manufacturing endeavour with millions in venture capital funding to pursue this LED light project. Although the Radiant L4a won’t be coming to a grow store or LFS near you, the technology it fosters and the advancements it could help to bring about in general LED-photosynthesis should trickle down to gains for all lighting applications. [Heliospectra]
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K4Zs9OCfdxI
