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60 Degree vs. 90 Degree Lens in LED Grow Lights
LED grow lights use different chips and different lenses to project the light in different ways. The main types of lens are 120 degree, 90 degree and 60 degree. In the early days of LED grow lights almost all of the major brands used 120 degree lens. When Advanced LED began testing different LED chips and other factors it quickly became obvious that the lens focus would be a critical decision. After testing the above mentioned lens types among other more focused lens variations we decided that a light with all 90 degree lenses would provide the intensity and the coverage our growers wanted. Why did we choose all 90 degree?
Our decision to go with all 90 degree lenses is based on three factors:
1. Light Intensity
2. Light Coverage
3. Light Blend (color blend)
First, we wanted our lights to have high enough intensity to provide a full saturation for every flowering plant and produce dense, ripe, heavy harvests. The 120 degree lens lacked intensity where the 90 and 60 degree lenses packed a much larger punch and provided the yields our growers required. (tested with both Quantum Flux Meter and field tested with experienced growers)
Second, we wanted our lights to have enough coverage area for our growers to feel they were able to light their garden efficiently and not be upset about very low coverage. The 120 degree lens provided the largest coverage area but was disqualified due to lack of light intensity. The 60 degree lens provided the highest center point intensity but drastically reduced the footprint of the light. The 90 degree lens provided much larger coverage than the 60 degree lens and also met our intensity requirements without sacrificing yield per watt. (also tested with PAR meters and field tests)
Third, we have tested many real time grows with experienced growers who were able to provide us data regarding colors and the blend of colors. We wanted our lights to blend each color of light across the garden enough that receptors on the plant were getting a share of each of our 11 wavelengths of color output. At this point we eliminated the 120 degree lens and the 90 and 60 degree were in competition with the 60 losing on coverage. The color blend test was the final decision point for our team because it was obvious that the 60 degree lenses were not blending color as well as the 90 degree lens. Each diode in the light with 60 degree lenses was focusing light to a small point and you could tell where some parts of the garden were over saturated in one color. Although this could have been remedied with more testing or various angled LEDs we decided the coverage area of the 60 degree lenses was too small.
In the end, it’s a simple fact that the 90 degree lenses we use provides high light intensity with large coverage areas compared to 60 degree lenses and therefore our choice for the optimal focus of our LED grow lights.
