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**Plulpangepler** · 08-23-2012, 02:21 PM

Look at the geometry of the emitter. A bare T5 tube radiates uniformly in all directions. Throw a reflector on it and the light that is otherwise lost (to the plants) can be redirected to them. The design of that reflector and the bulbs position within it determines the spread. A truly parabolic reflector with the tube in its focus will direct the light narrowly out of the parabola, in a width equal to its opening.

"Naked" LED chips emit light in a patter that is almost hemispherical, so if you had a line of them, like those strip Rob has mentioned, it's more-or-less equivalent to a half of a T5, in terms of light pattern. Having a reflector around it will still trap those photons that have the audacity to escape to the sides, rather than down, and reflect them onward.

Add focusing lenses to them, and you preclude the need for a reflector.

08-23-2012, 02:21 PM	#15
Plulpangepler Join Date Oct 2005 Posts 366 Senior Member	Look at the geometry of the emitter. A bare T5 tube radiates uniformly in all directions. Throw a reflector on it and the light that is otherwise lost (to the plants) can be redirected to them. The design of that reflector and the bulbs position within it determines the spread. A truly parabolic reflector with the tube in its focus will direct the light narrowly out of the parabola, in a width equal to its opening. "Naked" LED chips emit light in a patter that is almost hemispherical, so if you had a line of them, like those strip Rob has mentioned, it's more-or-less equivalent to a half of a T5, in terms of light pattern. Having a reflector around it will still trap those photons that have the audacity to escape to the sides, rather than down, and reflect them onward. Add focusing lenses to them, and you preclude the need for a reflector.
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