Comment by JKCalhoun
4 hours ago
Curious if LEDs can really match the black-body that is our sun (and therefore incandescents).
I would get/build such a thing for my mental health, but I worry the LED illumination will be counter-productive.
4 hours ago
Curious if LEDs can really match the black-body that is our sun (and therefore incandescents).
I would get/build such a thing for my mental health, but I worry the LED illumination will be counter-productive.
Look for the CRI rating of bulbs that you buy. It's a measurement of how close to a blackbody spectrum the bulb is putting out, the highest fidelity being 100. Note that this is not the temperature measurement, and you can have e.g. 2700K or 5000K bulbs with high CRI.
Newer LED phosphors are typically 90+ CRI, and I commonly find 93 CRI bulbs available off the shelf.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Color_rendering_index
Interesting. The Wikipedia entry mentions SPD and I think that is where I think LEDs fall down—having a skewed and/or incomplete spectrum. Even though it may make certain target colors look correct.
Sunlight diverges significantly from a black-body spectrum because the atmosphere absorbs so many wavelengths.
I've found that a 250w incandescent bulb (can be had for ~$10) paired with a 4000 lumen LED produced decent results on a budget. Search for "reptile" or "chicken" lamps, they are usually red. You can feel the HEAT from a 250w light bulb.
The only thing to watch out for is that the lamp base you're using can support the high wattage.