Lights for citrus trees

[poncirsguy]

I bought 20 LED daylight 9 watt 700 lumens BR30 lights and I am wondering how much would be gained by removing the translucent lens in front of the diodes.  Anyone have any experience with this.

[SeeSchloss]

Probably not much, but not nothing either, I think it's difficult to know.

If you have an Android phone, you could use an app to measure that, as most phones have a light sensor (to adjust screen brightness) and there are some apps (meant for photographers) that use it to measure the light in lux. The one I sometimes use is just called "lightmeter" (and it's free). There might be similar apps on iPhone.

Other than measuring with a tool like this I don't think we can really know, the human eye is especially bad at estimating illumination. But in any case... removing them won't do harm, so go for it, I guess?

[pagnr]

Just a guess question,  but any risks in removing the covers, from water, insects, humidity, dust ?

[tru]

yeah, I'd think the only way to know for sure would be testing ppfd side by side.

My initial thought is that the lens probably does something with light scattering that is worth the overall loss, but really its just a guess

[poncirsguy]

Indoor use

[bussone]

Just a guess question,  but any risks in removing the covers, from water, insects, humidity, dust ?

The diode itself has its own glass/plastic cover, but the electronics may be exposed if you remove the outer casing/lens.

The function of the 'bulb' is mostly to evenly diffuse the light to my knowledge, as the raw diodes hotspot badly and do not cast an even light. This is obvious if you have an LED ring light or magnifying glass or something like that, where you can see the hotspots on what you illuminate. There is some loss with any filter, but the cure may be worse than the disease here. If you're that concerned, you may get more mileage by providing a mirrored can backing rather than removing the covers.