Spectrum King LED: The Ins and Outs of Point Source Lighting

With so many lighting options available for indoor gardening, it can get confusing at times. Today, let’s talk about point source lighting. Considering most indoor gardeners come from a high pressure sodium (HPS) lights background, and therefore have used bulbs to light their plants, they’ve been using point source lighting all along.

When LED grow lights first appeared in the marketplace, many growers felt let down by them when they replaced their HPS grow lights because those are a very intense point source lights, while the early LED fixtures were only array-source light fixtures.

So, what is a point source light and why is it important to indoor growers? A point source is a point of intense light emanating out of a central spot. You can use bulb fixtures or LEDs that are built to replace bulbs. HPS are point source lights.

Just like anything else in growing plants indoors, it all depends on what you wish to achieve, the size and quantity of plants, and the dimensions of your grow space. All of that, and your environmental conditions, must be considered. If you have a single-level grow and aren’t looking to save space in your grow room, then point source lights are great. But if you grow vertically in order to save space and maximize square footage, then array source grow lights would be a better choice. Consider the LowPro Series by Spectrum King LED as a solid option. Like their name suggests, these low-profile fixtures can be used in vertical farming spaces in closer proximity to your plants for each level of racking.

Spectrum King LED makes point source LEDs with the promise to replace point source HPS and DE bulbs that use much more power than these LED fixtures. These LEDs also create significantly less heat and can be swapped out most of the time at a 1:1 ratio with bulb fixtures. For example, the CC140 can replace a 315CMH, an SK402 can replace a 600w to 1,000w single-ended HPS with ease, and an SK602 goes toe to toe with any 1000w DE fixture on the market.

If you’ve been using point source lights, then you now have fixtures available to you for a direct swap-out that will save you tons of power and create much less heat. Depending upon the size and location of your grow, electric usage can drop as much as 70% per month when lighting, HVAC, and all other necessary appliances are taken into account. Not a small amount of savings to be had and much less maintenance needed. You don’t need to buy a new bulb often either. Just keep on growing for years without worries.

Choosing to use point source lighting or array source lighting, is a function of the way your indoor garden is set. If your grow is vertical farming on racks, then you’d want array style lighting like the LowPro Veg or LowPro Flower grow lights by Spectrum King LED. If you grow bigger plants “old school”, then you should use a point source light.

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