adriancarr
New Member
I received the Chihiros WRGB2 Pro 45cm light today from China, so I thought I would do a quick test to confirm it has a separate 'white' LED unlike the original WRGB2.
The good news, is that it does have a separate white LED. I had feared it might just be the software simulating the presence of a white LED using the RGB channels.
The bad news is that the white LED isn't really full spectrum and the light still has a gappy spectrum, though it does improve on the RGB alone.
The below images were taken with spectroscope jerry-rigged to my mirrorless camera. Camera settings were consistent for all images. I plan to extract more precise spectra from the images, but the current unprocessed images still illustrate the results pretty well. The AI Prime Freshwater spectrum shows what a full spectrum LED aquarium light looks like. I included the CFL spectrum for calibration purposes, as it has bands from mercury at particular wavelengths: 436nm and 546nm.
The gappy spectrum isn't an issue for growing plants, though it will affect how accurately colours appears. Chromatic aberration (CA) can also become an issue when there are discrete wavelengths with gaps between them, especially for those who wear strong glasses (which I do).
I hope people find this useful. It's a beast of a light, with some limitations.
Adrian
The good news, is that it does have a separate white LED. I had feared it might just be the software simulating the presence of a white LED using the RGB channels.
The bad news is that the white LED isn't really full spectrum and the light still has a gappy spectrum, though it does improve on the RGB alone.
The below images were taken with spectroscope jerry-rigged to my mirrorless camera. Camera settings were consistent for all images. I plan to extract more precise spectra from the images, but the current unprocessed images still illustrate the results pretty well. The AI Prime Freshwater spectrum shows what a full spectrum LED aquarium light looks like. I included the CFL spectrum for calibration purposes, as it has bands from mercury at particular wavelengths: 436nm and 546nm.
The gappy spectrum isn't an issue for growing plants, though it will affect how accurately colours appears. Chromatic aberration (CA) can also become an issue when there are discrete wavelengths with gaps between them, especially for those who wear strong glasses (which I do).
I hope people find this useful. It's a beast of a light, with some limitations.
Adrian