VEGETAL GROW DEVELOPMENT
Technical lessons Led Modules
VGD BOX
Hardened box for the environment of the greenhouse and for external conditions, it integrates all the VGD know-how. With or without a remote connection, the VGD Box is autonomous to make the best decisions based on your objectives. 100% compatible with agro-climatic managers facilitating data supervision. Coupled with the Luz Sensor you will benefit from the best precision on the market.
VGD VFBOX
Specially developed for the optimization and supervision of indoor cultivation and vertical farming. Compact and powerful, it allows you to control more than 1000 connected lights in different growing compartments. The VFBox allows you to control the intensity and photoperiod of each cultivation level. It is easy to simulate sunrises and sunsets and many other scenarios.
VGD µ Wave
Manual control box allowing you to increase or decrease the intensity of any type of horticultural lighting. Used mainly to control HighRack VGD luminaires, using its six faders you can adjust each of the 6 desired wavelengths on your crop in order to compose your own spectral recipe.
Led control system for your horticultural lighting
There are various control protocols for adjusting the intensity of professional horticultural LED lighting . These protocols allow you to decrease or increase the light level using a control unit called a controller. This wired or wireless controller communicates with the current transformer that powers the horticultural lighting (the "LED driver") to lower or raise the current to the LED circuits of a lamp. Depending on the control system, you can vary your lighting from 10% to 100%. Controlling the intensity via the LED driver of the horticultural lighting is one thing, but knowing when to adjust it and what intensity level to regulate according to your crop is another. VGD has software for automating control based on crop needs, which received a Sival Innovation Award in 2020. It adapts to any protocol on the market and, coupled with its patented Luz Sensor intelligent lighting technology , allows you to adjust your horticultural LED lighting in real time according to natural light deficiencies.
What is an LED driver and how does it work?
An LED driver is a current and voltage converter for LEDs mounted on an electronic circuit board within an LED lamp . The LED driver corrects the electricity coming from the household mains (110V to 400V) into the voltage and current necessary for the LEDs to function correctly. There are two types of LED drivers: one constant current (CC) and the other constant voltage (DC). The DC LED driver automatically adjusts its voltage according to the number of LEDs and their configuration (series or parallel) while providing the maximum current (U=RI, we won't go into detail here). This type of LED driver is often used for horticultural lighting with a fixed, variable spectrum that cannot be controlled color by color . The DC LED driver provides a constant voltage (for example, DC 48V), and the current is drawn by the LEDs according to their configuration on the PCB (electronic circuit). The DC LED driver is used for multispectral LED lighting because the number of LEDs, each with different electronic properties, requires specific regulation for each LED color type. Therefore, current and voltage regulation is necessary via an intermediate control board located between the LED driver and the LED PCB to provide each controllable LED with the correct current and voltage. To ensure the electrical safety of indoor installations, VGD uses a low-voltage DC<60V power supply.
The different methods of controlling LEDs
There are two main types of control systems used for LED horticultural lighting . The first type is analog control from 0V to 10V, generally used for small installations that don't require feedback on operating status. This type of control is the least expensive and requires no technical expertise for implementation. VGD supplies waterproof 0-10V control systems operated by potentiometers. The second type is digital control based on uplink and downlink protocols using a series of 0s and 1s (called bits). The most commonly used protocols for LED lighting in horticulture are DALI, DMX, KNX, and Modbus, each governed by its own implementation and usage guidelines. These protocols were created for the commercial and industrial sectors so that various types of devices, such as heaters, lighting, plant light meters , or presence sensors, can communicate with each other via the same controller . VGD primarily uses DALI, which offers the flexibility to control well over 1000 horticultural LED lights individually or in groups. For applications requiring greater precision and information, Modbus allows integration into most indoor and outdoor growing ecosystems. VGD's HighRack multispectral LED lights utilize this protocol, enabling independent control of six different color channels across more than 1000 fixtures. The VGD Box acts as a controller that monitors and controls the entire operating status of the LED and HPS lights, integrating into a comprehensive lighting management system for crop control.
The main types of dimming for LEDs
Dimming by radio control
Dimming by PWM card
VEGETAL GROW DEVELOPMENT
How to choose the right LED driver for your project
A current and voltage converter for LEDs, commonly called a "LED driver", is not a simple choice for the manufacturer of LED horticultural lighting. This will be even less easy for you if it is not your daily life. You will have to ensure that the supplier pulls out all the stops in terms of regulation quality, safety standards, guarantees and options available for controlling LED lamps. Remember, if you are in indoor farming, ask your supplier if the LED driver is at low voltage (DC<60V). It will also need to have enough cable length to be deported in an easily accessible area to facilitate maintenance and not regulated by the needs of the crop in order to maximize energy savings. The differences in efficiency from one brand of LED driver to another can be significant, remember to ask for the PF (power factor) which mentions the efficiency percentage of 0-100%. The efficiency is evaluated according to the voltage of the domestic network (AC110-400V) and the total Watts consumed versus those consumed only by LED lighting. The harmonic distortion rate (THD) is also an important factor that can cost you dearly. Indeed, the value is defined by a percentage signifying the rate of desynchronization of the sinusoidal curve of the electrical network supplying your horticultural LED lighting. The consequences are that your supplier only allows a low tolerance to call “waste” and you will be obliged to equip yourself with an electrical network rectifier. Additional vigilance, when you control your LEDs, you degrade the nominal operation of your LED driver so their THD can exceed 20%... The standards depending on the countries and growing environments are different, make sure that they are respected. Last point, a LED power supply or converter or LED driver and formerly ballast for HPS is the vulnerable point of horticultural LED lighting, it must be easily interchangeable for an unauthorized person thanks to secure quick connectors. All VGD LED lamps integrate all these logics in order to offer you an efficient and reliable installation.
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VEGETAL GROW DEVELOPMENT
Photovoltaic lighting: a solution of the future for controlling LEDs
We are seeing more and more greenhouses or buildings equipped with photovoltaic panels in our landscape. The idea that the panels are a higher yield per square meter than the sunlight needs of a crop is not yet a reality. On the other hand, VGD equips greenhouses with horticultural LED lighting controlled by the VGD Box controller and the Luz sensor to compensate for the shadow generated by the photovoltaic panels. An aberration you will tell us... not necessarily, for certain crops the economic model is viable between the production/sale of electricity and market gardening production in greenhouses. The model can be all the more interesting depending on the cost of purchasing electricity for indoor crops. Indeed, if the cost of purchasing electricity is low, horticultural LED lighting consumes electricity production instantly and vice versa if the price of electricity must be resold versus the supply price to light the LED lamps. The VGD Box allows you to adjust the photoperiod according to the demand of the electrical network and your crop thanks to its ability to integrate the signal from the domestic electrical network.
VEGETAL GROW DEVELOPMENT
Successfully control your LED lighting
Once again you must stay focused on your crop and control as many parameters as possible to maximize your yields and achieve your objectives. Therefore, the control of LED lighting is part of the performance of the agronomic result. Even if the goal is not to become an expert in lighting for plants, you must be an expert on your crop. VGD provides adapted and tailor-made training according to your needs, do not hesitate to consult them and an expert will come and provide the training on site for greater relevance. VGD also supports you after the installation of your controlled LED lighting in the form of advice in order to best adapt your cultivation management and make the best use of your controller-controlled LED lamps.
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Our answers
LED drivers are the lungs and brain of your horticultural LED lighting. It must provide the optimal voltage and current to the LED circuits which are in the lamp in order to guarantee the durability of the flow of your lighting and the quality of light emitted.
it depends on the type of LED lamp. The more the lighting can be controlled with a multitude of different LEDs, the more it will be necessary to use a constant voltage LED driver (DC voltage). Low voltage (DC<60V) is strongly recommended for indoor farming.
Firstly, the duration strongly depends on the quality of the driver to integrate reliable and robust components. Secondly, the operating temperature of the LED driver, that is to say the environmental conditions in which it will operate. Thirdly, controlling the LED drivers by the VGD Box will make it possible to use less of the maximum capacities of the LED converter in order to make it operate below its tolerance zones.
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