Planted Tank Enthusiast
Join Date: Aug 2009
Location: Vancouver, WA, USA
Gotta know the lingo! If you know something that belongs here, or have a clearer definition for some of these things as they apply to LED’s, help me add to this list!
- Amps: the basic unit of electric current in the SI system
- Beam Spread: the angle in degrees that light is spread from the LED or limited to by the optics
- Current: the rate of flow of an electric charge through a conductor
- Controller: can be a potentiometer or “intelligent” controller that determines the intensity of light. “Intelligent” controllers may also control effects like dawn/dusk, mid-day “burst”, integrated moonlighting, etc.
- Driver: converts the AC current (US standard) into DC current, and regulates the current to the emitters. Necessary to operate an LED fixture
- Emitter: the LED itself; the source of the light. It is NOT a lamp, bulb, or light
- Forward voltage: the amount of voltage dropped by each emitter in a series circuit of LED’s.
- Optics: individual reflectors that focus the direction of each emitter’s light
- PAR: Photosynthetically Active Radiation. This is the particular EM wavelengths under which photosynthesis is most active.
- Parallel: the way in which electrical components or circuits are connected so that the same voltage is applied across each component or circuit
- Series: a set of two or more electronic components through which current flows in sequence
- Tinning: preparing a surface for soldering by applying a small amount of solder to a solder plate or wire before assembly. (Limits the amount of time heat is applied to an emitter)
- Volt: the unit of electromotive force and electric potential difference equal to the difference between two points in a circuit carrying one ampere of current and dissipating one watt of power.
- Watts: the international SI unit of power equal to the power produced by a current of one ampere acting across a potential difference of one volt.
Last edited by theblondskeleton; 07-06-2012 at 01:18 AM.