Red Light Therapy, Lights, Supplemental Lighting

[jyb]

@haidut: are you referring to his http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23371415 for halogen and cancer? Because the study acknowledges that halogen had none of the otherwise bad UV-related effects with a simple glass cover (so usually not a concern).

 

[jyb]

Haidut mentioned recently about halogen lamps and some studies with cancer.

A bit more thoughts... Studies (it's mainly from one author, on a series of experiments on mice) show that the toxic effects of halogen is due to the UV. Nothing too surprising there, the rodents were exposed in some experiments to some light at a very short range so they got some UV, because halogen and sun have similar spectrum (but halogen is a bit safer). They toxic effects were exacerbated by the fact that the halogen used were naked (no glass cover, and the quartz bulbs let UV through), meaning that even some very low spectrum in the UV went through, whereas those from the sun are filtered by the ozone layer. But with the glass cover it's safer than sun rays, not just because the original naked halogen's spectrum has less UV than sun, but because the glass cover in a typical halogen light set up filters more UVB and low UVA than the ozone layer, I believe.

So it's more or less like standing behind a window on a sunny day, just that you're using a high wattage so its like an extra sunny day. Unless you got burnt (like a sunburn) from sitting under your halogen, this means the quantity of UVA is never enough for an obvious damage. But you may still be getting a bit of UVA, more than from incandescent - I don't know how much and how long is bad. You can always reduce it by adding a sheet of glass... I'd prefer incandescent (higher ratio of red to blue) but much easier to find a halogen set up where I live.

 

[superhuman]

What are you guys using for light therapy and how is it working?

Im currently using 400W halogen light bulb, should i be buying more things? like red LED light? what brand etc or other things?

 

[charlie]

I am using a 300 watt clear incandescent, one 130 volt 250 watt infrared light, and a halgoen I use sometimes.

Found the site below today and it seems very promising for a light bulb source. They are 130 volt, made in the USA, and will last a really long time.

http://www.brightlights-inc.com

 

[Jib]

For general lighting I've been using a 250W clear heat lamp bulb in a 10.5" brooder lamp. I have it bolted to a halogen light stand and plugged into an outlet on the stand so I can switch it on and off really easily and also adjust the height and point it wherever I want really easily.

The winters here are very dark and very cold. I've been keeping the bright light on until 8PM or so to emulate what it's like around August. I also use a Litebook Elite in the morning to help with Seasonal Affective Disorder.

Sometimes I'll take my shirt off and just huddle in front of the heat lamp like I'm a bearded dragon or something. I do think that helps.

 

[Mittir]

I also use a Litebook Elite in the morning to help with Seasonal Affective Disorder.

I just checked the wavelength of Litebook Elite. It is quite high in blue and very little red.
Blue light does the opposite of Red light.
Red light therapy increases metabolism and requirement of vitamin A.
You may have to increase your vitamin A intake and other nutrients.
Vitamin D status is very important. RP thinks 50 ng/ml is a good target.
I have recently increased my vitamin D supplement and i am seeing
improvement in health and energy.

 

[staytuned]

What are you guys using for light therapy and how is it working?

Im currently using 400W halogen light bulb, should i be buying more things? like red LED light? what brand etc or other things?

Wow... just got through this thread. Such conflicting information!

So we're settled on clear incandescent and not the red filter heat lamps?

Also, would like to hear more results from people on how this is working for them!

 

[jaa]

Incadescents are being phased out in Canada (and USA?). FPS just posted a neat solution on twitter

http://www.theblaze.com/stories/2013/12 ... -bulb-ban/

 

[charlie]

Incadescents are being phased out in Canada (and USA?).

Yes they are being phased out in the USA.

 

[stressucks]

Bought a 130V 250W heat lamp as recommended in Danny Roddy's article. Hope to see benefits. Is there any consensus on here on a setup and timing?

 

[charlie]

I use light till my body warms up. If body gets too warm that could be a stressor. So basically I charge myself up with the light, then stop. Then do it again when needed.

 

[stressucks]

That makes sense. I didn't at first, but lately I've been noticing my body heating up. I then turn it off. It seems to happen more quickly with the red light as opposed to the clear one.

 

[Dan W]

Unless I'm missing anything, this seems like a good bang-for-the-buck deal for 630nm LED bulbs:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/380838527601

I'm thinking such bulbs could be more convenient than the typical "grow panels" for topical use (using an extension cord and a plug-to-socket adapter), and for temporarily replacing incandescents during hot summer days.

 

[jyb]

Unless I'm missing anything, this seems like a good bang-for-the-buck deal for 630nm LED bulbs:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/380838527601

I'm thinking such bulbs could be more convenient than the typical "grow panels" for topical use (using an extension cord and a plug-to-socket adapter), and for temporarily replacing incandescents during hot summer days.

Each led is 3W which is quite powerful, the same as the LED growing board. I think the low price, $30, is due to a smaller number of LEDs. It sounds interesting for topical application. But would it work for general purpose light like incandescent for lowering stress?

 

[Blossom]

Unless I'm missing anything, this seems like a good bang-for-the-buck deal for 630nm LED bulbs:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/380838527601

I'm thinking such bulbs could be more convenient than the typical "grow panels" for topical use (using an extension cord and a plug-to-socket adapter), and for temporarily replacing incandescents during hot summer days.

I'm going to look into this since I am using brooding lights and they will soon be too hot as the weather changes. Is there an easy way to figure out how much wattage from LED is equivalent to the infrared heat lamps?

 

[himsahimsa]

The infrared wavelengths used by light therapy device vendors span 830 to 850 nm. 850 goes deeper.

Here is a link to raw material, LED panels:
http://www.dinodirect.com/illuminator-b ... 10-30.html

You can use an old computer power supply for 12V. To get a computer power supply to turn on outside the computer you have to jump some pins (actually sockets), you can find that info on the net. You can also open a UPS and take the 12V off the cables that go to the battery, if it has a 12V, some are 6 or 24 but usually the 24s are in series, so you could tap it anyway...

 

[Blossom]

The infrared wavelengths used by light therapy device vendors span 830 to 850 nm. 850 goes deeper.

Here is a link to raw material, LED panels:
http://www.dinodirect.com/illuminator-b ... 10-30.html

You can use an old computer power supply for 12V. To get a computer power supply to turn on outside the computer you have to jump some pins (actually sockets), you can find that info on the net. You can also open a UPS and take the 12V off the cables that go to the battery, if it has a 12V, some are 6 or 24 but usually the 24s are in series, so you could tap it anyway...

I'm truly impressed by your technical knowledge but must admit that is not my area of strength. I kinda just want to know how many watts of led are equivalent to watts of infrared? I guess I'm more of a 'just want to screw in a light bulb ' gal.

 

[himsahimsa]

This information is really tech for loonies who tinker together weird gizmos out of junk.

 

[jyb]

I'm truly impressed by your technical knowledge but must admit that is not my area of strength. I kinda just want to know how many watts of led are equivalent to watts of infrared? I guess I'm more of a 'just want to screw in a light bulb ' gal.

It's equivalent to zero watts of infrared. LED only covers a specific spectrum, say you'd chose 630nm, so there's 0 in infrared. If you want something with less heat, why not chose an incandescent bulb? From what I've read, it is better than infrared heat lamps for light therapy. There's even a quote from RP about it, saying that the heat spectrum isn't useful other than merely providing heat. LEDs in the red might be useful for some stuff but I'm not sure whether it can serve the same general purpose as incandescent.

 

[Blossom]

Thanks jyb. I've been using the infrared heat lamps due to the cold winter where I live. Incandescent seem to have been phased(in the U.S.) out so I will have to see how I can buy them. I think they are available under 100 watts so I could just use several. I appreciate you suggestion.