Frequently Asked Questions
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FAQ Topics
General
Why should I control my grow environment?
Most plants either fall victim to overzealous gardeners or the wrong environmental conditions. A control system solves both problems. It always maintains the ideal values for humidity, temperature and substrate. And because the gardener knows that his plant is doing well, he no longer has to take such intensive care of it.
Grow Lights
Distance to the plants
Many customers are unsure how high the LED lamp should hang above the plants. In general, we recommend never to go below a minimum distance of 15 cm.
The ideal height is influenced by the mounting environment and the lamp. Most of our systems are designed to achieve ideal illumination at a distance of 30 - 40 cm. We go into more detail on the subject of distance in this article.
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Which light spectrum / colour temperature do I need?
In principle, plants grow under a wide variety of light conditions. In addition to photosynthesis, the light spectrum or also the colour temperature also influence the growth form and other properties (photomorphogenesis) of the plants. For this reason, white full-spectrum plant lighting is often supplemented with "boosters" for specific wavelengths, which can then be useful in certain phases of the growing cycle. Go to right spectrum of light we have published a separate article. Here are a few pointers for a pure full-spectrum LED plant lighting:
Neutral light (balanced red and blue component - 3500 K) is the all-rounder for the growing and flowering phase. You can't go wrong here. Discerning gardeners supplement the neutral white light with monochrome light sources depending on the plant cycle to achieve special impacts on plant physiology.
Cold light (higher blue component, from 4000 K and above) is good for the vegetative phase to obtain a compact growth habit in indoor plant cultivation. Too warm light signals to the plants that they are in the shade and triggers rapid height growth (stretching).
Warm light (increased red component, from 3000 K and below) is better for the fruit formation and flowering phase of a plant. Here, a lot of light is needed within a very short time - red light contains more photons.
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What thermal management do I need for my setup?
First of all, good air circulation must be ensured in the plant room so that the waste heat from the LEDs can be easily dissipated.
In principle, the better the cooling, the more efficiently the LEDs work and the longer their service life.
In theory, the heatsink should be as large as possible and a fan with a high air flow rate should constantly remove heat from the heatsink. In practice, however, the effort and costs involved must be weighed up. Often space conditions and noise avoidance also play a role.
For our Custom LED Product line consider this: we recommend to always use a heat sink. Only with a very low driver current ~1 A can it be dispensed with. The FLUXengine without heatsink was in our tests at room temperature with 1 A (equivalent to 20 W power consumption) and reached a still acceptable temperature of 50° C at the hottest point. The entire study on thermal management can be be posted here.
Our professional LED solutions are equipped with a passive cooling system that ensures specification-compliant operation within normal ambient temperatures (up to 30° C). Intelligent sensor technology ensures that the luminaire is protected if the permissible temperatures are exceeded. In extreme cases, the light output will be throttled.
DIY or Plug & Play?
Both have their advantages and disadvantages.
DIY allows for very individual, tailor-made solutions at a really reasonable price. The quality and efficiency does not need to hide from expensive plug & play products. To set up a DIY setup, however, you either have to be qualified yourself or hire a professional to do it for you.
Plug & Play is very convenient in this respect, because the setup is at least largely omitted. Normally, however, the price-performance ratio is worse.Â
All about LED power supplies / drivers
The power supply of LEDs is an important building block for the construction of plant lamps. There is a separate article about this on our Knowledge platform - here you will find everything you need to know about LED Drivers.
Account & App
How to open an account?
Many way lead to your personal Crescience Account
The easiest way is to check the "Create account" box when you place your order. Then you can immediately use all the functions.
2. you can register for free at any time via the community. You become a member immediately!
3. if you want to access exclusive content in the app, you will be directed to register an account if you do not already have one.
What happens to my data?
First of all: We do not want any personal data from you. It is important to us that your plants are doing well. Therefore we try to collect as much plant and environmental data as possible to give you a good picture of the situation.
Our devices offer functions for the acquisition of plant data and technical data. To give you the best control of your ecosystems from anywhere and at any time, this data is stored on our servers. Important: no personal data is transferred, only system and diagnostic data.
If you still have doubts, we also offer you the possibility to run your own server - for example using single board computer like the Raspberry Pi.
During your interactions in the shop and website, some personal data is indispensable, for example a shipping and billing address. Those who attach great importance to remaining anonymous certainly know what they can enter in the corresponding fields (e.g. Packstation).
In general, our privacy policy is based on the principle of "data economy", so that in all interactions with Crescience - in the App or in the shop - only the absolutely necessary personal data is collected. For full details on how we handle data, please refer to the Privacy Policy.
Why should I open an account?
CresControl
Can I simulate a sunrise?
The CresControl has six outputs for individual time control and dimming of different LED channels. Lighting recipes and schedules are integrated in the user interface.
In order for the CresControl to control your lamp, the LED driver must have a dimming input. This applies to almost all drivers that you can buy from us. At Mean Well these types are marked with the suffix -B or -AB.
Can I plug in a PC fan?
Yes! 12V fan output supports standard 4-pin PC fans with PWM and tacho signal. If one is not enough, you can also use a Y-adapter to supply several fans.
How can I use my own code?
With little programming knowledge, anyone can run their own programs. We provide an API for easy integration into your system. If you are not able to implement your application yourself, you can hire the Crescience development team to do the programming for you. Please use Contact with us.
Can I control third-party LEDs with CresControl?
Many third-party LEDs can be controlled with CresControl.
Prerequisite is a dimming input that can be controlled with PWM or 0-10 V. This is always the case with Mean Well drivers of type -B and -AB. If you are unsure whether your LED can be controlled with CresControl, please contact us.