This is a LED growing light for greenhouse use: a flat, ultra slim lamp panel that is hung or fixed above the crop and switched on when the natural light in the house is not enough on its own. The page does not repeat the lamp data sheet - the parameters of the 120X3W model live on their own page, linked below. What we deal with here is the other half of the job: how the spectrum is chosen, how the light hours are decided, and how the panels are laid out over beds, benches and racks.

Supplementary lighting is bought for two different reasons, and the two pull the choice of lamp in different directions. The first is the short-day season: in winter the natural day is simply too short and too weak, and a crop that is expected to keep growing through it has to be given light on top of what comes through the film. The second is the raising stage: seedlings and young plants packed close together on a bench or a rack need a steady light above them because they shade each other and the house light does not reach the lower tiers.

Those two reasons point at the same piece of equipment but not at the same arrangement. A crop out on the floor wants light spread wide and evenly from a distance; a rack of trays wants light brought down close to each shelf. That is why the same panel is offered in nine power steps rather than in one size, and why the layout question comes before the power question. General background on light and protected cropping is published by the FAO, and growers adding lamps to a working house usually start from that kind of material.

The range is built around white light: the panel is quoted with cool white, natural white and warm white versions, a colour temperature band of 2700-7000 K, and a colour rendering index of CRI(Ra) 80. For a grower the practical point is that the lamp is not emitting a single colour. It is a broad white source, and the choice inside the band is made against the crop and the result you are chasing - a cool end for compact, leafy growth under trays, a warmer end where colour and ripening matter more.

Two further properties of the light matter as much as the colour band. The panel emits no UV and no IR radiation, so it can be run close over young plants without the burn that comes with a hot source, and it is described as environmentally friendly for that reason. There is no flicker and no hum on switch-on either, which matters in a house where the lamp may be running beside people working all day. Boards built on the red and blue array, as in the photograph at the top of this page, are the version used for racks and shelves; the white-light steps are the version quoted with the colour temperature figures above. Crop target, not fashion, should settle which of the two you take - state the crop at the enquiry and it is matched.

There is no single correct number of hours for a grow light, and this page deliberately does not print one. The hours follow four things: the crop, the stage it is at, the natural day length where the house stands, and what the light is meant to achieve - holding a crop through the short season, pushing vegetative growth, or finishing a plant before it goes out. A house near the equator and a house in a northern winter are not the same problem at all, even for the same crop.

What the lamp brings to that decision is control. The panel is instant on with no warm-up, so switching it is a clean on and off rather than a slow glow, and that is what makes a timer or a controller a sensible way to run the light hours instead of switching by hand twice a day. Where the house already has sensing equipment, the readings that decide when to switch and how much is being delivered come from the same loop; the sensor side of that is described on the greenhouse control sensors page. Work out the hours from the crop first, then buy the lamp that can hold a schedule.

The second photograph on this page is the arrangement most growers mean when they ask about a growing light: a multi-tier rack with a lamp fixed under each shelf, lighting the tier below it. In that layout the panel is close to the plants, the light does not have to travel far, and each shelf is lit on its own rather than sharing one lamp hung high in the roof. It is the layout that suits trays, plugs and young plants, and it is the reason the small power steps exist.

For a crop standing on the floor, the arrangement inverts: fewer lamps, hung higher, spread to cover the whole bed rather than the width of one shelf. The panel itself is quoted with an outer size and the hole size it is set into, so the fixing is fixed before the lamp is ordered - the smallest step is 85 mm across with a 70 mm hole and the largest is 295 mm with a 280 mm hole. The lamp is a flat ultra slim panel, so it hangs close to the frame or the shelf above without eating headroom, and over 90% light transmission keeps the light soft and bright rather than harsh in a concentrated spot. Racks and benches to carry that kind of layout are part of the same greenhouse accessory range, and the multi-tier version of them is on the multi-layer growing bench page.

The range runs 3W, 4W, 6W, 9W, 12W, 15W, 18W, 20W and 24W, in round or square shape. The steps are not cosmetic: each one carries a different number of lamp beads and a different output, and that is how a shelf is matched to a lamp. At the bottom of the range a 3W panel holds 15 beads and is quoted at 200 lm or more; at the top a 24W panel holds 120 beads and is quoted at 2,180 lm or more. In between the count rises 20, 30, 45, 60, 75, 90 and 100 beads with output running 290, 440, 660, 890, 1,200, 1,600 and 1,800 lm and above.

Efficiency is quoted at 80 LM/W, with the 2835 chip delivering up to 26 lumen per chip, and the chip is a high brightness SMD 2835 from Sanan. A taller rack, a deeper bench or a larger floor area takes the next step up rather than more lamps of the same size, because the beads and the output travel together in this range. Where a house runs several lamps at once the total load is simply the number of panels multiplied by the step chosen, which is the figure to give when the circuit is being planned.

Behind the panel sits a high efficiency isolated driver with constant current control IC for transmission, which is what holds the output steady across the life of the lamp instead of letting it drift. The input is quoted at 85-265 V, a universal range that covers North America, Latin America, Europe and Asia without a different version for each market, so a house fitted out in one country and a repeat order shipped to another can use the same panel.

Life span is quoted at above 50,000 hours, and maintenance cost is described as low on the back of it. The panel is CE and RoHS approved. Between orders, the lead time is stated as 1,000 to 10,000 units within 7 days and 10,000 to 30,000 units within 15 days. For a commercial house buying lighting against a planting date, the gap to plan around is not the lamp but the fitting and the wiring above it, and on multi-tier plant the modern practice of running lamps shelf by shelf is reported on by Greenhouse Grower as part of the wider move to controlled-environment production.

Five things decide the order, and none of them is the lamp model number. The power step comes from the area or the shelf to be covered and from how far the panel sits above the plants. The colour comes from the crop and the result wanted inside the 2700-7000 K band, or from the red and blue board version where the light is going close over a rack. The shape comes from the fixing - round or square. The size comes from the outer dimension and the hole it is set into, from 85/70 up to 295/280. The voltage comes from the market.

Settle those and a quotation can be built that will not need changing at the fitting stage. The warranty is stated as up to 5 years depending on the model and the price level of the version taken, so the warranty figure follows the specification rather than preceding it. The 120X3W model, which is the other lamp in this range and the one sold on its PAR and lens data, is on its own page: 120X3W grow light. Where the lighting is being bought as part of a water-based growing setup rather than a soil house, the water side of that is on the hydroponics system page.

We have built greenhouses and the equipment that goes into them for above 35 years, in our own factory rather than buying the fittings in. A lighting order is handled the same way as a house order: the crop, the area or the shelf to be covered, and the fixing are worked through before a model is quoted, so the panels that arrive match the layout they were bought for. Where a house is being fitted out as a whole, the lamps are specified together with the benches, the irrigation and the control equipment so the wiring above the crop is planned once. To have a lighting layout quoted, call +86 191 5068 3942 or write to sales@cngreenhouses.com with the crop and the area you are lighting.

Q: How many hours a day should the growing light be on?
A: It depends on the crop, the stage it is at, the natural day length where the house stands and what the light is meant to do - hold a crop through a short season, push growth, or finish a plant. That is why we do not print a single hour figure on this page: a house near the equator and a house in a northern winter are different problems. The lamp is instant on with no warm-up, so the schedule is set cleanly with a timer or a controller.

Q: Which colour should I take - the white light or the red and blue board?
A: The range is quoted as cool white, natural white and warm white inside a 2700-7000 K band at CRI(Ra) 80, and the boards in the photographs are the red and blue array version used over racks and shelves. The white steps are the ones quoted with the colour temperature figures. State the crop and the result you are chasing and it is matched to the order.

Q: What are the outer size and the cut-out for each power step?
A: The panel is quoted with an outer size and the hole it is set into, so the fixing is fixed before the lamp is ordered. The steps run from 85 mm outer with a 70 mm hole at 3W, through 105/95, 120/105, 150/130, 170/155, 190/185 and 225/210, up to 245/230 at 20W and 295/280 at 24W. Shape is round or square.

Q: How many beads and how much output does each step carry?
A: The 3W panel holds 15 beads and is quoted at 200 lm or more; the 24W panel holds 120 beads and is quoted at 2,180 lm or more. Between them the count rises 20, 30, 45, 60, 75, 90 and 100 beads with output at 290, 440, 660, 890, 1,200, 1,600 and 1,800 lm and above. Efficiency is 80 LM/W and the Sanan SMD 2835 chip delivers up to 26 lumen per chip.

Q: Can the panel be built into a bench shelf or a rack tier?
A: That is the layout the small power steps are made for. Each step is quoted with the hole it is set into, which is the dimension that has to match the shelf or the board above the crop, and the panel is flat and ultra slim so it takes very little headroom. A rack to carry that arrangement is on the multi-layer growing bench page in the same range.

Q: What voltage does it take, how long does it last, and what is the lead time?
A: The input is a universal 85-265 V, covering North America, Latin America, Europe and Asia on one version. Life span is quoted at above 50,000 hours, the light is instant on with no flicker or hum, and it emits no UV or IR. Lead time is 1,000 to 10,000 units within 7 days and 10,000 to 30,000 units within 15 days, with the warranty at up to 5 years depending on the model and price level taken.