Plant Photonics LED Grow Light Review

Back in 2019 I had to move house and my indoor trees really suffered in the new location. I just wasn’t able to get as much sunlight through the window as before. The trees where succulents and tropical’s, so I couldn’t just put them outside in the sun.

This set me off on a journey to learn about grow lights. This is where I stumbled upon Plant Photonics.

I initially found their YouTube channel where Richard the owner has some excellent videos explaining how grow lights work and explaining how the cheap ones you can buy on Amazon are useless. (I highly recommend you watch his videos)

This led me to buy their Amethyst Energy DS 50 130W LED grow light.

It very quickly became apparent that this light was a total game changer. My trees would have certainly died if I had not addressed their low light issue.

This grow light returned them to full health within a few days and after a few weeks they were growing stronger and healthier than ever before.  

(You can read more about – Using Grow Lights For Bonsai )

About Plant Photonics

They are a small company based in Spain, who hand make their high quality grow lights to order.

Their website is www.plantphotonics.com/

They are of course very popular with the cannabis growers, but that’s fairly normal. For some reason cannabis growers seem to be a few steps ahead of any other plant growers when it comes to utilising grow lights.

They also seem to ship to pretty much worldwide so you should be able to buy form them no matter where you are.  

Their customer service is excellent. They get back to your really fast and they are really helpful.

I actually had a problem with my light after a few weeks. The fan stopped working and they quickly sent me a replacement fan within a few days at no cost to myself.

They pride themselves on the quality of their lights and you can really tell this when you deal with them.   

The Grow Light I Bought

The light I bought was the Amethyst Energy DS 50 130W which is a red and blue LED light.

It was well packaged and delivery was pretty quick.

It has a switch so you can change between Flowering and vegging growth, which basically means you can change it to be slightly more red or Blue depending on what your growing (this is very much for our cannabis growing friends).

The power wire is long enough for my needs and it is also designed in a way that can allow you to daisy chain a second light to it so you would only need one power supply for both lights.   

The light I got was one of their smaller and cheaper lights, but they have a selection of other larger more powerful lights that are available in both red/blue and white spectrums.

Amethyst Energy DS 50 130W Specs

These are the specs for my light taken directly from the Plant Photonic website.

• Equal to approximately 130 watts of HPS
• Selectable Dual Spectrum: Vegging or Flowering
• Actual Led Power draw 50 watts.
• 2 x 35 watt Mean Well constant current, waterproof power supplies with surge
  protection.
• Universal 90 – 264 VAC power input.
• 1 x 12 cm Arctic Cooling F12 fan.
• Led power 50 watts. Total power consumption 55 watts.
• Size of each panel: 24 cm x 24 cm x 9 cm
• 2 mains connections for daisy chaining (recommended maximum 420 watts per mains plug.)
• Power supply status indicator leds (1 per power supply).
• These lights are now powered by high quality Mean Well power supplies. These are ultra-reliable power supplies which meet military standards and have a Mean Time Before Failure of over 740,000 hours which is about 85 years of continuous 24 hour a day operation!

As you may know, I’m not much of a technical guy. I have no idea what half of this means and anyway I’ve no way of testing it to confirm how correct it is.

However, from watching plant photonics YouTube channel you will quickly learn that they are pretty honest and open about how the electronics in grow lights work, so I’m very confident to say that whatever the specs are for one of their lights, they are going to be accurate.

What we all want to know is if these lights work and the simple answer is YES.

The results I have seen have been extraordinary. My trees grow so well under these lights. I am certain my grow light will reduce some of my younger trees development time by years.    

What Area Does The Grow Light Cover?

Officially the light is perfect for a grow area of  30 x 30 cm or 40 x 40 cm but it should still be okay for a 50 x 50cm area if you want to space things out a little more.

My grow area is 40cm x 60cm. So I’m pushing it to the limit.

I’ve still found everything in this footprint still grows.  The trees right at the far end maybe don’t grow as aggressively as those directly under the light, but what do you expect.

How Does the Grow Light Cool Itself?

One of the biggest problems with LEDs is that they get too hot and basically cook themselves to death.

Plant photonic lights overcome this is two ways.

Firstly they use high quality LEDs that are less likely to burn out and secondly they use heat syncs and cooling fans to keep everything cool.

The light I have has a computer fan attached. This may sound weird, but it is highly effective. The light does not get hot at all and most importantly they use a fan that makes no sound.

You cannot hear this fan at all. This light is literally at the end of my bed so if you could hear it, I’d say!  

What Is The Build Quality Like?

The build quality is excellent with these lights.

The big thing you need to know is they are built for purpose, not design. They look really industrial, which I think is cool, but I know some people will think they are a bit ugly looking as you can see all the wires and things.

Basically the outer casing that you see on most lights isn’t there. Plant photonics have done this on purpose. The casings may look nice, but they can retain heat, which can actually be detrimental to the LEDs. By having an open structured light the heat can easily escape and the light will remain cooler, which means it will probably last longer.     

All the lights are handmade and the components used are the best available. These lights are just excellent.

How Much Does The Grow Light Cost?

The light I purchased was about £120. You would need to check their website for current pricings.

I feel this light is excellent value. I know some of you will look at the prices and feel they are way too much. However, let me explain to you why these prices are excellent.

You will actually pay for what you get with these lights. I bought a 150w light and I am fairly certain that if I tested it, it would be 150W.

I could easily go on Amazon and buy a 150w light for £30, THREE times cheaper! …but if you tested this light, it’s certainly not going to be 150w. It’s probably going to be three times lowers. So in reality, you definitely get what you pay for.  

If you do your research you will quickly see that you can trust these lights to deliver what they say they will and when compared to other legit grow lights they are very reasonably priced.

Plant Photonics Payment System

The other thing I would like to mention is the payment system. This might have changed, as I ordered back in in 2019.

 At the time I bought my light you couldn’t pay through the site. You received an email saying you had to manually bank transfer the money to a bank account.

This may seem like its kind of weird, but it’s totally fine.  

When you take a step back and remember this is a very small company making these to order, and you realise they are not Amazon and do not have a fancy payment system integrated into their site.

They are fully trust worthy and legit.

Conclusion

Plant photonics lights are excellent in price, build and function.

I have not been asked by them to make this review. I have no association with them. I was a paying customer and my experience has been perfect for the last few years. If I need to buy another light I would happily use them again.

I actually made a video showing how I set up might light (its not the best quality video, especially the sound, but it’s okay)

I am 100% happy with my light and I am so thankful that I bought it. It really has made a world of difference to my bonsai trees.     

(You can read more about – How To Grow Bonsai With Grow Lights)