PPFD apps

[DabberDog]

I'm trying out the Photone PPFD app and am not sure what's going on. This is the second app with the same results.
Everywhere I put my phone in my tent the readings max out. Lux 250000+, PPFD 4000+, and such. Bottom of the tent is the same as the top and canopy level. I don't get it. Is there just that much light?
It does change in the shade.
I have it set on LED full spectrum. The phone is a Cloud Mobile. The light is an HLG 360 Elite.

[Allenpro]

Are using a home made diffuser? The one they sell never worked for me but all it reported to me without a diffuser was I need to install a diffuser.
My biggest complaint with it is by the time I get the phone tilted so I can see I am not confident in the reading so I get on a step stool

[Allenpro]

And what country is it 12:42 am when its 7:32 PM EST here

[DabberDog]

United Kingdom (London, England, Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland)
Portugal
Ireland
Ghana (Accra)
Iceland (Reykjavik)
Morocco
Senegal
The +10 minutes would be a non-standard time.

[Ckbrew]

There is a calibration function in the settings. Mine says the app is calibrated automatically for my phone so I never really used it.

[DabberDog]

Diffuser???
Same-same with the calibration thing.
I'm going to put a seedling on the floor of the tent and see if it stretches more than the others.

[Allenpro]

My phone tells me I need to put on the diffuser

[Bowhunterwoody]

I used to use the photone app. It was pretty accurate and consistent until it wanted a diffuser. Then it got crazy. Tried to use the homemade diffuser, ng. Aim it at the back wall and it would say 3000 ppfd. Aim it at the light and it would say 300. I tried the" ppfd meter" app and at least its consistent. Not sure how accurate but its close enough for me. I like how it goes back and forth from ppfd to dli. Just have to put in your info for hrs on and such.

[DabberDog]

The Photone app I loaded didn't say anything about a diffuser.
Took a look at it online and grabbed a piece of copier paper for a homemade bit. If it's right, Little Lucy is reading 720 at the top, max, if I roll the camera around to find the best angle.
More info said there is a setting for using a diffuser. When I go to the diffuser setting, it gives me all sorts of warnings that my device should not use one. When I go to turn off the diffuser detector, it tells me I shouldn't turn it off unless I know what I'm doing. It actually says that.
I don't know how important it is at this stage in my growing. I haven't worried about it. Don't know if I'll keep on.

[Ckbrew]

TBH I have used it very little, more of a curiosity than a tool. It never influenced my grows. I do fine without it. No one had one for thousands of years and they still grew fine weed.

[Bowhunterwoody]

Same here. Ckbrew. More of a novelty.

[Bluey]

Ive used a few different PPFD apps on a Samsung S23 Ultra.

They all give pretty wild results until properly calibrated. Not as crazy as yours though.

The expensive light meters that read PPFD and cost over $1000 are only at best +/- 5% accuracy. You should get within 10% using a decent phone.

Once you get your phone calibrated just use the readings as a guide and fine tune the light to your plants.

What's really hard to get right is the hydro nutes at the higher PPFD levels when using full spectrum LEDs and the levels vary quite a bit between different strains. Most will max out around 1000PPFD without supp. CO² for max yield

[Orggrwr]

I used the photone app with a diffuser for years as a reference and always wondered how accurate it was, then last Christmas one of my more intelligent friends gave me a light meter as a thank you for all the weed I gave her. First thing i did was compare the two and they are pretty close. At the lower end around 300 ppfd the app reads about 20 ppfd lower, on the high end around 900 ppfd it reads about 40 lower. So close enough to use as a reference but definitely better to listen to your plants than a meter, i learned that lesson the hard way when starting out.

[Smallgrow]

I use the Photone app with a subscription, with an iPhone XR. Used the paper diffuser for some time but purchased theirs last year. I think it works pretty well. Allenpro There is a hold feature so you can tip your phone to read and it will hold the reading.

Shane at Migro has done a number of videos of different apps over the last couple years including one recently. They are very informative and he is a reliable source in my opinion.
look for the other older vids, here’s the new one

[Orggrwr]

This reminds me of what happened when I purchased my diffuser that I should share. I downloaded the photone app on my new phone a few years ago and it said I needed a diffuser and gave a link to purchase one. Also said I could make one but for 6 bucks I figured what the hell and ordered it. The company was in Germany and a couple weeks later I get a notice from my bank saying someone was trying to use my debit card number at an escort service in Slovenia. Yeah WTF. Had to cancel that card and get another. Now I can't say for sure they got my number from that transaction but that was the only unusual thing I used it for around that time so seems suspicious. Would have been alright if I had got the escort but I had to look at a map to be sure where Slovenia even is.