Share The Seeds
Gardening Area => Growing questions and answers => Topic started by: Shamichael on September 06, 2018, 05:02:33 AM
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Thinking of making some cheap energy efficient grow lights from these:
4ft LED Tube Light (12 Pack), Ultra-EFFICIENT 15W, Clear Lens, Pure White (5000K) https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01N9REGKY/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_RFjKBbCR2PNZH
And these:
Screw Type T8 Lamp Holder with wires JACKYLED 20-Pack UL Non-shunted Light Socket For LED Fluorescent Tube Replacements https://www.amazon.com/dp/B072QY1M89/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_qIjKBbTH381EQ
Thoughts?
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Great idea i might try that! just looking for best deal on lightbulbs i found this on ebay;
30X 4" 28W 6400K fluorescent lightbulbs (https://www.ebay.com/itm/30-4FT-ENERGY-SAVING-DAYLIGHT-FLUORESCENT-T5-LIGHT-BULB-TUBES-28W-6400K/323254729303?_trkparms=aid%3D222007%26algo%3DSIM.MBE%26ao%3D2%26asc%3D52885%26meid%3Dffa41cffda3b451091505d8f6d864dd2%26pid%3D100005%26rk%3D2%26rkt%3D3%26sd%3D400667595365%26itm%3D323254729303&_trksid=p2047675.c100005.m1851)
...on second thought that would require some kind of power transformer for the flourescent idk :P
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So, ive also been looking into this, and i know absolutely nothing about it. I had just bought a 300w LED, mainly because it came with another one for free. Now just this week ive also looked into some T5s, and when i messaged the company about not knowing if i needed a ballast, because they never mentioned CFL or LED, they replied back and said they are neither. Everything that i would need is already built in.
Being my first year growing, i really have no idea where to start, so im hoping ive at least got myself to point to get thru winter. Im not sure if i couldve saved any money or if i didnt spend enough, and im not totally certain what else im still short on. I mainly just wanted to reply to ur comment ONandON about needing the transformer, and ill post links.
Sorry i cant actually help with ur question OP, ive got a whole bunch myself.
https://www.planetnatural.com/product/t5-fluorescent-grow-light/
https://www.amazon.com/Roleadro-Galaxyhydro-Indoor-Lights-Spectrum/dp/B00PH1MQV8
Peace
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Hey, well thanks for commenting and I wish you luck! I am sure everything will turn out good, the main thing is that you have lights and even if things aren't perfect it will be a learning experience.
As for me I'm not looking for incredible growth, I just want my plants to get through the winter and have some lights to start seeds under to give my plants a jump start in the spring. I do believe what I posted will be more than adequate for what I'm looking for, since last year I got away with having my plants just in my brightest windows, but they were looking pretty weak come spring. Being where I am it's almost been like a rainforest this summer though long hot and humid days.
For me the main thing I look at is the color temp measured....the lights I want are 5000-6000k that to me is good bright light for vegetative growth. I have never bought into the "grow" lights, and I ahve always had good results.
Cheers, and best of luck!
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Do you need a ballast with these?
I think the advantage of hid is intensity and spectrum. It takes a bunch of fluoros to pump out the same amount of plant usable light as a single hps bulb. You don’t necessarily have to spend a ton of money. I haven’t played around with LEDs, but maybe another good option.
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Not for any of the ones i posted
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I love my HIDs and wouldn't go any other route. Currantly running 2 1000 watt rooms both with switchable ballasts.. 1 room is set up on a flower cycle 12/12 Running 1000 HPS lighting. The second is on a vegging cycle running 18/6 and is lit buy 1000 MH lighting.
I also run a seedling closet lit by a bank of T5s and a 400 Watt switchable ballast usually with a MH bulb to keep stretching to a minimum. This room is running 24/7 from fall to spring.
The light spectrum and intensity is greatly appreciated but this skunk. Sure there is some heat but the way I grow indoors during the winter in a cold concrete basement the heat is not noticed and keeps the rooms at optimal temps with my intake and extraction fans which consist of 4 6 inch blowers.
If I went back in time I would have skipped the 1000 watt ballasts and bought 4 600Watt switchable ballasts for more out put and a better light spread for the same running costs as the 2 1000 watt units.
I did try a buddy's LED unit and during our long cold winters I battled keeping the one room at optimal temps and had to run a space heater. Maybe I'm just old skool been growing since the late 90s using HID setups and well if it ain't broke it don't need to be fixed...
Skunk
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I also second MH for veg and seedlings. Works well for me!
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Hey folks ,
I was thinking about starting a new threw on this but came across this so figured I post here first atleast ..
I'm also trying to figure out indoor lighting .. I have a small army of pereskiopsis seedling grafts and pereskiopsis soon to have seedlings grafted to them , and the cold is approaching quick . I also don't have a job and my house is like a mental hospital ward with my mom being miss ratchet and my brother being chief ; what with throwing objects through Windows and such ... so that doesn't help ,
Most people I've talked to seem to reccomend t5s. .. as far as I can see i dont see any real advantages to these over other options though I must be missing something.. The initial cost seems to be less than HID or LED though not much less considering the seemingly big jump in output ... What is better with t5s compared to other tubes (t8, t12 etc) .. seems you can get the others cheaper .. I can get a 2 bulb system , thinks its 20 or 40 watt each bulb , for 15-20 bucks at the cheapo store .. think they're 8s or 12s. .. Also ... a 4 pack of 20ish watt cfls is 10 bucks ... that's about 100 watts ... Why not use those ?
Surely HID or LED would be better , or even necessary for big ones , but if only growing seedling grafts for a few months I thi k it may almost be more efficient considering electricity and start up costs , to just use cfls ? I know par must play into this and I don't know nearly as much as I would like to ... but i need to figure this out before it gets too cold ..
As long as seedlings are growing , even when grafted , they can only grow so fast..
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I am running LED strip lights, 10 rows of 6500k and 4 rows of 3000k.
They are all lined up right next to each other 4' long.
So far I am VERY impressed, my plants are all thriving, seeing lots of new growth.
I have been doing research on LEDs on and off for the past several years. Honestly I never understood the actual blue and red colored LEDs, yes red and blue "temperatures", but I think actual red and blue LEDs are a joke, most of the best rated LEDs are not different colored like that. And lately I have read articles that say this actually set back the LED technology a couple years. There are color differences naturally in the different sspectums, reds are the lower part of the spectum and blues at the higher end, the middle is green which you need less of. You want two spikes, the bigger spike being in the high spectum like 6000k and a smaller spike in the lower spectrum for veg growth and opposite for flower growth.
So far what I put together with very cheap LEDs has been great, though it has only been a couple weeks.
The LEDs are 2835s, they are very efficient and small, you can get a 5 meter strip with 600 LEDs For $17 on Amazon.
I plan on expanding and will get a 400 watt power supply and running a total of 10 of these for an 8' shelf. 7 -6500k and 3- 3000k this will be very inexpensive and I will give updates.
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Okay so I went with ten 4' strips of 6000k LEDs.
These were plug and play, but the LEDs are 2835 just like the strips.
4 strips of 3000k (2835) leds.
So far so good. Plants are growing.
All pereskopsis growth has been under these lights.
Sally has grown a lot under these lights, very tight node spacing, but also very curly/ wrinkly leaves. I had her right under lights though where I checked temp was about 95°F. I have moved her lower and newest leaves look better. Will monitor and update.
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Also these Speciosas have grown a lot under these lights:
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Hey,
Ok, so are those LED lights that you have in those pictures the same as these? :
https://www.amazon.com/Daylight-Flexible-Kitchen-Christmas-Non-waterproof/dp/B00WQFP3AO/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1540350644&sr=8-3&keywords=2835+LED
It looks like they might be judging by the picture and your description... They look a bit bigger than I imagined looking at your picture... Anyways, those ARE pretty cheap... SO you have noticed growth from your pereskiopsis under them? Thinking maybe you could rig up something using cfls AND those... WIll have to really have a look at my area and use my imagination... I have plenty of mylar too; you can get emergency blankets pretty damn cheap.
What kind of trichocereus are those big ones in the pictures? They look really nice. I don't think you will be able to grow anything that big under anything less than the sun or some crazy impractical light setup... They will end up etiolating.. If you still want to grow them though... My idea, and I'm just getting ready to do this now, is to just cut up the specimens you really want to grow and graft a couple small pieces.. They should be able to grow under lights and then come spring you'll have a handful of a few inch tall clones..
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The lights you linked are 300 per roll, the ones I have are 600.
All the new growth you see on the pereskiopsis is under those lights they were unrooted cuttings which I rooted and put under these lights.
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Very nice. 8)
So they should definitely do good enough for small seedling grafts at the very least... Will definitely have to do some experimenting to figure out the most practical way to go about it.
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Hey there,
i used different led grow lights and also build my own. I used e27 / edison screw type sockets and connected them parallel. 8 sockets at the moment. Will upgrade to 10 soon. With this sockets I use quite efficient led bulbs which give about 800lm each and should equal 60watt while using like 6 watts. I combined warm white and cold white bulbs.
So far plants are growing as fast as under my led grow lights. And it is much more pleasant for the eyes. Attached is a picture of someones build in a similar style. Not my build!
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Very interesting; what do you have growing and how long have you been using them? Seems pereskiopsis and/or small grafts don't need much light at all...
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From acacia over different psychotrias and also periskiopsis. For the psychotria viridis it seems a bit to bright. So far almost every plant I moved from the window sill to the diy indoor light showed new growth.
I am doing some parallel grow test atm to compare my led blue/red grow panel with the diy build. Since I used it only for 2 month now i can not say to much.
Advantages of the edison screw type setup are the following:
- extendable in number of sockets and types of bulb.
- good heat circulation between the bulbs compared to a closed panel
- if a bulb breaks simply change it.
- use different kind of lights in one setup. you can use high efficient COB LED as well as cheap light bulbs depending on budget
disadvantages are:
- you have to be careful because you handle electricity which can hurt you bad
When I upgrade my light to more sockets, I can make a photo...
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I am just a beginner but have been researching lights and went with 15w LED 'grow' lights that are screw socket type and come in 4 packs. Very cheap from Amazon. I set up a 6 ft long terrarium with 6 of these bulbs wired parallel shining from outside the terrarium into it. I also set up a 'grow closet' made of 2" insulation foam board and installed it in a cold garage. It has 14 screw socket light receptacles protruding into it and wired in parallel from the outside. I am very happy with how all my plants are responding to this light. The LED lights in the grow room (plus a few seed heating mats under trays of water) keep the temp inside at about 75 degrees with about 60% humidity while the garage it's in is in the 40's with 30% humidity. I am currently assembling an automated watering drip system made by Mister Landscaper. Will post photos of that when it's done. The wiring takes a little electrical knowledge and the foam panels are costly but it's come together well so far.
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hi, just wondering if the lights you bought are detailed as grow lights or if their just normal ones, ive bought some odd grow light thing and its been a weirs unit ....bright red....bright blue.... odd.... i just want a little functional light and to start a few cuttings in a nice controlled corner of the room, nothing fancy,,,, any ideas, im ... inexperienced with the leds.....xxx Catara
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So the lights I used were not grow lights. I am working with different LEDs and finding they work very good and have decent spectrums for plant growth.
If you want a cheap grow light with good reviews I just found this deal and bought a few:
LED Grow Light Bulb, TaoTronics Full Spectrum Grow Lights for Indoor Plants, Grow Lamp, Plant Lights for Hydroponics, Organic Soil (36W, All Wavelengths, FREE E26 Socket) https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0748D2SMB/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_7N1FCbYPSZXET
There is a $5.00 off coupon on product page and use promo code NQ5GV7H2 for another $8.00 bringing each light to $11.00.
They have very good ratings so I plan on setting them up 2 or three in a row for seedling trays.
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https://www.ebay.com/itm/4Pcs-28W-LED-Grow-Light-E27-Lamp-Bulb-for-Garden-Plant-Hydroponic-Full-Spectrum/122463123084?ssPageName=STRK:MEBIDX:IT&_trksid=p2057872.m2749.l2649&redirect=mobile
These are the bulbs that I am using, they are LED Grow lights. I am impressed by how much the plants seem to respond, growing aggressively towards them. They are only 28w so they need to be kinda close but I use mylar reflective sheet to maximize their effect. One problem is on the eyes. My eyes aren't happy until I got a pair of vivoson grow light glasses (that fit comfortably over my regular specs)
I just ordered a few of the 100w versions. I will let you know if they're worth it:
https://www.amazon.com/Upgrade-Spectrum-Vegetable-Greenhouse-Hydroponic/dp/B07FTHHPM2/ref=sr_1_12?crid=2H6O2YD088TTQ&keywords=100w+led+grow+light+bulb&qid=1551890774&s=lawn-garden&sprefix=100w+led+%2Clawngarden%2C268&sr=1-12
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Wow can't beat the price on those, $4 bucks a piece. Gonna pick some up and experiment with them.
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I just installed a bar of these 28w grow led lights above my new rolling flower box. The bottom of the box is a water tank hholding an automated water pump feeding drip lines to each plant. The lights are on a timer too.
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I rigged up 2 panels from a 6pack of 4ft 20w 5000k LED shoplights I purchased from amazon for $60, my mimosa's and rustica seedlings are doing well under them so far.
https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B07C772B48/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_awdb_t1_qvaUCbTVZPX02