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[Shamichael]

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?

1 Like ONandONandON likes this.

[ONandONandON]

Great idea i might try that! just looking for best deal on lightbulbs i found this on ebay;


30X 4" 28W 6400K fluorescent lightbulbs


...on second thought that would require some kind of power transformer for the flourescent idk

[MorningDew]

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

[Shamichael]

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!

[Psylocke]

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.

1 Like SKUNK likes this.

[MorningDew]

Not for any of the ones i posted

[SKUNK]

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

[DarkPines]

I also second MH for veg and seedlings. Works well for me!

[spractral]

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..

[Shamichael]

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. 

1 Like DarkPines likes this.

[Shamichael]

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.

[Shamichael]

Also these Speciosas have grown a lot under these lights:

[spractral]

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..

[Shamichael]

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.

1 Like spractral likes this.

[spractral]

 Very nice.   

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.