That’s how mine looked as well. I figured u push a pin in the circle. I ended up watching a YouTube video and the guy just pushed em in. So I pushed harder and it worked lol
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You need like a 1,5 - 2 cm striped part and just push it in. Dont be scared to push a bit hard thou… you feel when its connected, and try to pull it out a bit just to be secure its connected…
To unsecure it. Take a smal screwdriver or something press it in the round metal hole you got there… and it will release
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Ok thanks guys, I’ll give this a try tomorrow and see how it goes. Waiting on 18g wire from Amazon… Hopefully gets here early. Home Depot only had 12-14 guage for solid core wire. Same deal at Lowes…
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HomeDepot/Lowes should have it. Thermostat wire is usually around that gauge. Phone cable will also work but is often 4 conductor.
It may not be on the shelves. They both have these big tall vertical conveyor belt machine things in the wire section with all sorts of wire by the foot. Thats where they will have it, but you need a sales person to get it for you.
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I use pliers to push the wire in, it does take a little force, that’s why the multi core wire won’t go in.
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I finished my build, and I took some pictures of the process that I’ll go ahead and post here to try and hopefully show some of what I learned.
My personal goal: Reduce necessary wattage in my 2x2 tent by 20%
Currently I’m running a COB light at 100 watts, and I have to keep it at 16.5 inches or I burn my plants… I figured if I can build a strip light as wide as my tent, I can reduce wattage because I can get the light more like 12 inches above the plant at 80 watts.
Here we go…
So I started with 2 pieces of aluminum angle, 3/4 x 36 inches x 1/8 thickness. This is pretty much the default metal to use for COB lights, though I’m sure there are many other ways to do it.
Safety glasses/goggles are a must IMO when cutting or drilling aluminum. Getting the flecks in your eye is bad news.
I’ve got a sharpie and a measuring tape, and a good ol hack saw for cutting… Put a new blade on it just for the occasion.
I used a clamp to clamp it to my horrible plastic table, held the other side with my hand and sawed away.
I cut 2 pieces 20 inches long and 2 pieces 11 inches or so.
20 inches is because my tent is 24x24 but the negative pressure from my exhaust makes it more like 21x21 toward the top.
Next I drilled holes in the corners with a 7/64 drill bit and used 1/2 inch #6 screws to put the frame together
The frame was a little wobbly still at this point so I decided to put a couple bars across the middle. These are 3/4 inch wide, and I cut them to 20 inches.
Here is a pic of sort of thinking about placement:
Here is the bars installed:
I thought I could put the driver on them and so I mocked it up. Later I realized this was a mistake:
At this point I decided it was a good time to drill holes in the corners for hanging. I used a large bit, big enough to fit some small karabiners through.
At this point I realized that the bolts that held the driver to the bars would push down on a strip, bending it outward. So I found a new location to mount it on the side:
I measured the strip placement like… I dunno 1000 times, couldn’t get the measurements right and eventually just kind of laid them on there and moved them around until I measured the spacing was even. I marked holes, and drilled them out with a 5/32 drill bit. 5/32 allows a number 6 bolt (machine screw) to fit through with a little wiggle room.
I started wiring, using wagos that take 5 wires each. I needed 3 on each side to hold 10 wires on each side and be able to connect the wagos to the other wagos and the driver. The green wire from wago to wago is 14 guage, and the gray wire from wago to strip is 18 guage. The current between wagos will be greater than the current to the strips so the larger wire is better here according to ledgardener.com (where I get much of my info for building lights)
I used a zip tie loosely holding the wago to the frame until I had everything wired up
One thing that sucks about strips is that you have to use solid core wire. It looks pretty ugly when it’s wired up because the wires don’t have much give to them like with braided wire.
You can see here how I also added a potentiometer from Rapid LED. 10$ including shipping, comes with a case and wires up real easy.
At some point I wired the driver to a waterproof IPV6 connector, and wired that to a power cord that connects to the wall…
I forgot to take pictures, but It was something like this… but not sure which ones exactly:
FX Junction Box Outdoor Waterproof IP68 Electrical Cable Connector 2 Way M20 Plug Wire Range 5 to 12mm External Cord Boxes 2 pcs
Plugged it in, and lucky it worked the first try. I had it all the way dimmed down, and when I used a meter, it was only pulling 6 watts. At full power it only pulls 92 watts.
I also used liquid electrical tape to cover the spots on the strips that are intended for soldering as mentioned in some posts up above this one.
This is the light I replaced. My previous DIY COB. It would pull 150 watts from the wall at max, but I dimmed it to 100. Notice the wiring and etc. is similar, but much much simpler. It’s a great light, but I burned enough plants in hell with it that it was time for a change.
Conclusion
For me this was a worthwhile project, though I really think for most people a store bought solution is just fine. The Spider Farmer model that is 160$ on Amazon uses great diodes and driver and the grows I have seen with it have come out great.
However, that light is 11x10 inches and mine is 11x20. That is a significant difference, and after testing with a lux meter, I can absolutely run this light at 80 watts from the wall and get the same readings I was with my previous light. I also can dim my light easily with a little knob where the SF1000 requires you to take it apart, and by default runs at 100 watts. I dim my lights all the time and experiment with different heights and wattages etc so that would not work for me.
My light cost probably 150$ and 10 hours labor… again this was worth it for me but I dunno if it would be for most people now that the tech has gotten so cheap. I wanted to run at 80 watts, that’s a 20% reduction in wattage and my tent is 2 degrees cooler now on average which for me is a huge win.
I will say that strips are much harder to build than COBs… I have built 3 COB lights of varying size, as large as a 24x24 inches with 4 COBS and the hardest part of those is getting the holes in the aluminum angle to line up with the heatsinks.
Strips have so much wiring, measuring, drilling that they become real time consuming. On top of that, they take up so much space that it’s hard to find places to put drivers and wagos etc.
**Overall, I’m very glad I completed this light, and I’m excited to see what it can do 
**
Here is a pic of it hanging above my flood and drain amnesia haze CBD:
She grew most of her life under my COBs, but will finish out under this light.
Thanks to everyone in the thread that helped me with my questions, and all the info posted here, it’s been a huge help.
Good luck in your gardens!
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Sweet build and write up! The strip spacing pissed me off… I R not mathematician. Then drilling the holes on a hope and prayer that they’d all line up perfectly for self tappers HA. Back to home depot for machine screws/nuts
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Lol me too just couldn’t get my head around it, just put one in the middle and each end then the middle of those two spaces and repeated until done.
I have 10ft of wire between my light and driver so I can run it outside the tent to keep it cooler.
When I make a frame, I just cut one side of the L shape and bend the other side, it keeps it more solid, and then drill a hole in the overlapping edge’s on the inside and pop rivet it together. I start with six inches to the first corner so when I connect the 2 ends I make an inch long tongue that fits into the other end and just pop riveted those together.
The size of the he light is the only down side to these, I keep having to lift them up to get them out the way when I want to do anything.
Other than that I think they are a great investment.
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Nice write up. Glad to see more people using strips.
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It is surprisingly tricky… I think even if you have the math right, the measurements are just too precise for a measuring tape and hand marking/drilling. The space between my strips was something like .93 inches which didn’t quite round to 15/16 of an inch, and after 10 spaces, the tiny bit of difference added up😒 I even used a ruler instead of a measuring tape.
I think even if you measure 3-4 times, and mark precisely, the drilling itself is imprecise. I marked mine with a fine point pen, drilled a pilot hole right over the dot with a tiny bit, and then drilled the real hole and sometimes it STILL wasn’t exactly where I wanted the hole. Not sure if the drill bits always walk some or what…
I think the good news is that we really don’t need it perfect. You can mix eye balling it and measuring and get it very close, and even if it’s a little off you can use a machine screw and nut, or drill out the hole more.
Overall though, I think strips are a great upgrade from COBs, and I might replace my other light after I finish a full grow with the strips. The lux meter i use should be a valid test of approximate intensity since COBs and strips use the same technology, and the strip light beats my COBs with a better spread and just higher values at lower wattages.
My tent was 81 degrees F pretty much all day, and now it’s 79 consistently with better lux values across the canopy. I’m running 20% less watts from the wall, which I believe is simply because strips allow you to spread the light so well and get the LEDs closer.
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If I had a tape measure with MM it would have been easier… go figure a shop in canada doesnt have a single metric tape measure lol
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I put my strips on the frame’s today, I messed the spacing up on the first one, then sat for an hour with my 48 inch drywall T-square working it out lol. Second one is bang on 
took me about 40 to 45 minutes to make the 2 frames up, about the same to attach the strips, got to cut the wire and attach that next, connectors are on the drivers, probably another hour to finish the wiring on them both.
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Newbie question:
Do the frames have to be metal?
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From my understanding no but it’s safer that way. You can literally make one with a cheap baking tray.
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No theres no reason they need to be metal. My strips and driver remain comfortable to touch (mind you my circulating fan blows directly on top. But even while testing it it didnt get uncomfortable. On the flip side, the L bracket metal is cheap,compact and light. No worrying about cramming 2x4s in a tent
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(was wondering if it was a ground) 
inflammability is a good thing.
thanks
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Nope if you got electricity there in anyway you’ve done wrong lol. Should be fully self contained
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I disagree. Using a wood frame is a bad idea. Use metal or if you must, ridged plastic, but that has its own issues.
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Hey Gang,
Amazing thread, and lots of great info! I’m about to pull the trigger on a setup, and just want to ensure I’ve picked out the right stuff.
https://www.digikey.ca/short/zjtpd5
I’m looking for lighting for a 5x5 tent and I’ve picked out 50 3500k bridgelux and 2 drivers. Will this work out?
I’ve built a few setups before with solstrips, so this should be a quick build for me.
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I think that may be a little excessive, you are doing 2 frames with 2 drivers, I would make your frames 54 inches long, allows manoeuvring in a tent without banging lots of things adjusting heights every time you want to water and get in there to do something. You have 22 inch strips so you will have 18 inches split 3 ways, on ends and middle of the frames and the tent, which is ok, gives room for moving things about, my flower bridgelux lights are only 16 strips each, and do very well, and yours will have 25 strips each, you might want to get a petentiometer for each one to dim them down, if they are too much, my veg lights are only 10 strips over a 22 by 44 inch frame and do very well, so if you are using for both veg and flower you probably will. The dimmers are only a couple of $ but requires soldering to the wires on the driver that are provided for it.
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