I’m really interested. How do I get involved with the order?
I’m in for 10 strips. Will post pics of my build and occasional pictures of the results!
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Do you think with an even sog like canopy these would be effective for flower?
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yes, they are same diodes as many other LED lamps on the market which have excellent results in flower
Saw so many prices, what was actual cost to build
Edit: not that you were changing them, just there was alot of information
Hi @GumbyBuds, I think you are asking about SolStrip lights? These lights are ideal for SOG or ScrOG style growing. The best thing about them is they deliver a very even field of light across the canopy. That said, they have good penetration down the plant as well in bush-style grows. But the lack of a central hot spot under the bulb as in HID lamps makes them perfect for high-density canopy grows. No more light movers, or fluffy “corner buds”. And they have a 2 inch vertical profile, which means cabinet growers can use their vertical space for growing bud instead of hanging lamps and ducting.
Website with full info and online ordering is coming soon, but I’m taking orders now via PM right here. The goal is to deliver cutting-edge grow lights to independent growers for about $1/watt.
Here’s the basic pricing:
SolStrips X1-400mm strip - 2700K, 3000K, 4000K, and 5000K CCT: $20
Complete lamps:
SolSheet 3-strip assembled 150w lamp only $149.99
SolSheet 3-strip assembled lamp + 100w generic driver $169.99
SolSheet 3-strip assembled lamp + Mean Well 100w dimmable driver $189.99
DIY Kits:
SolSheet 3-strip lamp-only complete kit $129.99
SolSheet complete kit 3-strip lamp + 100w generic driver $149.99
SolSheet 3-strip lamp bare-bones kit (no driver, housing, sinks or splash guard) $109.99
Four and five-strip lamps and dual-lamp systems available also. PM me for more details, or for a quote on a custom solution.
-b420
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Got my strips in, They look fantastic. Can’t wait to get a light built and start seeing results. Fast shipping, well packaged, very pleasant seller to deal with.
How many posts until I can attach more than one image per post? EDIT: Just got the notification that I am now a “basic” member and can post multiple images per post now lol. Sorry about two in a row.
Here’s the cab I’ve been working on.
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And here’s my planned light build.
The blue represents the open space in my cab, the yellow are the strips of course.
I hope to see 250-350w after I get the heatsinks from @Baudelaire 
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Looking good @Jellypowered. Will be watching your 2x3 cab build thread to see how it goes.
Predrilled heatsinks to fit SolStrips are in stock now, $10 each.
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@Baudelaire how many strips to light up a 3×3 area sufficiently for flowering as well as veg… I appreciate your reply on pricing. Im saving my dough as we speak
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Eight to ten strips would work well in a 3x3 depending on how hard you want to drive them. Or two assembled SolSheet 4- or 5-strip lights, powered by a single HLG-320 or HLG-480 driver. I’m building several of these dual lamp systems right now.
Rule of thumb for white LED of this efficiency class is to aim for 30-40 watts/s.f. for flower spaces, 20-30 w/sf for veg spaces. Clone/seedling spaces do well at 20-25 w/sf.
Make sure you get a dimmable driver at these power levels, you’ll want to dial in your space. Depending on your vertical placement, leaf bleaching from too much light is as common as under-lighting, if not more common. Aim for 12-18" vertical distance from the canopy.
-b420
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I am trying to reduce the cost of building an LED strip light as much as possible. I found full size aluminum pans at webstaurantstore.com for $5. However, the pans are not the usual thickness. They are 19 gauge. Does anyone have any advice about this? Would the pans be okay, or are they a bad idea? I think it is an awesome idea to use aluminum pans btw. I want to convince my husband to start making LED strip lights rather than buying more of the cheap blurple lights from Amazon. Some of the builds that I have seen are ridiculously expensive. I need to find a setup that is near the price of the blurples or even cheaper.
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using these solstrips would definitely be better than those blurple lights. always look at actual wattage power consumption and not 'equivalent wattage" or whatever else they try to trick you with. these diodes are way more efficient and give way more lumens than those blurples. buying prebuilt lights is always more expensive.
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@legalcanada 's exactly right. Blurple just can’t hold a candle (pun intended) to premium white LED in terms of total output of quality usable light per watt. Even though blurple designs are based on the concept of providing the most light in the wavelengths that plants use and need most.
The concept is sound, but the tech behind it is crap. Color LEDs are terribly inefficient generally, and very costly to make well. So the blurple makers use cheap inefficient color diodes, power them at 1/3 power, and then inflate their output claims with “equivalent to” wattages, and/or counting 100 3 watt diodes as a 300 watt lamp knowing full well the cheap driver in the unit will only power them at 100 watts.
Premium white LEDs like the Samsung LM561C diodes in SolStrips deliver all of the spectrum of the blurples, at twice the lumens/watt, and 3x the output capacity, of cheap color diodes. And they deliver the rest of the visible spectrum along with it, as a bonus, so your plants look like plants and not some Martian science project.
-b420
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The thing you have to take into account, is longevity. When properly driven and thermal dissipation squared away, these setups will last you a lifetime compared to traditional lighting.
My breakdown is thus
10x 3500k SolStrips $207.00
10x SolSinks $120.00
1x Meanwell HLG-480H-24A $129.00
Add $50.00 for the misc stuff I already have because I tinker a lot (Al Angle, heatsink compound, screws, wire, etc)
Total is $506 dollars
But, I’ve got a light that will last me until the next technology breakthrough, I can adjust my light from 0-480w and can litterally break down atomic bonds (aka bleach the shit outta my plants)
Yes it sounds expensive but the fact is when I outgrow my small space (2x3 cab) I won’t need a lighting upgrade, it can be moved or repurposed to another space, and should pay for itself with the first harvest, not to mention being much cheaper on power, having penetration power, and just all around being a badass like Carl Sagan.
Just my wooden nickels worth.
Jelly
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I would try to find baking sheets in the 12-16 gauge range. Ultimately, more metal = more heat dissipation. 19 gauge seems somewhat flimsy structurally as well. Invest in a good thick baking sheet add you’ll avoid a lot of issues down the road. We sell complete SolSheet kits including 12 gauge baking sheets in full and half size PM me if you want more info.
-b420
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“Blurple” LEDs, when properly implemented, have the highest efficiency rating in the grow-light industry. P.L. Light and Philips achieve 2.7 umol/J and 2.6 umol/J with a combination of colored and white diodes. Sure, all-white LED’s look better but you sacrifice a bit of PAR, you’re down to 2.2 or 2.3 umol/J.
Yeah, but most of the blurples don’t use Philips diodes. They use the cheapest diodes available which don’t have anywhere near the efficiency.