DIY Grow Lights with high-efficiency LED strips

It is marked with the HOLY symbol of the growmau5 religious cult, how could it fail?
Every forum I see the same excited posts, blinding following techniques laid out over
a year ago. The same 3590s driven at xxx current 50 w/sqft, blah blah blah

There are those willing to throw money at different, or slight increases (as if most could
measure the differences in these changes over growing cycle differences).
Get good first… then go for better…

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Having a look now, I also recommend anyone wanting good info to have a look. Starts very easy, knows what he is talking about.

EDIT : I will take the info and build something for myself I think, I notice he has a line of products he is plugging :wink:

i forgot to order a friggin power cable with my driver… i can just cut the end off a PC power cable right? i already have one of those water tight joiners

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Depends on the size of your driver. Under 200w, most decent OEM PC power cords will do. Above that, you’ll want to make sure you have 16 gauge wire. Most PC cables are 18 or 20 gauge, and I’ve seen some downright dangerous aftermarket power cords sold on Ebay that have 22-24 gauge wiring, even 3-prong plug cables with no ground wires. -b420

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my PC power supply was 750w. 200w seems really low for a PC. will check gauge though thanks!

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Following, sometime this year I’m going to setup a veg tent so if I can put together something in the 5000k spectrum on the cheap to veg out either a 4x8 or 5x10 area that’d be pretty dope.

So im thinking about building a small led array for in my little cupboard… I’m thinking 3 of these strips that come with heat sinks.

I was going to do 2 6500k and 1 blue booster (already sent a message and he said sure), since I have 2 20w 3000k panels.

Then this driver, so that I can dim and under drive them a bit for some efficiency gains.

Is there anything I’m missing? Is that a good k value? Should I just do 2 2700k and a 6500k or the blue booster and forget my little panels?

Those are SolStrip counterfeits using our original X1 prototype PCB design that was stolen by an early fabricator in Shenzen we no longer use. They use outdated, less efficient Samsung diodes (if authentic) on a cruder PCB base than our X2 and X3 strips. I have a hard time endorsing them for obvious reasons, but yeah, they’ll probably work.

20 watt panels aren’t going to ever do much for you so I wouldn’t design your system around them. Save them for seedlings or clones, or maybe side lighting. 6550K and a “blue booster” sounds like way too much blue spectrum as well. You’ll likely see better overall results by focusing on a combined spectrum in the 3000-4000K CCT range.

The 120H-48B driver is also problematic. The driver specs presume a series/parallel wiring design splitting the voltage equally between two 24v circuits. It’s going to be hard to create two balanced 24v circuits with three LED strips. Better to go all series with a 120H-C1400B or all parallel with a 120H-24A or 150H-24A.

Happy to suggest some SolStrip options with you, just DM me here or at solstrip.com.

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Saw this at Menards yesterday

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As this is a thread about building lights with “high efficiency LED strips” I think we can put aside cheap Amazon lamps with inflated output claims, and 100w garage lights. This stuff is crap and a waste of time and money compared to the horticultural strips available from dedicated grow light LED component vendors today.

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So I’m new to Overgrow.com but I’ve noticed I have been attempting to do the same as the creator of Sol Strips as in creating my own LED Strips. Not to sway people from Sol Strips as I absolutely 110% back anyone willing to say F&$@ it I can’t find what I want so I’ll make it and make it available to everyone. That’s some cool S$&@ lol. I personally love the Rigid Strips and it’s sad that the largest seller of what most of us want is AliCrapa (Alibaba) even though I would not hold them accountable when they say “using Samsung 301h and 301b. I just purchased some 46” 40mm heat sinks on EBay which cost me about $30 for 4 of them I believe. In the picture below don’t mind the one strip with the individual Cree XP-G3 LED’s as it was my first attempt at and additive bar I had to use a massive automotive solder iron lol which was not fun. I also have it dimmed down as far as possible to get a picture but my plants LOVE the LED’s I’ve never had healthier plants

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Edited for spam

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He sells a Chinese SolStrip clone based on our original X1 model strip from 3 years ago, which used the old 561C chips. Our first fabricator in Shenzen decided to back-door us before our first order landed, and has been supplying him ever since.

BTW, your strips look wildly out of balance in the power running to their individual strings. Looks like Roget has just been stamping different diodes over an outdated PCB design.

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Are you affiliated with Cutter??? If so, holy shit do I have an order coming your way when my tax return drops.

Actually…how can I get my hands on just the linear PCBs? I have an emitter mixture I want to play with. It’s a pain in the balls finding exactly what I want, easier to just diy it.

12k lumens of ??? spectrum isn’t worth $20 imo, bruh. Also, 120lm/w is some trash ass efficacy.

I didn’t buy it just said I saw it…if I were to buy it I would just use it for my clones and I could care less about efficacy.

Very nice. I have seen some strips that put out amazing like. Some nice k. I noticed a few years ago the shops I worked in where running grow lights. The fluorescent ones. I have been in Home Depot and to the commercial area. You might be surprised. I got one over my sink for 20$ The box said 4 k. I looked around and was quite surprised at what I seen. Now whether it would do anything or not I have no idea. What you got going on looks great

I bought some leds from this guy no issues
:ok_hand:

did you get it …and if so …let us know how it working out :grinning:

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