DIY Off-The-Shelf LED Light

[Randar]

My first grow after I moved back to the states. I like DIY projects, so I figured I’d build my own LED light on the cheap. Total cost was $64.31, and it drew an actual of 224 W from the wall.

The light was composed of 16 100W household LED bulbs with the covers removed.

Picture of the light:

Picture of the back/wiring:

Picture of the light in action:

After the first grow with my off-the-shelf light, I was able to get 93.5 grams from two plants under 224 actual watts. Not the best g/w ratio, but I’m happy with the results. The second grow with this light was a bit better, 228.81 grams from two plants under same conditions!

Anyways, unfortunately the light was lost due to a basement flood and rather than re-build, I decided to just shell out some money and purchased a Budget LED.

[Shadey]

I have made several of those and altered them as I went along, then I made my Lights with samsung light strips instead.

[Randar]

Nice. Any posts for how to put a DIY light strip light together, along with costs? I’d be interested, as I’m always thinking about adding supplemental lights to my current setup.

[Shadey]

I used Digikey for the drivers and light strips it was about a dollar a watt to build the whole light which includes wires, plug ends and frame.

There is a whole thread about making them here.

Cheap LED Strips : A Viable Alternative

Well figured id start a thread just to share for anyone thinking and looking for a viable alternative to SIL “Screw In Light” Led arrays to rigid DIY options such as QuantumBoards, Solstrips, Meiji Lighting products, or any pre built options out there like marshydro, and the likes. I’ll leave this thread open to discussion and post ups of other cheap strips and product lines as well because tech is always changing, and getting better and cheaper everyday. So to get this started let me introduc…

[LedZeppelin]

I used home bulbs to experiment with also. Less than $10.

[Shadey]

I have 8 of those but they hold 7 bulbs each, they work pretty good as well but not as good as the light strip lights.

[Shadey]

@LedZeppelin

I played around with changes of the bulbs and only had one plant under it.

Thats why I swapped to light strips its a much better footprint of light.

They do work very well though, you can burn your plants easy if they get to close I found.

I would have 3 of the 7 light bulb holders in a line on one light that I made to hold 5 bulbs. Spread over a 40 inch length.

[Shadey]

Yeah mine were used around the outside of the grow to make up the lower light levels out at the sides until I got the seven bulb holder units.

Heres some pics of mine I made up. The angle wood was leftover from building a wardrobe and the light bulb receptacles came off some construction temporary light strings, I recovered from a dumpster, the ventilated plastic backing was left over from building my workshop.

[bunny]

I did away with the bulb base, took the light module and mounted it on some aluminum track. Keep in mind folks, there could be 120V exposed by the bare bulb. Insulated the terminals on mine with silicone.

[Shadey]

Looks good, is it easy to replace a light if one dies after a while

[cannabliss]

My first few grows were with lights very similar to these but it was pre led I was using cfl’s they worked pretty good I still use 4 bulb fixtures with the grow bulbs for emergency lighting for males and such

Bliss

[bunny]

Not really. These were bed curtain rails used in a hospital. It has a slot in the back where the curtain track was. The bulbs had short wires, long enough to connect to the screwed in portion. It was a little difficult working with the wires just making it out of the slot so I could solder them to the wires I had run the length of the rail.

I had a few different kinds of bulbs, each a little different but not a big deal. I heat shrunk insulation on each of the joints, I stripped a section of the ‘bus’ wire to solder the bulbs to. It was a little difficult to do the first time around and replacing one is not too easy, the same difficulty as doing it in the first place. Mind you, I could probably disconnect the wires right at the board, I have three screws holding each board to the rail. I could pop the wires out of the board and then insert them into a replacement board. So far I think I only have one dud out of over a hundred bulbs and I did not bother replacing it. I might get around to it yet.

[bunny]

Too long on my edit.

Originally I was only going to make three rails as I needed some light in a makeshift veg tent. The bulbs were only $1 at the time. I wanted to keep the temperature down so I made a manifold to blow air through in and out the rails (I taped up the slot) with the cooling air not mixing in the tent.

But once I made them I just started making more rails as I needed more light and have used them for my flower area also. The bulbs have got more expensive as time went on, I think I have an average cost of them about $1.35 a bulb. I used daylight and soft light for veg and flower. I mainly used 100W equivalent bulbs (about 14W) and some 75W (12W) as that was all I could get at the time. They were a cheap way of getting a fair amount of light for not much money. I think I have about $200 into it and I ran about 1600W on the previous grow.

[webeblzr]

WOW!! 22 years ago, I was dumpster diving to build my first NewGanjaBoy stealth box.
I did buy a 150 watt outdoor flood light light, gutted it, and mounted the works in a cheapo aluminum pan, cook ware. Then into the box, from threads here on OG.
That is a very nice build IMHO.

EDIT: just if you other tinkering folks, do not know about SCIplus I find the oddest stuff there at times. Really cheap odd things.

[wny61]

Shop light broken down and remounted to plexiglass left over from a project
Cheap is good free is better
Dimmable and 153 watts out of the wall

[G-paS]

Love all these DYI projects.

[potpotpot]

Outdoor flood lamp parts. Each socket was like $1.50, ceramic sockets, already had pigtails. Mounted in 1/2 emt mounts. Mounted on an old book case shelf. Can spin and swivel each socket individually. In the past I had it hung at like. 45* angle, and had the bottom sockets point down at some auto flower seedlings while the other 8 lit a plant that had grown too tall, so I pulled it over on a 45* to match, and stood it next to the light, instead of under as the seedlings were. It was an unplanned vert grow haha

Not part of light, but binder clips ftw haha

[Shadey]

@LedZeppelin

One thing I noticed on mine was with the domes off, if the end touches the mylar it will make a popping sound like a spark.

If you reach underneath your lights and your arm touches them you get a 110v 60hzt tattoo.

@bunny

It was a little difficult working with the wires just making it out of the slot so I could solder them

You did a great looking job on those

@webeblzr

do not know about SCIplus I find the oddest stuff there at times. Really cheap odd things.

No, not heard of them before I will Google them for a look see, cheers.

[highminwin]

nice diy work there! very crafty. i also like how your level is making sure everything is… level. lol

[Tejas]

Take a look at this site, I followed the 2’ x 4’ using the Bridgelux 2’ strips. I didn’t purchase the heat sinks since the frame is aluminum and it runs cool.
Edit: the light puts out 235 watts and cost $200 to build.

DIY LED Strip Build Designs for Samsung H-Series, F-Series, Q-Series, and...