Cheap LED’s are not good, and good LED’s are not cheap.
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That’s why I’m leaning towards diy. Seems to outperform the heap lights by miles at a similar price point.
I just looked at the Quantum Board by Horticulture Lighting Group, but they are all sold out. If you can handle the basics like soldering and using a multimeter, you could do a DIY. I suggest starting with Growmau5 videos on YouTube.
Oh, I can’t believe I didn’t suggest off-the-shelf LEDs! Check out what these guys at ICMag are doing with them. https://www.icmag.com/ic/showthread.php?t=314806
Digikey sells samsung and bridgelux strips. Bridgelux are less than half the price of samsung.
For the strips all you need are the drivers, strips, and something to mount too. If you wanna run them at 1400ma or more i suggest getting some aluminum stock to attach them too. And no you can cut them.
I have SolStrips available now in 3000K, 4000K, and 5000K. Additional stock in 2700K and 3500K will be available in two weeks.
These are custom designed for our purposes, from top-shelf Samsung LM561C diodes, S6 bin. 48 watts and 9000 lumens per strip, delivering up to 200 lm/watt - the most efficient light on the market. The strips are 400x30 mm, about 16.5 x 1.25 inches, the perfect size for lighting 2 ft. wide spaces. They fit neatly into a standard baking pan (cookie sheet), three strips per sheet will light a 2x2 space from veg through harvest. Three strips equal the output of a single Quantum board.
I will be posting a few DIY designs here in the next few days, based on the SolStrips. The strips are completely interchangeable, allowing you to mix your own spectrum and build multi-channel arrays (seedling/clone, veg, bloom, finish).
Much more at the SolStrip thread. I’ve been busy testing these before releasing them but if you’d like to reserve a set I am taking pre-orders now. $20 each for up to 10 strips, $17.50 each for orders larger than 10 strips. DM me here to reserve your order or for more info. -b420
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After looking at some grow journals on this site and others I think I may actually go 150hps for my space. Should be plenty sufficient for 2x2 light wise. And I was worried about heat but other people seem to do just fine with 150hps with no serious heat mitigation systems.
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I know people will argue but people with small spaces are killing it with off the shelf led light bulbs 10W 3000K at 30-40 Watts a square foot over 2GPW is not un heard of and will save you big cash for some better genetics until you can afford a better set up.
A LED grow from Haobe from midnight sun using off the shelf LED lightbulbs
There is a tread On IG up to 166 pages so there must be somthing to it?
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Yeah, that thread kicks add, it’s the reason I built my filing cabinet. Check it out! Off the shelf retail store screw-in LED and CFL bulb comparisons
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No doubt you can grow with them, like CFLs, but like CFLs, there are much better options available to small space growers today. The Samsung and Bridgelux mid-power LED strips deliver almost twice the efficiency (lumens/watt) of CFLs and these LED “bulbs” - which are just a few LEDs on a PCB disk, covered with a plastic globe. If you like the LED bulbs, you’ll love the strips. -b420
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FWIW, I tried 4 or 5 different LED bulbs for veg over the last couple years and none worked very well for me. Leaves never turned dark green & glossy under the LED bulbs, and I see many similar-looking plants in the ICmag thread.
I’m using a horticulture-designed LED veg lamp now and it works great, it wasn’t cheap though.
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I never had a problem with them especially during veg but everyone’s grow is different. Once they get past this point it’s on to the 315
3000k 10W 1.25 ea veg @ 30W sq foot.
the set up pictured cost me 40 dollars to cobble together and 75% is in the socket cleats making it stupid affordable if a led fails i pull out the wallet and screw in a replacement in any color i desire.
untill the price comes down 1200/1500 for the real gear or i cant take it any more.im running my 315’s Kraven is killing it and LED seeds is beyond my comprehension with his fluence on a mover and in a big way worth the investment for sure, but for the budget minded you are not in very deep. That was the point I was trying to make I will go away now
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those do look really good - looks like you’re blending spectrums - is it random or are you trying to use certain bulbs together?
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For veg=blue 3K and higher. For flower = 3K blue/natural white and lower (the only reason i say that is the 315 Is 3100K and does both well) warm white= more reds.
I am told it does not matter but I’ll stick to what the old science says atm. I personally have not flowered with them and used them as supplemental lighting effectively where the 315 drops off after 3x3 but these will do the job no doubt I know three guys utilizing them in some fashion.
I can never keep it straight here is a chart
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LEDs are cheap., ehem .
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Honestly in retrospect I would go Fluors and small led cos led has problems like gaps between diodes in wavelength of light and missing spectrum cfl has full and no hz it glows
What are you trying to say? I’ll show you mine, if you show us ALL yours.
what size are the pots in the bottom pic ?
those are 6x6x6 hugo rockwool cubes not really pots. stacked on a unislab , so roughly equivalent to 5-7 gal bucket.of soil
LED Grow Light Full Spectrum for Indoor Plants Veg and Flower Dimmable COB LED Grow Light for Marijuana BloomBeast A520 520w 13 Band with UV IR 3 Dimmers hydroponics Growing Lamps (5 Years Warranty) https://www.amazon.com/dp/B075WY1Z7Y/ref=cm_sw_r_other_apa_KEyLAbYXK1S7Z