Sol strips are fairly popular around here, and reasonably priced… I’m just weighing my options right now for what I can make happen quickly and cheaply.
Edit: solstrip.com
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thanks so much for your reply! my thing is that i want to run about 1000 watts…aren’t sol strips about $150 for a couple hundred watts? i’m old and know nothing about LEDs…
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Half assed out… forgot to mention quantum board 120s are fairly popular and cheaper, but last I checked they only had 4000K left in stock.
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I think I remember reading the solstrips like around 40w a piece, but can push 50 (both using heat sinks). 1000/40=25 strips; 25×30=750 (solstix price, heatsink included) plus drivers which will depend on how you plan on splitting them. LEDs do not go 1:1 watt wide with HID though. If you’re replacing a 1K watt HID you would more likely be in the 6-800w range instead. 600/40=15 strips; 15x30=450 plus drivers.
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ohhh–not a 1:1! thank you for educating me! 450 ain’t bad but i’m so out of my depth sorting out drivers, etc. forgive my ignorance, but do i need heat sinks if i control the climate in my room other ways? or is it necessary for LEDs? THANK YOU
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I truthfully don’t know enough myself to say yes or no to that. Someone else may answer that for you, but I suggest you check out the solstrip product thread.
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Believe it or not you are on to something with the screw ins. Amazon has daisy chain rig for multiple bulbs or you can get a base to hold like 8 bulbs for >$15
I first tried phillips led flood lights 2700k
Pop the stupid plastic bubble off. Exposing the leds. I promise ypu get the 24w 100w equivilent bulbs like $20a pack and you wont believe the amount of light that $35 puts out
i thought this was about screw ins not branded strips. Saving $ and having better light
And i also run walmart led floods. Very similar to the phillips just different heatsink on the bulb. Both put out. Phillips is twice the cost of great value.
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The screw ins on my 5head light litterally put out more light at 100w than my hlg quantum board does. But they will burn a plant so i use em for spotlighting shaded areas. But those areas tend to be the best areas by end of flower.
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From what I’ve been able to work out, it’s not so much brand as it is wattage and lumens (ppfd?). There’s even some that suggest that light spectrum (cri) isn’t so important as light cycle ie 24/0 or 18/0 veg and the 12/12 flower cycles. There still seems to be alot of conjecture at the moment though. Personally, I’m gearing towards 5000K (daylight) for veg and the 2700K (warm white) for flowering. There’s a glut of info, manufacturers saying this or that is best, individuals saying something else, and people like us trying to work it all out lol
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@TrevorLahey and @toastyjakes have it on lock with the screw in bulbs. Should check their grow threads out @ChronicMcBudz
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Would love to see pics of this. The areas you’re filling in for shaded spots- are the lights vertical/mounted to the walls? Or hanging down from above? Sounds like the screw in bulbs could be a cheap option for rooting cuttings and keeping a couple small mothers?
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Mine are on a stupid 5head snake likw light my girl was throwing out. I pulled it out the trash n put good bulbs in it. I need to figure a way to hang it or just buy one of the multi ports i was talking about. Ill amazon it n put it on here.
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Well I used 3 CFL bulbs on a plant a year or so back an the plant got upto about a foot and a half under those. It took months mind but you get lots and lots of clones if you train properly so it does work 
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Cfl is trash. T5is even better.
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Like this and a extension cord with the bulb ports to put multiple heads on a cord. At 25w a bulb imagine the area covered per $
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Ill post pic of my contraption when i get off work
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Think what you think but this is a single CFL on babies. Which is what I saying in reply to @newb2.0 on the subject on keeping cuts going etc. I’ve used CFL on small tasks since I began growing however the light splitters are obviously better for growth with 8 fittings in 1. Depends how big your grow op is I suppose
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Oh yeah cfl will work on babies n small plants
but i was saying overall to flower and all the screw in led flood bulbs with caps popped is as good as my hlg qbs.
Which means theyre pretty damn good and cheap.
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I use screw in LEDs in my clone cab and veg tent, along with a cheapo Chinese blurple 1000w equivalent. They work extremely well, I built all my fixtures to mount them. I have a mix of 2700k, 3000k, 5000k and 6000k and a couple of full spec bulbs. They run between 11 and 16 watts each. There are 22 in the veg tent with the Chinese LED. I just have 7-8 running in the clone cab which is 32x42x36 inches and probably a bit too much light for it.
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Thanks for the replies everyone! I’m thinking of running a 10 bulb fixture. Should be able to put it together for about $50-60 with the Walmart bulbs, about $30 for the bulbs and another $20-30 for the fixtures and everything. 4x2700+6x5000=4080K with the mix. Could flip it the other way and the mix would be around 3500K, but I think the extra blue would be good to keep the nodes tighter.
@Explorer, toasty is actually the reason I decided to look into this route and I just scanned through trevor’s post last night. Really great stuff.
@anon58740919, thanks, I wasn’t sure if that was reliable enough. I would think Philip’s would be better than great value or Duracell, but the lumens for the Philip’s is actually lower for the same wattage. The price is significantly higher though.
I momentarily considered CFLs… my first grow ever was a 6cfl micro cab. Grew an absolutely fantastic girl, just very slowly lol.
@rooted, thanks for the info, but where are you finding 24w bulbs? All the bulbs I’m finding are the 100w equivalent, 14-16w actual.
@Jay, I thought preferred spectrums were the other way around, 2700K for Veg and 4-5000K for Flower.
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