@dbrn I have been growing a clone under an advertised 35 watt grow light. That plant is now about 12" tall and in need of more light. Still in need of cash, and a desire to invent; I came up with the idea of adding 6 amazon 100 watt leds in a circle around said grow light.
cost lumens watts(@ the wall)
grow light $28 746 25 (advertised 35w)
6 leds $23 8400 77
The Amazon bulbs are 5000K, that’s all that was available. I cut off all but 1/2" of the protective bulb, and plan to line whats left with aluminum air conditioning tape, to act as a reflector and cut down on the annoying glare (it’s in the kitchen).
Measuring with a light meter app, the lux reading averages about 12000 lux, around an 18" concentric circle, 12" below the light.
At first look, $50 for a 100 watt light seems OK, Your thoughts?
For seedlings and clones you hardly need light but I have a light that’s 5.300 k works great t5 grow light and you can use it all though veg but if led is your thing you on the right track
That will probably be enough light to veg your plant. It will not be that good when you flower.
I’d budget some money for at least some more bulbs in the 2700-3500k spectrum. Remember that you’ll need approximately 50 watts/square foot
The table in my post really got screwed up. What I meant to say was:
Total cost- $51, Advertised lumens- 9146, watts measured at the wall-102w.
I realize this only a veg light, and a small one at that. When flower time comes around, hopefully my original tent will be vacant and improved.
That will work just fine. I’ve seen very successful grows under nothing but a19 and a21 led bulbs. Granted they use a butt load of them, but they will definitely grow weed. The issue becomes that they still don’t have a very high efficacy. So you get them pretty cheap and easily, the cost of running over long term quickly exceeds the cost of grabbing something that can maintain similar light intensity levels with much less power.
@geezer906 I see the great eagle bulb also comes in 3000K for a few bucks more. Looks like an option for adding more red to my existing light. The 5000K version is almost a wash comparing it to the smaller bulb is used. 307 lumens / $ vs 366, and 88 lumens / watt vs 100.
By the way, I was born in 1940; do I have to call you Mister Geezer?
My fixture originally had an Amazon " 1000 watt" light and 4 cfls that pulled 300 wall watts. Replacing the CFLs with LEDs resulted in a 205 watt draw and 30% increase in lux readings. just harvested my first grow under the original configuration. Actually, that plant was vegged under just the CFLS
lux is a measure of Lumen/meter squared,
Lumen is a measure of light intensity as perceived by the human eye,
PAR or PPFD will show true plant light.!
not saying the 30% increse of lux is bad, but it is a loose measurement.!
at 205 watts of low watt LED u can cover a 3-4 sq ft area, 1.5x2’ or 2’x2’ area,
this is still gonna be inferior to good HID or LED/COB lighting.
one day u will upgrade to good lighting and kick yourself for all the mediocre grows.!!
been there, done that, and smoked the fluffy bud.! lol
I used a LED 5000K 2600 lumens drawing 23 watts from Amazon for early veg with excellent results. it is rated to an equivalent 150-200 watt incandescent… The lux app on my phone measured 31,000 lux at the height in the picture… they cost 2 for $18. The blurple light is a $28 full spectrum, 25 watts that also does a great job in a small footprint, took that plant to pre-flower in 4 weeks, then moved to a big light.
