Spend some time on the LET’S TALK DIY LIGHTS thread with us before you buy.
no no disrespect , its just that i did not see the green/yellow coloured cable that is the UK coding ( we are 240 Volts )…
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It helped being ridiculously poor back then. I imagine some people did LOL when they saw some of the stuff I came up with cause I couldn’t afford to buy the right stuff at first
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More like extremely dangerous in places. I was US Navy and we went a lot of places but were severely restricted in where we were allowed to go in India
necessity is the mother of invention …
I worked in Bollywood in the 90’s it was crazy beyond belief, guys getting blown up all the time.
India after dark was something else
Yep i will and I’ve read some there and I’m looking forward to reading more. If it’s as simple as I understand it to be then I would much rather build my own. Some of you guys have some really great ideas and tech ability producing some awesome lights.
A19/a21/par20 and many others are definitely capable of growing weed. You definitely want to remove diffusers and 18-20” seems a little high, but would really depend on how closely together the bulbs are mounted.
I did see something I felt necessary to point out though.
Pay attention to the efficacy of the bulbs. The bulb posted above is 71.4 lumens per watt. Below is data on hlg’s v2 288, capable of putting out nearly 3x the amount of light per watt.
As you can see, the amount of power consumed means very little without taking into account performance of the light.
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I was using these flood lights with the outer lens removed during late flower
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I figured it couldn’t hurt. My hubby has a cupboard full of light bulbs and I often raid it. I just used them for a little side lighting we’re my light drops off at the edges.
I have collection of shaving mirrors on plastic swivel stands which I position and spread the joy under the leaves 
@dbrn32 The led spot lights loose lumans with lens removed, i tried with the noma ones i showed above in pics. Lens concentrates the light better on these ones and has much higher lux reading with lense in place. I was goin to remove mine also but tested 1st. Led with the domes do need removing. But i have been looking at the QB 550v2. I have 5x5x7, would that be enuff @dbrn32. But i am also considering atleast 2 smaller ones, question on that is, can i make them with a 3k strip then 4k then 3k and so on, on same board to give wider spectrum and run veg to bloom with them?
Also i do have my diy led closer than 18-20 now, gettin used to it and growth under it is way better than under cfls. Really gets deep and brings lower growth up i noticed
I would like to agree with you, but the only part of that statement that’s true
You get a higher reading directly under the light because it’s more concentrated, but it’s less overall light into your space.
Hlg-550 is recommended for a 4x4. There’s not a great reason to alternate color temps like that, but some people do. If that’s what you want, see if you can get 3 xl-260 kits. Two 3000k and one 4000k. Would be better matched up for a 5x5 as well.
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@dbrn32 thank u so much for advice. I would prefer 3 smaller units opposed to 1 big one for sure. They dnt always grow at same rate so nice to be able to move 1 or 2 if needed and leave one lower for smaller plants.
I get what ur saying about lens, i was thinkin about it after and if i took lens of it would b not as intense but more even spread correct? Just put them closer i assume. I have some of the domed ones on same fixture with domes off and was thinkin they can prob b closer than spot light with lens but spot light without lens would be more even with the no dome led i assume. I feel i gtta keep far enuff to not burn with spot light but then others b too far
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Aha always on the ball, I noted the same thing but figured the watts is watts theory like cfl etc would be a fair way to look at it, probably not though, so thank you for bringing that point to light 
haha…
I have read on many of the led growlight manufacturers that they say 6-12 inch height is ok, just reading no experience. I would think that with the lower wattage led bulb that 6 inch might be ok maybe?
I mean I have a 3k 470lm 6w@53mA(50hz) Crompton globe here that has 8 diodes making them 0.75w each? I am under the impression that they can be closer to plant cuz they are not as efficient/effective at light penetration as something like a cree? Probably wrong and misguided here again but
You mention A19/A21/PAR20 and others, is there somewhere i could find more information on the range of variety?
It would be good to be able to post up an easy n00b guide/list.
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Absolutely! The spacing on bulb to bulb too. If you have a meter you could probably do checking around to see what works the best for amount of bulbs you have before mounting them.
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About 2 to 3 inch spacing seems to work for these, keeps the reading on lux meter from droppin between bulbs. Thanks again @dbrn32. So i should prob take lens off later rite?
Light is light. In terms of measuring photometric energy such as lumens anyway. Without a major change in light spectrum 500 lumens is going to be the same amount of light regardless of the name attached to the diodes. The difference you’ll see with a top of the line led is that a cree 7 watt bulb probably measures 7-800 lumens. That’s the difference in efficacy I talked about earlier, and why watts don’t really matter when comparing different lighting types. A cfl is usually around 70 lumens per watt, t5 ho about 95 lumens per watt, bigger hps bulbs like 110-130 lumens per watt, cmh 140 lumens per watt, see chart above a couple posts on qb 288. Even running it at near max current it’s minimum efficacy is 173 lumens per watt.
Sure they cost a few extra bucks, but that’s associated with having the very best available of anything in any market.
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Here’s a nifty and thrifty bulb splitter I found on amazon. They have many styles to choose , from fixed position like this one or directional. They are very light weight and work better than my ghetto rigged double socket spider leg configuration
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you should get the Noble Peace Prize for this post, thanks
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