Let's talk DIY lights

The only places we can link here are amazon, dealzer, and Ali express. Most of them won’t help you all the way through a diy project.

What specifically are you looking for?

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You have an RUI account right? Check your messages

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@dbrn32 do you know of a good Lux meter to use for LEDS or would it just be worth it in the end to invest in a SQ-500-520? I have been thinking about buying one, but if I can get a semi-accurate Lux meter I can just do the calculations myself.

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@1BigFella probably does. He was going through a few of them little while back. Even messing around with filters and checking intensity by wavelength.

I haven’t really got a clue though. I’ve been close to grabbing an apogee a few times, but always end up dumping the money on a bulk order of pin sinks or something. I always resort to comparing to what kind of light I could build for the cost. Would be cool, but I can’t talk myself into it.

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Yea I have been pretty close to grabbing one as well. With the QB’s I kinda know where I stand just cause there is so much information already out on them. Calculating lumens into PPFD is fairly easy. But an Apogee would be an all around nice tool to have. I definitely agree though, there is a couple of things I could find a better use of 400$ for lol.

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You guys that are trying to get even canopy levels and stuff like that for sure. Otherwise I think we have a pretty good handle on what will grow weed and how to make it better. Matt took the 10 280mm eb’s at 500ma and just missed 6 zips. They were stacked on top of each other on 12”x12” aluminum plate. The argument could be there that stretched out he would’ve hit 6. But I’m not 100% convinced that justifies anymore thought or especially cost over my $10 piece of aluminum right? I’d probably consider dropping to 350 and adding 3 strips the same way first. But more for the bump in efficacy than the spread, you just get both.

Some days I wonder if we sweat way to minor of details, others if we’ve really been ignorant that long lol.

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Sorry guys, I just have a cheapo Smart Sensor lux meter from Amazon. It’s $21.80 with free shipping. It’s model #AS803. I do see other sellers marking it up to as much as $39!

The stuff I did with color filters was very rough. I compared the lux readings I got from a COB with a known spectrum to figure out how sensitive the lux meter was to red, yellow, green, and blue light. It was most sensitive to yellow, but not too bad through the other filters. Then I could use that estimated sensitivity to see how much red some 640 nm LEDs would add, etc.

I also picked up a super cheap sprectroscope from Amazon. It could actually tell the difference between 640 NM and 660 nm LEDs! It’s just a diffraction grating (not even a prism) with a scale and numbers. I was floored at how good 100 year old tech could be.

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I have concluded that we do this in all aspects of our grows, at least at first… we just move on to particulars like lights later. :slight_smile:

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That’s that “Zen” of growing; don’t sweat the small stuff.

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The real zen is to quit fussing with it. Water, light. soil, nutes: That’s about it for inside. If you are comfortable, the plants will be. If you are the type of person who feels they have to do “something” every single day, you will probably kill your plants. You may not be cut out to be a farmer. The most important thing is to learn to do nothing for long periods of time. Just stand back and let them grow.

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What’s the old saying: 80% of problems solve themselves if left alone…

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I was reading a thread last fall about something that was going wrong with a grow. Garrigan I think figured out that the problem was the grower “fussing” over everything and overdoing it. His answer was something I took to heart. Give the plants what they need and that’s it. Don’t spend endless hours obsessing over them. All it does is stress you and the plants out.

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Especially with nutes. I read about somebody feeding his plants 10 different things and I just know he’s going to kill them. Or overwatering AND foliar feeding every day. That’s what I like about coco coir: Excess water or nutes just runs right out the bottom. It’s impossible to overwater as long as you throw away the waste that runs out.

@dbrn32 I have a 4x4x6.5 tent using a 600 mh/hps light my tent is always hot is there a good light I could get or build that dont put much heat least not as much as my lights do now that will get me from start to harvast say for 250 or will it cost more then that. Can you list the parts up that I would need or if you have did this for some1 else already can you tag me in it please thxs

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Anything with decent leds in that size space will run more than $250. Your best bang for your buck without getting very intense of a build would probably be some 1120mm eb strips. Something like @BIGE uses, maybe two 300 watt lights.

Can you take a quick peek at your internal measurements and verify they’re at least 48”x48”?

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What kind of money should I be thinking bout spending for a good light. I dont want to put a whole lot in to growing right yet as I’m new to all this still but my light I’m using now is the reason a few of my plants hermie on me kind of disappointing but still want to give it another go yet dont want to spend alot of money on lights if I dont stick to it

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Hard to argue with that. Diy for a 4x4 probably ranges from about $600 to &1400. I think you’d definitely out grow a 600 watt hps rig, but that’s probably not as important right now.

If you’re looking to do something cheap and easy, keep an eye out for some 48” pieces of aluminum plate. If you could scrounge up two pieces 48” long and 16-20” wide cheap or free, you’d be off to a good start.

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A free or cheap wife?

Dude, you’re smoking too much if you think they exist.

:stuck_out_tongue:

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Thanks for catching

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Yeah, it was too easy…

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