love the connectors,i’m using 3m wire nuts and elec.tape…lol
awesome @MattyBear that light will grow some big buds!!
6 Likes
I didn’t mind, but thought it would make posting easier on you haha.
2 Likes
Menards stocks them, there are also some kits available on amazon
3 Likes
I soldered and put heat shrink wrap on my connections, and that was a PITA on the braided power cord I used for some reason.
4 Likes
My fault. I should’ve specifically pointed them out to you. A lot happened very quickly with you that day. If you’re planning on doing more I would definitely look into grabbing an assortment of them. For single driver setups the 2 port wagos are the way to go. If you start running more drivers the ones with 3 or more ports can be handy.
8 Likes
i believe you told me about these things awhile back,as i build i will refine my methods…lol
3 Likes
No worries bud. I like the solder and heat shrink method. It seems the most secure and I can see the actual connection so I know it’s connected. I will likely keep doing them that way since it’s not difficult.
4 Likes
Bige got my last like, 18 minute wait lol.
Soldering is preferred by many, nothing wrong with that.
9 Likes
i’ll solder then and shrink wrap everything,i just as well go the extra effort…
3 Likes
I had to get mine off shmeebay because they were sold out everywhere else lol. Cost $350 with free shipping. If you catch them while in stock, you can get the kit for $325
6 Likes
Some braided power cord wire is enameled before being twisted together. It makes it a bitch to solder. It helps to pull it across some fine sand paper for a while. I just buy cheap (EG. $1.67) 6 foot extension cords from Home Depot and cut the outlet part off. Solders very easily.
Did anybody mention 250 watts for a 3x3 tent is a bit low for flower? 400 watts would be better. You might want to put some big cardboard pieces in there to make the lighted area smaller. 5 square feet of lighted area would be perfect with 250 watts. Paint your cardboard reflector pieces with flat white paint. Tilt them out at the top so they capture all the light. Five square feet is plenty for one plant. Result = fatter buds.
9 Likes
Par levels are plenty high enough for the entire 3x3 without reflectors. In fact, I would go as far to say they’re pretty close to light saturation levels inside of 12”. They’re getting fairly close at 18”.
18 Likes
I just put the lights down to 18” above the canopy. Once I start seeing a few more true leaves on my cheese auto, I’ll be putting her in the tent too. And I’m starting a Blue Dream and Maui Waui to go into the veg tent once that happens. I didn’t know how to respond to the above comment so thanks for linking that video. Should give everyone a good idea as to why you don’t need all the power draw from these and there are more factors in grow lights than just watts
8 Likes
You might be at saturation at 12" but as the plant grows the top may be 12’’ away from the light but the bottom is 24". Twice the distance = 1/4th the light. Inverse square law. Taller plant, it just gets worse.
Fundamental law of physics. That’s why the buds near the bottom are worthless and why people add sidelights.
Or, instead of sidelights you can just use reflection. It’s almost free. Hey, your choice.
I’m looking at the quantum board spectrum. An awful lot of green and yellow that look good to humans but not so much to plants. Still reasonable red at 660 nm.
4 Likes
I respectfully disagree. People generally use side lights because they either didn’t have adequate overhead lighting to begin with or they overgrow their space. Or there’s always the guys who see others doing it and figure it’s a great idea so they jump on the bandwagon. In most scenarios it will help their yeild, but probably not as effectively as investing that money elsewhere. Outside of running a scrog or sog you’re always going to have some buds developed more than others. Side lighting may improve that a little, but it doesn’t make it go away.
You’re correct about the law of inverse square, but adding reflectors doesn’t solve that. If at 12” your at saturation level and use a reflector to create a more intense beam of light, all you’ve done is raised the gap to meet the saturation level right? So you choose between having a more intense light but running it higher, or more spread light and running lower. The biggest difference is that running without a reflector doesn’t cost you any photons, using one will.
If he was short on light a reflector would help, absolutely. But I don’t feel they’re needed or good for this application. There are lenses available for the boards that essentially do the same thing. But they are best for th guys that want cover every square inch of their grow with the boards and run them at 40 watts. The one downfall he has is the end to end heatsink as opposed to a side by side. But that was strictly because it’s what was available at the time. Getting them side by side will get the coverage more even, otherwise I think he’ll be golden.
7 Likes
Once the new boards come out I might look into getting a few of the 65w boards at 3000k or lower if they have it for more intense reds during flower. But we will see how this grow and a few more go first. 
Thanks again for jumping in brother
3 Likes
My space will be filled more normally. I just couldn’t wait to start flowering under these so I moved this plant from its old 2x2 home. She should stretch out here during flower a little more, but I did slowly decrease the light down to 12/12 over the course of a week to 10 days
2 Likes
Ya, I would definitely get a couple grows under your belt with them before you’re looking to add or change anything.
5 Likes