I’ll check out the kits, but also definitely interested in how to build from scratch. Do you actually build the board itself and install individual bulbs?
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You can do either, but most will buy ready to use modules (boards). You pretty much just mount them to heatsink material, wire, and have a grow light.
@Myfriendis410 do you know where about you posted images of your diy builds? I think this is pretty good example for what is needed here.
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What’s the general opinion on these offbeat brands?
The first ones very tempting, supposedly 450 watts for 250$,.
Same with the phlizon bar-style, 360 watts for 329$ and large coverage;
I looked up the HLGs and they look nice but I’m not sure about a 400$ investment for 270 watts:'(
Is MarsHydro any good?
I’m looking at their bar style 300w that is 270$,
These cheaper brands are tempting since I’m limited budget-wise but I wouldn’t want to waste the money if they really don’t function
That looks awesome!, Regardless of the work. I’m not 100% that my shop has everything id need or what I’d use for heat sinks… But still interested, what kinda wattage did you end up with and what would you estimate the cost was??
Where I’m at if it’s only gonna save me 20% or something I’d rather just bite the bullet buying name brand lights, but if it’s half the cost to build them… I’m down.
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So, I did the diy route because I had a bunch of 1 1/2 X 6" aluminum tubing in lieu of buying a heatsink. Cost was right at $200 per fixture with a peak wattage of 250 watts per fixture. I never run them at peak: 200 to 220 watts is all I need to grow big dense plants.
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Praying is a sign of too much light.
Leaves are like solar panels and the plant will “fold or tilt” the leaves in an effort to reduce the surface area exposed to the light.
Last year I had 15 plants and one, a Northern Lights Auto, would constantly “pray” while the others didn’t. I never could figure out why and chalked it up to genetics……
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By fixture do you refer to the whole the thing composed of 4 pieces of the aluminum tubing,
Or each aluminum tube individually?
If the whole unit,. Sounds like I gotta find some materials lol
If individually then maybe I should go with a more already built light as building one is probably “possible” but def not easy😬
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2nd hand gear is something I think most over look.
My 720w $1000 light i was talking about.
Well i got it off FB market for $600, was still new in box.
I’ve picked up alot of my stuff 2nd hand cheap.
Lots of people buy a ton of stuff grow one run and give up. Then sale their gear for penny’s what they paid…
I got a $700 marshydro 2x4 full tent kit with sp3000 light with an extra ac infinity 6" fan with nutrients, tds metter, (pretty much everything the guy had, even his last couple seeds 
) …
All for $350 just a couple weeks ago…
Check whatever people use local to you to sale there stuff, never know what you will find 
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Totally agree with @1HappyPappy …I find tons of stuff off Craigslist. hell I’ve even bought some clones off it!
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Very likely it’s “per light” in terms of per whole hung light assembly.
I built a couple of lights with Dbrn’s help and following Myfriend’s model. My build was much rougher because I was having to build on the extra cheap. But it’s lurking somewhere in my journal. I ended up around $330 for a 420ish watt output light and figure now I have the parts lying around (a soldering iron, 50 feet of solid core copper wire, thermal tape) so I could probably build another 2-4 lights for the cost of the light boards, some aluminum, and a driver. I did the math once a while ago and figured out 4 identical lights built the same way I built the first two would have run me ~$850-900 - for 1600 watts, that’s a steal. The discount comes in bulk buys, buying used/refurb drivers, and simply having parts on hand.
Well damn. I read Myfriend’s journal and did some Google reading and looked at some of the individual components from HLG,.
And I’m thinking for now building them might be out of my league.
If I tried now, I have a feeling I’d make so many beginner mistakes and need to buy extra materials etc that it would end up costing more than the equivalent light from a middle-quality company lol
So I guess now my direction is buying a decent light or two specifically for flowering.
But I’m on a budget lol,
I’ll check craigslist and Facebook but I can’t count on getting lucky with that,.,
Are any of the Amazon pictures I posted half decent lights?
If not those,
Are MarsHydro or Bloomspect at least half decent?
And is there a known difference between the bar-style lights and board-style?
I’m confused because although the bar style seem generally physically bigger, the smaller boards at the same watts seem similar in the size of area they claim to work for.
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Building isn’t very difficult.
I didn’t link this at first because it’s pretty small for what you’re looking to do. You would need a bunch of them, and probably cheaper to just build one or two larger lights get you going.
I can point you to where to buy anything/everything needed to build. These are just examples too. There’s hundreds of different led modules you could use. These are pretty inexpensive and very qood performance, so you’ll see a lot of diy lights built with the eb modules. Obviously if you could scrape together some materials without having to buy could make your build cheaper.
Oh god…
Yesterday I told myself I shouldn’t get myself into this but after reading your build and Myfriend’s,.
I’m kind of considering it.
I think you’re right there I’d definitely need more power; making another 100w probably wouldn’t be significantly better than just getting another of the 100$-ish ones I already have(which so far truly do seem great, now that I’m vegging I’m just scared of being disappointed when I flower).
So few questions lol
For my 4’x7 room to make let’s say a 3x5 or so canopy, (assuming it would be most efficient to divide my wattage between two large lights) what kinda power do you think would be good without being overkill? Like maybe two 300w fixtures??
And the fabrication parts; heatsinks bolts etc I’d be qualified and confident in doing but electrical I’m a bit weak with,.
Would I need multiple drivers to power a 300w light?,
And are the LED strips themselves made in different wattages or do you just use more of them to have more watts?
And do you buy them in various spectrums? Since the two 100s i currently have seem to be vegging my plants fine if I’m gonna get into this I’d want to build lights specifically great for flowering.
If it worked out great Id probably eventually build some veg lights too.
Sorry for all the questions but you’ve got me thoroughly interested in doing this haha
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I think if you replicated myself light twice would be a really nice setup in a 3x5. It’s two meanwell hlg-240h-c1050a drivers if you want internal dimming feature (this is what i would recommend for you).
I can honestly say you may be the first to say you’re confident with electrical portion but not so much with fab of fixture. I wouldn’t sweat it too much. If you have a hack saw and a drill you can make it work.
The led strips don’t list power (watts) they usually give you voltage and current specs and leave the rest up to you. This is for 560mm eb gen2 in 3500k
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True story. I was not confident at all with either portion. However, I still ended up with two outstanding light assemblies. Now I gotta find a place to hang them. 
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Oh no it’s the opposite, I’m confident with the fabrication and metalwork but the electrical stuff I’m clueless with.
That’s confusing to me haha like is the wattage of the lights and the lumens dependant on the power you put into them or something???
So yours came out to around 100 watts right?
So two of those could be sufficient for my room?
The two lights I’m already running are each about 100w, would the ones I’d build be better because I can choose the spectrum or ?
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I would just stop thinking that your lighting requirements are explained in watts. A watt is a unit of power over time, has really nothing to do with light output. Some lights are capable of making more light per watt than others, so not fair to compare them all based on energy consumed.
The electrical stuff is pretty easy. Using driver i mentions above the led modules are all series connected to the driver output. The driver input is wired just like any other cord connected 120v device. Same as something like replacing cord on vacuum.
2 fixtures like Myfriendis410 would be ideal for the 3x5 canopy, not so much 4x7.
Ooooh. I had no idea it could vary like that since the LED thing is new to me.
I checked out his build, I’m not sure if I could find aluminum tubing like that cheaply around here but doing plates would be easy I think I might actually have some…
So those EB strips are pretty idea for flowering?
For now my doors on the end so doing about 3x5 is ideal,
How many strips do you think is okay to have on one board with one driver?
(I think you’re right I should do 2 fixtures but would like to put as many strips on each fixture as I’m able to.)
Unrelated question but I got my PH and TDS meter today, tested my water and even right from the hose it isn’t bad, 6.2ph and around 300ppm.
Tested my very weak nutrient water that I only fed with once since FFOF is hot, 500ppm and 5.2ph so guessing I should raise the pH a bit when I do start feeding again?
What I’m really concerned about is I tested a bucket I’ve been pouring runoff in and the PPM was insanely high like 9000 O.o
Is this all nutrient from the soil or does particles of soil add to this making it normal?? I see others posting runoff ppms way lower than this so I’m confused.
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