Hey Northwood great grow and very inspirational! I've been looking for a way to be able to afford my 2nd grow,first being 10+ years ago with hps. Broke my back 7 years ago,being on workers comp with 3 little ones is a struggle to say the least so I'm looking for a budget friendly way to go. In saying that, how many bulbs would you reccomend to veg/flower a 16sq. ft. Area? Or is there a minimum watts per plant for optimal growth? Thank you.
My budget 5X5 setup
- Thread starter Northwood
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Jesselikes2grow
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Northwoods got a neat setup going. Been following along his thread. I've done a similar setup for my clone box and building a larger one for a new lower powered veg light. Current veg light to become one of my two flowering lights. My aim is for around 30watts/sq ft for veg and 40 watts/sq ft for flowering. 
granted i had a 30"x36" cabinet box and wire but the clone box cost me about 10$ in materials besides that with leftover parts for another. The bigger one in progress is a 32"x48" that cost me about 50$ in added materials for the bulbs and receptacles. Already had the plywood to make the frame out of. They do make a fair bit of heat hence the 3" vent holes in frame. I do have 2 dimmers ill have on the bulbs, an extra 35$ if you buy them but I had some in my stuff. Big one will pull about 350 watts total from the wall @32 watts/ft max power of dimmers. Clone box has no dimmer and 5 bulbs pulling 45 watts at wall @15 watts/ft in box. About 10 to 12 " off top of plants. No usage data from bigger panel yet. Will let you know if interested. Maybe @Northwood Will give us an update on progress and results thus far. Been watching this thread for his results. Very interested. Btw my big lights for flower will be 2 of these lights. 480 watt led bars fit. 960 watts total for a 4x8. So about 39 watts/ft for them.
happy growing. Happy to see a fellow grower coming back to the scene. Lemme know how it goes.
granted i had a 30"x36" cabinet box and wire but the clone box cost me about 10$ in materials besides that with leftover parts for another. The bigger one in progress is a 32"x48" that cost me about 50$ in added materials for the bulbs and receptacles. Already had the plywood to make the frame out of. They do make a fair bit of heat hence the 3" vent holes in frame. I do have 2 dimmers ill have on the bulbs, an extra 35$ if you buy them but I had some in my stuff. Big one will pull about 350 watts total from the wall @32 watts/ft max power of dimmers. Clone box has no dimmer and 5 bulbs pulling 45 watts at wall @15 watts/ft in box. About 10 to 12 " off top of plants. No usage data from bigger panel yet. Will let you know if interested. Maybe @Northwood Will give us an update on progress and results thus far. Been watching this thread for his results. Very interested. Btw my big lights for flower will be 2 of these lights. 480 watt led bars fit. 960 watts total for a 4x8. So about 39 watts/ft for them. happy growing. Happy to see a fellow grower coming back to the scene. Lemme know how it goes.
Jesselikes2grow
Well-Known Member
Fyi, dunno where you're at or what your budget is but even home depot is selling grow lights, tents, kits etc. 6 month no interest if you get their CC. Finance it til you've got a crop. Just a thought.
Thank you so much for the help brother! I live in Western New York, I had no idea home depot sells that stuff,ty for the info. I have no credit so chances of being approved are slim lol,I've never established credit in my 37 years of life lol. So it's not watts per plant, it's watts per Sq. Ft. Is there info out there, or would you know the optimal watts per sq. ft. For both veg and flower or os that more a trail and error type thing? I've been looking into building my own led system for the past couple months as I'm a DIY type,it's not cheap but a little cheaper than your name brand lights. Hlg qb kits are reasonable but still out of my price range as of now. I've also been looking into the driverless cobs and it seems to me you can make a really nice light for 250ish depending on your heatsink,that's where it can get expensive. The idea of the bulb setup seems cost effective and simple. So many ways to grow this beautiful plant!!! I've been doing a ton of research,I mean digging deep, but it can make your head spin on deciding what way to go. I just want the simplest most cost effective way to go so I can get started.
Jesselikes2grow
Well-Known Member
The ac powered cobs are not worth the time, they're garbage. Hlg is good but I agree with costs for their newer units. But they do have a good deal on their older tech. 4 panels for like 125$, I forget size but think they were 132 s. 240 watt hlg driver 60$ run soft so no need for heat sinks according to there site. My main light is 6 Citizen 1212 cobs on an hlg 480 on an aluminum water cooled bar. Diy. My design, works great for me but too powerful for veg. I run it at about 235 watts at 18" for veg and it does great. Per ft wattages I have found most saying 30 to 50 watts per sq ft for flowering and half of that for your veg. Really depends on the efficiency of the led to find that spot that works for your setup as well as the height you'll be working with. 15 watts a sq ft in clone box does good growth at 8 to 12 inches from plants. 20 watts a sq ft does massive growth in the big veg room at 18" from plants. 40 watts a sq ft does amazing for my flowering room at 2 ft height. The more efficient the led the less wattage can be run for the same results. If you're not needing a lot of smoke a small grow cabinet would work. I could grow one good plant in the cabinet box with LST to keep it short and bushy. All depends on your goals. How much you looking to yield, how much room you got, and how much you want to invest right now. I love my leds but I could get a full hps setup ready to plug and grow for 200 brand new. I'd never do that as I'm an led guy, but if I was starting at the beginning again and wanted the best cheapest I could get with little to no dyi involved I'd do a 315 hid setup and graduate into led as $ allowed. Or spend a bit more up front for an led startup, or do a lot of diy to build it your way. I'd stick with hlg drivers though and a good quality led if you build one. Or the bulb setup seen here is an option. Obviously Northwood is getting it done, I'm trying it out as a veg light. Eventually I will do a more efficient setup for veg, bulbs are only producing about 95 lumens per watt. My bar setup is about 135 lumens per watt. The qb boards and strips are in the 180+ lumens per watt range. Hence more plant growing light from the same electrical usage. That's why you see the 30 to 50 range of watts per ft. Crunch some numbers and see what your goals are and what your budget point is.
Very well said,thank you so much for all the great info sir! So the space I have will be a 4'×4'×6.5' for all 3 phases to start with,eventually a 2'×4' area for veg then use the 4'×4' for flower only as finances permit. I'm not going to go HPS as that's what I used 10 years ago and my electric bill hated it lol. I'm 100% set on going the DIY led route as I've dabbled with the technology in other fields,not a expert by any means lol. I'm here to learn all I can before buying the parts ect. My budget for just the lighting is around 300ish. So I'm looking for the best setup to build to flower a 4'×4'. I'm planning on growing in coco this time around,last time for my 1st grow I did dwc.
Jesselikes2grow
Well-Known Member
Gotta head off to work but an fyi. unless your legal, even if you are, don't forget about odor control. Carbon filter of some sort. Dont need to be out on front st. Lol. Ill get back to you. Maybe Northwood will update progress too.
Jesselikes2grow
Well-Known Member
I had a spare moment. If you wanted the qb boards here's a few to look at website is at the top. A driver would be another 50 to 80 depending on size. Total under 300 for you. Horticultural lighting group is website. Also read a thread called https://www.rollitup.org/t/diy-leds-how-to-power-them.801554/ for a good intro.
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CouchGouch
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@Northwood Nice grow mate! Really inspiring. You mentioned buying different bulbs and finding more efficient ones as you progressed. If you were to start a fresh grow which bulbs would you buy and what sort of colour mix? Do these run from the main circuit that power your house lights or at the wall?
Starting a 8 x 4 space after a long break and your post has given me something to think about, not sinking a couple of grand into cobs again for starters!
Starting a 8 x 4 space after a long break and your post has given me something to think about, not sinking a couple of grand into cobs again for starters!
Jesselikes2grow
Well-Known Member
Cobs are cheap man, I get my stuff from CDI. Component distributers Inc. https://led.cdiweb.com/Products/LEDs/1094
Get your drivers and other parts there too. It's a local store here in Denver for me so I save on shipping. Building a Northwood design for my veg light, try that out for the time being. Will have 2 cob setups for the flower room though. About 1000 watts on the cobs altogether. Probably upgrade my veg lite to some qb s down the road though since they're quite a bit more grow power for the same amount of electricity used.
40 bulbs altogether, 3 dimmers for it. Should do great I'd think.
Get your drivers and other parts there too. It's a local store here in Denver for me so I save on shipping. Building a Northwood design for my veg light, try that out for the time being. Will have 2 cob setups for the flower room though. About 1000 watts on the cobs altogether. Probably upgrade my veg lite to some qb s down the road though since they're quite a bit more grow power for the same amount of electricity used.
40 bulbs altogether, 3 dimmers for it. Should do great I'd think.
Jesselikes2grow
Well-Known Member
Here's my version, pretty dang bright I'd say.
camera does not do it justice, dims out pretty bad lights so bright. Lol
camera does not do it justice, dims out pretty bad lights so bright. LolCouchGouch
Well-Known Member
That looks sick, which bulbs are those and how are they powered? I had a look through your suppliers site but have a lot of reading before I know what I'm looking for
Jesselikes2grow
Well-Known Member
Their just dimmable 60 watt led bulbs from depot and or lowes. 3000k and 5000k to spread out the spectrum. Removed the plastic diffuser from the bulb, makes it into a directional spotlight. Just used the cheapy plastic light bulb holders like you'd have in an attic or basement. $1 or so at depot if you buy more than 10. Dimmers are only rated for 150 watts led each so I did 3 of them. Had a couple laying around. Probably didn't need the dimmers, but it's nice to turn them down when in the room, blinding otherwise. Could wear glasses I guess but I chose dimming. Frame is a plywood panel with holes for helping keep the leds cool. They do get pretty warm. I did the wiring just like a modern house has, I'm a general contractor so have extensive experience with electrical work and building things to rely on. Also do to that fact I had all the items on hand to do this build except the abundance of holders and bulbs. Used 14 gauge solid core romex for connecting lights to each other, (bigger wire less resistance, and i had it in stock) did 2 banks of 13 bulbs and one bank of 14 bulbs each on its own dimmer. Used a 8' heavy duty power tool replacement cord for the plug in. About $120 for everything not including the dimmers, they're about 20 each, but not really needed if you wanted to omit them. It's so bright I couldn't tell when I turned the overhead lights off, so sunglasses if not dimmers. Lol. I can post some pics of the backside and of it hanging this weekend, maybe sooner, depends on how my week goes. A few more things to do before I can swap the lights around. The new diy light is replacing my 500 watt cob setup that is moving into the new flowering room. Cob setup is too powerful for my veg room, have to run it dimmed way down around 240 watts. I love my cob setup. Before you decide on a light etc decide on your goal first. A 4 x 4 youd want a 400 to 500 watt light and be able to crank some herb out. You want the most efficient type setup? Has a high startup cost. Older tech same type setup just less efficient but as powerful and save a few bucks at the beginning. Cobs are a great middle ground imho. Lots of power available, great growth, cost effective. HLG drivers all the way. The bulb setup is my cost effective way to double up on lights right now. It's just not super efficient in power usage for the amount of light output. Anyways I'll stop my stoner ramble now, happy to provide help or info if I can.
Jesselikes2grow
Well-Known Member
Fyi my cob setup ran me about 350 all told, but a lot of diy into it. Not thousands, $10 a cob, and 130 for the driver. Plus frame parts.
Nice clean build! What are the sockets mounted on? Edit: Never mind, just read your other post. Lol
I'm mixing color temperature too, about half and half daylight to warm white but "100 watt equivalents". When I started using bulbs just for seedlings long ago, some of them had actual glass covers instead of the plastic we see today. They were rated 13 watts and only put out like 1000 lumens or something. They've long been retired.
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I'd go by watts per square foot. You'll want at a minimum 33 watts per, 35 or 40 watts might be more optimal. Let's go with 35 watts which means you'll need 560 watts in total. So if you're buying 9 watt bulbs, you'll need 62 bulbs or so. If you use 15 watt bulbs, you'll need about 37 bulbs. You'll want the bulbs spread over the canopy as evenly as you can so that light hits ever cola and branch from every direction.
Hempire828
Well-Known Member
Impressive set-up fellas
Jesselikes2grow
Well-Known Member
Yeah the 100 watt ones were too expensive. Took away my purpose of building the light. If I would have used the 100 watt ones I'd have just as well built another cob rig for the costs. I can get 60 watts for $10 For 8 bulbs, the 100 watt one were 7$ for two bulbs. 3 times the cost for less than double my output. And the efficiency isn't there to justify that cost. Haha and as of yet the newer qb panels cost isn't enough to justify the efficiency just yet either, at least not for me. Lol. Either way it was a very cost effective lighting solution for what I need at the moment. Gets really good even spread and reads good numbers on the light meter at the heights I expect to be running it. About 16 to 18 inches seems optimal from test phase in an empty room using the meter at various heights. Was still reading decent numbers at 24" distance. It's a cheapy meter that's only accurate to itself. Lol. Hope that helps anyone that's interested in this novel grow light option.
Flinttownbrown
Active Member
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Flinttownbrown
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Here is what I'm running with 7 in one light bulb splitters I don't remember how many watt to the wall think it was over 400 on this 4x4 flower tent and a lot of the bulbs were dirt cheap and I think I'm growing some quality stuff but won't know till it's done cause I'm new and it's my first run , I think I have more pics anad also pics of my led veg I am running 5000k and 4000k on my veg and 2,700 k on flower
