give me your opinion

http://mobile.walmart.com/#ip/Sterilite-2-Shelf-Storage-Cabinet/8206250?type=search
I plan on buying this cabinet and turning it into a grow cabinet.I like it because it will be easy to cut holes for fans and anything else.where I'm stuck is with lighting.my current micro box is using CFLs (2-68w and 2-55w) but I want to get out of the CFLs because I want better yields and bigger plants.I've looked at 400w mh/hps but I feel that will
make that size cabinet too hot unless I plan on mounting huge fans and I'm trying to keep it kinda stealthyI've looked into led but to get one that everyone says isn't junk is outrageous in price (which I'm trying to keep low) and also that some agent getting great results with LEDs.so what's your opinion for something this size.I plan on mounting whatever lights I use to the very top and removing the shelves
as needed.

@part time grower326

I really think you should look into the Cree CXA DIY build and aim for two at a time of the 3000k Z2 or Z4's. This will give you 104w's roughly. You can also add some other cobs or led sources for extra light, blue or red.
Vero's could be done here, in the almost exact same process...

• Last night I was dicking with paint [yes, still paint ] and put together a cheaper light package with Vero13's or 18's.

The Cxa build for each module is about $75-80 for each 52w module when ran @ [1.4A x 37volts= 52 watts] This will give you at least a 10-15% effiency improvement over the Ebay led's watt for watt. Keep in my mind that 104 could be putting out as much photons as 150-160 watts of the Ebay LEds.
Greengenes just posted a video about a simple build, which I think is easy to follow.


As you can see, if you ran the Z4 [top bin 3000k] @1.4 amps, it would 39% efficient with 127 lumens/ watt. Not too shabby.

Parts list for the Cree

Module Build Solderless.

Meanwell Lpc 60-1400
Arctic Plus 11 CPU cooler
IDEAL 50-2234C LED HOLDER, CXA30 ARRAY SERIES
12v 1a or 2a Power supply for Fans [Ebay, Fasttech, etc. ]

Small things

Wire [need to check on gauge but probably 12-14 AWG?]
Fuses on the Ac side [Optional but recommended]
GFCI on the Ac Side [again optional but recommend]
Waggo Connectors 222's [221's are coming out very shortly]
Thermal Adhesive [ the thermal pad that GG uses is one of the few attempts I have seen, don't know prices]
Hardware and Drill bits for the Solderless Cob Holders.
Power cord/s for the Meanwell Drivers.

If you did look at HPS, I would look into maybe a 150w or a 200w HPS and pair it with a cooltube.

You can even build your own 150w light [bulb/fixture/cord/remote ballast] and your own cooltube. Find some pyrex tubing or look up the bake-o round mod.

I have found Pyrex tubing cuts on Ebay or call around to local blowers or glass dealers.

Thanks for the info.I'll look at the diy build but I don't know how well I trust myself to build something like that,lol

I think I'm gonna go with a 250w mh/hps.I should be able to keep that cool and I've thought about even mounting a hood on the outside of the cabinet and cutting a hole in the top to let the light through and that will keep out much of the heat.I'm already using 246w of CFLs and only getting around 16,000lumens with a 250w mh/hps I'll get 21000/32000lumens.so its worth it.

MH/HPS is gonna be HOT

I have a cab with two of these

Commander Strax said:

MH/HPS is gonna be HOT

I have a cab with two of these

Click to expand...

How are they doing? I figured that if i mounted the light outside the cabinet i could keep it a little cooler.i may just have to get a inline fan but thats
more noise and electric but then i can add a small carbon filter inside.if all else fails i may just have to mount up my cfls again.

I had some problems with brown slime algae so I do not have a report on the lights yet

As much as I hate it I'm probably just going to continue with my CFLs,if I use a 150w hps I will get about the same lumens as I'm making now I will just be drawing 100 watts less power and if a 250w is going to get too hot and as far as LEDs I don't have the extra cash or am I a grower that has to have the best equipment so I don't see me getting a led system that will produce some good buds for my price range.my cfls I'm a 12x12x18" tall box aren't giving me very good results so I could imagine using them in something thats bigger.

I've found a few led panels that I've seen people getting good results from but I've also heard about LEDs causing deficiencies throughout the grow and that means having to find more stuff to feed and me probably misdiagnosing and killing them.

What is your budget?

and disregard lumens for now, as they can take into account some range of the PAR, but def not all of it.

Not to add more confusion. But reds have incredibly shitty luminosity, but have great PAR which is true. If you have a source with green light or blue/green, the lumen count may be artificially inflated.
All lumen counts are independent of each other from spectrum to spectrum and light to light. You cannot compare the lumen count of an HPS with CFL and ascertain the actual amount of photons your plant will receive. Again, slick marketing hype by an entire industry of lighting, not just LED>


If you are going to do HPS, I wouldn't even consider it unless a cool tube was involved. You could build a LED fixture for probably less than $200, which is comparable to even the lower end LED models and no soldering is involved.

If you ever played with Lego's, you can build leds

My budget is as cheap as I
can get.iI'd like to stay under $200 on the light,I've found some that looked OK to me for around $150-$200 and I probably won't be building any,I'm more of a buy it already done for me kinda guy.I just want something that I can toss some seeds in some pots and grow a lil bit.and I can't go too big or else I will get busted that's why I'm just doing a small cabinet.

I think that big CFL's are going to heat up your small space fast, just like a small 150 watt HPS or MH will. LED is the way to go, and there are some good lights out here. If you don't want to go through the trouble of building a LED, consider Kessil H150 spots. Two will max your budget at $200, but at $97 each they have really come down in price. I would veg with CFL and move in two Kessil magenta H150's to flower. I find these effective at 12-18" over tops. Two should outperform a 250 HPS with next to no heat, which is critical in you're space.

http://growershouse.com/kessil-h150-led-grow-light-magenta

Smokenpassout said:

I think that big CFL's are going to heat up your small space fast, just like a small 150 watt HPS or MH will. LED is the way to go, and there are some good lights out here. If you don't want to go through the trouble of building a LED, consider Kessil H150 spots. Two will max your budget at $200, but at $97 each they have really come down in price. I would veg with CFL and move in two Kessil magenta H150's to flower. I find these effective at 12-18" over tops. Two should outperform a 250 HPS with next to no heat, which is critical in you're space.

http://growershouse.com/kessil-h150-led-grow-light-magenta

Click to expand...

I agree smoken...I recently got a refurb blackstar 100 watt ufo on ebay for $42, but it is not as intense as my 32 watt kessil. I use one H150 magenta, T5's & cfl's to round out the light in my box. Going to replace the cfl's with this blackstar (or some cree bulbs) shortly to try and eliminate the additional heat created by the cfl's. Just used the kessil and the T5's on my last grow over the summer because my box was getting too hot.

part time grower326 said:

As much as I hate it I'm probably just going to continue with my CFLs,if I use a 150w hps I will get about the same lumens as I'm making now I will just be drawing 100 watts less power and if a 250w is going to get too hot and as far as LEDs I don't have the extra cash or am I a grower that has to have the best equipment so I don't see me getting a led system that will produce some good buds for my price range.my cfls I'm a 12x12x18" tall box aren't giving me very good results so I could imagine using them in something thats bigger.

Click to expand...

How hot was it getting in your small box with that many watts of cfl's? It had to be hot if you kept it shut.

Now you tell me about the kessils.I just installed my led and I had looked at the kessils but didn't know about them.I had 247 watts of CFLs in a 12x12x18" tall box and kept it around 80°f on average.in my new cabinet
with my new led its staying 73°.

My box was hot with CFL's and HPS until i cut same diameter size hole for passive intake. Problem solved.

LED

part time grower326 said:

How are they doing? I figured that if i mounted the light outside the cabinet i could keep it a little cooler.i may just have to get a inline fan but thats
more noise and electric but then i can add a small carbon filter inside.if all else fails i may just have to mount up my cfls again.

Click to expand...

I've been using LED and had moderate success. You could probably get by with a 100w full spectrum UFO LED light for that size cabinet. Low heat output and you can hang it on the inside. For that cabinet, just get some high performance CPU fans, 120mm, higher the airflow output the better - and their cheap. You can also buy a $10 fan controller to control the fan speed.