Home made LED grow light

Slixxor

Slixxor

Well-Known Member
total cost has been roughly $175 US.

I have a supplier in hong kong, i posed as a panel builder "trialling" their LEDs in comparison to Cree's (which is not exactly true) the LEDs are good to say the least.

The controllers are a bit harder to find. I would suggest finding someone who will do 700ma constant current sources with a higher wattage i.e they can run 20 x 3w LEDs in series. and pick one with a mains AC input not DC. these are much easier to work with and you dont need to buy external power supplies to run them all.

I'm in the middle of my move so I may vanish for a while. but leave me messages and I will get back to you all.
 
Slixxor

Slixxor

Well-Known Member
MellowHaze,

I am giving my light away :P the other half doesnt want me to explore LED technologies with my favourite plant anymore so i'm back to tomatos and herbs. :P

I will provide information for FREE! for people to build there own lights. Just pick my brains.

have fun ya'll
 
MellowHaze

MellowHaze

Active Member
haha cool man im just doin a bit of research an would indeed like some of your knowledge :bigjoint: an i know wot is like my other half also doesnt want me growing either i've managed to persuade her once lol hope i can do it again, good luck with the move :)
 
G

gobbly

Well-Known Member
Slixxor said:
I have a supplier in hong kong, i posed as a panel builder "trialling" their LEDs in comparison to Cree's (which is not exactly true) the LEDs are good to say the least.
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That's why I asked what brand they were. I have seen PAR ratings comparing boards of Cree's, running around 150 watts beating 250w MH's. It looked to me like if you got them within a few inches of the plants, they could probably come close, if not match, a 400w at 18-24". Think they were 3w, so sounds like there were a lot more than on your setup, and I don't know the dimensions of the boards.
 
Slixxor

Slixxor

Well-Known Member
gobbly,

If it's 150w and they were using 3w LEDs my light is equivalent to theres. Question is, is it more effective ;)

I really dont have the funds to explore cree modules and actually find it very difficult to establish what wavelengths they sell. The main site does not respond to emails and does not have a workable web contact. (Maybe its just me).

I optd for this route, but if i ever do find that perfect amalgum of light that makes sweet buds that drip with resin then i'll try a better supplier :D
 
Slixxor

Slixxor

Well-Known Member
I think you are confusing the high power LEDs im using and low power LEDs available on the market. the viewing angle on my LEDs are all 120 degrees.
 
G

gobbly

Well-Known Member
I haven't had experience, so I'm mostly reciting, but it's all info I picked up from people using PAR meters and side by side comparisons. Most of them claim the Cree's have better penetration, and conducted most of their testing using them. I have heard a ton of people complain about buying them though, if you don't know exactly what you want then it seems intimidating. Most of the people I know who have built them did group buys with people who had built them before. I've never really had the cash to explore LED's, after doing a lot of research I figured it would take $1200-$2000 to get better results than I get from a $400 HID.

I also have read from several sources that three 1w with 60 degree optics are going to give you better penetration than one 3w with 120 degrees. Several sources I have read this from backed it up with math... Not sure how dated this was though, been 6-12 months or so since I really researched it.
 
Slixxor

Slixxor

Well-Known Member
Gobbly this is true. I find I get a better spread of light with the 120 degree LEDs it allows me to place the lights very close and still get a good mix. If you moved 60 degree LEDs the same distance you would find that the colors wouldn't blend as well. Which I feel would cause deficiencies On certain parts of the plant. It's a choice thing. I have considered reflectors but I will save it for my tomatos.
 
J

jonyjon

Member
Slixxor said:
Well I can say, tomatos and Pawpaw responded well to my LED tests. The basil and oregano did not do so well :). In particular the tomatos shot ahead of the rest.

I am now setting up my second canna grow.

The first time was really shakey as too many chefs made one giant mess using a 1000w HPS.

I am following the "Growing for dummies UK guide" from seed to smoke using 40x40mm grodan cubes under my 150w LED light. If all goes to plan I will posts full designs for building the light.

I am also working on a USB UHF TX/RX dongle. I am using an 18F4550 PIC microcontroller for the transmitter module and a 16F628A for the reciever (For those non-electronic minded people out there they are programmable microchips) and have rigged a temp, humidity and CO2 sensor to the 16F to send PLL serial data to the USB dongle module. I am also adding a 20A relay to allow adjustment of the height of my light in the growroom.

In other words I can have a passworded application on my PC to monitor the status of my grow room.

Once the project is complete I will provide the source code (vb.NET code), PIC code and circuit diagram for download. (Give me a couple of months :P)

Hopefully you guys can try it out. I am not an electronic engineer but I work in the industry ;)

Cheers,

Slix.
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skrill i was wondering if you ever got any where with you monitoring software its somthing im interested in doing my self if you had any plans

cheers
 
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