Off the shelf retail store screw-in LED and CFL bulb comparisons

[f-e]

[URL=https://i.postimg.cc/L8XGQMKp/Screenshot-2019-10-27-05-49-58.png]View Image[/url]

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This calculator is for DC or AC resistive loads. In these cases, peak current flows, when peak voltage is applied. It's in unity. This isn't how your psu is taking it's current though. It's perhaps taking bites at 10khz, to power a coil, that could have a collapsing magnetic field around is still from the last time it was switched off. A collapsing field, is a moving field. Fields moving over the coil induce a voltage. One that could be in or out of phase with the supply voltage. Aiding it, or causing a back electromotive force. This back 'emf' is a resistance to current flow, as it could be 50v pushing back against your 120v supply. So you have just 70v pushing, not 120v. I'm just scratching at the topic here to.

Many meters will give results that ohm's law can't cover with the ease it's used in DC circuits.

 

[PCBuds]

... These type of power convertors can take a huge bite out of your supply when switching on.

I think this is my question then.

Do SIL's take a huge bite when they switch on?

I guess it depends on the year make and model and how many capacitors it has?

 

[StillOvergrowin]

The current Bridgelux gen 3 strips are so cheap and give literally twice the light output of these things. Just something to consider... this thread is 4 years old... I realize its off topic, just cant help myself

This is a $16.55 36w "grow light":
View attachment 509079

these are only 175lm/w , so they only give 75% more light than the SILs..equivalent would be ~60w of SIL. the new strips are 200lm/w, available in 1ft suitable for micro size. That's not to say that the supermarket leds are bad of course... still cheaper on the initial purchase, I reckon, but thats about it.

I'm definitely intrigued and interested in the DIY LED strips.

Although the SILs have the advantage of convenience and ease of purchase and set up, you can't ignore the efficiency of 200lm/w!


Is that really a $20 fixture?


I have a 3 socket "vanity" (bathroom) light fixture with with 3;

15W bulbs that claim 1600lm each.

$10 for the fixture from Lowes
$7 for the 16/3 extension cord and
$10 for a 4 pack of the bulbs.



So $30 for 4,800(claimed) watts. All I do have to snip and strip the end of the extension cord and use the 2 included wire nuts to make the connection. Then it just plugs in.



I haven't seen many recent threads about DIY LED strip fixtures on here, but there is a site that has nice looking plans for different set ups based on the size of the growing area. The plans on led grower usually come out to around $200 for the smaller kits, but I'd be down to try a budget set up with a lightweight frame (PVC?), and some 1 or 2 ft strips. Do you know if those strips waterproof?


Do we have any current threads on DIY strip set ups? ( I might just suck at the search function here. I only get the "search titles" option). The tech seems to make big jumps every 12 months or so, and that leaves the older threads somewhat obsolete.

 

[PCBuds]

I think these things need a driver.
And they don't look waterproof.



That's an added expense.

Don't fall into the rabbit hole. Lol.

(but I think I might buy one, .. Or a few)

 

[StillOvergrowin]

I think these things need a driver.
And they don't look waterproof.

https://postimg.cc/D8DLvBGyView Image

That's an added expense.

Don't fall into the rabbit hole. Lol.

(but I think I might buy one, .. Or a few)

I'm wondering if it's a more efficient way to supply the required 20-30 per sq.ft....


For some reason, dispersed, linear lights seem like they'd give more uniform coverage than spot light style screw-ins.



And they make clear plastic ( probably polycarbonate?) covers for fluorescent tubes...so I'd think it would be fairly easy to adapt the tubes to the strips. maybe just some hot-glue or silicone for the adhesive to hold the strips in place inside the tubes.



Finally, the strips aren't nearly as tall as the SILs and sockets, so they require far less headroom in a micro set up.


I love this thread.

 

[SuperBadGrower]

I listed the driver somewhere. Indeed, definitely not waterproof hehe. (I thnk you can get strip housings with acrylic cover, not so expensive)

StillOvergrowin, Yeah the strips are great for getting good light spread, if you do it right all the leaves remain 'flat' instead of angling themselves towards the light as is the case with many point source lights (HID, COBs)
Some of those high intensity systems don't do better than 200 ppfd at the edges of a room.

Sure enough being able to use many bulbs will bring you somewhere between COBs and strips as far as light spread goes. If you get enough of them you'll be rockin it regardless

Readers here might be interested in this article, Improving Cannabis Bud Quality and Yield with Subcanopy Lighting
. Possible with the bulbs.

https://journals.ashs.org/hortsci/view/journals/hortsci/53/11/article-p1593.xml

 

[PCBuds]

@f-e.

My timer is rated 15 Amp incandescent and 5 Amp ballast.

Are SIL's considered "ballasted" or is that flouro's?

So is this correct?



5A / 0.135 = 37 bulbs, that can be safely switched on and off.



5A / 0.085 = 58 bulbs, that can be safely switched on and off.


My timer doesn't give a Watt rating for a ballasted load, just the Amperage.

 

[PCBuds]

And they make clear plastic ( probably polycarbonate?) covers for fluorescent tubes...so I'd think it would be fairly easy to adapt the tubes to the strips. maybe just some hot-glue or silicone for the adhesive to hold the strips in place inside the tubes.

These things are available but there was a recall on early models because they were melting.











This version is glass.








I'm concerned about heat and fire safety with the covers.

 

[Boocoodinkydow]

Purchased 20) 18w tubes and tombstone sockets from brother Jeff Bezo for $115. Works out to about 30 cents per watt. Left home about 4 days after installation. I’m anxious to get back to see the results. I’m a bit concerned over the anemic 25w per square foot coverage. May be a bust.

View image in gallery​

Not sure how to reposition pic. Sorry.

 

[PCBuds]

I'm pretty sure I'm going to go with this for all my sidelights.




I was concerned that the globe was too close to the circuitry and might start to melt, so I put it in a Mason jar for an hour then checked it.



It was fine. The jar got warm, and the base got hot but the globe/cap was fine.

These are Noma bulbs and the globes are really easy to work with.
It took two minutes to cut the dome and silicone it back on.

(5000K, 10 Watt, 135mA, 800 lumens non-dimable)

 

[PCBuds]

Purchased 20) 18w tubes and tombstone sockets from brother Jeff Bezo for $115.

I like how the 16 Watts are spread across a huge surface area. They probably have no hot spots.

I’m a bit concerned over the anemic 25w per square foot coverage. May be a bust.

It might be different with side lighting.
You're not trying to beam through a canopy.


PS. Apparently white is a lot more reflective than silver.

I switched from tin foil to this stuff when I installed my sidelights. (I sure wasn't going to mount my bulb sockets to tin foil. Lol)

 

[PCBuds]

I found these in my stuff so I'm going to try to use them as drivers for my handfull of cobs.









I don't want a rats nest of 120 V wires running around my cab.
(I'm more comfortable with a 12 V rats nest. Lol)



I bought this too, to connect to my timer.
I don't want to weld the contacts closed inside the timer.

 

[Dramajic]

Exlenvce 1500W 1200W LED

Exlenvce 1500W 1200W LED

Amazon, 118$ 1200 watts. Exlenvce 1500W 1200W LED Grow Light Full Spectrum

 

[f-e]

I think this is my question then.

Do SIL's take a huge bite when they switch on?

I guess it depends on the year make and model and how many capacitors it has?

Yes there is no single answer to cover all lamps, and then people will mix lamps and other loads on to the same timer. Taking away any answer you might of had.

It's more like a ballasted lamp than your other choices. A difficult load.

 

[PCBuds]

Amazon, 118$ 1200 watts. Exlenvce 1500W 1200W LED Grow Light Full Spectrum


[URL=https://www.icmag.com/ic/picture.php?albumid=65281&pictureid=1983765&thumb=1]View Image[/url]

Do those lights have a lux, lumens or par rating on them?

Is that 1,200/1,500 actual Watts or the incandescent equivalent.

(My bulbs are 10 Watt, 60 equivalent)

That light may be equivalent to twelve 100 Watt SIL's that cost $1 each, plus sockets and wire.
Less than $30 worth of supplies.

 

[f-e]

From the size of it, that's no 1000w lamp. 200 maybe?

If your going to switch your lights by timer, you should wire up your own contactor. All you need is a $20 mini contactor, a plug on the end of a bit of wire, and a 4 way extension lead to chop in half. Some scissors and a No2 screwdriver. If you push the boat out a bit more, you could get a bigger contactor. Something that actually carries an ac15a rating. Though just being a contactor, makes it vastly superior to a plug in timer. Don't waste money on packaged contactors aimed at growers. Most don't contain a contactor. They just know the word. They use relays in a lot of them. Choosing them by carrying capacity not make or break capabilities. IIRC mine can close on a 16,000 amp short circuit and not weld shut. 16,000 amps. Which means being quite near a substation. Typical domestic breakers can disconnect 6000. Something a mini can live up to, with a reasonable 3kw ac3 rating.

Finding your lights don't go off, because of a bad timer, is both common and not at all funny. If you really want a bad timer, then one for the electric water heater is usually quite a sturdy design. It should be rated 3kw, and water heaters fall in the same catagory as halogen lighting

 

[PCBuds]

I had to Google that.





The relay I bought is rated 10 amps for 120/240 V.

I'm going to wire it in the way you mentioned except I'll be soldering the wires on.

My whole grow is only ~310 Watts and the timer has been working for almost 3 years but I've had one apart and the contacts are tiny and flimsy looking.

However, I do have and old 3,600 Watt water heater.

I knew it had a big ole' electrically operated switch in it but it didn't occur to me.

 

[SuperBadGrower]

Amazon, 118$ 1200 watts. Exlenvce 1500W 1200W LED Grow Light Full Spectrum


[URL=https://www.icmag.com/ic/picture.php?albumid=65281&pictureid=1983765&thumb=1]View Image[/url]

Great unit to light up your trash bin

Hate to be blunt, all I can say.
all of these are money with wings.

edit: Lol pretty uninformative post by me, but it's all over the internet why you should really not be getting these things in 2019, I just hate to repeat it. Maybe I will make a thread about it some day

 

[StillOvergrowin]

These things are available but there was a recall on early models because they were melting.

https://postimg.cc/c6ztwf34View Image




https://postimg.cc/XXqyrspzView Image




This version is glass.



https://postimg.cc/GHZygDntView Image




I'm concerned about heat and fire safety with the covers.

It's odd... all the linear / tube design "grow lights" I found only have about HALF the watts per foot the other lights have.

They almost seem to intentionally avoid intensity in favor of a larger coverage area.



All the other popular screw-in "grow bulbs" cost about $1 per watt on average! And a large percent of them seem to rely on snake oil style advertisements.

They want $15 each for 15 watt bulbs.



So, in the Watts Per Dollar Challenge, I'm going to offer up Terpene's

idea of a premade vanity light with 3 off the shelf bulbs (with the globes removed).

That's $30 for 42-45 watts and around 4500 claimed lumens.
That's enough to cover approx an 18inch by 18 inch area.
So in theory, someone could use some autoflower/fem seeds in a simple, discreet setup with that lighting set up and get started super cheaply- a complete growing set up for the cost of a factory made light.

If you want the Ritchie Rich upgrade, I think 2 of those fixtures would cover a 2ft by 2ft area pretty well. That's a lot of room if you learn to use it efficiently.
That's about $60 to light a 2ftX2ft area.



How cheaply could we light a 2X2 area with strips? Or to rephrase it- what would $60 worth of DIY strip set up look like? How many watts/lumens/coverage?

Would there be any advantage (besides head-room)?

I've heard someone on here mention radio interference from the drivers for the DIY strips- so that may be something to factor in.)


Of course, now I need a couple of each so I can run side by side experiments.

 

[indagroove]

Amazon, 118$ 1200 watts. Exlenvce 1500W 1200W LED Grow Light Full Spectrum


[URL=https://www.icmag.com/ic/picture.php?albumid=65281&pictureid=1983765&thumb=1]View Image[/url]

As a reality check that unit is only 235 watts, according to the specs.