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

Drop That Sound

Well-known member
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1760 watts for $80.

45 day money back, and a 12 month warranty, lol.
 

Ca++

Well-known member
It is cheap, but I suggest a little caution. My first build was 100lm/w like these, and it just showed me I should buy better.

The lamps in this thread have reached double this efficiency now. As have most branded grow lights. So comparatively, these use double the electric, to make the same amount of light. Beside a 301 based lamp, this set of 8, would use an extra unit per hour. Units are not cheap. In the UK, maybe 35p. £4 in 12 hours, making heat. £30 a week. £120 per month. Per 9 week bloom, these might use £250 they didn't need to. This is real money over a 5 year expectancy. £7500 spent on heating you probably don't want.
 

psyphish

Well-known member
Veteran
My lights run a total of ~350 Watts spread out over the 48 strips and 2688 individual LED segments, but that's still 350 Watts of heat going into my closet.
I've got no hot spots but my closet does get quite warm without ventilation.

View attachment 18970371

350W... I hope you're yielding more than 500g dry from those watts. I use 200w~ for 300 - 400g dry.
 

PCBuds

Well-known member
350W... I hope you're yielding more than 500g dry from those watts. I use 200w~ for 300 - 400g dry.

I didn't bother weighing my last plant.
It did fill two 1 gallon jars though.
I lost interest in keeping track of all the numbers (PH, TDS, Lumens, Watts, tsp, grams, And Especially RH)

This is the power I was using for that plant,..

Screenshot_20240329-222649_DuckDuckGo.jpg



The plant before that was over a pound, but I think that I was using closer to 450 Watts for that plant?


These are the specs. for my LED strips,..


Screenshot_20240329-222812_DuckDuckGo.jpg



 

PCBuds

Well-known member
The plant before that was over a pound, but I think that I was using closer to 450 Watts for that plant?

Here it is,..

 

Drop That Sound

Well-known member
I think I figured out how to make cheap copper edge cooled SIL pcb water blocks. Found these 1-1/2 copper test caps with inside diameter that accepts 1-5/8" OD pipe. $2 a piece. (y)

Guess what diameter the circular PCB chips in most of my SILs are? Yep, you guessed it, they are exactly 1-5/8"!

I may have to spin the PCBs around the grinder wheel and shave off a hair, but they should slide right into the test caps. The test caps have the wall going around, which I think will make it easay to bend some soft 3/8 copper HVAC tubing around, and get a braze joint on both the top and bottom, and get almost or maybe the full 360 degrees of piping going around the LEDS, for the best transfer of heat away from the components.. I think the wall going around the cap (which will be upside down) will help hold even more heat, like an upside down bowl.
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With about 6-7 inches of the copper tubing wrapped\soldered around, it should cost less than $3.50 in materials for each block, including the copper brazing rod.

Something like this:
1711800372518.png
 
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Drop That Sound

Well-known member
I still like the rigid dual tube flat bar water cooled rails that look like a ladder idea, but.. I'm currently working on a 24 bulb SIL fixture that already has a fixed frame with sockets, so yeah.. I need single individual water blocks to finish this project up first, before I start workin on those edge cooled ladder rails for my next 2 lights.
 

MdNewgrower

Active member
Question for the brain trust.

Right now, I have a mix of 2700k and 5000k 14w(average)bulbs totaling approximately 154 watts. I ALWAYS get airy, fluffy, relatively short buds. Every. Single. Time.

Starting to feel like i am missing out on something.

My question is:
Would it be worth the investment for something like a Spider Farmer sf1000? I get that it is only 100w in real draw, but I see lots of grows that seem to get much larger and denser buds than I seem to be getting, using some form of LED panel.

I have everything else dialed in(or so I believe), with healthy plants all the way through the grow.

What say you?
 

chronosync

Well-known member
Question for the brain trust.

Right now, I have a mix of 2700k and 5000k 14w(average)bulbs totaling approximately 154 watts. I ALWAYS get airy, fluffy, relatively short buds. Every. Single. Time.

Starting to feel like i am missing out on something.

My question is:
Would it be worth the investment for something like a Spider Farmer sf1000? I get that it is only 100w in real draw, but I see lots of grows that seem to get much larger and denser buds than I seem to be getting, using some form of LED panel.

I have everything else dialed in(or so I believe), with healthy plants all the way through the grow.

What say you?
How many watts per square foot there?
 

aliceklar

Well-known member
Question for the brain trust.

Right now, I have a mix of 2700k and 5000k 14w(average)bulbs totaling approximately 154 watts. I ALWAYS get airy, fluffy, relatively short buds. Every. Single. Time.

Starting to feel like i am missing out on something.

My question is:
Would it be worth the investment for something like a Spider Farmer sf1000? I get that it is only 100w in real draw, but I see lots of grows that seem to get much larger and denser buds than I seem to be getting, using some form of LED panel.

I have everything else dialed in(or so I believe), with healthy plants all the way through the grow.

What say you?
My cupboard has a footprint of just under 1 x 2 meters. I use 3 x 100w SF LED boards, and have done for the past few years. They are excellent - no complaints at all, reliable and incredibly bright for the wattage. Check out my most recent couple of grow diaries.
 

MdNewgrower

Active member
One led or cfl can grow dense flowers, so many will do the same.

Points to consider...
Excess nitrogen
Distance from flowers to lights
Hot humid environment

2700k will throw much tighter flowers than 5k... How many 5k's to 2700's do you have?
9 2700k and 4 5000k.

I've done multiple runs under all 2700k, to the same effect.

I get the lights as close as I can without burning during flower. Usually 4-5 inches. Temps at canopy level.hover around 80 with lights on. I'm using K.I.S.S. method with Maxibloom, and my humidity is averages about 40% during flowering.
 

MdNewgrower

Active member
My cupboard has a footprint of just under 1 x 2 meters. I use 3 x 100w SF LED boards, and have done for the past few years. They are excellent - no complaints at all, reliable and incredibly bright for the wattage. Check out my most recent couple of grow diaries.
My box is less than 1/4 the size of yours.
 

LifeLess

Well-known member
Veteran
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I'm only using the box for making beans at this point. But I have 2 led lights I picked up at harbor freight for 20.00 each and can daisy chain up to 8 fixtures. These plants are at 25 days 12/12. If I was gonna use this to make some serious flower I would add atleast 2 more lights. Make sure you have no light leaks and get the lights as close as you can. I don't care what temp light your using if you give them enough they will produce good bud. Of course some are preferred for different stages. Checkout an app called photone. It's a light meter for your phone and it is accurate. Gl https://www.icmag.com/threads/my-box-set-up.46220/
 

Douglas.Curtis

Autistic Diplomat in Training
Light density is your issue. You need more lights.

Personally, I've always run sativa hybrids at a minimum of 55w, and usually 60w'ish per square foot.

45 is low, and all but the most low light versions of indica will give you fluffy flowers every time.

Edit: LOLOLOL My apologies for no coffee and forgetting those are HPS numbers. Yeah... at 45 with LED you should be fine. Hrmmm...
 
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glockdoc

Active member
Question for the brain trust.

Right now, I have a mix of 2700k and 5000k 14w(average)bulbs totaling approximately 154 watts. I ALWAYS get airy, fluffy, relatively short buds. Every. Single. Time.

Starting to feel like i am missing out on something.

My question is:
Would it be worth the investment for something like a Spider Farmer sf1000? I get that it is only 100w in real draw, but I see lots of grows that seem to get much larger and denser buds than I seem to be getting, using some form of LED panel.

I have everything else dialed in(or so I believe), with healthy plants all the way through the grow.

What say you?
the amount of heat 11 cfls put out, and the lack of intensity is the reason why you have airy buds. invest in a better light for sure! like the poster above said, 2700k will give you denser buds, 3000k would too so invest in newer light that has those spectrums.
an important thing to know is the inverse square law. a rough summary of that which is good practice for this hobby is for every foot light has to travel, it loses intensity by 25% . this is the deal with your set up , being 2ft+ away from the plants because of the heat from the cfls, and at 2 ft thats already loss 50% of your intensity, as to where newer leds are so intense that you kind of have to keep it a couple feet away , and after the 50% loss you still have 10000+ lumens which is all you really need.
 

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