Or_Gro
Well-Known Member
I think that if you build a light that fills out the PAR spectrum fairly well, and add on 730-40, and uva-b, your will have a light that has not yet been commercially released.@Or_Gro RE solstrips or the UVB? RandomBlame put's out a lot of good info.
On the far reds, I'm putting together a shopping list of diodes.
3W XPE R3, UV 395-400NM
5x Infrared 3w 730nm-740 nm IR LED Night Vision Camera 20mm Star USA
10x Cree XPE Photo Red 660nm
and I plan to expand usage of reptile bulbs but all that's on hold due to expensive things breaking.
I plan to stick those on the chaopo ripoff amazon thing I got as I do like the clamp and arms arrangement. Curious as to where I could source just those pieces.
One of the big problems I have with the supplemental lighting options being offered is the tend to be all or nothing. A 4 ft strip wont be convenient for how I plan to hang the tray lights. The smaller pucks would require several and gets pricey.
I'm in no great rush to build this, just was shopping on ebay and turning the concept around in my head. Absolutely welcome any feedback on better options, bearing in mind the "budget" part of this grow.
I have no experience sourcing or building, but maybe @Randomblame would have some comments or could point you in the right direction. Also, i bet there are plenty of riu posts with responses to the same kind of questions.
How much 620-630ish nm do you have built into the white lights? I think you need an ample amount to boost photosynthesis together with 660 and 730-40. If you intend to veg you will want to check your blues, too. If you can get uva-b in affordable diodes, you can have an all diode light, otherwise, you’ll need some room for 1 or 2 reptile/uva-b T5s.
In addition to the diodes themselves, part of the light’s value is in being able to control the intensity and scheduling of the various light combinations, especially the supplementals. So, it’s worth considering, at least, how to wire in dimming and timer based switches for each parts of the spectrum you might want to individually control. For my current grow, the qbs (with dimmers) and emersons are plugged into a Titan light controller; the far-red and uv are on their own separate timers (uva-b requires a cycle timer).
If you build the light(s), create a thread with bill of materials and pics of parts and build process. I’m sure others will be interested in following now or reading at some future date.
It’s a big enuff project for a separate thread.
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