Supplemental LED bulb DIY

OldMedUser

Well-Known Member
View attachment 4055182

here thought I'd show ya, yeah she has some prob s , but I'm working through it, with all the help here. Plus thought you might like to see.
Don't look bad at all. Still got time to frost up more. Lot of strains really bust out the last two weeks so don't be too eager to chop. Snip a little popcorn off the bottom and air dry for a couple of days to see how the buzz is coming along.
 

BudmanTX

Well-Known Member
I have CFLs now and was just looking at this same thing. Here's pic with CFLs and pic of new fixture I'm making for the LEDs for my 2nd space View attachment 4055231 View attachment 4055230
killer setup, looks beautiful in there.

Don't look bad at all. Still got time to frost up more. Lot of strains really bust out the last two weeks so don't be too eager to chop. Snip a little popcorn off the bottom and air dry for a couple of days to see how the buzz is coming along.
Thanks, this is picture of one of the buds on the branch of the same plant. She's doing this all over it, i'll try to get some better ones next to the soil line. She's exploding in a since......
WP_20171205_007.jpg
 

BudmanTX

Well-Known Member
I have CFLs now and was just looking at this same thing. Here's pic with CFLs and pic of new fixture I'm making for the LEDs for my 2nd space View attachment 4055231 View attachment 4055230
one of the things i've found out in my experiments, is LED's are direction lighting, now i could be wrong with this thought, for me they love to be pointed, in my case it's down for the coverage it gets. CFL's for me are consider ball lighting, still works over all, but are slowly being surpased by the led bulbs. Change of the times i guess.
 

OldMedUser

Well-Known Member
I went the route of @Dabber68
I drill a hole in the tip of the bulb, mark a line just behind the apex and use tin snips to cut it off. Line the inside with aluminum tape. Now its a reflector!
That's a damn good idea! With CFLs I made tinfoil backings for the bulbs so that the tabs wrapped around the base and tucked in at the front so the fan couldn't blow them off. I see so many people using them open and wasting more than half the light from each bulb.

Light from those weakens so fast with distance the foil backing eliminated bouncing inches to a reflector then even more inches to a leaf surface where it's usable light would be greatly reduced.

You should be able to use un-altered LED bulbs in the same manner as CFLs I would think so the light is more diffuse and not beamed directly at the plants like with the globes off. Good for rooting clones or starting seedlings in a tight space where you can't get the bulbs far enough away to prevent burning tender babies.

Damn good idea. pass.gif
 

BudmanTX

Well-Known Member
I went the route of @Dabber68
I drill a hole in the tip of the bulb, mark a line just behind the apex and use tin snips to cut it off. Line the inside with aluminum tape. Now its a reflector!
no shit that is a good idea, the one I'm using right now, I left about little under a quarter of an inch of the diffuser left, then I put the 6" bell it came with back on it.

I have a feeling with 100watt equiv bulb at 5000k for veg, clone with. I used just one bulb like that to start my number 2 plant. Use it for clones, its a definite possibility.

keep in mind I still have CFL's still going in the closet too, with all this.
 

Dabber68

Well-Known Member
I'll be using co2 and am trying to decide if I want all lights on for 24/0 or just the supplemental lights. I'm doing a test grow sorta 9 plants five gallon pots 5 LEDs and my 8 light CFLs( maybe LED ) I do know when flowering starts I will added my Mars Par 38. Also anyone ever try or think about these lights

https://www.walmart.com/ip/Triangle-Bulbs-LED-Bulbs-Pack-Of-4-15-Watt-120-Watt-PAR38-LED-Flood-Light-Bulb-Dimmable-UL-Listed-Energy-star-certified/167378726 Just been looking at some lumens are only 1050. Thinking this for flower along with my Mars have 4 of each 2 for each fixture
no shit that is a good idea, the one I'm using right now, I left about little under a quarter of an inch of the diffuser left, then I put the 6" bell it came with back on it.

I have a feeling with 100watt equiv bulb at 5000k for veg, clone with. I used just one bulb like that to start my number 2 plant. Use it for clones, its a definite possibility.

keep in mind I still have CFL's still going in the closet too, with all this.
That's a damn good idea! With CFLs I made tinfoil backings for the bulbs so that the tabs wrapped around the base and tucked in at the front so the fan couldn't blow them off. I see so many people using them open and wasting more than half the light from each bulb.

Light from those weakens so fast with distance the foil backing eliminated bouncing inches to a reflector then even more inches to a leaf surface where it's usable light would be greatly reduced.

You should be able to use un-altered LED bulbs in the same manner as CFLs I would think so the light is more diffuse and not beamed directly at the plants like with the globes off. Good for rooting clones or starting seedlings in a tight space where you can't get the bulbs far enough away to prevent burning tender babies.

Damn good idea. View attachment 4055536
 

OldMedUser

Well-Known Member
no shit that is a good idea, the one I'm using right now, I left about little under a quarter of an inch of the diffuser left, then I put the 6" bell it came with back on it.

I have a feeling with 100watt equiv bulb at 5000k for veg, clone with. I used just one bulb like that to start my number 2 plant. Use it for clones, its a definite possibility.

keep in mind I still have CFL's still going in the closet too, with all this.
I'm still going to use my CFLs too. Good for close up work and still usable bulbs so ain't tossing them out. I mostly have 2700K ones tho so they're gonna be sitting on the shelf for a while. :)
 

OldMedUser

Well-Known Member
I'll be using co2 and am trying to decide if I want all lights on for 24/0 or just the supplemental lights. I'm doing a test grow sorta 9 plants five gallon pots 5 LEDs and my 8 light CFLs( maybe LED ) I do know when flowering starts I will added my Mars Par 38. Also anyone ever try or think about these lights

https://www.walmart.com/ip/Triangle-Bulbs-LED-Bulbs-Pack-Of-4-15-Watt-120-Watt-PAR38-LED-Flood-Light-Bulb-Dimmable-UL-Listed-Energy-star-certified/167378726 Just been looking at some lumens are only 1050. Thinking this for flower along with my Mars have 4 of each 2 for each fixture
If you're just using little LEDs and CFLs to grow with your kind of wasting your time with CO2. You need to get the big guns out to fire those plants up enough to benefit from the added gas. I bake my plants under 400 and 1000W HIDs once they are 6" or bigger. Just about to swap in my 400 MH for the Fluoros and LEDs they are under now. Just not performing like I know they can.

This is what I'm using for my veg plants now in the bedroom. I broke down 4 4' - T12 shop lights in 2001 and mounted the ballasts and connectors on a sheet of plywood so the tubes are closer together. Kind of a primitive T5 veg unit with 8 fatter tubes about 3000 lumens each. Hard to find those daylight Ultra tubes now. 6400K ones that use the full 40 watts. Getting a bit swaybacked so I'll need to stiffen up the plywood with some angle iron screwed on tight down the middle to pull it flat again or just retire it.

The small wood panel is a 3 bulb vanity fixture with a splitter in the middle and on the chair is my 11 bulb creation with 7 bulbs going to get more light in there. Clumsy and not very efficient so time for the 400.

OSAK47BB09121708.jpg

And these are the plants they're shining on. 3 Original Skunk on the left, Two AK47 fems in the middle and two BlueBerry on the right with a smaller BB in the little black pot. The big pot is a plant I got from a buddy that was sprouted from a 30 year old jar of seeds marked Sativa. She was flowering a bit when I rescued her from an icy greenhouse outside at his place and the buds smoke nice and the buzz makes her a keeper. I call her 30Something. She's all revegged and ready to take cuttings off of.

OSAK47BB09121704.jpg

:peace:
 

Dabber68

Well-Known Member
If you're just using little LEDs and CFLs to grow with your kind of wasting your time with CO2. You need to get the big guns out to fire those plants up enough to benefit from the added gas. I bake my plants under 400 and 1000W HIDs once they are 6" or bigger. Just about to swap in my 400 MH for the Fluoros and LEDs they are under now. Just not performing like I know they can.

This is what I'm using for my veg plants now in the bedroom. I broke down 4 4' - T12 shop lights in 2001 and mounted the ballasts and connectors on a sheet of plywood so the tubes are closer together. Kind of a primitive T5 veg unit with 8 fatter tubes about 3000 lumens each. Hard to find those daylight Ultra tubes now. 6400K ones that use the full 40 watts. Getting a bit swaybacked so I'll need to stiffen up the plywood with some angle iron screwed on tight down the middle to pull it flat again or just retire it.

The small wood panel is a 3 bulb vanity fixture with a splitter in the middle and on the chair is my 11 bulb creation with 7 bulbs going to get more light in there. Clumsy and not very efficient so time for the 400.

View attachment 4055708

And these are the plants they're shining on. 3 Original Skunk on the left, Two AK47 fems in the middle and two BlueBerry on the right with a smaller BB in the little black pot. The big pot is a plant I got from a buddy that was sprouted from a 30 year old jar of seeds marked Sativa. She was flowering a bit when I rescued her from an icy greenhouse outside at his place and the buds smoke nice and the buzz makes her a keeper. I call her 30Something. She's all revegged and ready to take cuttings off of.

View attachment 4055712
No I have plenty light this the total LED wattage 3400 watts between 5 lights with total draw wattage 1164 then add my CFLs or whatever I decide for Veg I have them already so more than likely will have a mixed Kelvin 2700 3000 5000 and 6500 1 of each for veg then make switch to my Mars par 38s with 2700 k CFLs all this in a 4 x 4 x 9

:peace:
 

OldMedUser

Well-Known Member
I got mad DIY skills. Worked in all sorts of factories, construction, machine shops, took a welding course, diploma in chemistry yadda yadda.

Too poor to buy flashy new stuff so make things that work for pennies on the dollar. Made a water cooler into a nute chiller. Got the cooler for free and had lots of tubing so cost me $14 for a little fountain pump. Could chill an 8 station RDWC I betcha.

Chill01.jpg

Built a still for recovering or purifying solvents or making EverClear. Can hold a gallon of mash and with the smaller bottle can do 2L batches to get the solvent out of oil.

Our house is decorated Garage Sale style. lol
 
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