An inexpensive DIY grow light

[quankadank]

how r the lights plugged in? what kind of adapters do u have on them?

[olie05]

really good improvisaion. i might think about knoking one up

defo + rep to you

[bouncyball]

I just finished one of these up a few minutes ago. Works like a charm .. only made a 4 bulb version for my clone box.

The lights didn't line up because this was originaly an 8 bulb build for my main veg box. I changed my setup had to redesign it to fit.

soft white bulbs are only in there until I can run buy more day whites.

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OFF

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ON! Look at the color patches from the bulbs. I think that looks pretty sweet. :P


On a side note. Let me shed some light to anyone building one of these .. PLAN IT WELL. It's pretty easy to make .. just takes some time and it's actualy pretty tedious to make it look nice. I cut some corners and thats why there are butt connectors and split wires out the side. Got sick of trimming and hiding the wiring.

But yea .. just make sure you wire each light individualy to the main chord or they won't fire up. That was my mistake.

[motorhead]

Hey stunt good job the only suggestion I have is I see you are right on your carpet. I would measure your floor space inside the frame and cut a piece of 1/4 inch plywood to fit it then get some weldwood contact cement from home depot and glue your mylar to the plywood for your floor. That will also reflect light back up under your plants and protect your carpet. Again good job!

[MaryJane51]

I'm looking into doing one of those for my cloning room but I have literally no clue how to wire these at all...Anyone able to explain maybe a bit more how to do this? Sorry I know i'm a complete noob when it comes to wiring ect.

[bouncyball]

Originally Posted by motorhead

Hey stunt good job the only suggestion I have is I see you are right on your carpet. I would measure your floor space inside the frame and cut a piece of 1/4 inch plywood to fit it then get some weldwood contact cement from home depot and glue your mylar to the plywood for your floor. That will also reflect light back up under your plants and protect your carpet. Again good job!

lol .. on the carpet? i'm growing upside down? that was just for the pic. the light is now hung. enjoy!

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edit: just put that cab together 2 days ago. waiting on mylar/my new light before i finish it up

left to right: Purps1, Love Potion, Purps2. LP is a week ahead but all 3 are 2 days new to the bucket.

[MaryJane51]

Originally Posted by bouncyball

lol .. on the carpet? i'm growing upside down? that was just for the pic. the light is now hung. enjoy!

Attachment 116713

edit: just put that cab together 2 days ago. waiting on mylar/my new light before i finish it up

left to right: Purps1, Love Potion, Purps2. LP is a week ahead but all 3 are 2 days new to the bucket.

Lol, I think the comment was directed towards stuntshine420 becuase in his 2nd picture he is showing his room and the bottom is carpet. But it wasn't too far off of you to guess it was you cuz you did just post a picture of yours on carpet, or I could be wrong who knows:P

[bouncyball]

Originally Posted by MaryJane51

Lol, I think the comment was directed towards stuntshine420 becuase in his 2nd picture he is showing his room and the bottom is carpet. But it wasn't too far off of you to guess it was you cuz you did just post a picture of yours on carpet, or I could be wrong who knows:P

to blame for that. i'm laughing and that was worth it.

[bouncyball]

Originally Posted by MaryJane51

I'm looking into doing one of those for my cloning room but I have literally no clue how to wire these at all...Anyone able to explain maybe a bit more how to do this? Sorry I know i'm a complete noob when it comes to wiring ect.

DSC00235-ICANPAINT.jpg

Hope this helps. I tried to make it pretty clear .. at least as much as mspaint will allow.

[flyleaf420]

what do you think, built it today. i also ran all the wire through the pvc its pretty clean, i just need to build a reflector

[flyleaf420]

Originally Posted by MaryJane51

I'm looking into doing one of those for my cloning room but I have literally no clue how to wire these at all...Anyone able to explain maybe a bit more how to do this? Sorry I know i'm a complete noob when it comes to wiring ect.

you need a separate wire for both power and ground, per light socket. run one wire for each, and splice them all together with a power chord available at any hardware store or cut up an old one from a lamp nobody uses or something. pretty basic wiring. if that doesnt make any sense let me know and ill think of a better way to explain it.



does that make sense im baked lo.

use butt or those wingnut connectors i think i used 12 or 14 gauge stranded wire.

[SkunkApe]

Originally Posted by bongman1992

i use CFL bulbs just like that, and i have been trying to find a good way to flower. what do u mean u traded your BLUE lights for RED lights to flower?

Just do a search in the grow forumm for 'cfl'. There's a wealth of information from people who took the time to post everything you need to know. That's how I learned. Good luck!

[SkunkApe]

Originally Posted by CaliGrower

why bother with a light like that when you can buy the real deal like a 250W HPS or MH that will be good for veg AND flowering. CFL's just don't have the LUMENS you need to get big buds.

Some folks have no way to set up the type of heat exhaust system that all MH/HPS lights require. With CFL's you dont have to worry about heat exhaust. Everybody knows MH/HPS are the best for flowering and vegging. But they are useless without proper heat exhaut - you'll just burn your plants. when people choose CFL there are generally valid reasons for it. CFL's can bud weed. Too many people have posted pics of nice buds using nothing but CFL lighting for that to even be a debate anymore.

[SkunkApe]

Originally Posted by StuntShine420

and just an update, the light works well. I changed out my blue lights for reds since I'm flowering now.... I think it looks alot better for only 20 days since the previous pics. You guys think this would be enough to grow 2-4 autos? I've got some auto blueberry kush coming from the doc that my friend bought so we could get a rotating crop goin.

How many lumens do your lights produce in total? It's not the wattage that matters really, it's the lumens. I've read some posts by people who seem to be having success with CFL's that say a minimum of 10,000 lumens of CFL light will bud plants in a space no more than 2'x2' wide. Your grow box shape is great. You have no wasted space horizontally, and no height restrictions (your grow box looks tall in the picture). you should easily be able to bud with CFL's in this box. Good luck dude!

Post more pics when your plants bud! Every time Every time a CFL grower posts pics of nicely budded plants it helps dispell the myth that CFL wont bud plants!

If you want to see a reall CFL pro in action, check out the threads by DrBudGreenGenes here at GC, then follow him to ICMag.com to see his latest posts on the subject. He's got a degree in horticulture, and been growing inside and out for 25 years. There are plenty of nice pics in all his posts to show his great success budding with CFL's!

[SkunkApe]

Originally Posted by StuntShine420

So I finally got sick of of using cheap single bulb round shop reflectors to try to grow with, so I designed my own. I ended up liking it so much I thought I'd share my idea with fellow growers.


I started by building a simple rectangle of PVC pipe for a frame. I attached four standard light sockets I got from Ace Hardware. Add a couple splitters and bulbs and I had this. Let me know what you think or if you'd change anything.

Now what I found to be the safest route was to run the wiring inside the pipe to not only help prevent shock but it actually looks really clean too.

As for a reflector, I bought some sheet steel and bent it into the general shape like what I've seen on HPS lights online. This is it in my box running. Oh, in the second to last pic you can see only the power cord coming from the frame.... Clean....

Nice bubble bucket! Did you build it yourself? If so, whose plan did you follow? Can yu post spomething on this? Thanx.