Was looking around Home Depot aka the Candy Store, and found a few interesting lights. Are these CREE LED bulbs the same brand as the CREE LED's everyone talks about? They come in 2700k, 5000k, and 6500k. I bought a 2700k to see how it works. What do you guys think? Could a bunch of them be useful for flowering? They also had some Philips brand HPS and MH bulbs. Would these be in the right spectrum for cannabis? If so, these would be great lol
Lol home Depot really isn't the best place for growing lights, as an employee myself. Although the led bulbs will do, better if you take off the bulbs shell, but think of it like lighting to grow lighting. And the 100w equivalent is only about 6-16.5w of true power
Great idea, I was wondering if you could take off the little shell thing around the bulb. What do you mean lighting to grow lighting? Like comparing them? lol. I have such a small space - about 2.5ft. x 1.6ft. x 2.6ft. Think I would be better off with a 300w VIPAR led or something? Those little CREE LED bulbs are 1650 lumens, but only 16.5 watts. I could see the lumens adding up quickly
Ya like a 2.5'X1.6' you can get away with bulbs. The key for lighting a area ,is for, led 30-50Wsq/f. not sure on the other types of lights like MH/HPS, cfl, CMH. So for your area you have (2.5X1.6) 4'² so you'd want about 120-200w. So at 16.5w a bulb you'd need 8-12 bulbs What I'm talking about with "lighting to grow lighting" is that the stores bulbs will work, but something for growing will do better. And spectrum 2700-3500k for flowering and 5000-6500k for veg
Saying bout $13 a bulb you looking at $104-$156 so close to a "mars" light but they only pump out 150w ( 300W model) not sure on the price but would be comparable, for your 1.6' of height may be to little since the lights need about 18"-24" from the canopy.
Thanks for all the info! I'd definitely consider a Mars of Vispar 300w. Hmmmm. I wonder if I would have enough height for the Mars. I could probably keep the LED bulbs closer, huh?
They worked just fine for my side lighting..Made the hanging thing below, for them..A cheap answer for me.. (Note: I have other Lighting too)
I say no to all of it. The $79.GalaxyHydro LED panels available on Amazon (or wherever) today will blow away 20 of those bulbs you showed - and then after buying all the fixtures etc? No way it's worth it. The HPS OR MH HID bulbs? You need to take into account that those are just bulbs - you still need (vented) hood, ballasts, etc. No reason to buy those bulbs ever unless you had a system already and blew a bulb etc. Look for a complete HID system online. So yeah, a big no on all counts. J
Buzzer, how much are those bulbs and fixtures? Edit: NVM! I just saw that this was discussed above - being able to buy a ViparSpectra, GalaxyHydro or Mars type LED panel for less money than the bulbs and fixtures. J
Not really, but close..I think I spent like <$50 (I had some LED Bulbs in the house.) I had no more room for a full sized light (started with 2 Meizhi 450s and later remove a Meizhi and the contraption in favor of a Nextlight Mini)..Nextlight Mini is pricey, but Whoooa..VERY bright white light
I'm building another grow chamber, and I'll buy a mars or viparspectra for that one. Then I'll be able to compare the two! ^ I'll be able to do a real comparison soon! What do you guys think of this setup? They flowering chamber lights are 1650 lumens each - mostly 2700k and a few 5000k. Might add some 3000k and 6500k. Or just buy a red spectrum flowering light. There's 14 bulbs in the flowering chamber. 1650 lumens each = 23,100 lumens. They're 16.5w each, so 231w total. I plan on adding a few more bulbs as I add a couple more plants and as they mature. Have 2 23w 6500k CFL's in the clone chamber (well, there are 3 but it gets too hot with the 3rd bulb on). There are 4 23w CFL's in the veg chamber (3 6500k, and 1 2700k)
Nothing crazy - I'd be happy getting .6 gpw or a quarter to half oz per plant. I'll attach some pictures - 17 days into flowe so far. Going to see what happens I guess! Flipped them over too soon and have issues going on, so it's more of an experiment. In progress of building another much larger cabinet! That one will get high quality lighting.
Thanks for all the input! I'll be splurging on the next setup. It'll be much larger also and I'll turn this one back into a veg chamber. Thinking a Viparspectra?
Thanks for the reply! I need to build some sort of device for hanging them securely and hiding the wires. As long as the lights meet certain requirements - enough lumens per sq. Ft. and the required lumens per sq. Ft. and have the right spectrum (70% 2700k + 30% 5000-6500k) - then shouldn't the plants grow well? I'm a newb and like experimenting. Happy growing!