Murphyball
New Member
After accumulating some experience with shop lighting using china 10w leds from ebay and some aluminum tubing, I decided I was ready to make my first grow light.
While I'm not growing the beautiful cash crops you folks are, I figure cannabis is going to want the same fundamentals as peppers and tomatoes so this was the place to learn.
A special thanks goes to member SupraSPL for not only suggesting which white leds to use, but providing me an easy link right to Fasttech to purchase them.
I got the power supply from ebay.. its running 27-37v @900ma constant current.
The white leds are Cree XML2 4300K - 4500K
The reds are Cree XP-E 620nm - 630nm.
The aluminum tubing is just scrap from an old elevated hunting platform and I yanked the little fan from an old computer video card. Even the IEC plug was ripped out of an old ATX power supply.
Heat sink compound was just some off name china stuff that seems to work fine. I drilled and tapped every #8-32 screw instead of using epoxy heat sinks.
Total build cost was about $40. Actual measured power draw is 22.6 watts with a kill-a-watt meter. This thing is far brighter than two 4ft fluorescent bulbs.
While I'm not growing the beautiful cash crops you folks are, I figure cannabis is going to want the same fundamentals as peppers and tomatoes so this was the place to learn.
A special thanks goes to member SupraSPL for not only suggesting which white leds to use, but providing me an easy link right to Fasttech to purchase them.
I got the power supply from ebay.. its running 27-37v @900ma constant current.
The white leds are Cree XML2 4300K - 4500K
The reds are Cree XP-E 620nm - 630nm.
The aluminum tubing is just scrap from an old elevated hunting platform and I yanked the little fan from an old computer video card. Even the IEC plug was ripped out of an old ATX power supply.
Heat sink compound was just some off name china stuff that seems to work fine. I drilled and tapped every #8-32 screw instead of using epoxy heat sinks.
Total build cost was about $40. Actual measured power draw is 22.6 watts with a kill-a-watt meter. This thing is far brighter than two 4ft fluorescent bulbs.
