It's not oregano
Well-Known Member
Hi everyone.
I am a UK grower and I am currently about halfway through flower in my first ever grow, and I am just thinking of ways to improve / upgrade my basic CFL stealth cabinet for when I grow again. Led lighting is a pretty obvious change.
I am currently growing in a 15"w x 28"l x 32"h stealth cabinet for the entire grow. I am scrogging using CFL bulbs and am flowering under 180w of 2700K with a total of 11300 lumens. I realise using lumens are not ideal but it should give you a guide as to the light output I am getting. Veg was a similar wattage using 6500K. I am using a 5" 150cfm pc fan as extraction through a home made filter, although this is killing the smell so far and exchanging air, my temps are about 16 C above ambient. Luckily it is winter and I am in a concrete garage so top temps have only ever been 30c on the warmest autumn day. However, I am thinking about spring or summer grows and the fact that I will struggle with heat when the weather gets warmer.
I have thought of a way to get another 9" on the height and still be stealthy, which would mean I can get a much more powerful fan and proper filter installed which should help with the heat, it also means I have a bit more room to raise my lights if needed.
I originally thought of a Mars panel or similar, but roughly 1 minute of reading on here has changed my mind. I don't want to spend big bucks getting a top of the range panel, it would not be worth it for how much I grow. I then thought of using store bought led bulbs such as this one http://www.diy.com/departments/diall-bayonet-cap-b22-15w-led-gls-light-bulb/1011320_BQ.prd but realised that the cost would soon add up to a pretty big sum if I bought them for veg and flower.
The obvious choice is a DIY cob panel, but although I am ok with wiring up a CFL rig, I have never soldered and when I see loads of letters and numbers describing chips, drivers etc my mind sort of shuts down. Hopefully this is where you guys can help.
Long story short, I have some questions I am hoping you can answer-
Would you recommend a diy cob led panel in a cabinet this small? I only grow 1 photo plant at a time so I don't want to go way overboard with lighting, but if I could get the optimum for the space I have then obviously that would be great.
Would it be possible to make 1 panel for use in veg and flower or would I need to make 1 for each?
Depending on what you recommend would I be able to use holders rather than soldering? I am a clumsy tit and would most likely set my self on fire with a soldering iron.
Would there be much improvement over the cfl's I am using now - either in light output, heat output or energy used. I don't mind spending to make a decent improvement, but if it is negligible then I may have to think again.
What sort of cost am I looking at in total?
Thank you
I am a UK grower and I am currently about halfway through flower in my first ever grow, and I am just thinking of ways to improve / upgrade my basic CFL stealth cabinet for when I grow again. Led lighting is a pretty obvious change.
I am currently growing in a 15"w x 28"l x 32"h stealth cabinet for the entire grow. I am scrogging using CFL bulbs and am flowering under 180w of 2700K with a total of 11300 lumens. I realise using lumens are not ideal but it should give you a guide as to the light output I am getting. Veg was a similar wattage using 6500K. I am using a 5" 150cfm pc fan as extraction through a home made filter, although this is killing the smell so far and exchanging air, my temps are about 16 C above ambient. Luckily it is winter and I am in a concrete garage so top temps have only ever been 30c on the warmest autumn day. However, I am thinking about spring or summer grows and the fact that I will struggle with heat when the weather gets warmer.
I have thought of a way to get another 9" on the height and still be stealthy, which would mean I can get a much more powerful fan and proper filter installed which should help with the heat, it also means I have a bit more room to raise my lights if needed.
I originally thought of a Mars panel or similar, but roughly 1 minute of reading on here has changed my mind. I don't want to spend big bucks getting a top of the range panel, it would not be worth it for how much I grow. I then thought of using store bought led bulbs such as this one http://www.diy.com/departments/diall-bayonet-cap-b22-15w-led-gls-light-bulb/1011320_BQ.prd but realised that the cost would soon add up to a pretty big sum if I bought them for veg and flower.
The obvious choice is a DIY cob panel, but although I am ok with wiring up a CFL rig, I have never soldered and when I see loads of letters and numbers describing chips, drivers etc my mind sort of shuts down. Hopefully this is where you guys can help.
Long story short, I have some questions I am hoping you can answer-
Would you recommend a diy cob led panel in a cabinet this small? I only grow 1 photo plant at a time so I don't want to go way overboard with lighting, but if I could get the optimum for the space I have then obviously that would be great.
Would it be possible to make 1 panel for use in veg and flower or would I need to make 1 for each?
Depending on what you recommend would I be able to use holders rather than soldering? I am a clumsy tit and would most likely set my self on fire with a soldering iron.
Would there be much improvement over the cfl's I am using now - either in light output, heat output or energy used. I don't mind spending to make a decent improvement, but if it is negligible then I may have to think again.
What sort of cost am I looking at in total?
Thank you
One has to realize that the only thing you do when mixing these spectra is changing the relative height of the blue peak. Basically 3000K+4000K = 2x 3500K. But there's nothing wrong with mixing them. And TBH members there who tried multiple spectra report no difference between 3000K and 4000K.
