S
Scott817
Guest
Today I decided to make a light for my new 2 x 2 Stealth Grow Box project.
This goal of this project is to make a nice small grow area that is designed for the beginner and budget minded. It wil be completly a Do It Yourself adventure. I was thinking this is perfect for autoflowering plants.
OK on to the mission
2' x 2' Area (Height to be determined later.)
Rule #1 No or little to No Noise. I think this is important for the Stealth aspect and besides it next to my bed.
Rule #2 Entire project must come in under $250-$300 contruction costs.
Rule #3 Maximize growth potentional of area used.
Lights
Ok Rule#1 keeps us from using a HPS or MH as cooling will have to be minimal. So what to do?
LED light??? Nope to many he says and she says issues in the lower cost Led kits. and the good ones for something this size would be in violation of Rule#2
T5? Nope I dont like the wattage in T5's under 24 inches and kinda pricey
CFL ? Yes lets go with the the good old CFL bulb. I know lots of people will comment about them but we will have to see the results .
Ok Stealth CFL Grow Project under way. Now I looked all ovver the internet at pictures of people Stealth Grow lights and really didnt see anything to overly impressing. A bunch of folks hanging lights from cords with or without reflecots or having them mounted to high and a few CFL DIY kits using bathroom vanity fixtures with a DIY reflection from some heating and cooling ducts.
The one thing I didnt see was anyone using as many lights as they could in the area they were using.
My goal was to get as many lights into a hanging fixture as possible in a clean look and easy to work on. The more lights the better right??
Here is my results.
21" x 22" DIY CFL 18 Bulb Light.
I bought 3 18" Chrome fixtures at the local hardware store. I then wired each one seperately. This way I can use them as needed depending on what is under them for additional energy savings. I then mounted them together with one staggered so the bulbs can overlap.This cames out to 21" I used with some shelving brackets for rigidity to tie them together. I drilled holes in that before I mounted the lights.
View attachment 3674
Ok that was fun now what next? I need a reflector of some sorts. Mamma always said a bad reflector is better than no reflector. I used a piece of galvanized metal from the local hardware store and some sheet metal screws. I used elctrical tape along the edges so I wont cut myself in the future.
View attachment 3675 Measure and Mark the Sheet Metal. Cut with tin snips. I made a 3/4 edge for attaching to the light
View attachment 3676 Bend along your line for edge to mount to light. Like my homemade press brake??
View attachment 3677 Looking good. One down and one to go. View attachment 3678
View attachment 3679 Cut and fill in a few pieces of Sheet metal and we are almost done. I left the spaces in the middle open to let the heat rise a little better. I left the ends open for the reason as well. I am only going to have 1" to 1 1/2" around the edges inside of the grow box when centered.
View attachment 3680 Install the bulbs. Woohoo almost done. The bulb splitters in the center dont V out enough and will be replaced with the same ones one of the outside to give bettter coverage overall. I had to get those as they ran out of the others. One of the reasons I like this V pattern is CFL lights have a tendancy to send light in 2 directions. Using these angles you can maximize light exposure while minimizing the shadow effect of tradtional downward facing lights.
View attachment 3681 View attachment 3682 Test Fire the lights. Looking good. My camera on my iphone doesnt do a good job of showing the brightness for some reason. I ran the relectors a little long for larger wattage bulbs later on in Flowering.
One last thing....
View attachment 3683
Hook up the chains and flip it over, Hit the switch and now its Bud Time !! Bud Light hehehe
This light should handle a 2' x 2' area pretty well. We will have to grow something to see how well. The little table is 2' long under the light and it longer than the light itself.
Light Project Specs and costs and lighting wattage and Lumen possibilities.
3 18"chrome Fixture 30
3 extension cords 3
1 pc shelving bracket 4
9 Light bulb splitters 27
chain n hooks 8
Sheet Metal 8
Screws 4
____
Total $84
18 23w 6400K CFL $45 For Veg
Flowering Options
250W HPS = 33000 Lumens
400W HPS = 50000 Lumens << Refernce values only
*All Bulbs below will be 2700K
----------------------------------------
18 23W 28800 Lumens 414W $50 << Cheap and easy
----------------------------------------
6 32W 12300 Lumens 192W $30
12 23W 19200 Lumens 276W $33
31500 Lumens 468W $66
---------------------------------------
12 32w 24600 Lumens 384W $60
6 23W 9600 Lumens 138W $16.50
34200 Lumens 522W $76.50 << I will probably use this combo on flowering for first grow.
---------------------------------------
18 32W 36900 Lumens 576W $90 << Right at socket rating of 60W. Remember 2 bulbs per socket
---------------------------------------
6 42W 16800 Lumens 252W $48
12 32W 24600 Lumens 384W $60
41400 Lumens 636W $108 << Starting to use a lot of watts.
---------------------------------------
12 42W 33600 Lumnes 504W $96
6 23W 9600 Lumens 138W $16.50
42000 Lumens 642W $112.50 << Probably a fire hazard warning here
----------------------------------------
18 42W 50400 Lumens 756W $144 << House burned down did it? Just kidding each socket of this was rated at 60W but this is pushing it a little far to be safe.
----------------------------------------
18 55W 66600 Lumens 825W $252 << Should have bought a LED Fixture if you add cost of fixture.
Local Pricing for bulbs
55W 3700 Lumens $14
42W 2800 Lumens $8
32W 2050 Lumnes $5.50
23w 1600 Lumens $2.75
Well that is my DIY Light. Hopefully it will grow well but we will see.
Questions and Comments are always appreciated.
Thanks
Scott817
Hopefully next weekend I can build the Box. Still waiting on my seeds to arrive.
This goal of this project is to make a nice small grow area that is designed for the beginner and budget minded. It wil be completly a Do It Yourself adventure. I was thinking this is perfect for autoflowering plants.
OK on to the mission
2' x 2' Area (Height to be determined later.)
Rule #1 No or little to No Noise. I think this is important for the Stealth aspect and besides it next to my bed.
Rule #2 Entire project must come in under $250-$300 contruction costs.
Rule #3 Maximize growth potentional of area used.
Lights
Ok Rule#1 keeps us from using a HPS or MH as cooling will have to be minimal. So what to do?
LED light??? Nope to many he says and she says issues in the lower cost Led kits. and the good ones for something this size would be in violation of Rule#2
T5? Nope I dont like the wattage in T5's under 24 inches and kinda pricey
CFL ? Yes lets go with the the good old CFL bulb. I know lots of people will comment about them but we will have to see the results .
Ok Stealth CFL Grow Project under way. Now I looked all ovver the internet at pictures of people Stealth Grow lights and really didnt see anything to overly impressing. A bunch of folks hanging lights from cords with or without reflecots or having them mounted to high and a few CFL DIY kits using bathroom vanity fixtures with a DIY reflection from some heating and cooling ducts.
The one thing I didnt see was anyone using as many lights as they could in the area they were using.
My goal was to get as many lights into a hanging fixture as possible in a clean look and easy to work on. The more lights the better right??
Here is my results.
21" x 22" DIY CFL 18 Bulb Light.
I bought 3 18" Chrome fixtures at the local hardware store. I then wired each one seperately. This way I can use them as needed depending on what is under them for additional energy savings. I then mounted them together with one staggered so the bulbs can overlap.This cames out to 21" I used with some shelving brackets for rigidity to tie them together. I drilled holes in that before I mounted the lights.
View attachment 3674
Ok that was fun now what next? I need a reflector of some sorts. Mamma always said a bad reflector is better than no reflector. I used a piece of galvanized metal from the local hardware store and some sheet metal screws. I used elctrical tape along the edges so I wont cut myself in the future.
View attachment 3675 Measure and Mark the Sheet Metal. Cut with tin snips. I made a 3/4 edge for attaching to the light
View attachment 3676 Bend along your line for edge to mount to light. Like my homemade press brake??
View attachment 3677 Looking good. One down and one to go. View attachment 3678
View attachment 3679 Cut and fill in a few pieces of Sheet metal and we are almost done. I left the spaces in the middle open to let the heat rise a little better. I left the ends open for the reason as well. I am only going to have 1" to 1 1/2" around the edges inside of the grow box when centered.
View attachment 3680 Install the bulbs. Woohoo almost done. The bulb splitters in the center dont V out enough and will be replaced with the same ones one of the outside to give bettter coverage overall. I had to get those as they ran out of the others. One of the reasons I like this V pattern is CFL lights have a tendancy to send light in 2 directions. Using these angles you can maximize light exposure while minimizing the shadow effect of tradtional downward facing lights.
View attachment 3681 View attachment 3682 Test Fire the lights. Looking good. My camera on my iphone doesnt do a good job of showing the brightness for some reason. I ran the relectors a little long for larger wattage bulbs later on in Flowering.
One last thing....
View attachment 3683
Hook up the chains and flip it over, Hit the switch and now its Bud Time !! Bud Light hehehe
This light should handle a 2' x 2' area pretty well. We will have to grow something to see how well. The little table is 2' long under the light and it longer than the light itself.
Light Project Specs and costs and lighting wattage and Lumen possibilities.
3 18"chrome Fixture 30
3 extension cords 3
1 pc shelving bracket 4
9 Light bulb splitters 27
chain n hooks 8
Sheet Metal 8
Screws 4
____
Total $84
18 23w 6400K CFL $45 For Veg
Flowering Options
250W HPS = 33000 Lumens
400W HPS = 50000 Lumens << Refernce values only
*All Bulbs below will be 2700K
----------------------------------------
18 23W 28800 Lumens 414W $50 << Cheap and easy
----------------------------------------
6 32W 12300 Lumens 192W $30
12 23W 19200 Lumens 276W $33
31500 Lumens 468W $66
---------------------------------------
12 32w 24600 Lumens 384W $60
6 23W 9600 Lumens 138W $16.50
34200 Lumens 522W $76.50 << I will probably use this combo on flowering for first grow.
---------------------------------------
18 32W 36900 Lumens 576W $90 << Right at socket rating of 60W. Remember 2 bulbs per socket
---------------------------------------
6 42W 16800 Lumens 252W $48
12 32W 24600 Lumens 384W $60
41400 Lumens 636W $108 << Starting to use a lot of watts.
---------------------------------------
12 42W 33600 Lumnes 504W $96
6 23W 9600 Lumens 138W $16.50
42000 Lumens 642W $112.50 << Probably a fire hazard warning here
----------------------------------------
18 42W 50400 Lumens 756W $144 << House burned down did it? Just kidding each socket of this was rated at 60W but this is pushing it a little far to be safe.
----------------------------------------
18 55W 66600 Lumens 825W $252 << Should have bought a LED Fixture if you add cost of fixture.
Local Pricing for bulbs
55W 3700 Lumens $14
42W 2800 Lumens $8
32W 2050 Lumnes $5.50
23w 1600 Lumens $2.75
Well that is my DIY Light. Hopefully it will grow well but we will see.
Questions and Comments are always appreciated.
Thanks
Scott817
Hopefully next weekend I can build the Box. Still waiting on my seeds to arrive.
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