Lighting Off the Shelf Screw in LED Bulbs as a Viable Alternative

[Max - LEDTonic]

What an awesome thread

I recently tested a bunch of different household bulbs and solutions, if any of you want to see how they perform in umol/m2/s and be able to tune in your grows a little easier.
https://www.autoflower.org/threads/tests-of-different-diy-household-bulb-solutions.72454/

 

[WalterW]

Great thread, really attractive alternative for the beginners, who do not want to fork out a ton of money...
This can also benefit a lot of the more advanced growers too, supplement lighting etc.

I will be constructing something with these Screw in Bulbs to compliment the DIY COB Kit I currently have.

Kudos Mr Sparkle and all who have ventured into this realm - definitely a cost effective method.

 

[Randar]

My second grow with my DIY light resulted in 8.5 ounces from two plants.

 

[Mr.Sparkle]

@WalterW So its been awhile since i started this thread, and and me hanging around these forums "too many sub categories" but actually and i'll post this here so other can see.

Check out the Bridgelux EB series Gen 2 Strips coupled to the new Meanwell XLG drivers. Cost is cheap even when comparing to sil's, like a recent light i built which ill show photos below cost me $125cnd to make taxes and shipping, rivets and everything included. Say if i did the same light output with the philips 8.5w bulbs which i would need 20-21 for to match, and say to make it easy 20 bulbs with four 5 way led splitters and sockets for them my cost would be $110

So for an extra $15 i could have a light that's 1/4" thick and uses 50-60% of the wattage needed by the bulbs. Also runs cooler, has better coverage and can be overdriven aswell .

So to me SIL's are dead as an option to me anyways with how cheap the bridgelux strips are...


Heres the new light in question.

Its made of 14 Bridgelux EB series Gen 2 strips, in the 280mm length (11") and 3500k color temp, and i coupled it to a XLG-100-L-AB driver that has a 100k potentiometer wired to it for dimming control. Backing plate was an old aluminum parking sign cut down "free".

I have since made a second panel and have replaced my LM561c Strips setups "sol strips" as i didn't want to support the person who sells them by running them anymore.

But anyways, Strips can be had on Digikey.com / .ca and drivers as well, but Mouser also has the drivers for a bit cheaper on average than digikey.

turned down but just a shot of it

Comparison of the newer xlg drivers vs say a bit bigger HLG driver

And it installed on the right

Super happy so far.

 

[Dudeski]

@WalterW So its been awhile since i started this thread, and and me hanging around these forums "too many sub categories" but actually and i'll post this here so other can see.

Check out the Bridgelux EB series Gen 2 Strips coupled to the new Meanwell XLG drivers. Cost is cheap even when comparing to sil's, like a recent light i built which ill show photos below cost me $125cnd to make taxes and shipping, rivets and everything included. Say if i did the same light output with the philips 8.5w bulbs which i would need 20-21 for to match, and say to make it easy 20 bulbs with four 5 way led splitters and sockets for them my cost would be $110

So for an extra $15 i could have a light that's 1/4" thick and uses 50-60% of the wattage needed by the bulbs. Also runs cooler, has better coverage and can be overdriven aswell .

So to me SIL's are dead as an option to me anyways with how cheap the bridgelux strips are...


Heres the new light in question.

Its made of 14 Bridgelux EB series Gen 2 strips, in the 280mm length (11") and 3500k color temp, and i coupled it to a XLG-100-L-AB driver that has a 100k potentiometer wired to it for dimming control. Backing plate was an old aluminum parking sign cut down "free".

I have since made a second panel and have replaced my LM561c Strips setups "sol strips" as i didn't want to support the person who sells them by running them anymore.

But anyways, Strips can be had on Digikey.com / .ca and drivers as well, but Mouser also has the drivers for a bit cheaper on average than digikey.

turned down but just a shot of it
View attachment 1097274

Comparison of the newer xlg drivers vs say a bit bigger HLG driver
View attachment 1097275

And it installed on the right

View attachment 1097276

Super happy so far.

What are your thoughts about incorporating red strips in there as well?
That's a great build you got! How do you wire the strips together?

Sorry, just saw the connections! Nice and clean

 

[Mr.Sparkle]

@Dudeski Far/near red augmentation yeah worth a try i honestly cant say how much efficiency gain may be had if running watt to watt with or without red augmentation, but simplicity wise i would want them to be same voltages and current as the bridgelux's or i'll be having to running a second driver or ones with onboard drivers which is just another thing, and cost wise whatever wouldn't be as cheap so could one essentially swap the cost of said red strips for just more cheap strips ? I don't know, but if there were some cheap options that allowed same driver output or onboard ones that were cheap, its worth a look.

 

[Dudeski]

@Dudeski Far/near red augmentation yeah worth a try i honestly cant say how much efficiency gain may be had if running watt to watt with or without red augmentation, but simplicity wise i would want them to be same voltages and current as the bridgelux's or i'll be having to running a second driver or ones with onboard drivers which is just another thing, and cost wise whatever wouldn't be as cheap so could one essentially swap the cost of said red strips for just more cheap strips ? I don't know, but if there were some cheap options that allowed same driver output or onboard ones that were cheap, its worth a look.

Thanks ! I've not been able to keep up with the leds and their driver requirements. It all got so varied I was lost. Just been seeing a lot of boards mixing a few reds in for bloom.

 

[Mr.Sparkle]

Thanks ! I've not been able to keep up with the leds and their driver requirements. It all got so varied I was lost. Just been seeing a lot of boards mixing a few reds in for bloom.

Yeah thats alot of the custom made, horticultural focused stuff now they are including the near/far reds in a lot of arrays just to shift the amount of available light in that side of the spectrum, reason being is light on that side is more efficient plant uptake wise vs say blue light, thats not saying the plants don't use both its just more efficient it's also now that the tech for red has caught up a little so they are now more efficient light output vs power usage, saying that though pretty much all the tech and advancements has been in blue leds, cause it's all what white leds are and there commercial application, white leds are just blue leds with a phosphor coating to create white light, not that much different than say cfl's or floro tubes with there internal phosphor coating. So saying that its why your seeing that augmentation of the red side cause you can only push initially blue light so far into the red spectrum with phosphor before you start to lose quite a bit of efficiency where just straight red leds can augment that. But how efficient do we need to go if say our other grow factors "space, environment, media, nutrient, watering capacity, genetics" aren't the limiting points, obviously as efficient and as cheap as possible, but i'll figure you'll get what im saying...

So the light i built above those strips are actually directed towards Fluorescent tube replacements as they come in 180mm, 560mm, and 1120mm lengths aka 11", 22" and 44", but im not one to shy away from really cheap source of light that are pretty reasonably efficient , sure there not the best like lm301b or lm301h diodes currently but at 15% less efficiency than those roughly i can just run them 15% harder or 15% more which to me is an extra 15w or so and it would take me around 3 years to breakeven initial cost wise plus extra electricity cost vs say a QB288 V2 Quantumboard, by then i'll probably have a different setup due to new/cheaper tech anyways lol.

Anyways yeah just another option for people, and a cheap one at that.

 

[WalterW]

@WalterW So its been awhile since i started this thread, and and me hanging around these forums "too many sub categories" but actually and i'll post this here so other can see.

Check out the Bridgelux EB series Gen 2 Strips coupled to the new Meanwell XLG drivers. Cost is cheap even when comparing to sil's, like a recent light i built which ill show photos below cost me $125cnd to make taxes and shipping, rivets and everything included. Say if i did the same light output with the philips 8.5w bulbs which i would need 20-21 for to match, and say to make it easy 20 bulbs with four 5 way led splitters and sockets for them my cost would be $110

So for an extra $15 i could have a light that's 1/4" thick and uses 50-60% of the wattage needed by the bulbs. Also runs cooler, has better coverage and can be overdriven aswell .

So to me SIL's are dead as an option to me anyways with how cheap the bridgelux strips are...


Heres the new light in question.

Its made of 14 Bridgelux EB series Gen 2 strips, in the 280mm length (11") and 3500k color temp, and i coupled it to a XLG-100-L-AB driver that has a 100k potentiometer wired to it for dimming control. Backing plate was an old aluminum parking sign cut down "free".

I have since made a second panel and have replaced my LM561c Strips setups "sol strips" as i didn't want to support the person who sells them by running them anymore.

But anyways, Strips can be had on Digikey.com / .ca and drivers as well, but Mouser also has the drivers for a bit cheaper on average than digikey.

turned down but just a shot of it
View attachment 1097274

Comparison of the newer xlg drivers vs say a bit bigger HLG driver
View attachment 1097275

And it installed on the right

View attachment 1097276

Super happy so far.

Ah Mr Sparkle, that new lighting fixture looks really smart!
I managed to get me a few 9w LED globes for under $1 each, so will be using the same for veg - I do have a 4x4 tent with cobs in,

But as Dudeski mentioned, keeping up with all this tech is rather something - will definitely look into those strip lights, as it really does look the part, many thanks for the update.