DIY I am going to build my own grow light.

[stylez]

Wishing you all the luckthats all I can do for inputbro I have no clue.

Keep it up though

 

[Eekman]

Wishing you all the luckthats all I can do for inputbro I have no clue.

Keep it up though

Yeah but you do other GOOD work for this site Stylez

Okay, so I have re evaluted my project. I decided to scratch the drop lights Reason: Have so much space on the under panel of the unit, that I could add more on the panel, and later I can add droppers if I want. So I am gonna add for more today. and four more in the future. this will give me 23W x 14 = 322 watts. HOLY CRAP.

then maybe I will have what I need. A perpetual grow, with monthly harvests of about 5-6 plants All stages in the closet with tiered lighting from one stage to the next.

Okay I will do some work, and then update the project.

Eek

 

[straight808]

My first light was a DIY cfl set up that I made as well, but a little more basic. I just took a 2x4 and stuck some cleat sockets down both sides of it and made a little reflector for the top.they aren't bad lights, but I think cfls are better if you can kind of keep an even canopy some how

 

[Eekman]

It is done. This was monumental, Well mental anyway

UNBELIEV-A-BLE,

Hi Everybody, :dance2: I got it finished, wooohooo

but, I got to catch you up, cuz for someone not living through this, it might be quite comical.

Sooooo, after all that stuff I got, and cutting and sizing, and figurin', I kind of went off the board. it is not 10 lights, it is fourteen, with a potential for four more. I have 4-23 watt (100 eq.)and 10 26 watt (100 eq.) for a total of 352 watts. Now one by one I will exchange the cfl's for grow, or maybe some of them? I don't know, this thing may be better than my 150 hps for flowering if I get em in the right spectrum.


What do you think?


Okay, so I wired the first six to plug in's, then the stupid plug in's that I used took up so much space. I would have had to use only three per strip, gosh darn round plugs from 1957, So I added a three way and that helped with space. The way I wired the 8 others, was four on a single (dual)line that tapped into the tops of the light socketts.

What a nightmare. The one thing about being a hobbyist is that you don't have the exact tools that you need to do the perfect job. It doesn't help that I am impatient at times.

It is like the Dremel tool you see on TV (except people who dremel for a living), after you pay the 50 bucks for the thing. You Dremel everything you own, garage dremelling, backyard dremelling, and every single thing in your whole house gets dremelled. The next day, you dremel all your neighbors stuff. After a week, everyone you know has their undremelled stuff dremelled. What are ya gonna do after that ??? You just spent 50 bucks working on stuff, and now have no use for it.

So I don't have all the expensive tools in other words.

Where was I, oh yeah, so getting the single wires (the first time), through the caps of the first four was a breeze. so I got eight going now. then I decide to forego the hanging lights and just pop four more holes.

This is where the trouble began...

 

[Eekman]

Pictures of progress so far

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Eek

 

[Eekman]

Just before Final Liftoff pics attached

Okay so here is what happened. I needed more sockets and bulbs because of the additions I had not planned for. So instead of going back to home depot, I went to another store. Big mistake. Of course they didn't have the same kind that I had, so I got something as similar as I could. Then I found two cfl 65 watt bulb on sale. So I figured they could be my two center pieces on the unit. So I got home and started to install the sockets, and I was using the same single (dual) line to attach all the sockets, as I did for the other four "different" sockets I had installed previously. Then I went to turn them on, and nothing...

The difference in the two styles of sockets was the size of the wire that is supposed to be used when you string them. I am not all that versed in wire guage, but the gauge I had was smaller than the second set of socket required. Therefore when the tops were twisted into place, they couldn't break through the wire coating and make contact. Then I started to have trouble with the the last light in the stringer I had done previously. It would flicker, so I tried to give it a twist and "Pop," I broke the light. Quickly I turned everything off, swearing a bit, and thanking shiva I didn't electrocute myself. I toked on a bowl. Then I toked on another bowl. Then I thought oh well, like you always do after two bowls. So I thought I could go back to ace and find a different fix. Being there already I had an idea of what I wanted. First I thought I would try the 65 watter's. So I screwed those two into sockets that I knew would work and turned them on. Boom, did not turn on, all the other lights turned on. So I tried them in another socket and no they did not work. So I had to go return those (at $15) a piece it was a good deal. So I decided to tackle that last light on the stringer of the first line again. Something was not right and after I reinstalled it two times, I noticed I couldn't get the cap off. It would only keep turning round. So trying to get that off, I broke the cap. I think it may have been defective, lol. Okay had to replace that. Then I went and took those back to ace, as they had no more 65 watters, I got my refund and went back to home depot. I got the sockets I needed, and the extra one as well, and two 65 watters that were on sale for $10 US dollars a piece. Wow, even cheaper than the other ones by five US dollars.

I got home, and installed the new socket on the old line, and it worked.

then I installed the new line with a thin plug in to fit in between the round ones....

And Voila', the worked.

So then I went to install the 65 watters, and... the sockets were not the right size. Super too big. So I put some temporary ones for now..
Here are some pics

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Okay folks,


Without further Adieu..

 

[Eekman]

I Present to you.......Godzilla, the biggest dragon of light.

Here she is folks

EekPro 350

352 actual watts

Two settings, half on, and full on.

and a coverage area of about 4' x 2.5' (approx.)

Here is half on..

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Here is full on...

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These are the two different lights first one is 2 x 32 watts
The second one is the Eek-Pro 350

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If it looks the same, consider this: The flash only went off on the first picture.

Here are action photos of the Eek-Pro 350

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Well, I hope you enjoyed the journey, I had fun.

PLEASE POST QUESTIONS OR COMMENTS, THANKS

bye for now,

Eek

EDIT: The runt is the same age as all the other little plants.

 

[gradolabs]

Looks pretty legit. Could do something with pvc pipe and mylar to build a support rig with a reflective panel... cheap and easily done. That way you can adjust the height of your cfl panel with rope.

 

[Root]

Hi Everybody, I got it finished, wooohooo

but, I got to catch you up, cuz for someone not living through this, it might be quite comical.



You did a wonderful job and it works great!!

 

[gradolabs]

p.s. you can dremel your teeth afterwords... 120v electric toothbrush. just stick a cue tip in there and let her rip.