Lighting Project Cheapo LED Grow Lamp

[Banjacked]

Thanks man, I’m now thinking my wire is a bit overkill perhaps? Will I not get more voltage drop using a thicker/higher rated wire than what I need? Or am I just being over cautious?

Thicker cable means LESS voltage drop, as the impedence is lower, but with the cables you use and the lengths involved the drop is irrelevant. Go for 25m of cable and that could be different. Think of how much easier it is to blow a lungful of air through a 3/4" pipe compared to a standard plastic drinking straw as a simple explanation of what I mean. The biggest issue with the SMD strip is the drop over the entire 5m length when connected in "series" as was done. Next time round I'm going for a "parallel", where each piece of strip goes directly to the 12v feed from the driver which should, in theory, eliminate that as you're not trying to get enough power over the entire length in one hit but are, instead, giving each piece of strip the same voltage.

Current draw MAY increase, but that also means that things should be a little brighter thanks to that lack of drop, but that's why I make sure power supplies, for constant voltage setups like the "Frankenpanel", are rated at double the expected load as you then have that extra bit of space to play with without pushing the power supply too hard, therefore extending the life of the PSU as it's not working so hard, running cooler, and so on.

 

[Pro-T]

Must be due an update amigo? Have your beanstalks grown through the ceiling yet?

 

[Banjacked]

Just waiting on Pandora to finish, the "upwards" bit is done, the smell is lovely when you're up close and personal, starting to get frosty, last pic was put in Live Stoners.

But, to update you, there's a little baby under the 6500K LED now

and since I'm still waiting on my new pots the 1 gallon pot used before got butchered to try and help against things getting rootbound again, as even though she'll go into something bigger the pot may well be used for a future experiment. The thing in front is cat grass, before you ask.

Meanwhile, have a random bud shot. Not the biggest bud on the plant, but the easiest to get to

 

[Pro-T]

Nice, coming along nicely! And a new addition to the family too!

 

[flyboy1256]

I just spend almost 2 hours reading your journal from start to finish. I'm very impress. As a guy who knows nothing about wires and all the crap u did.you are doing great for this cheap grow .I hope it all works out for u. I will be following along.

my current grow[emoji891][emoji263][emoji271][emoji91][emoji91] https://r.tapatalk.com/shareLink?ur...&share_tid=67026&share_fid=25553&share_type=t

 

[Banjacked]

Well, Pandora is definitely almost ready, LOTS of "cloudy with a chance of couchlock" seen and, well, some stems have been bending under the weight. That's never an issue, a little bit of string to tie them together to support each other, job jobbed (Random, easy to get to, bud)

And Maria is doing exactly as expected for something that came out of the ground on Monday.

Going to have to watch the height of the 6500K deglobed replacement bulb there, as usual, too close and the bugger will be too squat to be able to figure out where to top her.

Thinking of a quick and easy modification to the panel to include the SMD 5730 from the "old" one, a little bit more light does no harm...

 

[Banjacked]

So Pandora got chopped, trimmed, broken into individual buds and put into paper bags. Weighed in at around 210g wet and trimmed, maybe not huge colas but them buds are as dense as a 20th generation Hillbilly. Fingertips went brown with resin and had to be scraped off with teeth and I'm thinking of boiling my scissors in alcohol.

Considering mistakes made, rootbound and overfeeding, result is "satisfactory".

Onto the next one, wot will be in a 17l fabric pot instead of a 10l plastic one when I decide it's time to transplant.

 

[Froot n Fuel]

good job man, looks like Pandora will be a well above “satisfactory” smoke...she looked mighty

Maria could get beast!

 

[Banjacked]

good job man, looks like Pandora will be a well above “satisfactory” smoke...she looked mighty

Maria could get beast!

Not bad for a sub-$50 "grow light" pulling 140w in a €6.80 for 40l compost and "generic" plant food. Plus a little potash.

And string, string is mandatory.

Pulling the remains out of the pot will be interesting, I reckon the whole 10l will come out in one. Read somewhere that 10l pots are fine for autos, they're wrong because she's definitely overfilled and bound with roots, could see her going off because of it, even when lifted up on a pot stand so she never sat in run off, but the rate water went through near the end was telling me "forget it, now or it'll be too late".

So bigger, "breathable", pots, on to the next one. As I say, the 10l will get carved up like the 5l got hit and will be used for something else next year. Berries, peppers, I dunno yet.

 

[Banjacked]

So, I'm going to let this thread rest a while until I decide what the next project will be, and start a journal just for grows whilst using this one for whatever I decide to build next for I think I've proven the case for SMD, you just have to find the right "colour" and not use blurple at all.


Ok, it's not the best light out there, but considering what some pay for "grow lights" which are really just trash, then I think this is a viable option given it cost under $50 with some spare bits and pieces I had lying around.

So, a new journal will be linked to in my sig block, and I'll leave you with the next girl on the go, Maria, 13 days old, 8" wide and barely 3.5" tall. I think I may have to raise the light up a bit.