Amy Gardner’s High Brix Dreams

Neiko, I don't know about anyone else's thoughts, but if you source the parts yourself, and you do the design and provide the labour, I would say you could save between 30 to 50 percent on the overall cost of buying someone else's product. I know the light I'm building would cost me at least triple, assuming I could find one with the same specs. Buying a DIY kit would save about 20% on premade.
 
neikodog said:
So all you people who have built your own lights, is it relatively the same price to buy a DIY kit from a retailer like Timber or is it better to source all the components separately?
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I found it was cheaper to source everything myself. I have not really seen kits for boards but looking at Timber kits and what it costs after all the heatsinks and the frame is added, it was a bit much. I cant recall the exact price but I think I have as much in my 4 panels covering my 4x8 as they wanted to cover either a 4x4 area or a 5x5 area. The board supplier that Shiggs found has the cheapest boards I have found. Most American suppliers want $40-$50 per board typically and i got mine for about $30 per board shipped.

Edit: I just checked their site and they have board kits over at Timber. They have a 300 watt kit with 3 panels and they want $549 for it. I have about $225 in my 3 board panel that is about 260 watt draw. So almost exactly half the cost.
 
:popcorn:
 
Great DIY work, Amy - Love it! :bravo:
 
Great discussion all :thumb: - thanks Yeti, that explains it very well!

I do plan to tally up my final cost so I’ll be able to make a direct comparison to the other options (kits and ready made) I was considering. I’ll get to it. :)

neikodog said:
Oh and Amy, I don't know how much it would be to ship you some wire but I carry hundreds of feet of 18 guage wire on my service truck. I wouldn't have a problem shipping you some if it isn't too costly.
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That’s a shipping cost I’m sure I can cover!!
I’ve been wanting to ask you about something else on DM anyway, I’ll drop you a line later! :thumb:

I’m going to ask an electrician I know directly (I talked to him when I was doing the inline connector) so if I strike out with him, I’ll be chasing up some from the US that’s for sure. (And BTW my searching for 18AWG thermostat wire only brings me USA results... :hmmmm:)

InTheShed said:
Tomorrow brings leaves of green!
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It did! They’re just poking up! Too sleepy to photograph just now (both it and me)!

Mr. Krip said:
Great DIY work, Amy - Love it! :bravo:
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Thank you kindly Krip!! And welcome to my little journal :welcome:

Super pleased to have you along for the ride. I worked on that light slowly for such a long time, it’s been so great to finally finish it and share the process. I’m totally stoked with it and seriously chuffed that everyone likes it :).
:rollit:

It got too cold in the tent overnight , the low temp indicator tells me it got to 17C which is around 63F. While the lights are on and during the daytime it’s hopding at about 23C (73.5F) so is about perfect. Cold nights :hmmmm: - I’m leaving the aircon on, but I did back it off a bit for overnight. I might have to keep it up (no problem! I’ll happily have my bedroom a bit warmer :) )
 
Amy....hope your day is groovin,..fyi , been a sparky for about 30 yrs. Can i help you with sumpin?
 
Duggan said:
, been a sparky for about 30 yrs
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Cool Duggan! I had noticed your sparkiness ;) I was thinking of you actually when I was putting together the inline power connector, took this photo for you actually and left it out of the post (too many pics). I remember at the time thinking, I wonder if Duggs would approve of my technique - it’s tricky holding it all in place while you screw down!

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So ya - the only issue has been my having trouble finding 18AWG solid core here. All the hook up wire is stranded (go figure :rolleyes: ) an the solid core is all 20 or 22AWG.
Maybe my electrician buddy will have some for me ... otherwise I’ll jump on a plane and come get some from you when I come to pick up my ounce! (Come on Duggs’ plants! You can crack 2lb!!!)

Cheers Duggs, you have a great day too! Sunday eh? :thumb:
 
I had a closer look. 18AWG wire is approximately 1mm diameter, standard 1mm2 lighting cable has 3 solid strands each at 1.13mm diameter, that's pretty close, and not hard to find.
 
Blacksmith said:
Amy, could you use telephone cable? They sell that at Bunnings.
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Gee if that were possible... I have about a hundred cricket pitch lengths of that!! I can’t get rid of it, or any old phone stuff, just in case the apocalypse comes and we all have to re-find each other via twisted pair ;)
Blacksmith said:
I had a closer look. 18AWG wire is approximately 1mm diameter, standard 1mm2 lighting cable has 3 solid strands each at 1.13mm diameter, that's pretty close, and not hard to find.
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I’m pretty sure I have that too! At the very least my electrician will :) I didn’t realise I could use that. Thanks Blacksmith :thumb:

So taking that info, basically any 18AWG solid-core insulated wire is gonna be good, right? @Duggan @Graytail @dynamo1 @neikodog

SO if I have the 3solid strand type lighting cable, how do I know if its 18AWG or not. Is it just the core diameter?
:Namaste:
 
That's my understanding, I looked up an awg to mm converter, and it said 18awg was just over 1mm diameter, given that 1mm2 lighting cable has 3 cores, it should be just over (1.13mm) per core. The specs for that cable on bunnings website confirmed my thinking. Also, you could always measure it yourself.
 
Cheers, I didn’t want to be taking any chances with it. As it was, with the rated cable that I had to tin, the connections are not up to my standard (even thought it’s working). Soldering teh whole thing would be great but the boards aren’t designed for that. My next project will be with some kind of strips for sure. That’s at least a year away though - who knows what new tech we’ll have by then.

Meantime, call my electrician for some cable...
 
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