Home made led grow light for seedling

[jcwiggens]

Hi all
I hope all of my fellow Americans had a wonderful Thanksgiving.

Anyway, I made my own full spectrum grow light out of an old IP67 outdoor led light. I replaced the existing 20 watt 6500K chip with a full spectrum(400nm-800nm) led chip. I put a $3 120mm computer fan to provide enough cooling to keep the chip from getting damages or burning out. It is running a little hot, so I'm probably shorting it life. But that's OK until I can find a way to provide more cooling.

Is the a good spectrum of led chip to use for early growth. My 280 watt manufactured light was reading 18,000 lux as high as I could get it. I have it reading about 4,500 lux with this DIY light. Is this too much/too little light? I am a complete newbie, so any thoughts would be greatly appreciated.

 

[bluter]

i'm just gonna suggest a read through this ..

Thread 'Fire Safety: How do you prevent a disaster?'

Aug 1, 2021

Hello everyone.
Here is my question.

How do you prevent a grow room fire?

Do not let this happen to you.

For those of you who don't know I had a horrendous fire in my grow room.
For those that do know, Thank you for all your love and support.
Everyone here has been a godsend of love and positivity.

My recommendation for everyone is as follows.

1- put drywall on the ceiling and walls of your grow room.
Any fire retarded material is recommended.

2- install atleast 2 smoke detectors in your grow room.
Install one directly above your light.
And one at the opening that can easily hear...

• Bill284
• fire prevention grow room safety
• Replies: 404
• Forum: Frequently Asked Questions

• 
• 
• 

 

[jcwiggens]

?

 

[jcwiggens]

i'm just gonna suggest a read through this ..

Thread 'Fire Safety: How do you prevent a disaster?'

Aug 1, 2021

Hello everyone.
Here is my question.

How do you prevent a grow room fire?

Do not let this happen to you.

For those of you who don't know I had a horrendous fire in my grow room.
For those that do know, Thank you for all your love and support.
Everyone here has been a godsend of love and positivity.

My recommendation for everyone is as follows.

1- put drywall on the ceiling and walls of your grow room.
Any fire retarded material is recommended.

2- install atleast 2 smoke detectors in your grow room.
Install one directly above your light.
And one at the opening that can easily hear...

• Bill284
• fire prevention grow room safety
• Replies: 404
• Forum: Frequently Asked Questions

• 
• 
• 

Wouldn't Wonderboard be better for for prevention? It's concrete and fiberglass. Heavy as heck, but provides water and fire protection combined.

 

[bluter]

Wouldn't Wonderboard be better for for prevention? It's concrete and fiberglass. Heavy as heck, but provides water and fire protection combined.

i know a a person that used it in closet grow type space.
it gets too expensive for the amount of material needed when doing walls and ceiling. the other drawback is it becomes difficult to attach stuff to the walls if needed when it is installed. he likes it though, and the space is a permanent install so once it's done you never think of it.

 

[waytoofaded]

There's a lux to PPFD calculator online, I just punched it in and it should be around 400 umol which is good. Keep an eye on them though.

 

[MidgeSmith]

How easy would you say it was to customize / make it?

 

[jcwiggens]

How easy would you say it was to customize / make it?

Pretty simple. I make or modify a lot of things because I have to. The led chips can be bought without the need for a DC driver these days. If you put them on a thick piece of steel, it's easy to cool it. I decided to use these old outdoor lights becasue I wasn't using them and they were laying around. The built in heatsink is garbage, so I used a backup fan from my pc build to help dissipate the heat. You can also use a water block to cool it(pic below). I am going to try using a $10 cpu cooler next. The cooler is rated for a 95 watt cpu, or 95 watts of heat. Since I want to make a bigger 500 watt led light out of 460nm blue, 630nm red leds, and 400nm-800nm led chips.

If you can do basic soldering you can make them. My solders look messy because my real soldering gun went bad. If you need any help, feel free to ask.

 

[MidgeSmith]

Thanks for your reply man! I'm a bit of a hack, but I tinker whenever I think I can get away with it. I'll take you up on that advice if and when I get to it

 

[Waywardwayne]

Pretty simple. I make or modify a lot of things because I have to. The led chips can be bought without the need for a DC driver these days. If you put them on a thick piece of steel, it's easy to cool it. I decided to use these old outdoor lights becasue I wasn't using them and they were laying around. The built in heatsink is garbage, so I used a backup fan from my pc build to help dissipate the heat. You can also use a water block to cool it(pic below). I am going to try using a $10 cpu cooler next. The cooler is rated for a 95 watt cpu, or 95 watts of heat. Since I want to make a bigger 500 watt led light out of 460nm blue, 630nm red leds, and 400nm-800nm led chips.

If you can do basic soldering you can make them. My solders look messy because my real soldering gun went bad. If you need any help, feel free to ask.

Interesting stuff. I’m especially interested in your use of computer cooling components to get the job done. Where is the heat dissipated from the water block? I’m thinking of making a setup with two radiators. One inside the tent over the light and one in a cooler bedroom next to the grow room. I’m hoping to remove heat from the tent and also hoping it’s enough heat to warm the other room even if only slightly. While I got the idea because of my background in computers I think using a couple rads like this will be better.

Amazon.com

I know we don’t have the same goal, you want to keep the light itself cool to keep it running longer and I want to transfer heat from one room to another, but I still find it very interesting what you are doing.

 

[jcwiggens]

There's a lux to PPFD calculator online, I just punched it in and it should be around 400 umol which is good. Keep an eye on them though.

My par meter arrived today. I am getting a reading of 80 mol.

 

[jcwiggens]

Interesting stuff. I’m especially interested in your use of computer cooling components to get the job done. Where is the heat dissipated from the water block? I’m thinking of making a setup with two radiators. One inside the tent over the light and one in a cooler bedroom next to the grow room. I’m hoping to remove heat from the tent and also hoping it’s enough heat to warm the other room even if only slightly. While I got the idea because of my background in computers I think using a couple rads like this will be better.

Amazon.com

I know we don’t have the same goal, you want to keep the light itself cool to keep it running longer and I want to transfer heat from one room to another, but I still find it very interesting what you are doing.

OMG, my CPU cooler arrived today. I didn't have to do any modifications to it. Other than to put a small piece of cardboard as a temporary wedge. I came with a mobo mounting bracket. I just tightened it down and it''s running cool. I didn't even put the thermal pasted on yet! 50 watt full spectrum 110v led chip. The rgb lights even work! Awesome!

Don't laugh, but a bought a Toyota Tacoma radiator for 19 bucks off of Amazon and an 10 dollar 850l per minute pump. I stick the pump into a 1 gallon reservoir and cycle both the water block and radiator with the pump. I can dump gobs of heat without even running a fan over the radiator.

It's been running for 30 minutes. The block isn't even warm! @ 10 for the cooler and $2.50 for the chip. That's $12.50 per 50 watts of led light. The cooler should last for years, and the led chip is rated at 50,000 hours. This is definitely the way that I will use as a building block for my light construction.

 

[Waywardwayne]

Awesome. How are you powering it, it’s gotta be dc. I’ve used these before for a couple projects and they work great.

Amazon.com

Don’t think I had this specific one but it’s nearly the same. Not too expensive but it alone cost more than the rest of the stuff.

I’m not surprised the block isn’t warm yet. It may never get warm. It takes quite a bit of heat before you even notice on something that size. A 100x100x50mm radiator in general can dissipate 100 watts. Thickness and fins and fans and ambient temperature to name a few things can change the capacity of the radiator.

So if I have a 400 watt light I can get away with a 20x20 inch. Smaller if it’s thicker or has denser fins. Then I can run the light at night so the heat is more useful. It wast clear what you are water cooling but I’d love to see what you have going on and I can share whatever I do if you are interested.

 

[waytoofaded]

My par meter arrived today. I am getting a reading of 80 mol.

Pretty simple. I make or modify a lot of things because I have to. The led chips can be bought without the need for a DC driver these days. If you put them on a thick piece of steel, it's easy to cool it. I decided to use these old outdoor lights becasue I wasn't using them and they were laying around. The built in heatsink is garbage, so I used a backup fan from my pc build to help dissipate the heat. You can also use a water block to cool it(pic below). I am going to try using a $10 cpu cooler next. The cooler is rated for a 95 watt cpu, or 95 watts of heat. Since I want to make a bigger 500 watt led light out of 460nm blue, 630nm red leds, and 400nm-800nm led chips.

If you can do basic soldering you can make them. My solders look messy because my real soldering gun went bad. If you need any help, feel free to ask.

Are you soldering these chips straight to 110v?

 

[jcwiggens]

Are you soldering these chips straight to 110v?

Yes.

 

[jcwiggens]

Interesting stuff. I’m especially interested in your use of computer cooling components to get the job done. Where is the heat dissipated from the water block? I’m thinking of making a setup with two radiators. One inside the tent over the light and one in a cooler bedroom next to the grow room. I’m hoping to remove heat from the tent and also hoping it’s enough heat to warm the other room even if only slightly. While I got the idea because of my background in computers I think using a couple rads like this will be better.

Amazon.com

I know we don’t have the same goal, you want to keep the light itself cool to keep it running longer and I want to transfer heat from one room to another, but I still find it very interesting what you are doing.

For your goal. I would 100% go for an automotive radiator instead. $175 for that is incredibly expensive. Also, remember that automotive radiators are used to cool the engine and transmission. Now, I realize that the motion moves a lot of air flow. But the thermal mass appear to be much greater, as is the water storage capacity. I did a quick look on Amazon and saw models as low as $40. Since you aren't tied to a make and model. Just look for the cheapest unit;

 

[jcwiggens]

Awesome. How are you powering it, it’s gotta be dc. I’ve used these before for a couple projects and they work great.

Amazon.com

Don’t think I had this specific one but it’s nearly the same. Not too expensive but it alone cost more than the rest of the stuff.

I’m not surprised the block isn’t warm yet. It may never get warm. It takes quite a bit of heat before you even notice on something that size. A 100x100x50mm radiator in general can dissipate 100 watts. Thickness and fins and fans and ambient temperature to name a few things can change the capacity of the radiator.

So if I have a 400 watt light I can get away with a 20x20 inch. Smaller if it’s thicker or has denser fins. Then I can run the light at night so the heat is more useful. It wast clear what you are water cooling but I’d love to see what you have going on and I can share whatever I do if you are interested.

I bought 5.5mm plug sets from Amazon and use a length of old Ethernet wire to connect with the 4 pin cpu cooler plug. The Ethernet wire fits into the plug nicely. The DC power supply is you run of the mill 6amp 12 DC power supply. As I said, I always use things intended for other purposes. PC parts are always over priced. Pre-made LED grow lights are over priced. I am on disability, so I need to make and do things myself. Replaced all my copper with pex, upgraded my 60amp service with 200amp outside disconnect, installed breaker boxes/sub panels, and bodge parts together to make useful stuff.

 

[jcwiggens]

Thanks for your reply man! I'm a bit of a hack, but I tinker whenever I think I can get away with it. I'll take you up on that advice if and when I get to it

Anytime you're ready, I can help you.