Side light construction

I will post more tomrrow but here are a few pics of the side light construction. I am using exactly the samr daughter boards as before, the copper wire is the negitive feed and will serve to mount the light, and the 2 wires are for red and blue power.

More tomrrow.

B0fin

Hi all = 3 Side Lights in now

With help from Mrs B0fin 3 of the side lights are complete now, and we have installed them in the finishing box. Please remember that we are dealing with pure frequency light. the blue actually makes the leaves look darker, in total we will have 500 ultra bright LEDS in the box in addition to the lighting thats already done good. The attached image was taken with th CFs off so you could see the LEDs.

The remaining 3 side lights will be in shortly and by then I estimate I would have doubled my meaningful light output, ignoreing the wasted frequencies.

Already since I started this project the power of LEDs has improved and new versions just released have double the power of the LEDs used in this design. As I have mentioned the LEDs used here are above the spec of the devices used in commercial grow light, but as I have 2 grow boxes I have decided to order new LEDs of the higher power type for the veg box.

The current grow has been neglected, nute burn and late repotting, but the next grow will server as the yard stick.0

More soon.

B0fin

If you dont mind me asking what are the dimensions of your grow? How many plants do you fit in it? How much do you normally yield?

Hi there

I have 2 boxes and the sizes are;

130cm x 130 cm x 65 cm

I grow small varities (obviously), at the moment LR2s ans AK47 x LR. I tend to germinate 15 beans per box, and take it from there.

I keep improving and the last box of 7 plants yielded well above expectations, I never got round to getting the total weight, but have a look at the post and you will get the idea. I think I must have grown over 100 LR2s now and I know them well. The plants in the current images are 5 weeks old.

If you follow this link there are some pictures of the boxes.



The current grow seems to be responding well to the increased lighting.

I am off to have a spliff and a beer now !

B0fin

And I'm guessing thats LxWxH? Or is that HxLxW? haha Nice setup I might need to build something like that.

Hi again

The boxes are 130cm high, and the same width.

As the lights improve I fit less plants in, but I guess the last box yielded 5.5 oz.

The next grow is different as by mid march I must be finished with the grow. As such the next grow will finish in both boxes, so I am aiming at 16 finishing plants. The germination mix will be;

8 x Auto AK47
8 x Auto White Russian
8 x Auto AK47 x Blueberry
8 x LR2

I will start a grow thread soon.

B0fin

Why are you also using cfl's? Can the led lighting be used by itself?

Hi there Lady

I have always grown with CFs before, the LEDS were designed to add the most essential light frequencies to the mix.

The next grow after the bulk grow will be LED only !

I have just found some LEDs that are the same package that are 4 times the power so we are making a new main light up.

Stay tuned for a LED power boost.

B0f

Hey man, great job! Your set up is almost exactly what I've been looking at investing in. Is there anyway you can put up that part list. I'd love to duplicate your LED results.

Hi all

Thanks for following me, I need all the help I can, sometimes its hard to do all the posting thing.

Hey ICE, I am pretty sure I have hit on something not yet shown here, I belive that all the LED grows I have seen are missing something, its not rocket science (although by chance I can do that too), just common sense. There might be some people doing this already but I have looked hard and ALL the commercial LED products, and all the home LED grows and I think they are all missing the same thing. I think I am able to spot this improvement/ommision because I am inexperienced in growing, as I have only been growing at home for a few years, nothing compared to the experience of most of you here. Its not that LED growers have made a mistake, they have just taken something that is a "LED growing folk law fact" as a "fact".

I have started writing this up, but in order to do this I need to make sure I present all the info, and ideally I would like to document a grow under the new system. I am although missing some equipment ideally I need a PC based Spectrometer but they are like $2.5K+ so I am wondering wether to bit the bullet and get one. We need to know the spectrum in the box, not just lumens, this is about giving the ladies what they need. I must admit I don't quite know what to do about this information, as I am dying to pass it on, but I really need to wait about 6 months and present it properlly with detailed grow results. I am sure that future lights will be designed along the lines I am suggesting.

The method I am using is good becuase I am getting lots in indervidual LEDS in there, I dont belive single high power sources are as good as lots of little sources (but still of good power) in particular;

No real heat issues (high power single devices get real hot).
On average the LEDS are closer to the plants.
You are able to get side lights into play (hate seeing leaves in shadow).

At the moment the first box has about 350watts (real power CF), and about 500 LEDs all on red and blue (3:1) making about 50 watts of red and blue. The box dimensions are 1300mm x 65mm.

ICE if you want I can run this by you via PM and see if you think the same as me, I could do with the confirmation from someone else ?

I have orderd a custom "plate" made from aluminimum along a new design, I hope to have this in place for the next grow together with 30% increase in the LED side light count, and 2 more top LED lights.Once I have the the next upgrade in place I will post part numbers and costs in details.

Thats all for now, new PICs and details next week.

B0fin