You guys think this would work?

[TheUltimateNoob]

Greetings everyone. I'll keep this one relatively short. 

I have a 60cm x 60cm x 120cm DIY grow box that I want to setup for vegging to hopefully get a perpetual grow going. I can't buy a new light right now so I've put something together with what I had on hand (including a timer) 

 

These are the lights wattages;

LED plate: 1 x ~48w actual (Chinese UFO Blurple) 

White LED bulbs: 2 x 9w Osram 6500k

LED bulbs: 2 x ~28w actual (red+blue+white+UVA+IR) 

 

Do you think this would be enough to veg 2-4 trees for 5-6 weeks?

I could also veg 2 trees and use the rest of the space for cloning or keeping a bonsai mother. 

Edited April 29, 2020 by TheUltimateNoob

[Ill_Evan]

On paper it seems like it would be powerful enough. Reminds me of @CreX's Frankenstein Nova build. I rate he would be able to tell you how far these lights will get you. 

[TheUltimateNoob]

On paper it seems like it would be powerful enough. Reminds me of @CreX's Frankenstein Nova build. I rate he would be able to tell you how far these lights will get you. 

Thanks man... Hopefully he comes along with some info.

I've vegged and flowered a tree with just the led plate in the middle when I ran my microgrow. I haven't tried to use these older lights in a bigger box so I'm not too sure what to expect in terms of if they're going to give me leafy, stretched out growth.

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[Ill_Evan]

2 minutes ago, TheUltimateNoob said:

Thanks man... Hopefully he comes along with some info.

I've vegged and flowered a tree with just the led plate in the middle when I ran my microgrow. I haven't tried to use these older lights in a bigger box so I'm not too sure what to expect in terms of if they're going to give me leafy, stretched out growth.

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I am sure @CreX will pop in soon  tag and they will come. 

[PsyCLown]

Without having equipment to test the lights, you'd need to try it and see what happens.

 

I know people have vegged with LED flood lights with good results. I doubt the plants will die, although I think they may stretch a bit more than usual and be a bit scrawny.

If it is your only option, go for it.

[TheUltimateNoob]

Without having equipment to test the lights, you'd need to try it and see what happens.
 
I know people have vegged with LED flood lights with good results. I doubt the plants will die, although I think they may stretch a bit more than usual and be a bit scrawny.
If it is your only option, go for it.

Yeah the lack of equipment is a pain.

I know they won't die, I just wanted to see if anyone knew if it would be worth the effort.
I'll try to keep the lights low to minimise stretching and get a small fan for circulation.

Haha, it is my only option other than starting each grow from seed in the same tent.

Thanks

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[GreenBeans]

Not really an expert on lighting and things but I have experimented with household bulbs and have veged plants under 3×8w bulbs each, and honestly the plants werent scrawny or excessively stretched out and thats just with 24W of screw ins per plant.

This one is a bit stretchy, but thats just coz i kept the lights higher and was too lazy to move them down.

 

Then this plant has much tighter nodes and is much bushier 

I guess the only way to know would be to experiment for yourself and see if you get the results you're after. 

[TheUltimateNoob]

Not really an expert on lighting and things but I have experimented with household bulbs and have veged plants under 3×8w bulbs each, and honestly the plants werent scrawny or excessively stretched out and thats just with 24W of screw ins per plant.
This one is a bit stretchy, but thats just coz i kept the lights higher and was too lazy to move them down.
 
Then this plant has much tighter nodes and is much bushier 
I guess the only way to know would be to experiment for yourself and see if you get the results you're after. 

Cool, thanks for the info
I'm gonna get a fan in there for extraction then have a go at vegging something in the box.

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[CreX]

Yea what's uuuuuup! 

Okay, because it's what you have at the moment, I'm not gonna elaborate on the point of you needing a better light blah blah... You already know this much... I'm going to focus on how best to use the thing. 

First up... Nice innovation hehe it looks cool enough  

2nd up, all those lights have different intensity and usefulness in a veg environment, but for it to be more efficient, you need to create as even canopy of light as you can. Best way to do this is download a basic lux app onto your phone, and test each of the globes at a distance of 30cm. For best results you would like to maintain a constant output over a large area as apposed to high concentration in a small area and little elsewhere. So adjust the lights heights so that you can attain this, you might find you will need to either raise or lower the household LED's 

Next, you need to be able to adjust the light higher and lower with relitive ease because they will need to be about 30cm above the canopy of your plants at all times.... Seedlings, maybe 45cm if the fitting gets hot in any way. 

And yea, that's the best advice for your temp light, who knows, maybe it doesn't do a half bad job. 

1)nice innovation 

2)get the light intensity level as constant as you can across the whole fixture

3)make it easy to adjust regularly 

[Ill_Evan]

Master @CreX has spoken. 

[TheUltimateNoob]

 

 

 

 

Yea what's uuuuuup!  Okay, because it's what you have at the moment, I'm not gonna elaborate on the point of you needing a better light blah blah... You already know this much... I'm going to focus on how best to use the thing. 

First up... Nice innovation hehe it looks cool enough  

2nd up, all those lights have different intensity and usefulness in a veg environment, but for it to be more efficient, you need to create as even canopy of light as you can. Best way to do this is download a basic lux app onto your phone, and test each of the globes at a distance of 30cm. For best results you would like to maintain a constant output over a large area as apposed to high concentration in a small area and little elsewhere. So adjust the lights heights so that you can attain this, you might find you will need to either raise or lower the household LED's 

Next, you need to be able to adjust the light higher and lower with relitive ease because they will need to be about 30cm above the canopy of your plants at all times.... Seedlings, maybe 45cm if the fitting gets hot in any way. 

And yea, that's the best advice for your temp light, who knows, maybe it doesn't do a half bad job. 

1)nice innovation 

2)get the light intensity level as constant as you can across the whole fixture

3)make it easy to adjust regularly 

 

 

Haha, yeah I know, I know. I'm saving up for a qb kit and some other bits.

 

I'd just like to test out having a perpetual grow before I commit. I've had success with each of these lights individually before so I'm seeing how far I can push all of them together.

 

The bulbs have been used for vegging and cloning before with success, and the plate has vegged and flowered a microgrow with great success.

 

1) Thank you sir, I try to not buy anything new unless I absolutely need to.

 

2) Thanks for bringing that to my attention. I was more focused on balancing out the spectrum with the white bulbs so I didn't bother to check if all of them are giving appropriate lux levels for their heights (I say lux because I have no way of testing par). I have a feeling I need to raise the middle plate and lower the white bulbs a bit.

Won't be too much trouble as the whole fixture is made of 4 pieces that can be unscrewed easily.

 

3) I can raise and lower the fixture easily, there are metal hooks on each corner and a loop of string through all of them, enabling me to change the height.

 

Thanks for stopping by and helping me out man, I really appreciate it. It's gonna get going pretty soon. By the end of next week hopefully.

 

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[CreX]

Any time yo! Tag me in the grow diary you start and I'll give it a follow

[CreX]

Oh! I saw something that also might help... Those led globes you have in... See if you can't get a fitting with a less omni directional disperser... 

Downlight shape are better with a more unidirectional light focus. 

 

[TheUltimateNoob]

Oh! I saw something that also might help... Those led globes you have in... See if you can't get a fitting with a less omni directional disperser... 
Downlight shape are better with a more unidirectional light focus. 
 

I was thinking about this last night.
I considered making some out of a sun-visor for now, like little cone shaped ones to fit around the bulb as is instead of having to cut open the bulb and fix a new reflector to it.

I also thought of moving the bulbs to the corners of the fixture instead of along the sides (besides lowering them which I still have to make alterations for).

I think it would be better if I replaced the 2 x 28w LED bulbs for 6 more Osram led bulbs and have them along sides as well as in the corners.

It would draw 2w less but have a more even coverage.
That UFO is putting out way more light than any of those bulbs so it's making this design a bit more complicated.

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[TheUltimateNoob]

 

 

 

Downlight shape are better with a more unidirectional light focus. 

 

 

I could just cut of the plastic dispersion cup off these ones... I'll do it tomorrow.

 

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