LED Full Spectrum Light For PC Grow

[Leo1978]

Hello people,

This will be my first try for a PC grow. I'm not an experienced grower.
I want to try PC grow with a standard size PC box. I am thinking of using LED FULL SPECTRUM GROW LIGHTS. My question is what is too much for a PC grow? I am thinking of an 80w LED PANEL FULL SPECTRUM. But is 80w too much for a PC? The specs say covering area about 15sq.m but it also mentions it is for small grow boxes.

Below are the specs
– Great for small grow box, grow tent, DIY hydroponics, bonsai, garden etc.
– 80W Grow Light: include UV and IR which is ideal for all kinds of indoor plants seeding growing and flowering at all growth stages
– Peak Wavelength: red / blue / white / UV / IR 5 peak bands can provide plant, vegetable and flower all stages with everything they desire in the natural sunlight
– Coverage Area: about 15 square meters
– Better Heat Solution: 2 cooling fans provide better heat dissipation, lower noise and won’t generate any heat build-u
– Lamp Beads Arranged: 70pcs red+ 20pcs blue + 8pcs white+ 1pcs IR + 1pcs UV
– Lumen: 5160 – 5950LM
– Beam Angle: 100 degree
– Body Temperature: less than 60 Deg.C
– LED Working temperature: less than 65 Deg.C

It has total 25 LEDs.
19 red Leds with 620 -630nm
3 Blue Leds with 460 -465nm
1 UV Led with 400 - 410nm
1 IR Led with 740 - 745nm
1 White Led with 6000 -6500nm

Will this be too much 80w? Like for a PC grow or Shall I look for something smaller?Or maybe with something with more Leds but less Watts?

Thank you all very much.

 

[Mars Hydro]

What is PC grow? What is your grow size?

 

[Stunned]

How big is your actual grow space?
Are you wanting to grow one plant?
The coverage area is out of whack. There's no way it will cover 15 SQ m
15 SQ inches more likely
Also there's a discrepancy between the 2 descriptions of how many leds are on the fixture
Is it 25 leds or 100?
80 watts is a very small light

 

[Dwight Monk]

What is PC grow?

PC= Personal Computer, so wanting to grow inside a computer tower.

I think most folks that get that to work are using more like light bulbs kind of thing, as you don't have much height and a small area so heat can be an issue I would think along with the height limits (as those kind of LED all vent out the top far as I know, so you can't put it up against the top of the tower or even very close for that matter). Not sure if anyone here has made it work in that small an area (or I can't think of one off the top of my head), IMHO better off modifying a kitchen cabinet or bathroom linen cabinet kind of thing, as even with those it can get tight in a hurry for you. I'm just not seeing any advantages to using a PC tower, but maybe I'm missing the reasoning for doing that.

 

[Virgin Ground]

Most pc builds use the spiral cfls. A few lower watt full spectrum screw in type leds(smd) may work. A small smd panel may work also. Kinda need your footprint to help. Also check out quantum board strip lighting.

 

[TurboBucket]

Mountaingoats Stealth PC grow box in less than 20 steps

PC Grow 92 Watt CFL Bag Seed

 

[TurboBucket]

Spiral CFLs will be quick and easy and are known to work. With a few led strips you could provide ample lighting and mount the driver outside the case. You'd also have the ability to dim them to help with thermal management. More LEDs at less wattage will help keep temps lower than a few LEDs at full current.

 

[Leo1978]

Hello people and thank you all for your message.

@SmokeSara - Yes PC= Personal Computer, so wanting to grow inside a computer tower - I have seen it a lot online.

@Stunned - Yes the first description was wrong in the website concerning number of LEDs the it will be 100 LEDs.

The Tower is 450mm height, 450mm length and 170mm width.
I am thinking of growing 2 autos at a time. I'm not going for anything big and I am aware of height issues in the PC so I will try LST. Just want to make the best yield possible for the amount of space I have in the PC.

So I am attaching 2 lights I am thinking about.

1st Thought - 80w FULL SPECTRUM LED PANEL GROW LIGHT

2nd Thought - 150w 50 LED FULL SPECTRUM GROW LIGHT

If you have any better ideas please mention them. I can pay a bit more money up to like 250 euro (300 USD) if needed for more WATTS. This is my first grow and I don't know much and I would really like to do it in a PC for stealth reasons. But is 80w too much or too little? What will be a good wattage for PC grow? (what is a good enough wattage for CFL or LED?)

Thanks again!

 

[Leo1978]

hello @TurboBucket

Thanks for the links and your time. I had found them before but they don't really show the final outcome of what happened. I see one guy did it with 92W total with CFL. Further down in one of the threads someone asked if 100W is too much but there was no answer yet. But according to the links it seems 80W is not too much right? Maybe the more Watts the better? So I can maybe try 150W instead?

 

[Leo1978]

Spiral CFLs will be quick and easy and are known to work. With a few led strips you could provide ample lighting and mount the driver outside the case. You'd also have the ability to dim them to help with thermal management. More LEDs at less wattage will help keep temps lower than a few LEDs at full current.

SO do you mean less than 80watts? for the strips? Will be enough though?

 

[TurboBucket]

Your biggest issue is going to be heat. You'll never be able to give the plants everything they want in there. In the little spaces it's about keeping the plant happy more than anything else. Start small, if you can keep it cool add another one. If the panels are passively cooled you could attach them to the case wall with thermal adhesive and use external heatsinks. By the time you can enough stuff into the case there's no room for plants so stuff starts moving outside the case and you lose the whole stealth thing.

LED strip lights are pretty cheap and you can adhere them to the case for some passive cooling. Get some with a dimmable driver and you can vary the amount of power with your cooling abilities.

 

[Leo1978]

@TurboBucket
Thanks again for your reply. Researching I found many sources saying that CFLs generate more heat than LEDs and that is one of the reasons I'd like to go with LED panels. The other is the combination of Blue and Red light.
I am planning on taking care of the heat with fans etc. In the case of taking care of heat is the 80w or 150w LED panel too much or too little for PC grow?

 

[Virgin Ground]

What do they actually pull from the wall as far as wattage?

 

[Virgin Ground]

Those lights are 175mm x60mm. You said your case is 170mm wide?

 

[Virgin Ground]

I like Turbo's idea of the led strips. People have been doing it for planted fish tanks for years. There are many led strip led builds on you tube to inspire you. Some of the newer ones have remotes for changing the spectrum. They are self adhesive also. I haven't personally used these. They might be worth a look at. I don't know if they have true red nm or not. I saw some 6500k that would do good for compact veg. They are smd leds though, so not bad.

 

[TurboBucket]

I'd say 150 is going to be too much. My point is it's less about your lights and more about your environment. Put some lights in the box and run it. That will tell you more than someone across the world ever can. If you're ambient temperature is relatively cool you can get away with more light. Then your relative humidity becomes an issue. And how much your plant drinks, how much water does your medium hold? How often will you need to water? Cramming the maximum amount of light in a small space is not the answer. Dimmable LED strips give you variable power. You can get them with red and blue diodes if you want (I used some in a space bucket) but I would suggest a white light higher Kelvin ratings would be better than lower as VG mentioned above. Make sure they are dimmable.

 

[Leo1978]

Hello @Virgin ground ! Thanks for stepping in!

Thank you for your time. Like I said I'm new and I want to understand what is too much and what is not enough. If I knew wattage that is too much or not enough it would be easier for me to decide what to get.

Thanks again

 

[Leo1978]

I'd say 150 is going to be too much. My point is it's less about your lights and more about your environment. Put some lights in the box and run it. That will tell you more than someone across the world ever can. If you're ambient temperature is relatively cool you can get away with more light. Then your relative humidity becomes an issue. And how much your plant drinks, how much water does your medium hold? How often will you need to water? Cramming the maximum amount of light in a small space is not the answer. Dimmable LED strips give you variable power. You can get them with red and blue diodes if you want (I used some in a space bucket) but I would suggest a white light higher Kelvin ratings would be better than lower as VG mentioned above. Make sure they are dimmable.

Hey Turbo!

Thanks so much for mentioning the other parameters like watering, humidity etc. EYE OPENER!! This is all very helpful! I'm getting to understand it now. Above I posted a few links to some LED strips and LED bars. Maybe you can take a minute to check them out? Thanks so much!!

 

[TurboBucket]

The first two selections were what I was thinking of.

A rough rule of thumb is 50-80w/sqft. But that's for larger spaces with greater distances from the lights, bigger root mass, more vegetation etc.

If your light is dimmable you will be able to dial your lighting in to match what your able to get your environment to.

 

[Virgin Ground]

Yup. The first one is like the type i have seen with the remotes.
Second one is cool with the ability to add lights when needed.
You want between 4000-7500k for veg. The higher the number, the more blue. More blue is shorter more spacing and more compact growth. Lower the number, the more red for flower, gives a growth with more height.