I made a DIY flower tent from an old canvas shoe rack and needed a light. The dimensions are 60x30x90cm. Not many quality lights out there to fit the space so I decided to build my own.
After searching online and reading guides I opted for a strip build. Part of this plan was to keep costs as low as possible so I went with the 280mm Bridgelux EB Gen 2 strips in 3500K.
Parts list
8 x Bridgelux EB Gen 2 LED strips
1 x ELG-150-C700A driver
1 x 300x400mm 3mm thick aluminium plate
1 x waterproof connector
18 AWG wire
Bootlace ferrules
25M of 30mm thermal tape
1 x AC side 3A plug and wire
2 x wire connectors
Cable ties and electrical tape
I had a couple of bits already laying around so only spent £73.10. With those added you're probably looking at about £80 All in.
So for my space I was aiming for about 60W with the option for higher power. The strips nominal current is 350mA and the chosen driver is adjustable 350-700mA. As I'd be running the strips fairly soft I decided not to bother with a heatsink. Some may argue against this but that's the choice I made. Here's some voltage and power calculations for the strips wired in series with the constant current driver.
I cut two 300mm x 30mm and two 280 x 10mm strips to create a frame for the strips to be mounted on with a 15mm gap between each strip. Excuse the wonky one I lost concentration for a second and that thermal tape is like super glue.
Here's the driver.
All connected up I tweaked the internal dimmer until I had 60W on the socket meter. Then tested the voltage across the 8 strips which read at 152.6VDC. So the current should be around 390mA. After running for 30 mins I could still hold my hand on the strips or frame no problem and testing several spots around the strips and frame the temperature didn't exceed 32.2C.
I still need to mount this into the tent and do some further tests after being on for a longer time but so far so good. Cheap, easy to build and really bright. First grow will be the real test for it.
After searching online and reading guides I opted for a strip build. Part of this plan was to keep costs as low as possible so I went with the 280mm Bridgelux EB Gen 2 strips in 3500K.
Parts list
8 x Bridgelux EB Gen 2 LED strips
1 x ELG-150-C700A driver
1 x 300x400mm 3mm thick aluminium plate
1 x waterproof connector
18 AWG wire
Bootlace ferrules
25M of 30mm thermal tape
1 x AC side 3A plug and wire
2 x wire connectors
Cable ties and electrical tape
I had a couple of bits already laying around so only spent £73.10. With those added you're probably looking at about £80 All in.
So for my space I was aiming for about 60W with the option for higher power. The strips nominal current is 350mA and the chosen driver is adjustable 350-700mA. As I'd be running the strips fairly soft I decided not to bother with a heatsink. Some may argue against this but that's the choice I made. Here's some voltage and power calculations for the strips wired in series with the constant current driver.
I cut two 300mm x 30mm and two 280 x 10mm strips to create a frame for the strips to be mounted on with a 15mm gap between each strip. Excuse the wonky one I lost concentration for a second and that thermal tape is like super glue.
Here's the driver.
All connected up I tweaked the internal dimmer until I had 60W on the socket meter. Then tested the voltage across the 8 strips which read at 152.6VDC. So the current should be around 390mA. After running for 30 mins I could still hold my hand on the strips or frame no problem and testing several spots around the strips and frame the temperature didn't exceed 32.2C.
I still need to mount this into the tent and do some further tests after being on for a longer time but so far so good. Cheap, easy to build and really bright. First grow will be the real test for it.