Homemade LED Panel For Less Than $100 - Trainwreck - Cotton Candy - Pineapple Express

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budgreene

New Member
The strip is an under car strip 12v Genaric dc driver from walmart. The rest are dollar store Christmas leds that were battery operated (three AAAs that's 4.5 v )I cut the battery boxes off and spliced a cell phone charger plug to it ( they are very low voltage , this one was 5.7v 300 ma )
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The light mover is only going to move 6 inches either way just to keep the leds moving around so there is no low light spots.. Lets all see how leds really work.. Had someone been kind enough to send me some nutes i'd be running their line but, gonna run grandmas home brew again.... which is killer lord knows
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Re: Hommade LED panel under $100 no other lights, train wreck , cotton candy & pine/e

the great thing ive learned about leds is you canmake them brighter simply by turning up the power..And if you give them a little too much they don't burn out , they pulse/strobe until you get the power back down to a usable level. The undercar strip is 12 v but its running on 9 v cause the dc driver I got from walmart is 1350 ma that's milliamps. with the voltage being adjustable..
 
Re: Hommade LED panel under $100 no other lights, train wreck , cotton candy & pine/e

The strip is 3050 leds I ordered from china think I paid $20 including shipping. It was 15 meters but I cut it into 4 ft pieces and jumped the wires. it came with instructions... Very easy. Lets just wait and see, should be good though I tested the strip and blue pin lights in a small cardboard box with a seedling for 1 week a while back with pretty amazing results
 
Re: Hommade LED panel under $100 no other lights, train wreck , cotton candy & pine/e

Yo man, that's a neat idea... Have you had good results with this through flowering already or are you still waiting on veg? It would take a lot more LEDs than that to come close to an HPS, I would have thought? Anyway, I've never tried it but LEDs are tempting...
 
Re: Hommade LED panel under $100 no other lights, train wreck , cotton candy & pine/e

only time I tried it was veg and it was only 1 week but look at the two pics in the box , same plant 1 week apart.. Were gonna see though cause as long as their growing im gonna use just that panel... I figure its about750 watts of light , using about 35 watts of power , a lot of light from hps is used very little or not at all ( like green , some whites and violet )
 
Re: Hommade LED panel under $100 no other lights, train wreck , cotton candy & pine/e

Good job then bro. Follow it through to the end and give 420 some valuable research :thanks:
 
Re: Hommade LED panel under $100 no other lights, train wreck , cotton candy & pine/e

I'm just curious but why not just go to lowes and pick up a 400 watt hps for $40? Is this just an experiment or what? One 4' floro would do far more than 100,000 led's.
 
Re: Hommade LED panel under $100 no other lights, train wreck , cotton candy & pine/e

Welcome to the forums Gelite. I think you may be a little outdated on your tech. LEDs can and do produce just as well if not better than HPS lighting and use less electricity. Likewise, if you can pick me up a few hundred of those 400 watt HPS's at $40 each I'll gladly pay shipping (unless you are referring to the bulb only, in which case they aren't going to grow anything without a substantially large investment). I know this may come across as a little harsh, but it appears you are giving 20 year old knowledge and prices.
 
Re: Hommade LED panel under $100 no other lights, train wreck , cotton candy & pine/e

Hes right brother I was a hold out also, HID lights old faithfull m/h & HPS But bro I saw it with my own 1 good eye !! LEDs are the thing of the future.. AND THEY WORK , even through bud..
 
Re: Hommade LED panel under $100 no other lights, train wreck , cotton candy & pine/e

Not trying to be a douch or anything man but Um, but I have been growing for nearly 20 years and I've grown in every environment u can imagine and with the whole gammet of available lighting. I have just 3 weeks of veg time with soil as the grow medium this grow. Clearly u have been miss informed as to hid lighting. My bill goes up maybe $20 a month and I run a 1000hps and 1000mhld full time. You can order a switchable 1000 ballast with BOTH bulbs for less than $100 shipped ALL DAY LONG. I got one 8 years ago with the hood included for a $120. My first hps was purchased for $40 at lowes. The ballast was only rated at 150 but I threw a 400 watt bulb in the box and to my surprise it worked I just made sure to keep a fan on it. That same ballast today sells for $35 at lowes. Whatever made you thing "antiquated old school worthless hid lighting would increase in value. Have u priced bulbs lately? I broke a 1000watt hps a few months ago and I'm thinking there goes $100 bucks right? Nope, $20 far a new bulb "all day"
 
Re: Hommade LED panel under $100 no other lights, train wreck , cotton candy & pine/e

One more thing, Xmas tree lights are not led's. They use a conventional filent just like thomas Edison was rockin 200 years ago. Now let me educate u about YOUR "state of the art" lighting system you've invented there. U say your lights start blinking when there "over powered"? I bet that starts around say, 12 volts? I bet they blink like hell at 12 volts, kinda like Xmas tree lights! Roflmao!dude, your working vith 12v lights and when they reach there required operating voltage they blink and they do this cause there is a bulb in the line, probably with a red tip called a blinker bulb. Remove it and they won't blink but be sure to replace it with a standard build or they will not come back on as they are wired in series. Also, the amperage of your power inverter/cell phone charger could be 1,000,000 amps and that's not gonna effect there performance as long as the lights don't require more than a million amps. Your voltage will determine the discharge of the lights, not amperage unless the requirements required is met or EXCEDED. One more lesson, under car mounted neon glow lights are just that, NEON! Not led. There tiny gas filled NEON lights. Now with that being said, where are the led's u talk about in the description?
 
Re: Hommade LED panel under $100 no other lights, train wreck , cotton candy & pine/e

So you are telling me that I can get a 400 watt hps bulb that will work on my 150 watt ballast which is 190 actually fro lowes? That would be awesome!
 
Re: Hommade LED panel under $100 no other lights, train wreck , cotton candy & pine/e

Go get one and try it. It works guaranteed. Used out for 5 years.
 
Re: Hommade LED panel under $100 no other lights, train wreck , cotton candy & pine/e

A 1000 w ballast and bulb running 24/7 for 30 days uses very close to 800kwh and unless you have 50 windmills in your yard, or own the power company its closer to $120 than $20... sorry but as they say in dragnet "just the facts "
 
Re: Hommade LED panel under $100 no other lights, train wreck , cotton candy & pine/e

Of course their Christmas lights LED Christmas lights that arent suppose to blink and don't get hot at all... The blue lights that are 12v that strobe do so on 12 v with my driver because its 1300 ma , its not adjustable.... Its made for 12 v 450ma.I am quite sure I know electrical.
 
Re: Hommade LED panel under $100 no other lights, train wreck , cotton candy & pine/e

You cant see by the pictures that these are Leds omg , this is a prime example of why you don't kiss your sister !! Do the blue string lights in the box look like neon filled tubes to you or do they look like separately wired LEDs ... Dude quit whatever it is your doin , quick !!
 
Re: Hommade LED panel under $100 no other lights, train wreck , cotton candy & pine/e

I did the math in another post, IF all he is running is two 1000 watt HID lights, he must be paying less than $0.03 per KWH. Therefore, he doesn't live any any developed country in the world. The lowest state in America is $.0588 per KWH in WY (at the lowest consumption tier). I checked Ebay as I was typing this and the cheapest 1000 watt HID system that had a BIN with 2 bulbs was $203. The cheapest 400 watt system at Lowes or HD was $288 and $204 respectively. Yes, you can get a 400 watt bulb to fire in a 150 watt fixture, but it kills the longevity of the bulb and it still only produces draws ~172 watts. The bulb isn't fully powered and is not delivering 400 watts of light.

Please do your research before talking from your arse. Your comments on LEDs show your lack of knowledge as does your comments on the "Christmas tree lights aren't leds". The strip light that he is using is called 5050 SMD LEDs. They are cheap, low power diodes that produce a fair amount of photons. However, they do not have much penetration power.
 
Hosebomber said:
I did the math in another post, IF all he is running is two 1000 watt HID lights, he must be paying less than $0.03 per KWH. Therefore, he doesn't live any any developed country in the world. The lowest state in America is $.0588 per KWH in WY (at the lowest consumption tier). I checked Ebay as I was typing this and the cheapest 1000 watt HID system that had a BIN with 2 bulbs was $203. The cheapest 400 watt system at Lowes or HD was $288 and $204 respectively. Yes, you can get a 400 watt bulb to fire in a 150 watt fixture, but it kills the longevity of the bulb and it still only produces draws ~172 watts. The bulb isn't fully powered and is not delivering 400 watts of light.

Please do your research before talking from your arse. Your comments on LEDs show your lack of knowledge as does your comments on the "Christmas tree lights aren't leds". The strip light that he is using is called 5050 SMD LEDs. They are cheap, low power diodes that produce a fair amount of photons. However, they do not have much penetration power.
Click to expand...

Lol, I was waiting for this. Thank You.
 

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