DIY LED Grow Lights

There are a number of problems associated with grow lights

• Expensive to purchase
• Require expensive ballasts
• Expensive to operate
• Short limited life spans
• Hazardous materials
• Fragile
• Excessive heat
• Limited K values

 
After quite a bit of investigation I have come to believe there are two types that stand out

• Ceramic Metal Halide (CMH)
• LED

Neither is cheap to purchase and at this time LED is very expensive, but I just found components to build your own LED light bar which exhibit none of the problems Ive listed above!

A Standard LED Grow Light

The components to build and equivalent 400W 36000 lumen grow light at less than 1/2 the cost!

 To build the equivalent grow light would require one PCB and 40 LED Chips at a cost of about $100 plus some labor and a few items like Power supply, solder, wire and box.

This is just one of many LED K values that are available and a wider spectrum could be made by including other K valued LED Chips.

12V power supplies are very inexpensive thanks to the computer industry. 

Total cost about $200

While searching for your components you may find some bulbs are listed in mcd rather than lumens.  Here is a converter calculator to help you design the grow light you wish to build. 


Coming Soon!  New LED technology
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-22106718

Related Posts by Categories