Computer grow box gets 120 watts of LEDs
13.8 years ago computer, indoor growbox, LEDs
Always running out of room in my grow box I needed to expand it some. Though the CFL lights I was using worked great for my 3 square foot space, though by nearly tripling the square footage CFLs wouldn’t scale out anymore. Looking at my other options such as HPS (High Pressure Sodium) or Metal Halide I really didn’t want to deal with ballasts and cooling I decided on going with LEDs. After doing some research I came upon the 120w Extreme Flower LED grow light and after talking to the great people at Advanced LED Lights they were gracious enough send me with one of their lights to try out.
Now as soon as I opened the box I noticed the sticker that said "Do not look directly at light.” Being a moron I just had to plug it in and test out this warning, now it was not like staring at the sun but it was definitely much brighter than my Christmas grow light and I would not recommend others to do this.
The light offers a unique blend of 11+ wavelengths of color ranging from 380nm to 760nm and if you read my post of the importance of wavelength to plant growth this is critical for vegetative and flowing plant growth. The great thing about growing with LEDs if you can pick the specific wavelength produced for maximum yields, though other lights also provide this spectrum they also produce much in the range that is appealing to our eyes (yellow and green) which the plants could live without. This is the reason why this 120 watt grow light can produce the results of a comparable 250w High Pressure Sodium light.
I still have some work to do on my new bigger grow box before I can move this years plants in, but I am excited to see the results this new light will bring. Stay tuned for more updates.
Tags: grow lights, growbox
13.8 years ago
120W of LEDs should give you quite a run.
13.8 years ago
What happened to “cheap”? $369. Wow. Then again my free-side-of-the-road-windows for my own cold frame project ended up around $500 after purchasing all the additional lumber, hardware, paint, growing supplies. So “lit” with envy. I have to have one too.
13.8 years ago
I had my mind on creating a small coldframe/greenhouse but my estimate came to the few hundred dollar range and I backed out. I would agree this does not fall under the “cheap” category but to be able to grow some winter tomatoes CFLs will not cut it. The other choices are the same up front costs when you include the needed cooling but results in higher electricy bills as well as having to replace the bulbs more often. So relative to the alternatives this using LEDs is long term “cheap.”
13.8 years ago
Glad you got it for free (so you can still refer to yourself as a cheap vegetable gardener). I certainly won’t be spending almost 400 bucks on it!
13.8 years ago
You can find LED traffic lights on Ebay for around $20.
They are red LEDs only, but they run on 120V and are 12″ in diameter.
13.8 years ago
That is a good point. One problem with those is they use lower wattage LEDs so one of those lights are only 10-12 watts. So you would need to buy 10-12 of these to have the same wattage as this light, though a little wiring you can have your own DIY grow light for a little over $200.
13.7 years ago
Your space looks good and I’m sure the light will provide you with very good harvests especially with fruiting plants light tomatoes. One thing to keep in mind, this light you have has 90 3w LEDs and all of them have a 60 degree lens. Our Extreme Flower lights are much more intense than most people think and they need to be place at least 24″ or more if you can when you first transfer your plants into the space. After the plants adjust you can move them down if you want but we have found optimal growth at 18-24″. If you have any questions at all just shoot me an email. Happy growing! 🙂
13.7 years ago
You’re very lucky to have been able to snag it for free, in my town, I could be able to build something like that, maybe slightly lower quality for a hefty price of almost $450. No way I’m gonna shell out this much, instead will keep my eyes open for occasional deals. Fingers have been crossed for monthes now! 😀
13.7 years ago
[…] I did successfully grow some peppers in the grow box over the winter, though as you can see below their size was lacking and the plant has been perking up a bit with some new growth once I added some better controlled heating and the LED lights. […]
13.6 years ago
[…] and Heating: Here are a couple more major improvements in this build. I have installed a 120 watt LED system from Advanced LED Lights and picked up a pair of 150 watt ceramic reptile heaters for $17 each on […]
13.3 years ago
Led lights in general have seen a steady decline in price as they become more and more popular. Led grow lights are no exception, so hopefully in the next few years or so it’ll be more affordable for everyone.
13 years ago
Would love to have one of them myself! Maybe wouldn’t pay that much but considering LED’s last almost forever it’s not too bad!