Over 24,000 lumens for $30 (Not including bulbs) DIY light fixture

hepzibah · Jun 17, 2013

Maphyr said:
Thanks for posting this hepzibah. I've pretty much replicated what you have posted here, I had all the materials laying around the house and I needed a better light fixture than I currently use.

I got a quick question for you, what type of hooks did you use to hang with? The hook that goes into the wooden frame. I'm super paranoid about the fixture falling on my plant, so I want to make sure I'm using the correct hook.

Here's my copycat setup of yours.
View attachment 2702917 View attachment 2702919 View attachment 2702924

Here's the hooks I have to use, just not sure which ones to use! Any help from anyone?
View attachment 2702934

Nice! I used eye hooks in the wood. I wanted something completely closed because I knew as the chain got shorter as my ladies grew, it was going to be held at more of an angle and I was paranoid about lights falling too. I connected the chain to the eye hooks with a d-ring snap (I think they are called that). Anyway, they look like this:

Then at the top of my cabinet I have two screw hooks. The chain hangs straight down off of them so I don't worry about it getting bumped. This has been sturdy for me and I haven't had any problems. It looks like you have the materials to do it a similar way (eye hook bolts instead of screws but it should still work).

Good luck and thanks for sharing your set up! The thing I like about the light fixture is you can rearrange the lights and as long as you keep the branches the same length with topping and LST you have good light penetration. Also, I thought later on if I wanted light down the side I could just attach another power strip along the bottom and have bulbs pointed down along the side.

DKellner47 · Jun 18, 2013

This is perfect. I've been really contemplating the set up I want to have and decided on doing a scrog on a smaller stealth grow. So this set up will work perfectly as I wont have to put bulbs down the sides as recommended for the best lighting.. scrog will do me good for a few plants and that nicely done light setup.. let me ask. How many plants are you all growing with this set up.. I was planning three scroged..

PetFlora · Jun 18, 2013

I found cfls to produce airy buds. I now use LED globes, but moving to LED tubes for more even spectrum coverage over a bigger area

hepzibah · Jun 18, 2013

DKellner47 said:
This is perfect. I've been really contemplating the set up I want to have and decided on doing a scrog on a smaller stealth grow. So this set up will work perfectly as I wont have to put bulbs down the sides as recommended for the best lighting.. scrog will do me good for a few plants and that nicely done light setup.. let me ask. How many plants are you all growing with this set up.. I was planning three scroged..

This lighting and cabinet are brand new for me so I am trying 2 free seeds. They both germed and sprouted and now I have two ladies growing nicely. 2 will probably be the max I ever grow. The way my cabinet is set up it just seems like a good fit, but if I kept them smaller and flowered early I don't see why 3 or 4 plants wouldn't fit. The lighting, however, may not be enough to support 4 plants. If I used 6 of the 65W clf bulbs with 6 26W cfls I could get almost 34,000 lumens. I thought I read somewhere that plants in prime flowering need 10,000 lumens per sq ft so this would work but would likely produce airy buds. Although, honestly, I just want some bud. I am not in it to make money or win a contest. I just want to grow some good green and smoke it.
:weed:

hepzibah · Jun 18, 2013

PetFlora said:
I found cfls to produce airy buds. I now use LED globes, but moving to LED tubes for more even spectrum coverage over a bigger area

View attachment 2703939 View attachment 2703940

I'll take airy buds over no buds any day!

I took a quick peek at some LED bulbs and I guess I just don't know a lot about them. They all seem very low watt with low lumen output and expensive. I probably just don't know what I am looking at or for. Your plants look nice and green though.

JTB16 · Jun 19, 2013

Wow very nice fixture, almost looks like the one i'm building right now but my will have 24-26 cfls, around 38000 lumens and use 552 watts and put out 2400 watts of light. Im adding a reflective top and a glass bottom with a 80mm fan on the side exhausting the heat out of my box. This will allow me to touch the plants and keep it cool.

hepzibah · Jun 19, 2013

JTB16 said:
Wow very nice fixture, almost looks like the one i'm building right now but my will have 24-26 cfls, around 38000 lumens and use 552 watts and put out 2400 watts of light. Im adding a reflective top and a glass bottom with a 80mm fan on the side exhausting the heat out of my box. This will allow me to touch the plants and keep it cool.

NICE!! That's a lot of bulbs! I thought about adding glass to the bottom, or that fake glass that still allows light to pass through because heat is an issue. I have 3 fans and it still gets up into the 90's with the doors closed. I would love to see how you attach the glass to the bottom of the fixture. I am running out of ideas to control this heat!

Maphyr · Jun 19, 2013

hepzibah said:
I'll take airy buds over no buds any day!

I took a quick peek at some LED bulbs and I guess I just don't know a lot about them. They all seem very low watt with low lumen output and expensive. I probably just don't know what I am looking at or for. Your plants look nice and green though.

I hear ya. But I do think LED's are the way of the future. I was looking into LED's for my next grow and the technology is still very new and still evolving very quickly, so I'm gonna wait a few years and let the LED's find their place. I may use some red LED's for supplement lightning during flower though, read alot of good about that. I decided to use CMH bulbs for my next grow, I've read nothing but good about CMH and they produce much less heat than HPS.

I belive CFL bulbs are what you use when you first start out. Upgrading to bigger and better is just natural I think. That's not to say CFL's are bad, I've seen very good grow journals using nothing but CFL's. I really want to just get away from CFL's because they have to be so damn close to the plant, I'm always worried/paranoid about the plant being burned.

Off-topic sorta, sorry!

Maphyr · Jun 19, 2013

hepzibah said:
NICE!! That's a lot of bulbs! I thought about adding glass to the bottom, or that fake glass that still allows light to pass through because heat is an issue. I have 3 fans and it still gets up into the 90's with the doors closed. I would love to see how you attach the glass to the bottom of the fixture. I am running out of ideas to control this heat!

I plan on adding a fan to the wooden frame, blowing on the bulbs. Probably a 120mm PC fan, maybe a 80mm depends which will fit really.

Thundercat · Jun 19, 2013

Would it be possible to put a second box ontop of the cabinet with a fan blowing out the top of the cab into the box with a carbon filter in the box eventually. If you used a 4 inch duct booster from lowes for like 25 bucks it would move plenty of air out of that cab and pull cool air in the bottom of the cab to keep the temps down. They are pretty quiet, and you can insulate it to quiet it more if needed. Just a thought, but you gotta have air exchange to get the temps down, not just moving air inside.

hepzibah · Jun 19, 2013

Maphyr said:
I hear ya. But I do think LED's are the way of the future. I was looking into LED's for my next grow and the technology is still very new and still evolving very quickly, so I'm gonna wait a few years and let the LED's find their place. I may use some red LED's for supplement lightning during flower though, read alot of good about that. I decided to use CMH bulbs for my next grow, I've read nothing but good about CMH and they produce much less heat than HPS.

I belive CFL bulbs are what you use when you first start out. Upgrading to bigger and better is just natural I think. That's not to say CFL's are bad, I've seen very good grow journals using nothing but CFL's. I really want to just get away from CFL's because they have to be so damn close to the plant, I'm always worried/paranoid about the plant being burned.

Off-topic sorta, sorry!

No worries! I look forward to learning all about the power of LEDs and I might upgrade years from now but as someone just starting out, I think cfls will do me just fine (at least I hope!). It would put an end to my heat issues. I just don't understand how they are powerful enough.

hepzibah · Jun 19, 2013

Thundercat said:
Would it be possible to put a second box ontop of the cabinet with a fan blowing out the top of the cab into the box with a carbon filter in the box eventually. If you used a 4 inch duct booster from lowes for like 25 bucks it would move plenty of air out of that cab and pull cool air in the bottom of the cab to keep the temps down. They are pretty quiet, and you can insulate it to quiet it more if needed. Just a thought, but you gotta have air exchange to get the temps down, not just moving air inside.

I might have to get the inline fan. The little bathroom fan pulls 50 cfm and I just don't think it is enough to do anything. The exhaust blows out the back (hehe) and I have 3 intake fans, just little pc 80mm ones, so there should be plenty of fresh air circulation. I just need more pull off the lights. Or a glass/plastic barrier to better block the heat getting to the plants.

JTB16 · Jun 20, 2013

hepzibah said:
NICE!! That's a lot of bulbs! I thought about adding glass to the bottom, or that fake glass that still allows light to pass through because heat is an issue. I have 3 fans and it still gets up into the 90's with the doors closed. I would love to see how you attach the glass to the bottom of the fixture. I am running out of ideas to control this heat!

Yea, im using a 80mm fan on the side of the frame for cooling. I'm prolly gonna use a acrylic for the glass this way i can screw it to the frame. On the other side ill be drilling a hole to allow new air to rush through as my exhaust fan blows the heat out towards the exhaust fan for the box. I might post pictures and do a grow journal on here for once since i never done one in years lol. Also im gonna use a 50/50 mix of 2700k and 6500k bulbs for my whole grow.

JTB16 · Jun 20, 2013

hepzibah said:
This lighting and cabinet are brand new for me so I am trying 2 free seeds. They both germed and sprouted and now I have two ladies growing nicely. 2 will probably be the max I ever grow. The way my cabinet is set up it just seems like a good fit, but if I kept them smaller and flowered early I don't see why 3 or 4 plants wouldn't fit. The lighting, however, may not be enough to support 4 plants. If I used 6 of the 65W clf bulbs with 6 26W cfls I could get almost 34,000 lumens. I thought I read somewhere that plants in prime flowering need 10,000 lumens per sq ft so this would work but would likely produce airy buds. Although, honestly, I just want some bud. I am not in it to make money or win a contest. I just want to grow some good green and smoke it.

If you want a denser bud use those 14 watt led panels you can buy for 30 bucks, but use it with a cfl setup like this cause those won't produce enough watts to do all the work but they WILL make the nugs dense. I use it will cfl growing, basically my CFLs do most/all of the work and the 14watt led panels are used with the lighting during flowering just to make my bud more dense.

B166ER420 · Jun 20, 2013

Hey Hep, I see your fixture and just wanted to say nice work with the a/c hose :clap:

.I like seeing the different ways we all make these fixtures.Yours, so far has been the cheapest and bestest :lol:

I have been making these things for the past yr for myself.I had made a few cheap ones for a friend and thought damn i could do better.These are the ones ive made since then :cool:

.I thought you and some others in your thread would like to take a look at mine.I think i have gotten better each one ive made,maybe y'all have some criticisms or ways to improve what I got.A roll of 3" aluminum tape and a 10"inx25'ft roll of galvanized roof flashing does a lot :wink:

This one is my favorite,in my 2x2x4 box temps are °79f

ive had 5z plants using the light and box
View attachment 2706580 View attachment 2706581
View attachment 2706588

I think this is the best one,its not heavy,16 bulbs and a fan built in and all wired in one plug.

Hepzibah,do you have a grow going with your light setup??

B166ER420 · Jun 20, 2013

JTB16 said:
Wow very nice fixture, almost looks like the one i'm building right now but my will have 24-26 cfls, around 38000 lumens and use 552 watts and put out 2400 watts of light. Im adding a reflective top and a glass bottom with a 80mm fan on the side exhausting the heat out of my box. This will allow me to touch the plants and keep it cool.

The glass bottom is a good idea.I have been thinking of that also,I just don't want to lower what little lumens I have or block any uvb as temps are not a big concern for me,ive been holding off from adding a glass/plexiglass bottom.

hepzibah · Jun 20, 2013

JTB16 said:
If you want a denser bud use those 14 watt led panels you can buy for 30 bucks, but use it with a cfl setup like this cause those won't produce enough watts to do all the work but they WILL make the nugs dense. I use it will cfl growing, basically my CFLs do most/all of the work and the 14watt led panels are used with the lighting during flowering just to make my bud more dense.

Thanks for the tip on the LED panel! I might look into that for my next grow.

Oh, and you should totally get a journal going and post pics of your grow. I'd love to see it!

B166ER420 said:
Hey Hep, I see your fixture and just wanted to say nice work with the a/c hose.I like seeing the different ways we all make these fixtures.Yours, so far has been the cheapest and bestestI have been making these things for the past yr for myself.I had made a few cheap ones for a friend and thought damn i could do better.These are the ones ive made since then.I thought you and some others in your thread would like to take a look at mine.I think i have gotten better each one ive made,maybe y'all have some criticisms or ways to improve what I got.A roll of 3" aluminum tape and a 10"inx25'ft roll of galvanized roof flashing does a lot
This one is my favorite,in my 2x2x4 box temps are °79five had 5z plants using the light and box

I think this is the best one,its not heavy,16 bulbs and a fan built in and all wired in one plug.

Hepzibah,do you have a grow going with your light setup??

Thank you very much! I am very new to growing and this site.

Nice job with the flashing and tape. You can make a reflective box like nobody's business! I like the last one with the built in fan. I have one of those cheap bathroom fixtures with the splitters but then I read it was better to have your lights horizontal instead of vertical or angles because you get more light out of them that way. I don't know how much truth is in, but it makes sense.

I do have a grow going with this light! This is also my first hydro grow ever and I have had some problems. Root rot was/is one problem and the another is the fact that I haven't learned to not mess with them. I bought some hygrozyme and added it a few days ago. There has been significant improvement in their growth, both of leaves and roots. Depending on additional growth, I may switch them to flower in about 2 weeks. I am so curios to see how they they bud.

InnDickUhh · Jun 20, 2013

Wow! Thanks man! For my grow this would be overkill but it solved my problem on how to set up my CFL's! Thank you !!!!

Thundercat · Jun 20, 2013

Bigger I really like the middle one, seems like it should be pretty efficient.

B166ER420 · Jun 21, 2013

Thundercat said:
Bigger I really like the middle one, seems like it should be pretty efficient.

Thanks.....you mean the 2 bulber or the 12 bulber,the 12 bulb one now has 4 t5's :cool:

and a fan on it..........THUNDERCATS HOOOOOO!!!!!!!SNARF!SNARF!...LOL

hepzibah said:
Thanks for the tip on the LED panel! I might look into that for my next grow.

Oh, and you should totally get a journal going and post pics of your grow. I'd love to see it!

Thank you very much! I am very new to growing and this site.

Nice job with the flashing and tape. You can make a reflective box like nobody's business! I like the last one with the built in fan. I have one of those cheap bathroom fixtures with the splitters but then I read it was better to have your lights horizontal instead of vertical or angles because you get more light out of them that way. I don't know how much truth is in, but it makes sense.

I do have a grow going with this light! This is also my first hydro grow ever and I have had some problems. Root rot was/is one problem and the another is the fact that I haven't learned to not mess with them. I bought some hygrozyme and added it a few days ago. There has been significant improvement in their growth, both of leaves and roots. Depending on additional growth, I may switch them to flower in about 2 weeks. I am so curios to see how they they bud.

My friend has that cheap led panel from amazon for $30......he wants to give it to me

.....SAVE YOUR MONEY!DON'T BUY CHEAP LED'S!...consistent 75-80(or lower)temps are the secret to dense nugs with cfl's. :cool:

Thanks, ive been growing organic(soil).......My next run I will make a 5g dwc and do a side by side:soil vs. hydro

....I flower in my 2.5x6x6 closet with the 2 big lights and run perpetual 12/12 mexi-swag seeds.I can say i prefer to have my bulbs at an angle with the splitters.If you can keep your temps below 80,you will have nice thick buds,over 85f and they start to get fluffy.Some plants can take the extra heat,most do not.

Over 24,000 lumens for $30 (Not including bulbs) DIY light fixture

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