Dollar Store Grow Lights!

THC-CK · Dec 30, 2019

So, while venturing the isles of the local dollarstore I came across these babies! Now, I know they are only 9w but, but used in conjunction with other lighting, or by itself in multiples, it seems like a a viable option for those on a budget!

I cracked them open to see what was inside, it consists of 6 x 600-700nm chips, and 2 x 400-500nm chips.

I was looking to lower the output of my veg LED setup, and swapped three of these into a splitter. We shall see how she likes them!

Jay1971 · Dec 30, 2019

Man I wish much dollar store offered such goods. Try them out I grow on a budget, even using egg shells, Epson salt, and baking soda. Stuff laying around. My plants are pretty happy on the cheap.

Chip Green · Dec 30, 2019

Whites alone can get it done, lookie here...
https://www.rollitup.org/t/screw-in-grow.957051/

THC-CK · Dec 31, 2019

Chip Green said:
Whites alone can get it done, lookie here...
https://www.rollitup.org/t/screw-in-grow.957051/

Awesome! Once they are in flower I'm going to be using a Mars TS600, but for veg and future micros I'm very impressed with the screw in LEDs and will continue to use them.

I had 7 x 16w (A21 size) 2700K and 3000K bulbs and it was too much light for one plant. I had it much too close and stressed the crap out of her. Fingers crossed she will recover.

coreywebster · Dec 31, 2019

That's a great find!, Where they a dollar?? Or do you have dodgy dollar stores that sell things for more like we do over here with our pound shops these days.

THC-CK · Dec 31, 2019

coreywebster said:
That's a great find!, Where they a dollar?? Or do you have dodgy dollar stores that sell things for more like we do over here with our pound shops these days.

Technically they were $3 USD.

THC-CK · Dec 31, 2019

Update:

So, after doing some light meter testing, and seeing the plant "like" them, I decided to switch the entire splitter over to 7 of these.

9 x 7 = 56w draw

It is putting out roughly 9200 lux, so maybe 500umol give or take?!

Not bad for veg!

Chip Green · Dec 31, 2019

Yeah that red combo definitely caught my eye, I'll be on the lookout....

Gangamaster · Dec 31, 2019

THC-CK said:
So, while venturing the isles of the local dollarstore I came across these babies! Now, I know they are only 9w but, but used in conjunction with other lighting, or by itself in multiples, it seems like a a viable option for those on a budget!

I cracked them open to see what was inside, it consists of 6 x 600-700nm chips, and 2 x 400-500nm chips.

I was looking to lower the output of my veg LED setup, and swapped three of these into a splitter. We shall see how she likes them!

what name of dollar store was it?

THC-CK · Jan 1, 2020

Dollarama. Located in the US and Canada.

Green, with yellow writing.

Gangamaster · Jan 1, 2020

THC-CK said:
Dollarama. Located in the US and Canada.

Green, with yellow writing.

Thanks, I will check it out.

THC-CK · Jan 2, 2020

Update 2:

They gone.

I came home to check on her tonight and o noticed that the lights just didn't "look" as bright. So, I thought I'd pull out my light meter... 3200 lux at the exact same distance as yesterday.

I have swapped the 7 x 16w 3000K bulbs back in and raised it up to 18" exactly now. We will see how she does.

Disappointed... But not surprised to say the least.

PJ Diaz · Jan 2, 2020

THC-CK said:
Update 2:

They gone.

I came home to check on her tonight and o noticed that the lights just didn't "look" as bright. So, I thought I'd pull out my light meter... 3200 lux at the exact same distance as yesterday.

I have swapped the 7 x 16w 3000K bulbs back in and raised it up to 18" exactly now. We will see how she does.

Disappointed... But not surprised to say the least.

Prolly getting too hot, and dimming down.

Mak'er Grow · Jan 2, 2020

I did a similar thing, but stripped the little plates holding the LEDs off and mounted them on side of old PC case...just the side, not the whole case...lol
I found this way the heat was better controlled and went from about 35+ degrees down to nice constant 28"
The ones I found run at 60v (dc) so I linked 2 together in series into an 8Amp bridge rectifier and couple resistors straight from the wall...no "driver"...about 90-100 VDC comes out and I just paralleled 8 pairs for a total of 16 bulbs.
Biggest failures of the LED bulbs I found were the crappy "drivers" they use in them...they fail very easily.
Try to find "Dimmable" bulbs...they dont use extra circuits on the LED board for voltage dropping and can be easily combined and run from a driver.
Will try to snap a pic tomorrow for ya.

Oh ya if your not using them now why not open 1 up completely...to see how it ticks

CobKits · Jan 3, 2020

Chip Green said:
Whites alone can get it done, lookie here...
https://www.rollitup.org/t/screw-in-grow.957051/

i use them all the time for clone trays. thsoe and the 40W led strip shoplights. hard to beat for $15 as a replacement to the old T12 shoplights i had been using for decades

Airwalker16 · Jan 3, 2020

coreywebster said:
That's a great find!, Where they a dollar?? Or do you have dodgy dollar stores that sell things for more like we do over here with our pound shops these days.

Lol I love BigClivedotcom when he talks about the Poundland stores and all its amazing finds.

Airwalker16 · Jan 3, 2020

THC-CK said:
Awesome! Once they are in flower I'm going to be using a Mars TS600, but for veg and future micros I'm very impressed with the screw in LEDs and will continue to use them.

I had 7 x 16w (A21 size) 2700K and 3000K bulbs and it was too much light for one plant. I had it much too close and stressed the crap out of her. Fingers crossed she will recover.

How big an area are you going to flower in?
The TS600 is actually a really clever light bit will only flower like a 1.5'X1.5' area. 2'X2' if you're in a good tent.
Bit the cool thing about the TS600 is that it doesn't even have a driver. It's just got enough resistors and other Surface mounted components on it to where it just uses mains 120V power. It can't even be used in the UK or 240V AC.

Teag · Jan 3, 2020

Airwalker16 said:
It can't even be used in the UK

Mars is going to want their money back

THC-CK · Jan 3, 2020

Airwalker16 said:
How big an area are you going to flower in?
The TS600 is actually a really clever light bit will only flower like a 1.5'X1.5' area. 2'X2' if you're in a good tent.
Bit the cool thing about the TS600 is that it doesn't even have a driver. It's just got enough resistors and other Surface mounted components on it to where it just uses mains 120V power. It can't even be used in the UK or 240V AC.

It's a 3x3 tent. I plan to do a one or two plant perpetual DWC grow.

The more research I do I'm leaning towards the Spiderfarmer or the Mars TS1000 due to the driver.

I'm also tempted to look at CMH now that they are so cheap. A good vertical setup can be had for $250.

THC-CK · Jan 3, 2020

Mak'er Grow said:
I did a similar thing, but stripped the little plates holding the LEDs off and mounted them on side of old PC case...just the side, not the whole case...lol
I found this way the heat was better controlled and went from about 35+ degrees down to nice constant 28"
The ones I found run at 60v (dc) so I linked 2 together in series into an 8Amp bridge rectifier and couple resistors straight from the wall...no "driver"...about 90-100 VDC comes out and I just paralleled 8 pairs for a total of 16 bulbs.
Biggest failures of the LED bulbs I found were the crappy "drivers" they use in them...they fail very easily.
Try to find "Dimmable" bulbs...they dont use extra circuits on the LED board for voltage dropping and can be easily combined and run from a driver.
Will try to snap a pic tomorrow for ya.

Oh ya if your not using them now why not open 1 up completely...to see how it ticks

Now that I have the 16w bulbs back in there I may take some time and pull apart one of those blurples to take a peak see.

I think you are correct as well. The blurples are non-dimmable, however; the 2700K and 3000K units are dimmable.

Dollar Store Grow Lights!

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