How do you install a 50w LED floodlight indoors?

IlovePlants · Jun 8, 2012

I've recently noticed that ebay and amazon are both selling these lights.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/New-50W-White-LED-AC-flood-garden-Landscape-Light-Lamp-/251008361160?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item3a7143a2c8

I thought that they would work well as a supplemental spotlight in the flowering room. Has anyone used these lights or maybe modified them to fit a standard 110 volt 3-prong socket?

If someone has a solution it will make diy growing that much more achievable! These little floodlights could do great things in the right scenario.
Sincerely,
ILovePlants

FranJan · Jun 8, 2012

I have some 20 watt 5500K ones that I use for germming/vegging clones. They're 2 wire 2 prong 110-120v though, (bought the plugs for a buck each), and they do give off quite a bit of heat for their size, but I think it's because the body is the heat sink and also that they are really cheaply made lights. Otherwise this 20 watt baby replaced 46 watts of CFL. And I saw they make them in 630nm and 450-460nm, but the largest wattage 630s I 've seen has been 30 watts. If you can figure what to do with the heat they should work for flowering IMHO. Maybe it's time to mod one. Where's Rasser when u need him? LOL

And don't forget to take the glass off

!

IlovePlants · Jun 8, 2012

Awesome response just what I was looking for! I wasn't sure if I needed to install anything to regulate the current (I haven't messed with electronics in 10 years). If I had some more money I was thinking of starting a thread called "What Ebay has to Offer" and do a bonsai 1 gallon with 2x50 watt 2700k floodlights and 50 watts of Red/Blue cheapo panels, I already own one from when I first got into leds. 300$ 150 watt LED micro flowering cab, yes please! With my DIY skills it would be amazing, some day!

I was going to make it hard bodied, with the two 50watt 2700k behind a piece of glass in a separate area (to make venting more ideal). I don't understand why cabinet makers haven't done this yet. They themselves should just have one glass shelf that the light sits above. It would decrease the height of cabinets significantly, and as long as an inventive approach is taken in terms of venting, I'm sure it would be more than adequate temperature wise. It's about making your light come from the ceiling while your heat source is in a whole other room. For the price, some one with time and skills could make some amazing things. I do not have the time or money right now though, sadly.

All in all though FranJan you have answered my question. Thank you!
Sincerely,
ILove

MajorCoco · Jun 8, 2012

IlovePlants said:
Awesome response just what I was looking for! I wasn't sure if I needed to install anything to regulate the current (I haven't messed with electronics in 10 years). If I had some more money I was thinking of starting a thread called "What Ebay has to Offer" and do a bonsai 1 gallon with 2x50 watt 2700k floodlights and 50 watts of Red/Blue cheapo panels, I already own one from when I first got into leds. 300$ 150 watt LED micro flowering cab, yes please! With my DIY skills it would be amazing, some day!

I was going to make it hard bodied, with the two 50watt 2700k behind a piece of glass in a separate area (to make venting more ideal). I don't understand why cabinet makers haven't done this yet. They themselves should just have one glass shelf that the light sits above. It would decrease the height of cabinets significantly, and as long as an inventive approach is taken in terms of venting, I'm sure it would be more than adequate temperature wise. It's about making your light come from the ceiling while your heat source is in a whole other room. For the price, some one with time and skills could make some amazing things. I do not have the time or money right now though, sadly.

All in all though FranJan you have answered my question. Thank you!
Sincerely,
ILove

It looks to me like it already has an LED driver in the package, because it says that the input is 85-265VAC. So you just wire it up to the mains and off you go...

Chronikool · Jun 9, 2012

Yip....MajorCoco is right...im using this style of light for my whole grow....just wire to mains. Supplemental light? Really....? Iim using this and house LED's for the whole thing....

Rasser · Jun 9, 2012

Right now at the local shop I can get a 10W RGB flood lamp with a remote for the same price as a 10W white.
Looks like there is 3R 3G 3B led's on the die.

Now witch one should i buy? :-)

for a low power single plant 0-2 week veg growth light.
Turning down the green led should save power and makes the unit run cooler.

Rasser · Jun 9, 2012

FranJan said:
I have some 20 watt 5500K ones that I use for germming/vegging clones. They're 2 wire 2 prong 110-120v though, (bought the plugs for a buck each), and they do give off quite a bit of heat for their size, but I think it's because the body is the heat sink and also that they are really cheaply made lights. Otherwise this 20 watt baby replaced 46 watts of CFL. And I saw they make them in 630nm and 450-460nm, but the largest wattage 630s I 've seen has been 30 watts. If you can figure what to do with the heat they should work for flowering IMHO. Maybe it's time to mod one. Where's Rasser when u need him? LOL

View attachment 2204485

And don't forget to take the glass off !

Hey FranJan.

On SatisLED it goes all the way up to 500 watts on a single chip red, blue, white by choice.
http://www.satisled.com/Wholesale-120w500w-led_c270
500 watt LED that's 375 watts of heat to dispense on a surface the size of a mobile phone :fire:

that is going to need some serious cooling. I would prefer many smaller LED placed apart instead
of a single ultra high power light source.

FranJan · Jun 9, 2012

^^^Hey Rasser, I see you are looking at those RGB flood lamps. I wonder what the lumens are at a setting that is good for cannabis? Those RGB floods are very, very intriguing. I would love to see someone hack that light so you can control it with a computer.

^^^I couldn't imagine cooling a 500 watt package. That's water cooling territory to me!

And see how they keep the power supply separate from the lamp? This section gets as hot as the lamp section. I think it's time to drill some holes in the electronics cover, especially since I don't care about any waterproof aspects of the light, and see if it runs cooler. I also removed the waterproof gaskets because I think they may be insulating the lamp and not helping heat to escape. I paid $23.00 US each for these lights, so if something happens I can always get more without going broke

.

Chronikool · Jun 9, 2012

The 10w floodlights (11.4w actual draw) dont get very hot at all. Havent taken the covers off I've had mine on 24/7 for the 35 days of veg, and just switched to 18/6. Not a problem so far. It is winter where i am though....

Rasser · Jun 11, 2012

FranJan said:
^^^Hey Rasser, I see you are looking at those RGB flood lamps. I wonder what the lumens are at a setting that is good for cannabis? Those RGB floods are very, very intriguing. I would love to see someone hack that light so you can control it with a computer.

^^^I couldn't imagine cooling a 500 watt package. That's water cooling territory to me!

View attachment 2206492
And see how they keep the power supply separate from the lamp? This section gets as hot as the lamp section. I think it's time to drill some holes in the electronics cover, especially since I don't care about any waterproof aspects of the light, and see if it runs cooler. I also removed the waterproof gaskets because I think they may be insulating the lamp and not helping heat to escape. I paid $23.00 US each for these lights, so if something happens I can always get more without going broke .

Thanks for opening up your light and showing it to us. Makes me think, the white LED flood light only has one driver
but the RGB is bound to have 3 dimmable so it will have 3 times the loss in the led driver as the white hmm anyway.

Yesterday I was playing with a Velleman 8055 USB interface board connected to a PC running the boards demo software.

Instead of using the boards tiny BC337 transistor I fitted a 50A mosfet 'RFP50N08' from a hand power drill, switching the
power via 20 Khz PWM to the 3 1W LEDs making them controllable from 0-100% without waisting power.

I'm planning to use it to control a much bigger light than the 3 led's shown
and I'm writing my own cool interface program in VB2010 express where i hope to also incorporate the ability to read
the data coming from my multimeter with usb, and my incoming Co2 sensor with usb (Yes PSUAGRO I could not handle to see yours and not have one my self :lol:

)

FranJan · Jun 12, 2012

^^^Dude Im lovin' it. You've totally just inspired me to re-wire my spots. I've decided I want to move the driver away from the light housing, and actually out of the cabinet, to see if I can get daytime temps down inside the cabinet.

Rasser · Jun 12, 2012

FranJan said:
^^^Dude Im lovin' it. You've totally just inspired me to re-wire my spots. I've decided I want to move the driver away from the light housing, and actually out of the cabinet, to see if I can get daytime temps down inside the cabinet.

Good idea !
There is no reason that the heat from the driver should add heat to the LED's and the box.

And I think this is how we should get by, at least the ones of us that has a interest in fiddling with our equipment.
Buying cheap products and modding them a bit to make them suite our needs, and make them last longer, run cooler, shine brighter,
and make less noise, hopefully.

:dunce:

This is off course totally unnecessary, but please be careful when fiddling with 120 - 230 volts,
I have no desire to see you electrocuted, from my "inspirational influence" at least not yet. ;-)

FranJan · Jun 12, 2012

^^^Duly noted sir. And I couldn't agree more with the modding statement. The cheap stuff begs to be modded

.

DaveTheNewbie · Jun 14, 2012

FranJan said:
^^^Dude Im lovin' it. You've totally just inspired me to re-wire my spots. I've decided I want to move the driver away from the light housing, and actually out of the cabinet, to see if I can get daytime temps down inside the cabinet.

this has me excited
pull the front glass off for better light, pull the back / waterproofing off for better heat exchange, put the driver outside the growroom like a HPS ballast, sexy.

So what really is the light? is it 1 single 50w LED or a bank of 3w lights or 1w lights or crappy small ones
does it actually work as a floodlight AKA cover a decent distance?

FranJan · Jun 14, 2012

DaveTheNewbie said:
So what really is the light? is it 1 single 50w LED or a bank of 3w lights or 1w lights or crappy small ones
does it actually work as a floodlight AKA cover a decent distance?

If we're talking about mine I've never actually checked the draw and the company I bought them from was just some crap peddler on Ebay, but they appear to be 2 watt diodes in a 2x10 matrix. Each diode is probably running at 1 to 3/4 watts each at best and possibly closer to a half watt. They're shockingly bright for their supposed draw of 20 watts and it is currently growing 12 Blue Cheese clones in 2 liter containers and doing an OK job of replacing 4 x 23 watt 6500K CFLs, though there's also a larger LED panel in the grow cabinet too. It will soon be joined by another one I'm currently using on a few SLH clones so I'm expecting together they will best the CFLs' growth rate, but we'll see. And there is no way you want to cool 6 or 8 of these. Maybe the ones that cost more run cooler but these are good for me for now.

Rasser · Jun 16, 2012

FranJan said:
If we're talking about mine I've never actually checked the draw and the company I bought them from was just some crap peddler on Ebay, but they appear to be 2 watt diodes in a 2x10 matrix. Each diode is probably running at 1 to 3/4 watts each at best and possibly closer to a half watt. They're shockingly bright for their supposed draw of 20 watts and it is currently growing 12 Blue Cheese clones in 2 liter containers and doing an OK job of replacing 4 x 23 watt 6500K CFLs, though there's also a larger LED panel in the grow cabinet too. It will soon be joined by another one I'm currently using on a few SLH clones so I'm expecting together they will best the CFLs' growth rate, but we'll see. And there is no way you want to cool 6 or 8 of these. Maybe the ones that cost more run cooler but these are good for me for now.

It would be cool if say 2x20W LED floodlight could replace those 4x23W of CFL's
and there should be savings from avoiding buying new ones vs the led floodlight,
especially when the cooling is seriously improved on the LED's and driver.
If only one 20W LED could replace those 4 CFL bulbs then it's amazing.
I used 4x 20W CFL floodlight to veg for some time, great directional light, and very flexible in positioning.

I've just run the numbers as it would look for me if I replaced 4x23W with 2x20W LED

Edit: To be fair to the CFL's I did run it again with 10 years, and at year 6 the LED lamp is finished
if 30.000h is real and make the green line jump up with +1200 on this chart and then continues as before,
but what is the cost of buying 20W LED in 6 years.

FranJan · Jun 16, 2012

Rasser said:
It would be cool if say 2x20W LED floodlight could replace those 4x23W of CFL's
and there should be savings from avoiding buying new ones vs the led floodlight,
especially when the cooling is seriously improved on the LED's and driver.
If only one 20W LED could replace those 4 CFL bulbs then it's amazing.
I used 4x 20W CFL floodlight to veg for some time, great directional light, and very flexible in positioning.

I've just run the numbers as it would look for me if I replaced 4x23W with 2x20W LED

Edit: To be fair to the CFL's I did run it again with 10 years, and at year 6 the LED lamp is finished
if 30.000h is real and make the green line jump up with +1200 on this chart and then continues as before,
but what is the cost of buying 20W LED in 6 years.

Yeah I don't think 1 20 watt LED is going to replace 4 23 watt CFLs today, but I bet you in 6 years it will

. Still I'm surprised how well these Blue Cheese clones are vegging, especially running 12/1. I think when I go to 2 LED lights I'll run 18/6 for a while to see what they can do under that schedule.

Hopefully I can mod the lights sometime this week. I still haven't figured out what to mount the drivers to. Yet

.

Rasser · Jun 20, 2012

Just seen this on e-bay. LINK

+ Looks to be a silent passive panel. (IP66)
+ Big panel - good coverage

- heat management could be problematic
- Big panel - overkill for vegging a few plants vs. 10-20W led flood.

I wonder what the actual draw is 28*2W or 28*1.6.

Specs:
Led Module : 80W
Outdoor Lighting Product Type: Grow Light
LED Configuration: 28x3W
6x Blue: 435-445nm
10x Red: 620-630nm
12x Red: 660nm
Floodlight Angle : 75-80 degree
Coverage Area: 2m*1.3m
Floodlight Waterproof : IP66-68
Worldwide Voltage: 85-265V AC
Rated Hours: 50,000

I got some white 10W LED floodlights incoming to replace CFL, I first looked into just buying the 10W LED chips, drivers and heatsinks on e-bay
but the cost was 75% of a finished floodlight, so that was OOTQ. A 10W RGB is also on the way for some spectra testing.

I think within a few years/month LED grow light is something you buy at the local Walmart.

Chronikool · Jun 20, 2012

Good find Rasser! The thing i like about the floodlights is that they have a really good reflector inside them. that and my leaves can touch all part of the floodlight without heat stress.

IlovePlants · Jun 22, 2012

In case anyone wanted to know I bought a 20 watt 5000k light, it works amazingly for how little wattage, so I bought the 50 watt 3000k model. Now I'm waiting on the light, and funds to make the super mini cab, an adjustable spectrum cabinet made for small flowering plants (bonsai and early flowering). Wish me luck in the coming weeks!
Best wishes on your growing endeavors,
ILovePlants

How do you install a 50w LED floodlight indoors?

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