DIY LED Grow Light Follow Up - Low Power LED VS CFL

Рет қаралды 582,131

8 жыл бұрын

Can you build a cheap grow light out of these LED strips that actually works? That is the question that many of you have had over the past few weeks since I released the initial grow light build video. I have been able to do some upgrades and testing and have some decent initial results to share.
I started 6 Roma tomato plants and planted them in similar pots all at the same time. I also planted another one and set it near a window. I set the three grow lights at the same height from the plants and all on the same timer. The details of the lights are as follows -
Grow light 1 - This is the light I built in the first video with one upgrade. I added a 6500k 7020 LED strip to this light to give it a bit more power. The two strips I used can be found here -
Toogod 5050 Grow light strip - amzn.to/1UkHosI
7020 bright white strip - amzn.to/1TGDgQI
Grow light 2 - This is an all "Cool white light" grow light using 5630 LED strips. I used two of these 5m strips for this light
5630 Cool White LED strip - amzn.to/26Mg62y
Grow light 3 - This is my old tested FCL grow light it uses 8 cfl bulbs at 6500k/23watts each.
CFL bulbs - amzn.to/1QOm1sn
Results -
Grow Light 1 - The growth from this light was mediocre at best. Although it was sufficient to keep my seedlings going without any trouble it did not perform better than the CFL light or my sunlight control.
Grow Light 2 - The worst growth of the three lights. This light did not have the power intensity or properly light spectrum to produce good growth. It did keep things rowing and alive but not very well at all.
Grow light 3 - This light performed above and beyond the other two and even had better growth than the plant I placed near the window. I couldn't be happier with my old CFL lights and they have been running strong for over two years.
This was just an initial test to satisfy those who have been asking about them. I am going to build more LED light fixtures with different LED strips and then do a final test to see if I can get better growth from the LED strips for less power consumption and up front cost. If not, it will be back the CFLs!
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Пікірлер: 499

@AcmePhoto 5 жыл бұрын

I'd like to see the LED's placed very close to the plants, so that the measured light output is closer to those of the CFL. Since we know the lumen output is greater on one (CFL), it would be more fair to the comparison to put them closer, and possibly raise the CFL, so that the lumen at the plant is as close to identical as possible.

@margauxforeal9488 Жыл бұрын

This, yes.

@FirstLast.69 7 жыл бұрын

I really appreciate your testing with these. I only recently got into indoor gardening and bought the toogood red/blue strip as my first. Its good to see the outcome compared to the wattage used.

@raco5754 2 жыл бұрын

Agree. Plus the plastic container does not help the moisture explore the atmosphere. Maybe a greenhouse affect with LED?

@ShawnBauer 8 жыл бұрын

Been waiting for this follow up video. Very informative as I've been thinking about building something similar in my greenhouse hydroponics system. Thanks!

@SSLFamilyDad 8 жыл бұрын

+Shawn Bauer no problem, will have better results when i try the other two designs also. Thanks for checking it out!

@gioknows 4 жыл бұрын

It looks like a lot of fun experimenting like that. Keep at it and enjoy the learning experience.

@gthradek 4 жыл бұрын

nice to see someone working hard to improve product development. Add a temperature gauge to each site to rule out temperature affects on growth

@AtypicalPaul 5 жыл бұрын

Nice video :). Great info and cool set up

@brianf5222 7 жыл бұрын

Wow i would of never of thought the LED strips would grow anything !! I'm using a few CFL's & a dubble 36 inch T5's at the moment I have in the T5 housing unit a grow bulb from Petco. They have the T5's u need to grow.i got an all blue Spectrum bulb & a regular Green Grow bulb. I got the housing unit for 10 bucks at Wal-Mart them went to the fish store to see what kind of T5's they had to offer. & to my surprise they had exactly what I needed. I took the blue light out for a soft white light & the plants seen to love the T5's. The bulbs were a little pricey but deffentely worth it. Especially the blue light for veg it almost look like I had an LED light on but it is just Aquarium lights that are meant to grow plants and so far so good !

@Ragdoll_Meow 2 жыл бұрын

Nice video. It would be great to measure temperature, too. LED lights product less heat than CFL. It is possible the extra heat from CLF bulbs favoured plants growth. After all, still a great video. Thanks for all the effort and resources!

@amwtm 5 жыл бұрын

Hi! Jumping in on a 2-year-old video. Thanks for posting your results in the comments!

@saintwulf1631 7 жыл бұрын

Nice video man! Thanks for taking the time to film your experiments and give us your feedback and experiences from them.

@josuerodriguez9668 5 жыл бұрын

VERY HELPFUL AND INSIGHTFUL VIDEO, THANK YOU!!!

@monstorrr 6 жыл бұрын

Great video, I wonder if the plants in the LED section would have grown better if they were closer to the light... as the led have much lower lux readings than the others

@21hawthornemaintenance91 7 жыл бұрын

Have you added more red/blue LED strips to get the light flux density closer to the CFL lights? Even if you have not made a video yet, I'd love to know how close you spaced the lights to get the same lux.

@ashleycam3ron 4 жыл бұрын

Hello! Thanks for the great video. Wondered if you connected the white LED strips and the RGB to the same power adapter or separate? If connected, what kind of connector(s)? Thanks!

@ecocentrichomestead6783 5 жыл бұрын

Great Video! I was interested because I am looking into making a grow system with stuff I can buy locally.

@mikew4015 5 жыл бұрын

hey there im starting to build a microgreens farm for my home and i was wondering out of the 3 lamp setups you have witch one you think would work the best

@bessflick01 8 жыл бұрын

good job exactly what i was looking for thank you.

@michaelz6870 5 жыл бұрын

Agreed, I appreciate your curiosity and for taking the time to share your findings. Thank you good sir!

@fnsdotcom 7 жыл бұрын

This is a amazing test light run for me. Just what I was wondering as I build my indoor lighting system. You made my choice much more easy and saved me time and money. Thanks. I was going to due the test myself

@SSLFamilyDad 7 жыл бұрын

+Eric Masters glad it helped you out!

@QuackMooMeow 2 жыл бұрын

Thank you so, so much for this. I am growing ornamental/indoor plants on a north facing outdoor balcony (in a tropical country) and was wondering what type of lights that I can use. Seeing as I am a newbie, I decided to just buy some cheap T5 LEDs to try out - and my dormant plants started sprouting new leaves, stems, gotten taller within A WEEK of 8-10 hours exposure to the lights. Seeing these results, I thought perhaps I should dabble into grow lights but they're so much more expensive and I didn't know if it was worth it. After scouring the internet, there's just SO MUCH CONFLICTING information. Your video & experiment (despite being close to 6 years old), is proof that I needed that my success was not a fluke and I'll be definitely purchasing CFLs for my other set ups which is a fraction of the cost. Besides, I'm not growing for fruits and yield, thus I think normal CFL would be more than enough to keep my plants happy-ish. I'm unsure if you'll see or answer my question, but do you think it would benefit my plants by keeping the lights contain or directed? i.e. having a mesh cover over the shelves? Also, thank you so much for doing this experiment and making this video!!!

@DrSpooglemon 3 жыл бұрын

You need to do multiple plants of the same variety under each condition to discount the possibility of individual differences in the plants themselves.

@davideubanks8211 7 жыл бұрын

Thanks that answers my questions good enough.

@m.p.juggler7250 6 жыл бұрын

strong and healthy plants going wild:-)

@coryhyatt2035 8 жыл бұрын

Thank you for this

@BenjasUberHobby 7 жыл бұрын

Wow I was very disappointed to see the LED do so poorly. I hope to see more of your LED testing in the future to see if you were able to find a better combination. Thank you for sharing! Looks like this video is very popular :) Thanks for sharing!

@SSLFamilyDad 7 жыл бұрын

+Benja's Uber 1337 Hobby planning a new hydroponics system using only led strip lighting, we will see

@BenjasUberHobby 7 жыл бұрын

Can't wait to see how it goes!

@boobtubereborn 2 жыл бұрын

what is that light meter you are using and does it require additional sensors? great video. thankyou.

@mzc.d.4039 4 жыл бұрын

Wrap up your shelves using a solar blanket to reflect more light onto the plants. I get them at the dollar store : ) It also keeps out drafts and a consistent growing temperature.

@barryfredrick2731 2 жыл бұрын

You don't want to get mold tho, maybe a little fan too?

@tazmahomed3934 2 жыл бұрын

Really good information here thank you

@yakyuk337 5 жыл бұрын

Hello, I have been using t5 and leds . My problem is hardening them off. I am at work when they need to be introduced to the outside light. Do the CFL lights reduce hardening off time or eliminate it any? Or is it about the same? I hear natural light bulbs can reduce it but have yet to find out for sure. Thanks!

@shoaibahmad6928 3 жыл бұрын

Hi. This is such an amazing video. Can you please tell how did you measure spectrum of light?

@adeeade5741 2 жыл бұрын

The ladybug at 2:26 at right corner down was like: ,,oh no, he will see me!” xD

@NatashasReality 5 жыл бұрын

Do you have a video on your indoor setup? Looks like you have some type of plumbing tied into it over rocks. I’m curious to know how you have it.

@spear4food636 5 жыл бұрын

Hi, what did you use/app to monitor the colour of light please?

@mbullify 7 жыл бұрын

Good job man thank you

@jimmymisle910 5 жыл бұрын

Trying to figure out which is best - CFL it is for the windows plants, white is better to avoid having the Purple, Red and Blue. Attracts so much attention to my windows.

@eco3604 6 жыл бұрын

You should do a comparison between the CFL's and 100watt daylight LED's 6 and 6. I use 6 of the LED's in a 8 × 12 foot greenhouse for extended daylight.they work awsome!

@crustmuskandpixiedust 4 жыл бұрын

Everywhere I look says to keep the seedlings 2 inches from the light and to keep that distance as they mature. Why are the seedlings so far from the lights?

@stinson87 7 жыл бұрын

It would be awesome if someone did a WATT for WATT comparison. like building an LED array to match your CFL. hope to watch more!

@dmac9150 5 жыл бұрын

I've done that using LEDs that are like regular household bulbs. I went at it different thought- Using as many watts drawn with LED as I used with CFL. LEDs of course won easily. More light per watt drawn. Plants grew better on the same power. And You can now get LED bulbs as cheap as CFL. This experiment was flawed, he neither used the same light output nor the same power draw. Both power draw and light out put were considerably lower for the LED strips. Current LED bulbs require you to use about 20-25 watts of power per square foot, less if bulb is extremely close. Saw a video with a LED grow lamp that drew 7 watts for one head of lettuce that grew well, but it was specifically a 'grow' light, and probably covered less than 1 square foot on a plant no more than about 3-4 inches tall. watt for watt, LEDs grow at least as well, and use less power than CFL. And with a combination of bulbs ranging from 2700k to 3500k to 5000k to 6600k, plants get enough of what they need without resorting to expensive grow lights.

@ledmk2 5 жыл бұрын

Nice lights

@kusheater86 8 жыл бұрын

thanks!!! nice video.

@GrowandMow 7 жыл бұрын

nice comaprison,thanks for sharing

@icemud12 7 жыл бұрын

Cool DIY build and side by side! I'm curious what is that light meter/spectrometer app called that you are using?

@SSLFamilyDad 7 жыл бұрын

RGB light sensor on Android

@orkinabdallatyf7205 6 жыл бұрын

fantastic indeed

@stonefinger4208 5 жыл бұрын

Any thoughts on using an array color changing LED? Program with white to blue to red?

@tehmwakhasatube 8 жыл бұрын

Your best bet for LED's is to buy some 3/5w leds on stars, slap them on some heatsinks and rejoice in the magical plantgrowth. I went through the same thing you are going through about 4 years ago with my fishtanks lighting. I ended up using 25*3w chips on a 250*270*30 heatsink... Kept my coral growing at a really nice pace. Using low output LED's, even when I packed lots into a small area just didn't have the light output to bring decent PAR to even the surface of the water ~50 away. (I get that saltwater aquariums are slightly different than growing plants...)

@jypsydog6079 8 жыл бұрын

Thank You!

@jasonsmith1806 6 жыл бұрын

what is the app you are using to measure the light spectrum

@hugoramirez212 11 ай бұрын

Hello, nice experiment. Could you share the model of your light meter which includes color output? , cheers.

@Stagmike 2 жыл бұрын

Can I put led strip white to bonsai ficus plant?

@shanefowkes7451 2 жыл бұрын

I will be updating my T8 1 foot duel bar for a quad bar fairly soon, hoping for good results,manufature dose state min of 50W per meter squared but putting that bit extra should give a slight advantage but using blue/red and normal sunlight, will this be any good or should I just go with spending more to get good results

@matermark 6 жыл бұрын

What is the App you are using to measure lux? thanks.

@midnightxusermidnightxuser2668 6 жыл бұрын

🌈🦋I like the way that you explain the science of what you're doing and the science of what different colors of light do - just curiosity, is the purple light what naturally happens or did you paint it that color? It looks so beautiful when you turned it on.🍀

@joeysoprano8405 Жыл бұрын

Thank you so much

@GuitarLessonCharts 4 жыл бұрын

After looking at the plants closely it looks like some of the melons/cucumbers under the leds did the best. The tomatoes look like they grew better under the cfl because the cfl lights dried the soil out faster where as they were over watered under the leds.

@bebiramsarran2115 2 жыл бұрын

What is correct time to set seed. Is it march 1ft or ending of march?

@hunter21331 4 жыл бұрын

SO the no any LED stip in the market that us good for growing to keping the house plant alive?

@joeychung7257 7 жыл бұрын

looks nice

@christherock2370 10 ай бұрын

What's the name of the app you used to make the light spectrum?

@ToastAndJellyfish 8 жыл бұрын

Great to see the followup! I made the CFL version of the grow light but my plants stalled almost as soon as they had sprouted. :(

@BACKROB 6 жыл бұрын

None of the spectra are mostly red. What you are seeing is an additive graph, to get a better idea, look at the lux of each colour instead of the graph. The graph on the Y-axis displays percentage of colour, from 0% at the intersection, to 100% at the top. Dont look at the size the bar, rather how far up the Y-axis it goes. Great video anyhow! Enjoyed it

@acaciosoto9524 4 жыл бұрын

The led have to be closer to the plants so they can do better . Great video by the way keep up the good work

@michaelrobb9708 2 жыл бұрын

where can i get the big aluminum reflectors?

@eddiespagetti8395 2 жыл бұрын

What's the yeild averages or per Light ?? I'm used to old school 1000 watt Halide and sodium. We got close to 2 pounds per light in sealed room systym using coca as medium . Simple systym and we thought 1.8 pound per 1000 watt was a good yeild ?

@judyproctor5305 7 жыл бұрын

thanks so very much

@christopheraaron8299 2 жыл бұрын

I use a combination of CFL and LED with my plants. I also found that CFL produced the best results.

@dibyajyotipatro1573 2 жыл бұрын

CFL like household one? Can u tell me How do u use them combined?

@azimalif266 10 ай бұрын

Can you do an experiment on the electricity usage and plant health, if you turn the lights off at short intervals? Example: lights turn ogf for 10 seconds every 20 seconds, or some other combinations.

@iamalmostcrazy025 2 жыл бұрын

Hello. I’m curious as to what app you are using?

@Sidebranches 5 жыл бұрын

Thank ya for saving me a lot of money

@caseykreicar 5 жыл бұрын

so they need mostly red and blue with higher intensity the better, however the cfl output was mostly blue. interesting! great video, this will save people time

@markwilliams6375 5 жыл бұрын

You can add brighter reflector, by taping emergency sleeping blanket to the back ground, A.K.A. Mylar, makes for brighter lights, thus faster growing plants. add Bat guano, egg shells, blended up first, green sand as well.

@joerathbun5225 7 жыл бұрын

What spectrometer setup are you using?

@mattjohnson7903 5 жыл бұрын

What app is that good sir?

@KiengLe 5 жыл бұрын

red/blue/white 3000lux, only white 4000 lux, and the best is bulbs ?

@timothymccolly1761 7 жыл бұрын

did you keep them inside, and did they fruit

@DrFunkynstein 7 жыл бұрын

hi there, why would you put in the test n1 a lot more of red than blue leds? thanks for the vids it helped me a lot thanks

@SSLFamilyDad 7 жыл бұрын

Red light is less powerful so you need more of them to produce the same power of a blue light

@muhammadsyafiq7760 4 жыл бұрын

Just start this hobbies due to the covid 19. I've one question, is the CFL light is the same as the conventional light or it is specifically built to grow?

@shaneoneill5105 3 ай бұрын

Conventional

@roberttinker4100 8 жыл бұрын

what light meter do you use? And would you recommend it? Thanks for all your work

@SSLFamilyDad 8 жыл бұрын

+Robert Tinker I use the rgb light sensor app for android

@mindauguij 4 жыл бұрын

What is the app you are using to measure?

@rajivkuravi7675 7 жыл бұрын

Hey SSL! Well arranged video. I am convinced that I should use CFL. I have a question. I built a "grow box" recently out of cardboard. It is narrow and tall @ 1ft*1ft*2.5ft. I lined the insides with aluminum foil. My pot is a round plastic tub with 1 ft diameter and 15 cm deep and I made a ton of holes all over the tub for aeration and drainage. Can I work with this setup at all? I mean I'm just starting out growing cilantro and fenugreek indoors and just thought somehow that was the way to make a grow box. haha. Anyway, at what height do I place a CFL bulb in this setup considering it is narrow and what wattage works best?

@SSLFamilyDad 7 жыл бұрын

I don't see why this won't work. I would use the 23 Watt CFL bulbs in the 6500K range (daylight). The more the better as these are still a bit underpowered but fine from growing your herbs

@driftwood5407 5 жыл бұрын

How are you stopping the light from the next light ?.

@dobishs 3 жыл бұрын

Could it be because the aluminum top is more reflective?

@Justchuck69 4 жыл бұрын

For the power used the LEDs grow lights did pretty good ! If you would of double the LEDs then it would of used almost the same power as the CFLs did but would of helped the pants more !

@rknowlso 8 жыл бұрын

Hi, thanks for this video. A question & a comment. Have you used a Kill-A-Watt meter or something similar to see what the actual power consumption is? It seems to me that the LED would be less than 110 watts I think (could be wrong) that you would get better results with the LED if they where a lot closer to the plants. (1"~2") Well done!

@SSLFamilyDad 8 жыл бұрын

+rknowlso I agree with that. I am going to get a kill a watt for the final tests. I wanted to get them closer but my chains were too short. Also the lux readings i got seem to indicate a sweet spot at just about the height they were at due to the shape of the light hood

@RasMajnouni 5 жыл бұрын

have a small grow space 1.5 square meters=16.15 square feet. 87,500 lumens using LED screw in bulbs white & yellow. 21 Autoflowering plants.Offhand, in general am i using too little or too much light from bulbs close to the plants but not too hot? Thank you.

@freethrottle6392 7 жыл бұрын

what are you using for your metering? that output you showed looked great

@SSLFamilyDad 7 жыл бұрын

+FreeThrottle Android app, rgb light sensor

@williamsmith-wn2bp 7 жыл бұрын

Try a cree cob man

@infflux5409 5 жыл бұрын

You should look into strips or quantum boards running samsung lm301b's

@ronnihatcher295 5 жыл бұрын

I just need something to keep some of my plants alive in winter and start sowing indoors before outdoor planting times with as little amount of power consumption possible. Which would you recommended?

@dmac9150 5 жыл бұрын

A regular LED shop light or even regular LED bulbs in regular light fixture will work. 4000-5000 k is supposed to be best all around, but last year I used 500k and 6500k bulbs and had nice stocky seedlings of peppers and tomatoes. You need the equivalent of about a 200 watt bulb for each square foot about 6-12 inches above the plants. I have lettuce, cilantro, green onions, all doing great this year along with my tomatoes and peppers. A 4 foot shop light with regular bulbs can only cover about a an area 6 inches wide. I use cheap 60-100 watt equivalent bulbs mounted in socket splitters that provide ~3000 lumens each square foot. I got 20 bulbs that draw 11 watts from the wall each for $2 each, with plastic(?) sockets and bulb splitters mounted on 2- 8 inch wide 4 foot boards. For $75, I have a nice LED panel that covers about 18 square feet and produces as much light as at least a 600 watt HID

@santarific9x60 7 жыл бұрын

I'm glad I checked this video too... I'm just gonna go with the CFL... the LED would just look better... easier to conceal...

@ronwatkins5775 5 жыл бұрын

What app did you install on the phone to do the spectrum analysis?

@fireball890 2 жыл бұрын

App is not important. His phone's sensor is important. You can find out if you know the phone model.

@TheElopez626 2 жыл бұрын

@@fireball890 ok Edith

@robertveronda4225 8 жыл бұрын

try putting a "shield" between the grow beds to stop the "bleed" over of the light from 1 to the other. you might have been picking up red from the 1st one on number 2

@colebarnett199 4 жыл бұрын

What advice could you offer me as I begin the first grow shelf for the purpose of starting tree seedlings indoors? Do you still feel that 6500k cfl lighting is the way to go for healthiest growth?

@SSLFamilyDad 4 жыл бұрын

I would use LEDs now that they are cheaper. I did a grow shelf using some led panels that works great. Check my channel and search led grow shelf

@kennymeunier 8 жыл бұрын

Curious about your control-plants. Looks like there's a second small plant growing in each pot. Was that intentional (companion plant) or just a weed?

@SSLFamilyDad 8 жыл бұрын

+Kenny Meunier Some were extra seeds that ended up in the soil, the rest are due to using composted manure in the oil mix which tends to sprouts some weeds:)

@motocross918 8 жыл бұрын

I use the blue and bright white LED strips to grow my wheatgrass indoors and it works really well. As your results demonstrate, blue light is the way to grow. I've been told that blue light is good for vegetative growth, which you need in the beginning. Red light is good for flowering/fruiting, which you'd want later on when the plants are large.

@SSLFamilyDad 8 жыл бұрын

+Mark Cartwright i just ordered some blue,strips that u am going to try next. I think i will try an all blue and then one that is mostly blue with some red. Good to know that it is working for you!

@preppersintent 8 жыл бұрын

+SSLFamilyDad last time I used all blue LED to grow plants it miniaturized them, then I found some reading to support that, it will be interesting to see Your results..

@motocross918 8 жыл бұрын

Please see above "blue and bright white"

@preppersintent 8 жыл бұрын

Mark Cartwright please READ above "I think I will try an all blue"

@jaycerv2941 6 жыл бұрын

So is this strictly for veg growth? Not flowering? I'm sure the plants would have done better if they were closer to the lights since they don't out off much heat, maybe you can do a test on plants and distance from lights?!

@carolinehonse35 6 жыл бұрын

Excellent video! I'm 72 and just now expanding and setting up a variety of lights from CFL to LED. I have two 5-inch round 40W Daylight LED Plant Light Bulb, Full Spectrum Ceramic LED Grow Lights (claiming 4.2 sq ft coverage), two Galaxyhydro Dimmable LED Grow Light, 300W (140 actual) Indoor Plants Grow Lights (claiming about 4-5 sq ft coverage), and a bunch of CFLs in both red and blue and ranging from 23W, 32W, 45W, and 65W. My question is how close can I put them to the tops of the plants from seedlings to 2 ft tomato plants? I'm growing on thee 6ft adjustable height shelving units 18 inches wide and 28 inches long. I'm guessing the CFLs can be as close as a few inches but I don't have a clue about the LEDs. Thanks for any help you can offer.

@bryanibsen8113 8 жыл бұрын

great video dude learned alot

@dibyajyotipatro1573 2 жыл бұрын

So do u recommend CFL over LED?

@nuggsbnasty8127 8 жыл бұрын

I think it would be a good idea to actually have the same wattage on each light. Then see what the lux is on all three. From there you can break it down to how many lux per sq F. You can then determine which one would be better for you. I hope that makes sense. I'm a lil impaired atm lol. Great video none the less! Good job.

@SSLFamilyDad 8 жыл бұрын

+Nuggs B'Nasty lol, yes that is exactly what i would like to do. The next test will be more comparable lights as far as wattage and lux goes