i top every plant that hits my flower tent, but that’s because i only have a 4x4x75" tent. i wanted to have a single " big budd" individual bud but i was “talked into” keeping the plants within my tent. i think that the single bud is real nice, but, the more buds the better is also a good idea… 6 of one… half dozen of another is what i’m alluding too lol
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I think I really messed up on my light 
. So it turns out it’s not even close to 600w…
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i’ll tag @dbrn32 he’s the local light guru. talk to him about it. i think quantum board would fit in there and you can build your own from parts pretty cheap and lots use it on here.
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@monkman Awesome man thanks!
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in the mean time, here is a title that talks about some stuff if you want to read ahead. do you have skills to do it yourself (DIY) or someone who can help you?
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There’s not a lot of great factory lights for your space because it’s not all that common. If you’re looking for something to hang and plug in, probably have to go a little smaller than ideal or spend more than the space justifies.
If you are able to source components and assemble yourself, I have helped a few build lights for this sized space that have excellent results using 560mm led modules.
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There are some good videos online showing you exactly how to do it.
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@dbrn32 honestly at this point I’ll do it as long as it’s budget friendly. What parts will I need?
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Let me look around some and see what’s available.
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@dbrn32 okay before you waste your time On LED I’ve been reading about other types of lights, what can I put in with what I have already that will be good through the entire process? (Plug in and be done lol)
A 2’ t5 fixture. But that’s going to be headed in opposite direction you want to go.
Really not that big of a deal. Just a competitive market and with everything going on some things more difficult to get.
Digikey has this
Heatsinks would maybe be a little more difficult to get. But only other stuff you would need maybe $20-$30.
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@dbrn32 okay I’ve got what you gave in the picture in my cart. Just because I’ve never done this before and want to be sure to get the right ones which heatsink would I need? They have some on that website but I’m not sure which. Is there anything else I should get other then those items?
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You need to shop around some for the heatsinks. The strips are 22" long and about 1 inch wide, so you need something with a flat clean surface to fit 14 of them. Heatsink usa has 1" profile that will work, but they are behind and expensive. Before you buy that stuff you will want to make sure you can get something to mount on. I have used 24"x18"x.125 aluminum plate before, but it runs a little hot. If you want to go that route, check ebay or local metal shop. You can always mount some heatsinks to plate later if need be.
This is the part where being resourceful or having a little ingenuity can save you some money. People have used aluminum angle to mount them too that they can get cheap or free. If you have the balls to order from China right now, Alibaba would be good place to check, or maybe one of the companies selling knock off qb’s.
If you can figure out reasonable way to handle that, the remaining stuff can all be bought on Amazon. I can get you links if need be.
Thermal transfer tape
18 awg solid wire 300v
Power cord
5-2 port wago connectors.
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Until everything gets here would it be OK to run the light I have both flower and veg mode? @dbrn32
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Someone’s building a light… Sweetness!!! Bridgelux strips huh… you got yourself a small star coming… Very nice. Unfortunately you’ll have no excuse for anything less than great buds now. LoL running both switches is what most do… unless maybe your in seedling stage
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I went the EB strip route too as I had a bunch of aluminum tubing (rectangular) that was WAY over-built lol. Each fixture weighs 20 pounds lol.
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it’s a sad day. I was told no more spending.
So this is my new plan and if it fails then I’ll fail. We are using the sun! The girls will be placed in front of a large window and have the led as backup. Once I have more of a steady income (pandemic over) I will be building my light and buying a bigger tent. As for now I have to roll with the punches and do what I can. In the end they were bag seeds and I didn’t expect much anyways.
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i am so sorry to hear about the circumstances, it is tough times out there. i was going to buy another light and tent but decided to wait because of what is going on out there. between the sun and your light you might be okay. and… i grew 6 plants for my first grow. 5 were white widow from ILGM, the 6th was a purple pinecone bag seed. the purple gave me 4 ounces and was the best of the lot because it liked some nutes that i gave all my plants and the widow didn’t, i only got 3 ounces out of 5 widow plants so don’t denigrate your bag seeds, you can sometimes get a great result from them. a blessing you didn’t spend a hundred bucks on seeds and then have this work out this way. this will at least give you an opportunity to gain some knowledge in how the plants grow and with the adverse conditions anything you get is a bonus. hang in there and things will work out!
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All you can do, it will work out.
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