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The Corroboree
irabionist

Lights for propagation

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Seems to be working well for you :)

I have been thinking about purchasing some kind of light for cacti seedlings.. Are these from Bunnings or some kind of specialty store? Plus, with the light is it necessary to have a heat mat? Which is my next question, are they from Bunnings also? Or maybe a petshop or something..

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The fluro was from bunnings but the mats where from a hydroponics shop.

I guess it depends with the heat mats, I can touch the fluros with my hand and they're slightly warm, they don't really produce that much heat.

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jwerta and big red, asked for a sticky, artificial light thread, so here it is.

thx 4 your feedback! :)

if you cant get grow fluros, than use terms, like warm white, cool white, natural light, the ratio 2 warm whites and 1 cool white, almost covers the spectrum.

Edited by planthelper
  • Like 2

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Sweet. So I guess now if it's a stick it would be a good place to ask:

Does anybody have any good links or resources on how to put together and wire a lighting setup? I have no clue when it comes to electronics, but would be very interested in learning how it's done :)

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i was in the same boat as you gtaman. with the light i brought( same as sabry) it came with some instructions on how to hardwire into the house electricty.

I just followed the instructions but i connected to a power lead instead and added a power plug. seemed pretty simple, i havnt blown my self or the house up so looking good.

Would be nice if someone had any info tho, would love to make sure ive done everything correctly. I saw a post here a while back about lighting wiring but havnt seemed to be able to find it .

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I might be out of my depth! is there a T5 or T8 system that does not need wiring by its self?

I would rather just buy something I can plug into the wall....

EDIT - spelling dose instead of does :)

Edited by Rum and Monkeys

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i know the t8 systems at bunnings are all hardwired.. Masters do have one or two i think but there expensive an i think there only 11 watt. Dont quote me on that i only head a 30 second look then went straight back to bunnings.

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The problem with 240 volt systems it is illegal to wire up your self. But that being said there are some great deals

for t5 lighting on ebay

for the price this system is great because you can upgrade to a h.i.d system when needed

http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/Hydroponic-130W-300W-CFL-Reflector-Grow-Light-Lamp-Kit-2700K-6400K-Bulbs-New-/140944049021?pt=AU_Seed_Starting_Hydroponics&var=&hash=item20d0eb837d

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If you want a T5 rig buy it off of Ebay.
You can get cheap ones that snap together to made longer or wider arrays depending on yer needs.

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I had to hardwire the t8 myself, if you have any questions I can answer them, or I can ask my friend father (who is an electronics god) about it!

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Hey Sabry ... I was just wondering how hot your ballast is ... Mine is fairly hot ATM an motto sure if I've done something wrong .. Mrs would shoot me if I burn the house down . Just want to make sure I've done everything correctly

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They will heat up a little but if it is really hot maybe your capacator has burnt out.

Fluro's should not get over 50 degrees any hotter should warrent a investigation.

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Good to know thanks BigRed.

I don't think it's 50 degrees as I can hold my hand on the batten without having to remove it but will try measure the temp in the morning

  • Like 1

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I just bought some LED lights, a 5m strip of red / blue: http://www.aliexpress.com/snapshot/251849001.html

I've plugged them into a 12v adaptor, but they're flashing, at about 2 Hz. I guess this is because they're controllable, & have a flash mode, but I don't really want to buy a controller to stop them flashing, I'd rather just put them on a timer.

Does anyone know how to get them into static mode..?

Also please note I may be a massive idiot.

_____________

Edit: I've found that if I only touch a strand of one of the wires from the LED strip to the adaptor, they stop flashing & stay on static. so it must be the current that is making them flash. maybe I'm giving them too much juice.

The adaptor is 12V / 2.5A, the lights are 12V / 14.4W.

If I split them up & wire them in parallel (which I was planning to do anyway) would that reduce the current? my electronics knowledge is obviously shit.

_____________

Edit 2: turns out: yes. they're running fine when they're split up into parallel strips.

_____________

Edit 3: turns out not enough juice! I broke it up into 4 strips of 1.25m. with 2 strips connected to the adaptor (in parallel) they both run fine. with 3 or 4 strips connected, they all flash. guess the adaptor doesn't push out enough current. so I'll just buy another adaptor.

-E

Edited by 3lliot

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Just as a follow-up, I thought I'd describe my planned setup (for b. caapi & p. viridis).

I have a big wooden chest (about 1m x 0.5 x 0.5). it's lined with aluminium foil, and has a few quarter-inch holes drilled in the side near the bottom, with an 80mm silent pc fan next to the holes (on the inside) sucking air in from the room.

I've got a 40W grolux flouro in there mounted to the inside front wall, and some trays of water to keep the humidity up a bit. it usually runs at about 60 - 65% humidity and 27 - 30' C, with the lid on.

I've got three b. caapi cuttings in direct light, & three p. viridis, in the corner behind a shade. the light is on a timer, it runs 18hrs / day.

I'm using that for a sort of nursery, I'll be filling it up with caapi & viridis cuttings over the next 3 or 4 weeks. I've also got 20 viridis seeds germinating (hopefully).

soon I'm gonna build a wooden trellis, & fit it to the back of the chest, up against the wall, like

but taller, up to the height of the ceiling. when the caapi are too big for the chest, I'll get rid of the lid, & let them climb up the trellis. this is where the LED strips come in, I'll run those (4 strips, 1.25m long) vertically up the trellis, so at all points on the trellis, the caapi won't be more than about 6 inches from an LED strip.

The viridis should be ok with the 40W flouro in the chest, as they're understorey plants. the humidity & temp will suffer obviously but I figure they'll be easily big enough to cope by then, and they should be fine with all the light they're getting. basically I'm totally winging it, but I haven't killed anything yet, so fingers crossed it'll all work out ok.

I'll post a photo when it's all set up, it should look pretty cool B)

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The LED in that link is crap to be blunt you wasted your money . As soon as one chip burns out

the whole system will fail ( i had a similar one) your best bet will be to stick with the fluro's and CFL's

as they offer best lummen per watt in seedling growth and produce very little heat . LED lighting

that is available is very expensive and basically you have to use the same amount of power the

only plus side is that there is very little heat

Out of all suppliers i know of these guys are really good

http://www.led-grow-master.com/Hobby.html

but you need heaps of them and at 300 bucks a pop the price gets up there

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I imagine a decent solar panel kit would power a small propagation setup, Ive always wanted to try setting one up outside that runs off solar or hydro power (from a creek).

You could do veg during winter, you could avoid dormancy in cacti, maybe a propagation/germination setup or a longer term cacti house , lots of possibilities and with the way the cost of power is going a small second hand rig would pay for its self relativity quickly.

I wonder what kind of solar rig one would need for a 250w or 400w HID rig, a pump, a heater and a couple of fans?

Edited by AndyAmine.

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The LEDs will only really be a booster for the vine, it'll be in sun half the day anyway. I'll probably bump up the flouro for the viridis when it gets bigger.

And if a chip blows, I'll just cut it & rewire it from the next good set. they're grouped into modules of 3 diodes, and each module has its own solder points (pretty standard I think). I've already cut it up into 4 strips, and I've got 2 adaptors running 2 strips each.

Here's the trellis so far

The LEDs are mounted on the rear side of 4 wooden strips, braced away from the trellis on brackets, so they point towards the trellis from about 5 inches out. The light is pretty even across the bulk of it.

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That is is pretty far away, with LED's I'd imagine you would want it closer to 5cm than 5 inch's?

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check out these NASA approved grow lights very very expensive aslo has links to led's that says how dangerous

led's are for your eyes

http://www.biocontrols.com/secure/shop/category.aspx?catid=14

edit another link on led's and the dangers of them

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-2324325/Do-environmentally-friendly-LED-lights-cause-BLINDNESS.html

Edited by Bigred

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I imagine a decent solar panel kit would power a small propagation setup, Ive always wanted to try setting one up outside that runs off solar or hydro power (from a creek).

You could do veg during winter, you could avoid dormancy in cacti, maybe a propagation/germination setup or a longer term cacti house , lots of possibilities and with the way the cost of power is going a small second hand rig would pay for its self relativity quickly.

I wonder what kind of solar rig one would need for a 250w or 400w HID rig, a pump, a heater and a couple of fans?

i made one for a customer that ran on solar but was used to extend the light period in a greenhouse

the solar panels cost $3200 the batteries cost $600 and the inverter was $1000 but can run

1200 watts of lighting from 10 hours of sun. If you want help pm me and will work out your needs

as my friend made one for $650 that runs fluro's and fans and a heat mat

Edited by Bigred

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Big red...how LONG will that setup, run 1200 watts....from ten hours sun?

Also, what do you think about the LED grow lights?

Expensive? Worth it?

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How about this steam powered , water or wind generation setup...

Truck alternator

Fire

Water.....

Make paddels / fins for the truck alternator.

Boil water, compress steam through a spout, like a tea kettle does...

or connect paddles for wind, or, in stream.

Turn alternator, connected to battery, with one of these.

Voila!

You are generating electricity.

Maybe put a bank if batteries together , for more power......

Small scale, I know....

Edited by shonman

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Big red...how LONG will that setup, run 1200 watts....from ten hours sun?

Also, what do you think about the LED grow lights?

Expensive? Worth it?

The panels have a 20 year guarantee but i can put it into veg by running a few fluro's ie to make a vegetative cycle you

can run your HID lights for twelve and run your fluro's for the remainder i can run the 1200 watts for about 16 hours

but draining the batteries to the point where they have no charge can cause major problems for your system. Plus if

you get a few rainy days you will need to charge up the bank with a generator . But switching to fluro's during low

light days can keep the plants alive and should last up to 6 ,7 days but growth will be slowed.

depending on your situation LED lights can be viable. But to be honest your better spending that money

on decent power generating equipment . If you live next to the sea( or have loads of wind) use a combination of wind and solar

you can build a wind turret quite cheaply and they can be very effective.

Also in regards to led's They are only in there infancy of development and a lot of the chips are monochromatic

ie red blue and do not offer a complete spectrum. Until companies like Phillips bring out led grow lights i would stick

to HID, cfl's unless you know what you are doing

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