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need help with designing and building grow light!

Amy Wickett
2 years ago
last modified: 2 years ago

NOTE: When I refer to blue and red, I know the lights aren't actually blue and red, it's the hue they emit; blue will emit a 'cool blue hue' and red will emit a 'warm reddish' hue.


I need help designing a grow light that is affordable. I know with lights there's two colors, blue and red; you use blue for the vegetative stage of growth and red for the flowering/blooming stage of growth. Based upon what I'll be growing under the light which is veggie starter plants, I know blue will provide the best results.


The stand itself would be 4 tiers and use shop lights with lights under the shop light, and would be attached to the frame using a chain. The chain will also be there so that I can adjust the height of the lights as the plants grow.


The two main options I have for lights are either fluorescent or LED, which would come in a size of T5, T8, or T12 Is one better than the other, or does it not matter which I use?


My plan is to use four lights per tier, which would be 2 shop lights per tier, with 2 lights in each shop light. Would this be overkill? My concern is if I use only one shop light with two lights in it, that it wouldn't cover all the plants under it, nor would it provide enough light for the plants.


Based upon the research I've done, I've found that a light of 5000 lumens with 6500k (which is a blue color) is what I need based on what I'm growing. Based on that, this is what I found online that matches that criteria:



https://www.1000bulbs.com/product/171604/PLT-10160.htm


The main problem I'm having is that either the lights themselves are expensive or if I find affordable lights I can't find shop lights that are affordable.


The lights I found require a shop light that has a 54 watt ballast and will fit two T5 or T8 bulbs with 5000 lumens. Can someone please recommend a shop light that fits this description that is affordable.


Last is the frame itself. I don't want to use a setup where I would have to take the shop light itself off the shelf to adjust the light, as this will be too much of a hassle.





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