Got some of these for Christmas and just wondering if they are actually any good. I got two different strips, the ones linked above show that they are 12W and the others that I already have hooked up are only pulling 8W. Is that enough to accomplish anything? 8W seems like it's not gonna do much to get seedlings to grow. Maybe if I cram both strips onto my one board for 20W total?

My desire is to have a space to grow starts from seeds so I also got some warming mats. Are these LEDs good for this? I'm not trying to indoor garden, just get some starts going so I can transplant to my garden outside. I have basically no good windows where I can do this indoors without some extra light.

Hello all!

I am wondering if anyone has any experience in using led strips as grow lights? I have a small plant setup in my kitchen on three shelves next to a window... It's been a year and now it's obvious that the light from the window is not enough for most of my plants as they are really struggling... I am thinking about adding led strips over the shelves to aid the plants with some artificial light... I know there are grow lights that are clip on for pots that are designed to do this, but can't find any in my country and Amazon asks for like a 100$ shipping to me, which is ridiculous... I found some grow led strips near me but the diodes are red and blue and they just esthetically suck 😁. Could I get away with using just regular led strips inserted into difusors... If so, what is more important wattage or light temperature? Any info is appreciated.

In a previous post on this subreddit, I expressed some frustration about how difficult it is to get any clear answers to what differentiates an LED "grow light" from a "normal" LED light, and kinda came to the conclusion that the field of grow lights (as a commercial, distinct category of products) might be a scam, given how incredibly expensive they are, when sold as such (and when compared to lights with similar technical stats).

This led me to LED-strip lights (the kind that is delivered on a spool) as a viable DIY solution. They're inexpensive, seem easy to work with (you can cut them to size) and have a very thin profile. If you cut off all the design-fluff from commercial LED bar-lights, you would probably end up with what is essentially a strip of this type of electronics.

I also found a few youtubers who have done just this, and with high-light intensity plants like peppers:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=POK2ZB7wyeI

But, because these LED-strips are not specifically sold as "for growing", there are some headaches that I am still unclear about. The biggest one is wattage.

These LED strip-lights are often sold as "will replace x watt", which isn't super helpful, because the context of that claim is usually office/home-lighting. Is this "adjusted for" X watts per meter going to be good enough for growing vegetables, even if I pack these strips very close together? If I place them very closely, could a cheaper variant of strip-LED-lights end up being better than a single row, brighter, commercial LED light-bar?

There's also "lamp-density". Very inexpensive LED-strip-lights come in 60-180 leds per meter, and more expensive ones have 300 LEDS per meter. Would that matter to someone making a DIY grow-light, where you would pack these strips very close together, rather than their "intended" use (a single row, used for decorative illumination)?

Even if you pack these various LED-strips very tightly, I would think "brightness" (a pretty vague term, admittedly) would also come into play. So, for example, even if you filled up your over-head strip-area (a piece of wood, let's say) with the more inexpensive LED-lights, and ended up with a project that consumed around 45-60 watts when plugged in, would it be as effective as using fewer - but more expensive - LED-strip lights that individually draw more watt?

To what degree does wattage used by LED factor in good plant growth? Do you have to hit a certain wattage-use per square inch? And when talking about wattage-use in regard to growing plants, is the data collected using LED lights, or are they using fluorescent lights? And to what degree does an LED-manufacturer's claim that their lamp's wattage use accurately replaces such a light hold true, when it comes to growing plants?

I do believe there is "something to" DIY projects using LED strip-lights as a viable, low-cost, flexible solution. But trying to parse data - that wasn't collected using white LED light - and translating that data through the skewed lens of an LED manufacturer's self-reported data is kinda maddening, if you're trying to be an informed DIY consumer.

Obviously, a lot of these headaches would be alleviated if instruments for measuring light (that were relevant for plant-growth) were more readily available and inexpensive. But as it is, there's a tremendous amount of guesswork for anyone wanting to jump into this field.

In any case, I thought I should float this as topic, because LED strip-lights are probably the cheapest, most "raw-form" of LED lighting you can buy, so there's a lot of potential there for DIY.

I also post it to invite concrete examples of this kind of light being successfully used to grow various crops. "Getting all the math straight" is always good, but ultimately, having concrete, tangible demonstrations of this approach working is always going to be more persuasive.

The youtube-link I posted is very encouraging as it pertains to this kind of project, but so is this video, which shows a dwarf tomato-plant (commonly thought of as needing a ton of light) being grown fairly successfully with a paltry 6 watt LED:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qSH0p9F_irk

Stuff like this further throws me for a loop, because it goes against "your lighting must project X watt to grow tomatoes" that's super-common to hear when you're trying to navigate hydroponic light-information. Conventional web-data would tell you that you need at least 45 watts of light to grow a tomato, but here we see otherwise (if you assume the youtuber is being truthful).

It also ties back into re-evaluating using LED-strip lights, instead of buying expensive, pre-made commercial LED solutions, because it might highlight that there is a lot of misinformation going around (a lot of which might be colored by companies who have a vested interest in you buying a product they make).

I'm just starting out with hydroponics, and the 50+ plants (mostly salad) on my balcony are pretty clearly struggling for light, so this is very much on my mind. No doubt, other people are probably also struggling with parsing the information that is out there, in terms of gauging whether or not a DIY solution could be more viable (and vastly more affordable).

Ideally, I would like to see more concrete examples of LED-strip lights used for growing peppers, tomatoes and other high-intensity light crops than the ones I've posted. It's valuable, real-life application that could help other people who are just starting out, but either can't afford the stupid-expensive commercial LED lights that are out there, or just people who - like me - just intuit that these commercial grow lights are probably a really bad deal (in that they are very over-priced for what you can do DIY-style).

EDIT2: Here is a few pictures of my first-time-hydro little garden, where I basically try for light. As you can see, the struggle is getting real - lettuce is streeetching for the window - and I don't want to waste this whole batch of plants (around 60-70 in total). So, lighting is very much on my mind. I get morning sun from 6-12:00, but apparently not enough even for salad (though the three eggplant/paprika plants are weirdly thriving).

https://imgur.com/a/bUyIerS

I might be able to get away with supplemental lighting on my balcony, but I fear when winter comes, so I really want have a 100% in-door garden backup (have plans for a vertical, on the wall thing, in my kitchen, that gets no light at all). So, the time to get a sense of what lamps to get, and what I can get away with (don't have much money) is now.

I’ve been wanting to put some plants inside my room. Unfortunately, the room is at like a basement level so there’s only one window and not much natural sunlight can get in. I’m planning to put LED strip lighting on the walls and the colors can be adjusted to my liking. So I was wondering if these RGB lights can be set to be used as a grow light for the plants. 🤔

Before I get any hate for this, allow me to justify my assertion.

I can understand the people growing pot needing a high output light like one of the quantum boards or a high output COB because weed needs a DLI of like 30+.

But for those just growing lettuce, why aren’t LED strips recommended more?

I just finished building my first board with these lights and was able to cram 100 REAL watts in 2 square feet. I don’t have a par meter, but I’ve compared these strips to other options on the market and have arrived at the following numbers:

HLG quantum board

Cost= 120 USD

Real wattage= 280 total

Cost per watt= 120/280 = $0.42/W

Chinese 5054 LED strips

Cost=$12 (these can also be found for $9 on AliExpress)

Real wattage: 60W quoted, real is more like 50W

Cost per watt=9/50=$0.18/W

Mars Hydro “1000W”

Cost=$130-$30 for driver=$100 (to be fair)

Real wattage=150W (really we should multiply this by 0.9 because of efficiency loss of driver, but I won’t)

Cost per watt=100/150= $0.67/W

So unless we think that the Samsung LEDs on the HLG board are throwing off 2.3x as much light as the shitty Chinese strips, the upfront cost would give it a win for the Chinese strips.

Furthermore (and more importantly), on my lettuce setup, I have 3 shelves with about a foot between each shelf. With the par output of the HLG boards, I would need to dim them in that small of a space. This would further(massively) tilt the scale in favor of a win for the Chinese strips. I suspect many others have a similar setup which is why T5s are such an attractive option to some of you. We just don’t need that much light output. It makes better fiscal sense to buy lower output light that has a larger physical footprint than to buy a bunch of quantum boards (that have a higher PPFD/cm²⁾ and dim them.

Now before someone comments on the surely awful efficiency of the strip lights. I would argue that for a hobby grower it just doesn’t make that big of a difference.

In my region, I pay $0.0937 per kWh. Therefore (unless I’m doing my math wrong) 100w of LEDs would cost me: 100x16x30x.0937= $4.49/month. It seems it would take me quite a while to make up for the upfront cost even assuming terrible efficiency.

I’m still pretty new to this so I am sure that I am missing something and I hope you guys can tell me what it is.

Are standard old LED light strips good for hydroponics?
Do i need "Growlights"?

aka plz help. idk how to light my plants hahaha!

Looking for full spectrum LED strips, the ones that can be cut to custom lengths, to use as grow lights for vegetables this winter.

Ideally, they would have no controls (e.g. timer) beyond a spectrum mode. I’ll control the the on/off cycle with a smart power strip from Kasa.

For context, I want something like the linked LED strip, but full spectrum grow lights.

Kasa Light Strips

Does anyone have a good source for them?

So this is the first time I’ve try to grow something so please excuse this if this question redundant. At least on the lower price end, is there any difference in performance between the two(Bulbs/strips), range, value, effectiveness etc.

Hello,

I am currently in process of searching a grow light for my plant collection in order to help them in dark winter times.

I have learned about PAR, PPFD and all those important things.

The only thing I cant figure out are LED strips. Because I want a shelf lighting, the only solution are strips. Not bulbs, not quantum boards, not professional lighting. Now I dont even know if its possible. Of course there are grow LED strips on the market, but those are blurple which I dont have interest in, because it is not full PAR spectrum.

Then I played with idea to use 3500K - 4500K LED strip, but this color is manufactured for human eye. I asked the manufacturers and they provided me info about RGB mix. 80% Green with small addition of Red and even less blue.

So I am getting the feeling that no one is manufacturing full spectrum LED strips and that I really need to buy quantum board.

Do you please have any tips?

I'm building a home project that will have both regular white LED strips for normal lighting as well as full spectrum strips for my plants certain times of the day. I'll have less strips side by side in the same housing (2x 10mm wide strips in a 20mm wide aluminum profile).

I've got the Dim to Warm strips for normal light but I'm struggling to find reputable "full spectrum" style LED strips. 24V would be ideal but what I'm mostly curious about is how to tell if they're actually full spectrum or just cheap red and blue LEDs.

Is there anyone here that knows a lot about this? I'm mostly looking on AliExpress as Amazon doesn't seem to have much (and they have terrible reviews).

I’ve been making my own LED lights for many years now and thought I would share a brief overview of the process in case anyone is interested.

It is much cheaper, usually higher efficiency than commercial units, and extremely versatile for a wide range of applications. I’ve personally used them for vegetables, cannabis, microgreens, and aquariums but you can use them for practically any application.

I would recommend using a constant voltage driver and wiring in parallel for a safer output voltage but you can also use a constant current driver and wire in series if necessary.

Items needed:

• LED strips (I recommend Samsung or Bridgelux)

• LED driver (Meanwell, Delta, Wallwart for low power applications)

• AC cord

• Wago connectors and/or terminal blocks

• Waterproof Junction connector (easily connect AC cord to driver)

• 18AWG solid wire

• Thermal tape

• Potentiometer (for dimming on drivers with external dimming leads)

• Heatsink, Flat/Channel/Angle aluminum

You can generally get strips in 1’, 2’, or 4’ lengths. I typically use Samsung strips that contain LM281+, LM561C, or LM301B/LM301H diodes. They usually range in 150-200+ lumen/watt which is ultra efficient. Usually 1’ strips are 12v, 2’ are 24v, and 4’ are 48v. Make sure you buy a matching voltage driver. Bridgelux is another high efficiency LED manufacturer but their strips use a non traditional voltage (20v, 36v).

Lower kelvin (2700k-4000k) is going to appear more warm white and have more red in the spectrum, while higher kelvin (5000k-6500k) is going to appear more cool white and have more blue in the spectrum.

Some drivers have internal current/voltage dimmer pots (eg. Meanwell A type) which is very convenient and doesn’t require external potentiometer, however be warned that you can’t dim past 50%.

Other drivers likes Meanwells B type have + dim leads and require an external potentiometer. You can fully dim the current but voltage is not adjustable.

A/B type has both features.

Step 1: Wire AC cord to driver input side with waterproof junction connector

Step 2: Attach LED strips to heatsinks or flat/channel/angle aluminum with thermal tape

Step 3: Connect output +/- to either Wago connectors or terminal blocks

Step 4: Feed 18AWG solid from Wago/terminal blocks to corresponding +/- on LED strips.

To determine the quantity of strips needed for your use, look at the max ratings on the spec sheet.

For example I have 2’ strips (H influx L09 that use LM301B dioxides that are rated max 1.6A @ 48v. That means each strips is capable of 76.8w. They are rated at 192 lumen/watt efficiency so each 2’ strip can put out a max of 14,745 lumens.

If you run a strip close to its max rating, you will need proper heatsinking. However, if you run a strip at ~50% it will barely get warm to the touch.

Where I source my stuff:

• Arrow electronics (good for strips/drivers/cords in bulk)

• Digikey (strips)

• Mouser (drivers)

• Amazon (wire, connectors, tape, etc)

If you have any questions feel free. I tried to keep the post informative but somewhat brief. I am not an expert by any means, just a hobbyist and DIY enthusiast.

TY (:

Hey guys, I'm looking to upgrade the coverage of my current light set up and I was thinking about mounting some LED strips to my current 4"x6 bulb ballast on the sides so that the plants on the outer limits of my system get more light.

Does anyone have any recommendations for some effective LED strip lights, preferably on Amazon?

Thanks!

Edit: or LED grow light bar

I saw a YouTube video a bit ago where the person said you can use LED Strip lights for indoor growing.
I didn’t save the video sadly.

How do you know what kind to get?

I am going to get a storage cabinet (something like this bror from ikea) to grow some leafy greens and maybe some dwarf tomatoes and herbs etc (only sure about leafy greens) during the winter. However, I am wondering about the lighting. Most of the LED lights I have been looking at are quite large for just lighting a shelf, as in, they're mostly squares and not really elongated. Or just really expensive. So I was thinking that maybe I could make something myself. I don't mind tinkering.

I looked at some Samsung led modules which look pretty nice. Then there are some like LinearZ Nichia LED Strip and of course more general full spectrum (high CRI value) led strips that I could use. Then I also found this Bridgelux module which looks interesting and pretty cheap as well, about half of the Samsung one, not full spectrum but both reds and blues are taken care of (I think).

I did find this article where it seems like standard CRI led lights should be ok, though not optimal or anything. Is there some other good sources where I could read up a bit more about this? I know that "normal" full spectrum lights do not have bumps at blues and reds, so maybe I should then have like 3000K one and a 5000K or 6000K strips and combine them? The Bridgelux looks kinda nice for this though.

Thoughts? Ideas? Are there maybe some other LED modules I should take a look at? Or strips? I am from EU so shops etc from there are highly preferred.

Or am I just way overthinking for so such a simple system?

I'm trying to find some full spectrum LED grow strips that have a "manual" on/off switch, meaning the lights turn on when power is plugged in and off when power is unplugged.

Almost all of the LED kits online seem to have the little dimmer switch/controller. This makes it impossible to use the lights with a smart outlet or plug. I'm ultimately trying to hook up the lights to a smart outlet and use an app with timer capabilities.

In a perfect world the lights would be a true LED strip that's able to be cut to size/length and not one with a bulky casing.

Has anyone seen anything like this?

So I found this cheap RGB lighting strips on aliexpress can I use it to supply the plants with R and B lighting and control the light intensity with it? Or do I have to use a specific strips?

Hi guys,

I'm trying to find some small LED grow lights in a strip. The type that can provide the plant with adequate light when very close to the plant but without burning it. Moat of the strip light i find are basically just regular led lights painted purple, with reports that a lot of the individual lights stop working after a short time. I don't grow weed but I figured you guys would be cool and knowledgeable at the same time, which is a rare combo.

Having a rough time with finances but love hydro and have been playing with it for quite a while. Since I live in an apartment/basement area, I don’t get a lot of light and I have no space. Doing indoor gardening is an awesome hobby I have and I have gotten hydroponics down decent! The only question I have is, do those standard lights work? I understand plants have to have a specific frequency of light, but I’m wondering if these lights to put out enough.