Show us your Ghetto growing gear.

Geonerd · Jan 31, 2014

xxkamikazexx said:
Sorry for all the editing... Fist time making a real post hehehe Yeah that's a timer that powers my water pump(which leads to some misters inside the plastic box) for three seconds every four minutes or so. http://imgur.com/OuBpKZ5 Sweet! B-)
And wow yours seems to be better off than mine... I have all my stuff in a cardboard box hahaha incredible eye sore in the living room at home

Ah, OK. Cool.

p.s.
Allyourimageurlsarerunningtogether.

Proud Marine Dad · Feb 2, 2014

Some Chinense seedlings germinated and needed light and it's too cold in the garage so I had to make something quick so I grabbed my jack stands, a 6' barbell bar, two pegboard hanger hooks and some duct tape and made this. McGyver ain't got nothing on me. :rofl:

cruzzfish · Feb 2, 2014

Seeing some of the earlier DWC systems made me laugh. Think THAT'S ghetto? I use a bowl with a piece of rockwool in it. Pics when I feel like getting off my a$$ and finding a camera.

McGuiver · Feb 3, 2014

Love this topic. Even I have ghetto EQ. I needed a submersible thermometer to measure my water temp. I had this, but the back was not water proof.

I put silicone splicing tape around the outside and poured in marine epoxy. Now the back is water proof. It is down and dirty. It is made for a jacket zipper pull.

Silicone splicing tape only sticks to itself and nothing else. Easily removes once epoxy is cured. I still need to sand the back flat.

Cheap water temp thermometer. Very ghetto, down and dirty.

Geonerd · Feb 3, 2014

CFL can benefit greatly from a reflector placed as close to the bulb as possible.
At constant distance, this ghetto reflector nearly doubles the light intensity beneath the bulb.
Just make sure the reduced airflow doesn't overheat the ballast.

Styrofoam bowls really don't make the best starting material (being wildly flammable and all that) but they sure are GHETTO!

McGuiver · Feb 3, 2014

Geonerd said:
CFL can benefit greatly from a reflector placed as close to the bulb as possible.
At constant distance, this ghetto reflector nearly doubles the light intensity beneath the bulb.
Just make sure the reduced airflow doesn't overheat the ballast.

Styrofoam bowls really don't make the best starting material (being wildly flammable and all that) but they sure are GHETTO!

I like the use of a Optical Laser meter to measure the light. What wavelength did you measure? 450?

Geonerd · Feb 3, 2014

McGuiver said:
I like the use of a Optical Laser meter to measure the light. What wavelength did you measure? 450?

It happened to be set to 450nm. The unit is not a spectrometer, and isn't saying that the power at 450 is so many mW per square cm. The sensor responds to a wide range of wavelengths, and the selected wavelength is used to compensate for the sensor's varying response to different colors. If the _only_ light hitting the sensor was 450nm, then the reading of x.xxx mW would be accurate. As used, the meter should still provide a linear response to changes in light intensity, which is all that's needed.

It's surprising what the meter shows. While a 10 or 20% change in brightness is barely distinguishable for us, the meter, of course, has no problem detecting it. I don't know that plants grow 20% faster with 20% more light, but Mo Powah sure can't hurt.

Small changes in reflector shape and position can have a surprisingly significant effect upon the lighting. With a meter like this, or even a cheap Gomer like this Pyle unit http://www.amazon.com/Pyle-PLMT15-Handheld-Photometer-Sampling/dp/B00EEJY4IC/ fiddly types could enjoy hours of ...fiddling... while obtaining the brightest, most even illumination from a given bulb.

McGuiver · Feb 3, 2014

Geonerd said:
It happened to be set to 450nm. The unit is not a spectrometer, and isn't saying that the power at 450 is so many mW per square cm. The sensor responds to a wide range of wavelengths, and the selected wavelength is used to compensate for the sensor's varying response to different colors. If the _only_ light hitting the sensor was 450nm, then the reading of x.xxx mW would be accurate. As used, the meter should still provide a linear response to changes in light intensity, which is all that's needed.

It's surprising what the meter shows. While a 10 or 20% change in brightness is barely distinguishable for us, the meter, of course, has no problem detecting it. I don't know that plants grow 20% faster with 20% more light, but Mo Powah sure can't hurt.

Small changes in reflector shape and position can have a surprisingly significant effect upon the lighting. With a meter like this, or even a cheap Gomer like this Pyle unit http://www.amazon.com/Pyle-PLMT15-Handheld-Photometer-Sampling/dp/B00EEJY4IC/ fiddly types could enjoy hours of ...fiddling... while obtaining the brightest, most even illumination from a given bulb.

Looks similar to a type we use at work for laser transmitters. Very cool. We are using mostly 1550 wavelength.

SgtHalfPepper · Feb 4, 2014

frosty said:
This is the second LED light I built. The first one turned out very well. This one had the best of intentions
First the lights I used CREE XML lights because I wanted deeper penetration (hee hee). And they put out 900 lumens if you push them with 3 amps. I got 10. The spectrum looked perfect for cool whites so I got 6 of them and 4 of another spectrum to split the difference.

Next driver:
http://www.ebay.com/...9#ht_3170wt_802
So far so good. Let's build the light
Taps, heat sink,Oil, Fan, power source.

I broke the tap in the heat sink. Didn't matter because I didn't have any bolts that matched the threads of any of the taps I had. So I drilled holes and wrenched the oversized steel bolts into the holes.
Now I didn't measure anything and found out that the fan is too big so I could only use two bolts.
I have everything bolted on and I can't get the fan to work. I check the power supply and it is supplying 12 volts and I can't figure out what I am doing wrong. I reread the inputs on the fan and see this:

.
Yep I bought a fan that said "BAD". Back to the store. They don't believe me but they give me a new fan anyway.
Hook it up and it works fine.
Now I solder up the LEDs. They ended up not being evenly spaced because I tried to avoid the holes I drilled and well crap happens.

Whadya know it works:

Some might say that CREE XML lights are not ghetto. Well I made them ghetto dern it.

Was wondering if there were any updates or plans like this one. Time for some DIY.

frosty · Feb 7, 2014

Hey all been away for a while. Got a new job (woo hoo!). Moved blah blah. Anyway the light worked well. I used it for one year during the winter to get a head start on spring. The plants were great. I supplemented the light with a similar build but less power.

I sold some of my plants on craigslist. One lady came by and bought two scorps. She left my house and went to a nursery to confirm they were real. The nursery told her they were the healthiest chiles they had ever seen.

The move prevented me from setting up this year. I live in Delaware and it is so gloomy I use the lights in my office to get blue light to help deal with it. We also used them to do some video recording with a black back ground.

Anyway the lights are still super bright they work great.

mrgrowguy · Feb 8, 2014

Here is my ghetto DWC box - HOME MADE! -duh

still in progress

all of these seeds germinated around Nov. 28, 2013, the last picture was taken today.

Helvete · Feb 9, 2014

I don't know if I've posted this here before. I made a grow tent using a stand-alone closet that I lined with mylar. The shoe holders on the side come in handy for storing nute bottles. It didn't have a frame so I built one using PVC.

JohnT · Feb 16, 2014

240w of LED plus 8 computer fans all < $150 incl greenhouse, solder, wire, & plastic grated ceiling light tiles.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00BMHLWSO/ref=oh_details_o00_s00_i01?ie=UTF8&psc=1

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00BMHP960/ref=oh_details_o00_s00_i00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

http://www.ebay.com/itm/171202336797?var=470321590552&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEWNX%3AIT&_trksid=p3984.m1439.l2649

dlsolo · Jun 23, 2014

This thread has inspired me to seriously take a moment and think outside the box. I seem to be so quick to jump on Amazon and purchase stuff, that simple items that are laying around the house can address any needs.

The DIY LED concepts interest me quite a bit...

dlsolo · Jul 26, 2014

Ladies and Gentlemen,

I present to you, my ghetto setup. Here is what it's made of:

1/2" foam board from Lowe's
Clothing rack modified with 1" EMT electrical conduit
Metal shelving from my garage (cut to a shorter length)
Two furniture moving dollies (from Amazon)
Two Vornado fans
Danner Pond Master air pump
Two Double XL Micro Pore Air Diffuser Air Stones
Two Rubbermaid Commercial 10 gallon Garbage cans
Two 10 inch Net Pots
A whole lot of black duct tape
Two 25 foot rolls of Orca Grow Film
And only one 8-bulb T5 grow light