Rays LED lights and light meter measurements

[Jayfar]

Originally Posted by Motheroftwins

Where did you buy the fixtures for your LEDs? I have the LEDs from First Rays but haven't found satisfactory fixtures.

These dirt cheap fixtures from Ikea (TERTIAL work lamp) work well for me. You just leave off the shade bell.

TERTIAL Work lamp - IKEA

[Motheroftwins]

Thx Jayfar. Is it difficult to remove the shade bell?

[Jayfar]

Originally Posted by Motheroftwins

Thx Jayfar. Is it difficult to remove the shade bell?

Matter of fact, the light comes with the bell detached.

[billc]

Originally Posted by Motheroftwins

Where did you buy the fixtures for your LEDs? I have the LEDs from First Rays but haven't found satisfactory fixtures.

I went to a local Tru Value hardware store and got a 2 prong light bulb adapter and plugged it into a 3 way plug adapter. Tied it up to the shelf above and 3 of Ray's bulbs cover a 18 in X 48 in shelf just fine. 22-24 in distance from plants for 9-10 hrs seems to work fine for paph and phals. The phals leaves are a tad purplish but they flower just fine.

Bill

[Motheroftwins]

Bill - Thanks that is interesting. That looks the most workable for me. Question about your setup- is in your basement - looks like you have plastic around the shelves.
Margaret

[billc]

I have a grow tent in an unheated basement. The plastic you see is to try and keep the Masdie's cooler. I leave a flap of the tent open in a mostly futile attempt to keep the Temps at 60- 65.

Bill

[smokinjoe52]

Picked up one of these, which is 20" wider than the one I set up.

Gardman Indoor/Outdoor Extra Wide 4-Tier Greenhouse with Reinforced Cover at Blain's Farm & Fleet

I think for the price these are really a good value. They do require some mods though, as I outlined earlier. Here are the mods from stock:

added 5 inches to the lower shelf height. (now 17")
added 8 inches to the main growing shelf. (now32")
2 circulation fans in the lower level and 2 fans in the upper part of the tent. run 24/7
1 ventilation fan that pulls outside (room) air INTO the tent for 30 minutes, twice per day.
Many cable ties to hold the shelves flat. (They feel MUCH sturdier if you do this)
3/16 hard plastic on the bottom.

I actually had to steal some parts from the small greenhouse to extend both shelf heights. Also had to cut the leftover tubes.

The nice thing is that running 6 of Ray's LED lights in the smaller tent, only raises the temp by about 6-8 degrees. No continual venting keeps the humidity much higher than the room humidity.

Should hold 8-10 orchids, with the low light ones on the bottom. Also have a seeding heat mat on the bottom for s/h transplants.