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Building An LED Grow Light Set For Your Indoor Garden

The LED systems you see in stores and over the Internet are expensive. In reality, making your own may only cost as much as $20 for a large system. The only thing is that it can be hard to create your own, especially if you don’t have any prior experience with electronics.

The first thing to do is to get all of the tools and parts. You will need some sort of box to hold the lights in place. You can use a large plastic tub you find at general stores if needed. Find a power supply that supports 10 volts, blue and red LED lights to fill the compartment, wire, and then if needed a couple transistors and resistors.

The planning process will require that you have graph paper and some knowledge on how electronics work. You need to create a circuit that puts the LED lights in parallel with a resistor, or combination of resistors, in order to keep the current at a safe level. You will also need to use a transistor to create a button that will control the on and off state for the system, as well as the actual button itself. Solder is also a necessary component.

Once everything is drawn out, you will need a small circuit board to keep things in place. These circuit boards are very cheap and can be found at local electronics stores, such as a RadioShack. You will need to solder all of the points together correctly, and don’t forget to test your circuit by leaving it on for several hours. If all seems well, we are on to the next step!

The plastic tub mentioned earlier is to fix your circuit inside of. It will provide a natural directional spotlight that allows you to direct the flow of light to a fixed area. Without it, the LED lights would illuminate the entire room and this may not be desirable. You can skip the plastic tub if this won’t be a problem, and if the room is just for indoor gardening, it shouldn’t be a problem at all.

Upgrading your circuit is a fine idea once you finish it. If your indoor operation is large, you will probably be making several of these circuits. If you can streamline the process once you find a design you like, you can take as little as 10-15 minutes to make an entire set. You could have lighting for your entire garden in just an hour!

Closing Comments

The whole process is going to be long and hard if you don’t have prior experience. It is probably worth the money to go and buy the LED growth systems directly from a retailer. They have features you can’t implement, and they are also fairly cheap.

Learn more on LED grow lights and indoor grow lights.