My New Supplemental Lighting for Greenhouse
 

Since I wanted spotlights that don't block much daylight and operate safely in a wet environment, I thought it would be a good idea to use ones that are mass produced for cars. So, I bought this:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07FR38763...ml_rv0_dp?th=1

One problem, though. "30W" is actually 7 watts because Chinese manufacturers often lie about the wattages of their lights and Amazon reviewers are too dumb to measure the wattage like I did. Anyway, I used them:







The lights are mounted on a wooden board that I normally temporarily put up to brace the polycarbonate sheets for the weight of accumulated snow. You don't see more of these braces because it hasn't snowed, yet. Ha, ha. The lights are connected to a 24VDC power supply that is connected to a photocell that is connected to a timer that is connected to a 120VAC outlet. The photocell turns the lights off when daylight is bright. The timer turns on to mimic the period of light (16 hrs.) during summer solstice where I live.

Re: My New Supplemental Lighting for Greenhouse
 

Decent set up tucked out of the way in the rafters.
Another forum member Nealnik was using an off-road light bar as a supplemental light for his indoor grow.
If the do not work out you can always install them on the Buick and go mudding.:)

I see you have holes in the cross beam supports for some additional inexpensive LED drop pendants in you wish.

With LED's one has to understand the fine print concerning equivalent watt output vs watts used, I too have been confused before.:)


I noticed the ventilation is using double box fans to circulate the air. Does one push and the other pull the air in the summer months?

Looks a bit nippy up there today.:coldbanana:

Re: My New Supplemental Lighting for Greenhouse
 

That's not "equivalent watts." Maybe, they are using underpowered 5 watt LEDs because 6*5 = 30. I ordered more lighting to install.

Yes, the bottom fan blows out and the upper one blows in.

The outdoor temperature now is 7 deg. F. but it is 75 inside the greenhouse. I have a sensor inside the greenhouse that sends a radio signal to a thermometer hung on the wall next to me as I write this. You would think that the manufacturer would include an audible alarm to indicate when temperature limits were breached but, NO, they included a clock, instead. And I can't set the clock because none of the buttons work.

Re: My New Supplemental Lighting for Greenhouse
 

Update:

I added three of these:

https://www.homedepot.com/p/Cree-120...oduct-overview

The 25 deg. beam angle is perfect. Too bad that narrow beam spotlights are rare. The optics are expensive to manufacture.

Re: My New Supplemental Lighting for Greenhouse
 

Are they really effective at that distance?

Since my dad passed, I am moving everything out of the house, except for my starter closet where the water heater is, and I am looking at getting some good lights that don't need to be kissing my plants to work.

Re: My New Supplemental Lighting for Greenhouse
 

That sounds like an amazing way to get some real 6500K color! I used three LED headlights to make my main light, but it's limited to a fairly small area. You just have to buy a transformer with enough wattage to cover the power drain, and convert it to 12V DC.