21 Plant DIY Build Box 84 Lights?

Hey guys first post here, I wanted your advice on a box I was planning to build very shortly, box is going to double up as a bed/bookcase hopefully when built! So the internal dimensions of the grow room are 7ft x 3ft, thats 1 square foot per plant?

For my lighting... here comes the controversy, I plan on using 4 led grow lights to each plant. Thats 40watts of directional red and blue light at the optimum levels, red 660nm and blue 445nm each bulb has 3 red LEDs and 2 blue LEDs.

What kind of heat can I expect from these bulbs to produce?

Will there be enough light? I expect when using one large 1000w bulb, there is a lot of waste?

Attachment 296781

What type of LED setup are you talking about? A DIY LED would not only be the lights but also the cooling system and also electrical drivers. Weezard is an expert on that and will be able to tell you a lot more.

Hey thanks for the reply, I actually linked the bulbs, perhaps it didn't stand out enough, the bulbs are 85-250v so will work in the uk on 230v no problem, I just need to get some either gu10 or e27 bulb holders... 84 of them if I stick to this first plan. I have found some other bulbs that are 40-50 watts and have exactly the same spectrums that I am considering as I will then only have 21 lights rather than 84.. Which I can see being a serious ball ache to wire up. Another benefit to having only 21 is I could get a 24 gang rocker switch unit.. It does sound the most appealing, but I just wanted the light spread as evenly as possible throughout the box.

The diagram I have made is going to be floating mdf/plywood with the lights attached, problem on some sort of rope pulley system to move up and down inside the box with a channel across the top for an exhaust ventilation, I plan on putting fans on this board but I have yet to plan where they will be, maybe every other plant will have a fan in the middle of the lights but I am aiming at having about 4 fans through this board so I can control it with one of those PC temperature controllers on eBay that will automate the fan speeds to match my set ambient temperature. So all the fans and that controller, possibly also the irrigation pump and reservoir circulation pump will be able to all run off a computer PSU as those things are pretty fantastic.

I guess I just needed to know if there will be enough light, if there is far too much light or if its just a ridiculous idea. Might all sound complicated but I could theoretically control every light with a separate gang switch or change out bulbs for more red or more blue.

But is there enough light per plant with these 40-50 watt bulbs?

Honestly, 1 sq ft isn't enough space for a single plant. With only 3 ft of height, is what I am assuming, you will have to do some serious topping and trimming. This adds time as the plants need to recover from the stress. Also that many plants in such a confined space could cause powder mold and lead to other plant stress related problems. You will need a lot of air circulation and proper ventilation. Are the plants an "auto-flower." Most auto-flowering plants are short and will bud without the need of spectrum or time change.

I dunno, Good luck and keep us updated

Plants use more than just red and blue light. You will not have good results with this setup! My recommendation would be for 2x400w hps if you plan on keeping your plants short.. If you want to grow some trees.. you may consider 600W HPS to get better canopy penetration. I use a few 12 band LED's along side my 1000W hps to help with resin production and it does seem to help quite a bit. But you need a full spectrum of light for the plants to respond well... NOT just red and blue!