Grow lights

[HaoBao]

Pics of haworthia

[el48tel]

Yes Vaxer plus real sunlight cooked a few of mine last year

[NaZzAtAzEr]

I can recommend "V-TAC 20W 2ft LED Batten Fittings Integrated Tube Lamp 6400K White" I got off Amazon, but they are not so straightforward to install - come bare wired and need the bracket fitting, but a self-adhesive cable ties and standard plugs with some electric tape work perfectly for them. Link here.

I'm using them for all my plants, two per shelf (am considering adding another one for each shelf), and unfortunately keep the seedlings a tad far from them, so they etiolate a bit, but as I mostly have mesembs sown now, they should fix themselves sooner or later. My biggest worry now are Euphorbia obesa seedlings, which look like a ball on a rather whippy stick.

I use these after you recommended them to me. The best place to get them is CPC and buying 3 of them gives you free next day delivery. Brackets/mounting parts are also supplied. I have burnt a few plants under them and some seeds don't like them so I have covered most of them with thin paper which does the trick. Otherwise, it is a very great light and incredibly bright.

[HaoBao]

Can anyone please explain how to wire up those batten type lights? I think I would have chosen them rather than the T8 ones if I had any electrical/wiring knowledge but the lack of a plug and a short wire put me off.

[edds]

Can anyone please explain how to wire up those batten type lights? I think I would have chosen them rather than the T8 ones if I had any electrical/wiring knowledge but the lack of a plug and a short wire put me off.

Just wire the short section into a small choc box (https://www.screwfix.com/p/debox-in-lin ... lsrc=aw.ds ) and put a flexible cable and plug at the other end. Make sure you swap the fuse out as 13 amp will be way too much. I imagine a 3 amp will be plenty.

[edds]

If it might get splash then definitely use a waterproof connector instead of the one I posted!

[HaoBao]

Oooo thank you, you’re a star Ed. Is there anything special to do with the earth cable from the plug? I saw that the light wouldn’t have an earth.

And could you add a few lights into one connection box, still on a 3 amp fuse? I would think with the setups I’ve seen people make online it wouldn’t be uncommon to have 8-9 lights on one shelving unit so to have it all into one plug or a few plugs would be great.

Another thing I’d like to have would be maybe two small discreet PC type fans for air circulation on each shelf rather than having a big fan in the room. I really wish I trusted myself to do electrical stuff haha.

[Cidermanrolls]

I've got a few seedlings emerge but not get past the cotyledon stage, I'm thinking grow lights could help? I presume just a suitable bulb in any light fitting over the seeds would be of at least some use?

Be careful not to cook the seedlings. LED lights give out little heat so are good from that POV . If you have your seedlings in a propagator, also use a light meant for humid environments.
Some grow lights offer different spectra. I think the pink lights are beloved of wacky backyard growers as the pink is claimed to promote flowering. I don’t think cactus seedlings need that too much.
I’m sure there is some good science behind choice of colour, but I’ve found the white lights to be pretty good for my needs.

[MatDz]

Oooo thank you, you’re a star Ed. Is there anything special to do with the earth cable from the plug? I saw that the light wouldn’t have an earth.

And could you add a few lights into one connection box, still on a 3 amp fuse? I would think with the setups I’ve seen people make online it wouldn’t be uncommon to have 8-9 lights on one shelving unit so to have it all into one plug or a few plugs would be great.

Another thing I’d like to have would be maybe two small discreet PC type fans for air circulation on each shelf rather than having a big fan in the room. I really wish I trusted myself to do electrical stuff haha.

I've used 2 wire plugs with a C7 connector, which I cut off and hard wired cables with the lamps, the connector edds suggested might be a tad more aesthetically pleasant if you care. The lights take milliamperes (if my maths is not wrong, 20W/240V*2^(0.5) gives about 0.12A peak), so 1A is fine for up to 7 20W lights, let's say 4 to be on the safe side.

[edds]

As Mat said, I'd use two core cable and leave the earth. If you have three core handy just wire it into the connector but don't connect anything to it on the other side.

The lights I bought allowed you to connect them in series with their own connectors so you only needed to wire one in but for my fish tank I have wired two into the same box to have the side by side and that has worked fine too.