Hey everyone!
I grow my plants indoors over winter and have a special dedicated room for them. I've been doing this for about three years. I've been getting my grow lights off Amazon. I have Viparspectra, King LED, and Bloomspect. Unfortunately, it seems like these only last a year or so each before they break. My two King LEDs both stopped working this past spring after 1 and 2 years running.
What are some brands that will last me 5+ years? I hate to keep buying new lights every few years, it feels really wasteful.
The LED lights are more reliable than the driver electronic circuit which usually burned out (the controller chip inside). In this case, I would buy a generic 12v DC power supply (ebay, amazon) with 10A current, then drive the LED lights (4 of them in series) directly without the Driver.
You can buy individual LED lights at Digikey.com. I'm planning to buy and use these LED lights for landscaping lights.
How: the best way is get the 12V DC supply with adjustable output voltage, then solder 4 LEDs together in series (each LED will have 3v = 12v/4), then buy 3v (forward voltage) LEDs.
With the adjustable output supply, you can vary the output voltage to suit the LED forward voltage spec.
12v adjsutable supply, $30:https://www.ebay.com/itm/312030896351?hash=item48a67da0df:g:Gz0AAOSwz~paPpd~
LED lights: Many to choose from
https://www.digikey.com/en/products/filter/led-lighting-white/124?s=N4IgjCBcoMxgnFUBjKAzAhgGwM4FMAaEAeygG0QAmABkoDZKB2EAXSIAcAXKEAZU4BOASwB2AcxABfaUASince the supply has 12v max, then I would buy LED with slightly less than 3V just in case you need to adjust the light intensity. Something like this 2.75V forward voltage instead of 3V, 100 lights for $15:
https://www.digikey.com/en/products/detail/samsung-semiconductor-inc/SPMWHD32AMH1XAH0S0/12083611Note: start with lower voltage then adjust up until you like the intensitive. Don't go too high voltage or it will burn out the LED lights.