Attaching a grow light

Two ingenious mounting solutions with magnets

Author: Christian Auer, Graz, Austria

Online since: 15/02/2012, Number of visits: 88074

Temporary attachment of the grow light to the wall

Since I noticed yesterday that my Kiwi seedlings are sitting pretty much in the dark, I thought to myself: Get out the old grow light.

Materials needed:

Grow light (incandescent light bulb recommended)
2-3 Q-40-20-10-N in their packaging
Approx. 40 cm punched metal strip
Socket with connecting cable and strain relief
Cable ties auch as Plastic cable ties 200 x 5,00 mm

The cable ties are used to connect the cable and punched metal strip. The strip itself doesn’t need to be attached; it sticks to the magnets anyway. The magnets attach to the wall without screws as there are usually iron corner protection guards underneath plastered corners. So there won’t be any holes in the wall, the packaging protects the magnet and the wall, and everything can disappear without a trace as soon as summer arrives.

The WAF (wife acceptance factor) of this construction is not exactly stellar, but the grow light is tolerated because it won’t be there for long and will disappear without a trace afterwards :-)

The total weight of the grow light is approx. 1 kg; if you want to be on the safe side, a third Q-40-20-10-N and a wider metal strip are recommended.

This assembly is not suitable for energy-saving bulbs or mercury vapour lamps since a fall could result in a broken light and the release of mercury. But shatterproof light sources are available. The incandescent light bulb also has the advantage of radiating a little warmth into the grow box on the cold windowsill.

The Kiwi seedlings are enjoying the additional light and warmth. Now they are patiently waiting until it is time for them to be moved outside.

Attaching grow lights to metal shelves

Addition by customer C. Egli from Winterthur (Switzerland):

This year, I wanted to grow my own seedlings for the garden. So, starting in February, I put the seed pots on an old metal rack in the sitting room. Many of the seeds germinated very quickly, but the plants shot up and were very limp. This ‘etiolation’ is a problem caused by not enough sunlight during the winter months.

That’s why I decided to get growing lights. That was a science project in itself with watt and lux numbers; in the end, I decided on several LED strips and one round grow light. Mounting them, on the other hand, gave me less of a headache; I rummaged through my magnet collection and quickly found the right magnets for the job.

I cut the magnetic tape NMT-20-STIC into pieces of approx. 2 cm each, then stuck 5 pieces on each LED strip (each strip is 50 cm long) and pressed them on firmly. Next, I attached two strips side by side on the underside of the two top shelves. Everything is holding extremely well, the strips can only be repositioned or removed with a lot of effort.

With the grow light, it was important to me that there is an air gap between the shelf and the back of the light so that the lamp does not overheat. The grow light already has four eyelets on the back for hanging. I attached two magnetic hooks BD-FTN-16 to two eyelets and mounted the whole thing on the underside of the lowest shelf. The magnets hold the lamp, which weighs about 1 kg, very securely so that I don’t have to worry about it falling onto the seedlings.

Now, on cloudy days and after dark, I turn the grow lights on for a few hours. After about a month of using the lights, I can see a big difference in the seedlings: They are growing more uniformly and sturdier and look healthier.

Note from the supermagnete team:
On our website, you can find other interesting customer projects with plants and magnets such as:

Articles used

Q-40-20-10-N

Block magnet 40 x 20 x 10 mm, holds approx. 25 kg, neodymium, N42, nickel-plated

	1 pc.	12,60 EUR ea.*
from	3 pcs.	11,22 EUR ea.*
from	10 pcs.	9,98 EUR ea.*
from	20 pcs.	9,39 EUR ea.*
from	40 pcs.	8,86 EUR ea.*
Ask for a rebate from 160 pcs.

Available: 3 768 pcs.

Plastic cable ties 200 x 5,00 mm

locking head, 20 pieces/UoS, in different colours

1 UoS 3,13 EUR/UoS*

Select type and order

Plastic cable ties 400 x 5,00 mm

locking head, 20 pieces/UoS, in different colours

1 UoS 6,25 EUR/UoS*

Select type and order

Magnetic adhesive tape neodymium 20 mm

self-adhesive magnetic tape, extra-strong adhesive force, rolls of 1 m
4 x stronger than regular magnetic tape

	1 m	34,91 EUR/m*
from	3 m	31,25 EUR/m*
from	10 m	27,98 EUR/m*
from	20 m	26,39 EUR/m*
from	40 m	24,99 EUR/m*
Ask for a rebate from 80 m

Select type and order

BD-FTN-16

neodymium hook magnet Ø 16 mm, holds approx. 8 kg, thread M4

	5 pcs.	2,01 EUR ea.*
from	15 pcs.	1,78 EUR ea.*
from	40 pcs.	1,60 EUR ea.*
from	80 pcs.	1,50 EUR ea.*
Ask for a rebate from 350 pcs.

Available: 4 043 pcs.

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