Soltech Vita Grow Light Smart Home Integration & DIY Light Shades

I am just getting started with using grow lights and armed with my knowledge of LED lighting I greatly appreciate the vita grow lights impressive specs. With a Color Rendering Index of 95 and 3000 kelvin color spectrum, this shows that attention to detail was given when making this light and great consideration was given to the fact that these lights would be used in residential settings. Any light over 3000K is absurdly unnecessary outside of a garage, shop, utility room, grocery store, doctors offices, etc..

Lastly I appreciate the dimming capability as it can be paired with the smart home scheduling to coordinate with daily sunrise and sunset. This is extremely helpful for anyone with sensory sensitivity especially if using the grow lights in an occupied bedroom.

Now onto what could be better but isn’t a deal breaker. At this price point I would have expected to see some zwave integration, not WiFi or Zigbee as these don’t work well in heavily walled homes and easily drop off and over crowd the 2.4ghz frequency. So to overcome this short coming I purchased a separate zwave outlet dimmer switch that does require having a compatible hub (Smartthings etc..). I was able to set up a sunrise dimming and sunset dimming routines to slowly brighten in the morning and dim off in the evening over the course of an hour using my Alexa app to create the routine.

Something to consider is that if placing multiple Vita grow lights in one area then use a single strand multi socket pendant light that can be controlled by a single smart switch.

DIY Light Shades

Supplies

• Utility knife and scissors
• Pendant light socket rated for bulb (20watt or 40watt)
• IKEA Kaffebona

Personally I chose single socket pendant lights to keep my lights as portable and adjustable as possible.

SolTech Vita Light Shade 2.0 Extended Deep coverage

I moved my larger plants into my living room adjacent to my sofa which meant the glare from the grow lights was obnoxiously visible.

Hobby Lobby Hoke Decor Seagrass Basket for $5.00 for the win!

Side by Side comparison!

The shade weighs in beautifully under the 1lbs weight limit. I Removed the handles!

I originally cut a hole for the pendant threaded light socket but when I installed the light it was too high inside the shade and the wide angle was severely limited. so I added crafting wire to the basket and threaded the electrical cord up through the top hole and allowed the pendant light to drop farther down into the shade toward the 3/4 portion of the opening.

I added 4 ventilation holes on the perimeter of the top to help expel heat from the 20watt bulb. I used superglue to help reinforce any areas where the structural twine was cut away in making the ventilation and access holes.

Living Room Approved

I purchased the last seagrass basket at hobby lobby in the small size. Which means I have to wait for a new shipment of inventory to arrive before I can pick up and make another seagrass lamp shade.

Luckily I came across this white cylindrical $2.00 lamp shade at a thrift store.

⚠️ if you are placing a grow light within the line of sight of a TV you will want the seagrass la o shade to reduce glare!