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600 HPS Cool Tube Grow Light System
is the cooltube wired to the right cordset and plugged into the ballast?
i really want to order this system, but every company i email eventually tells me "no we dont wire the ballast to the cooltube"...
anyone have one from bghydro that could comment ?
(talking about this specifically tinyurl.com/3cok5z as is with the sun system 10 ballast)
i just want to open the box, hang the cooltube, plug in the ballast and turn it on.
am i dreaming ?
You have to do some wiring my friend. Nothing is as perfect as plug and play in hydro...well the basic systems are...but those are weak. Now its pretty easy to wire...black to black, white to white, green to a ground screw on one of the collars on the cool tube. If you need any help once you get it let me know cuz im an electrician...
hm damn. i see that some of the cooltubes have a prewired black plug that comes out the bottom and is compatible with hydrofarm/lumatek/sunsystem ballasts...which is the kind i want.
so that confuses me even more that the cooltube on some sights shows pictures with that cord already there with the prongs that supposedly plug into the ballast.
thanks for the help though, yarg!
they do that so you can know what it should look like when your done. there are mounting brackets on the inside of one of the collars that you mount your socket assembly to which plugs into the ballast on the other end.
i see...tricky.
so you put your system together seperately or ordered it as one set and wired it yourself?
I just bought two BG cooltubes.
A mogul base socket is mounted inside the cool tube with a short cord coming off of it. The end of the cord has a male BG plug on it.
Unlike computers, the hydro industry has failed to standardize so every ballast manufacturer has their own electrical plugs and every light fixture has it's own plug and unless both fixture and ballast are from the same manufacturer, the plugs won't match. So, you need an adapter. The adapters are readily available at hydro shops and on the net.
Once you have the right adaptors, the system is pretty much plug and play. Below are photos of my cool tubes and ballasts. If you enlarge the pics you should be able to see the wiring real well.
So the wiring goes: cord from light socket -> BGHydro extensin cord -> BGHydro to Sun adapter -> ballast.
Cool tubes rock - heat wise. The outside of my cool tubes is cooler than a cfl.
wow that is an awsome setup you have there, very impressive
and those pictures are great that helps so much seeing it all setup
it looks like you have galaxy ballasts, i was going to get the sun system 10 ballast and i was wondering...
it lists
Grow Light Accessories
15' Lamp Cord for Sunlight Supply/BGH
as included in the package. but your saying i need a BGHydro extensin cord as well?
i cannot find that on their site, where did you get yours?
also i thought the cooltube plug/cord was compatible with the sun system 10 and didnt need any sort of adapter...im wrong about that? could i plug the cooltube directly into a wall mounted ballast a few inches away on the other side of the cab?
Criom - It sounds to me like the lamp cord is an adaptor - which is good because it saves you having to spend $12 on the adaptor. Order the package, you'll be good to go.
The Galaxy ballasts are made by Sun - or at least they have Sun connectors. I got the Galaxy because they are digital and can run MH or HPS.
yea if i had a choice i would get the galaxys too but i just cant afford them. they have awsome features for sure. i can just sell a kidney later and get a MH convertion bulb after i take out 8 mortgages on my house.
im hoping your right about the lamp cord being an adaptor.
isnt galaxy and sun part of hydrofarm who makes the cooltube?
i thought lumatek was part of hydrofarm too...so i dont understand why you needed the adapters exactly. would this also be reffered to as a universal cord set?
i see them as 25$+ options on some sites, but with no information on what it is of course.
is there any difference between the bghydro extension cord (that they dont carry) and a normal extention cord?
The cords are the same - only the ends are different.Quote:
Originally Posted by criom
haha alright then. sounds like i wont know wth im getting for sure until i open the box
this is an email response i got from them
The Cool Tube reflector is made by a different company than the ballast, and it doesnâ??t ship to us with a lamp cord, which is why the system doesnâ??t come prewired. It only involves attaching 3 wires (black to black, white to white and green to the socket assembly) and we do provide simple instructions, but Iâ??m sure we can wire it for you before it ships out for a nominal fee ($5-10).
If this is something youâ??re interested in please reply to this email and Iâ??ll find out the exact price and get things rolling for you.
i think it would be worth the 10$...and it also clarifys that the cooltube is not prewired with a male plug.
all together itll be about 400$ with shipping....good deal?
$10 to have three connections made, by matching wire colours? I got a trained pet rat that can do that much wiring. :D
DIY, baby. :)
Hey Al can I borrow your rat to have him teach me? i'll pay ten bucks......:D
yea no shit a rat that does electrical work
ill take 6 thanks!
I'm a rat slave driver. The little beggar works for peanuts- literally.
Send me your tired, huddled ballasts, yearning to be wired free (or at least for peanuts)!
Really, we should not overcomplicate things. Most grow op wiring is dead-nuts simple, especially when it comes to putting a power connector on the end of a wire. Not complex stuff. You only need to be sure you're connecting the right wires together and that the connections are tight and sufficiently insulated if necessary.
Anyone who runs a grow op needs to have enough electrical wiring competency to do some basicbasicbasics.
well actually i have wired one socket before into a weird wing reflector that was a little overly complicated....maybe i have post traumatic stress syndrome from that. ur right though i probably should do it myself now that i know for sure that the model of cooltube BGH sells has no hydrofarm male out cord.
i wish they would clarify that somewhere, that there are at least 2 different models of cooltubes that require different cords.
oh well...send me your rat
Yeah, it's smart for anyone selling goods like that to be very clear on what they're supplying... but a connector is a connector is a connector. Three screws, three wires, line, neutral and earth. Big fat hairy deal.
I should get Ratso to turn you lot on to how to solder (almost as easy as glue) and use heat-shrinkable tubing instead of cheap black electrical tape, too. ;)
Ratso's bags are packed. Cool when you can use a matchbox as an overnight bag. ;)
haha matchbox...
theres no soldering involved in setting up a cooltube though right?
also i keep hearing that i need at least an 8" fan to move enough air to keep it cool, is there anyway around this?
they are really expensive and im wondering if a Suncourt 6" In-line Duct Fan - 300 cfm would be enough to cool it.
i could put that on the output from my external air conditioner (in another room) and run the ducting all the way into the main cab right?
or would that not even make a difference?
I wouldn't expect you'll need to solder anything for this task.
However, if you do need to connect bare wire ends together, solder & heatshrink is the safest, most durable way to do it in a grow op.
You should see Ratso's little toothbrush. It's soooooo coot. :D
well thats good to hear at least, ive got the gun and solder handy anyway.
now if i could just seduce ratso into spending the night...
Hey, you're halfway home. Haven't got Ratso's boarding pass yet, so this is encouraging. ;)
A soldering gun will work, but they are usually 100 watts or so- a bit big for the small task of sticking a couple wires together. Work quickly with a gun- to avoid overheating the work and melting insulation. Heat the work for no more than a couple of seconds, touch solder to the hot wires and gun tip until the solder flows, remove heat, don't disturb until solder is cool & solidified. If you can't work fast, use a 15-25 watt soldering iron.
Ratso is a slut for the nuts. If you have cashews, he might never leave. :D
hahaha
now i dont know which im more paranoid about, having to wire or possibly solder, finding a good enough fan to cool it, or having sex with a slutty rat electrician who lives in a matchbox.
THE HORROR
I'd match the fan diameter to the cooltube diameter.Quote:
Originally Posted by criom
You gotta remember that these tubes are normally content to run without any air motion at all- even a small fan, matched to the tube diameter, will be a big improvement.
I expect a cooltube to be about 3.75" dia. A 4" fan, of good quality, should do you just fine. By 'good quality' I mean cast aluminum body and ball bearings, not a cheap plastic bodied computer fan with sleeve bearings.
Any cooltube fan should be on the cool side, blowing air first over the tube socket and then warmed air dicted out of the grow airspace.
If you can't find an appropriate 4" fan in a duct, the 6" will do, using duct size reducers from Ye Olde Hardware Shoppe.
I don't think an 8" fan is necessary, unless you're pushing air through two 4" cooltubes.
Now I understand. Actually, this is a good way of doing things because then you can get the cord you want on the fixture you want.
What are you getting for $400?
I paid:
BGH cool tube $ 80
Lamp cord $ 20
cord adaptr $ 13
400w Ballast $180
MH bulb $ 20
________
Total $313
I just looked on BG Hydro and their price on the complete cool tube is $320.With the digital ballast it is $360.
BG Hydro 600w cool tube system.
apparantly all cool tubes are 6" in diameter so i was thinking a Suncourt 6" In-line Duct Fan - 300 cfm would do it...
"Any cooltube fan should be on the cool side, blowing air first over the tube socket and then warmed air dicted out of the grow airspace."
so i should put the fan on the socket side of the tube...got it
do i want alot of ducting attached to the exhaust side? or does that not matter? im thinking it could add resistence and make the fan work harder or not as well. so should the exhaust side ducting just go outside the space and stop? or should i run it a bit farther
thanks for the info i was thrown off by the 8' fan suggestion because theyre so freaking expensive
your right about the 320$ thas what im going to get.
the basic configuration with the sun system 10 ballast.
the shipping is whats killing me, like 65$.
and now that i need at least a 4" fan thats another 50$...
still way over 400$ :*(
crap the BGH guy just emailed me back and said the smallest fan i could probably get away with is Dayton 265 cfm 75$
so that brings the total to like 460$....aaaaaaaaahrg
Ratso sounds like a scab to me. First my wages are driven down by illegal aliens and now there's damn rats working for peanuts. The only upside is maybe all the illegals will be put out of work by the rats and they'll go back home. The rats would make much better neighbors.
For what it's worth, my socket has screws on it and the wire has lugs, so basically a blind trained rat could wire it. LOL
haha and hed prolly still do a better job then me
I've got my two cooltubes hooked to one 6" vortex inline 470cfm fan. With all the twists and turns and carbon filter, I'm guessing the cfm is down to around 400cfm. The tubes stay cooler than a cfl. I've got one plant touching the cooltube directly under the bulb and it isn't hurting the plant. My fan is on the exhaust side of the tubes - sucking air.
Dayum - why so much for shipping? Where do you live, at the North Pole?
damn 150$ for a 6" vortex too...shiot
thats impressive though youve got it cooler then a cfl. so it must be better to have it exhausting away from the socket and over the bulb...
i like in michigan....the cheapest shipping BGH offers is fedex (I HATE FEDEX) for 65$.
i think that may make me buy elsewhere....
with the dayton the shipping is 62$ total is 467$.
this doesnt seem like a good deal anymore
I hate to second guess the guy... but 265cfm is big enough for a 795 cu ft grow op main exhaust fan. Holy moley. What's your cooltube diameter?Quote:
Originally Posted by criom
I'm thinking this same thing. The 6" fan on my system is overkill. I can turn the fan down to 1/2 speed before any noticable rise in temp.Quote:
Originally Posted by Al B. Fuct
A 4" fan should do the trick for one cool tube.
Don't you have a local Hydro store? A lot of Hydro stores will match online prices.
hmm, OK. I'm doing up some DIY cooltubes absed on the Pyrex "Bake-A-Round" heat-tempered glass tubes. They're supposed to be 3.75" OD.Quote:
apparantly all cool tubes are 6" in diameter so i was thinking a Suncourt 6" In-line Duct Fan - 300 cfm would do it...
Zandor has a great photoessay here on DIY "Bake-A-Round" cooltubes. I'm liberally thieving from Zandor's bit for my own.
please feel free to second guess him :)
the cooltube diamter is supposedly 6"
im going to be using about 18 feet of ducting all together, without any major bends or angles....so maybe i dont really need a 265cfm....but the entire point of this is to keep that bulb as cool as possible so im not sure what to do
i do have a local hydro store but driving there would probably cost just as much in gas $ as it would to have it shipped. their prices arnt so great either and they dont have any cooltubes on the display floor...
but they sell them on their site
oh i love the idea of a DIY cooltube but i keep thinking about "what if it falls/breaks/shatters/comes loose" then it would fry all the plants and goodbye sanity
pharmacan whats the cheapest 4" inline fan you would reccomend? all the ones ive looked at are crappy and have to be wired to a cord to even plugin to an outlet...