Printable View
I went to Ace yesterday and they had a sale that I just couldn't pass up! They had a shelf ranging from 13 watt to 26 watt CFLs for only 99 cents each! Plus They had the 20% off of whatever you can fit in their bag, so I ended up paying around 80 cents per CFL. I bought 37 :smokin:
So for those growers out there who are on a tight budget, go checkout Ace Hardware, the sale still might be going on.
Heres a pic of what they look like, and then a pic of one of my little girls;
wow thats crazy
wow, 1000w for around $30. what are the plans for mounting them? would be pricey to buy 37 sockets, maybe mount the lights to a board and solder wires to the contacts......?? good luck
That's a lot of bulbs. I couldn't read a color temperature on the packages. Are these for veg or bud? Remember you want the 2700K for bud, which is what those are I am assuming. For vegging you'll want the 5500K bulbs.
They are for budding.
I'm still trying to figure out how to mount them... I was able to solder 16 of the bulbs so that they hang individually and connected them to one heavy duty 660 watt plug in, but it took a long time to do that.
I want to make some kind of box to hold 5 bulbs at a time, any ideas?
Im too cheap to buy ceramic sockets, but it would make it much more simple...
Buy some weatherproof sockets and some y splitter to stretch your cash. Nice pickup on those bulbs even though you only have flowering spectrums. You can grow at least 10 plants with that many bulbs.
so your going to wire them all for flower room?
Im kinda doing this, but on a smaller level.
To start, Invest in the ceramic! save your lunch money. its worth it, if you do it do it right ya dig!
I've got 4, (1-2') pvc lengths, 3 L-bows pvc, 1 T pvc 6-8 ceramic sockets with mounts
length of cord with ground but the sockets can have either. and extra wire.
fit the sockets any way you fancy to the pvc wire up b-b,w-w, cap off wires fit a switch if you may.
mount a chain to support.
test :stoned:
and if it works it works if not somethings wrong.
~T.T.~
dear-sweet-lordy......i get 26watters for about 4$ each.... damn u canadian tire!!!!
id suggest using only 1/2 at a time or so. 900watts of that shit is like 2000-3000watts of any other lights, if not more (it says 26w = 100w, buts thats a bit exagerated)
PS: expect about 5 of those bulbs to stop working within the first month. spiral CFLs are notorious for havin bad batches of low-life bulbs
You say your soldering them together, I hope you have an electrical background and Know what you are doing.
Remember: Going cheap on wiring is a recipie for disaster, I don't see a big fire hazard with your plan but I do see a big electricution hazard with your plan.
I would buy some boards and mount electrical boxes to them and use standard white plastic socket plates and wire it properly. Plastic blue box less than $1.00 each, white plastic socket around a $1.00 each.
JMO
Better to be safe than dead!
Great snag. You're probably aware, but you can get a Y adapter that is one regular screw in socket, but has 2 spots for bulbs. Anyway, might help in your design.
Buying 2 ceramic sockets is just a little more money then buying one Y adapter, but they are much more flexible for where I want to place them. I'm just gonna buy ceramic sockets for all of them tommorrow :thumbsup:
If you remove the socket-screw-in part from the bulb, there are two wires inside and you can easily hard wire the bulbs.Quote:
Originally Posted by redsunknight
PC :smokin:
Be careful not to break the bulb though...those things are full of all kinds of nasty chemicals.
Wiring
wire like the second diagram the parrallel diagram in fig 2
go to the home depot and get abunch of sockets that come ready to wire
figure out a good reflector, mount the sockets to the reflector and plug in
http://boards.cannabis.com/indoor-li...t-fixture.html
theres one i just made a while ago and have had great success in my little veg cab. even have super tight node legnths
but if you plan on using 10-15, economically i think you would produce better with a hps with the same power consumption, but about 4-5 times the lumens
he probly bought all the stock! id suggest wire em to say 4 seperate plugs. not for safety sake, since 1000w is nothing, but for convenience, else itll be a pain to set up
Thanks for all of your suggestions!
I have found a great way to set up 2 9 CFL fixtures for about $40 at home depot!
The first two pictures are of the new fixtures that I made and the last is of fixtures setup using Y connectors.
Check em out;
Try to fan them out and cover the sides of the plants. That would be an excellent and efficient way to us your lights. Every cola would be like a top cola (very close to the lights).
Your so lucky bro the price for lights where I am is outrageous. For a 11watt CFL grocery store brand im look at 7 U.S dollars. Feel free to send me a couple ;)
Good Job looks safe from what I see!!!
Can you raise and lower them to keep them as close to your plants as possiable?
wow, thats a bad price rek.
try a hardware store or a warehouse shop (dont know if youve got costcos in greece)
Wow nice idea. It's adjustable, and nice and tidy. Hmmm, am I going back to HD now? Gotta rep ya.Quote:
Originally Posted by redsunknight
Now we just need an equally ingenious reflector, or perhaps individual mini-reflectors for each bulb. Anyone?
a beer can cut in half seems like the right size for individual reflectors......
hmm...id avoid that. depends how its mounted, but a metal can mounted on a 120v socket soesnt seem like the safest designQuote:
Originally Posted by NorCal Grown