600 HPS Cool Tube Grow Light System

[criom]

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 ?

criom Reviewed by criom on 06-10-2007. 600 HPS Cool Tube Grow Light System 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 ? Rating: 5

[Dnutz]

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...

[criom]

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!

[Dnutz]

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.

[criom]

i see...tricky.

so you put your system together seperately or ordered it as one set and wired it yourself?

[PharmaCan]

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.

[criom]

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?

[PharmaCan]

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.

[criom]

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.

[criom]

is there any difference between the bghydro extension cord (that they dont carry) and a normal extention cord?