Compact Fluorescent Light Discussion

[Pothead4204life]

How many CFL's (wattage and lumens) do u you recommend on one plant....

I have a 30w CFL=2000 lumens 125 equivalent 6000k

Will that work?

[CChrisgat05]

im impressed

[Mikey The Pothead]

BobBong, why didnt u reply to my post?

[BobBong]

BobBong, why didnt u reply to my post?

Sorry Mikey, i missed your replies on at the bottom of the 2nd page there...

I've wired the sockets as a parrallel circuit, so that i'm able to turn on individual lights as opposed to having to have all on at the same time

The configuration of the bulbs will vary.

You CAN set it up in a series circuit, but i do not suggest this, as you'll need to have all the lights on in order for any of them to work. Similar to some christmas lights...

Hope this helps.. and remember to excercise caution when working with 120vAC but especially if you're in europe where the voltage is 220v . When wiring anything please use common sense... don't have any water around, make your work neat and proper...make sure that leads do not contact eachother anywhere and USE A POWER BAR WITH A CIRCUIT BREAKER ON IT.

this is helpful if you do have a short.. the powerbar will recognize the short and cut the power to your setup.

And of course.. please.. invest in a fire extinguisher... even if it's a 2lb one.

I finally bought a fire extinguisher this year... the day i bought it, my uncle had to use to an hour later.. as some idiot had thrown a lit cigarette butt over their balcony and it landed in an open box on our balcony..

Fire...is more dangerous than anyone of us tend to believe...please don't burn your place down...

Happy and SAFE constructing..

Bob.

The switches in the Parrallel Circuit are optioinal switches... this can be from the on/off on your power bar..or...if you buy on/off light sockets with a chain.

many of my lights are simply directly powered on by the power bar.. but i can turn off any light i wish by simply pulling the chain

Don't simply wire up a light socket to a cord and plug it into the wall... this is proabably not the best idea...and if you're not sure that what you've done is 100% correct before powering on, then you should BE sure...you're dealing with electricity and high enough voltage to serious harm or even kill people...so simply use common sense.. if you can't do that then you shouldn't be growing anyway

[BobBong]

How many CFL's (wattage and lumens) do u you recommend on one plant....

I have a 30w CFL=2000 lumens 125 equivalent 6000k

Will that work?

That's the proper bulb to start out with, but you'll need more than one if you expect a half decent plant out of it.

try 3..and see how one plant does, then if needbe add more

[JakeTheCorgi]

i thought about doing cfl's exclusively...but the wiring problems sort of turned me off. The 4ft shop lights at home depot are $7 and twopacks of bulbs are $3 and they plug right into an outlet strip. I asked around about utility string lights like latewood suggested but no one has heard of them. The closest thing anyone at HD could hype me to was 'clamp lights' that are a socket connected to a plug in cord with a large aluminum (sp) reflector. they were about $8 without the bulb. i'm going to get some cfls just to strew about the grow room during flower......when i get some scratch.

(i found a joint named 'the light bulb depot' on the side of the road, i'm excited to see what kind of wattage they have.....weird how growing changes the topics of your interest)

[Mikey The Pothead]

BobBong, thanks.. i have one more question how many plants are you growing under those 6 cfls, and if you use a fan what kind?

[Mikey The Pothead]

BobBong, i remember we studied Series and parallel circuits in grade 9 science, but i don't remember anything from it, so if possible can you please explain to me how do i connect my bulbs as a parallel circuit? thank you

[slowthestone]

just adding to the cfl show

[attachment=o69633]

[attachment=o69634]

[GcTooL]

about to harvest my first grow this week bob, how much did that cfl grow yeild for you im thinking about following a setup simmilar to yours for my second grow