Hmmm interesting. So does anyone know if there are fundamental differences in the various fluoro ballast systems? This is intruiging, imagine the possibilities.
DIY Remote Ballast 42w CFL
- Thread starter grouchy
- Start date
Grouchy, yeah, in my 24w which is conveniently pulled apart at the moment, it has 4 wires. 2 go to the power supply (which is possibly the ballast I don't know!) and two wires go to a little round thing like a fluoro starter. I didn't investigate the more traditional pll ballast setup too closely. There were wires goin' everywhere.
canna cola
Member
Seeing as it is the ballast that craps out maybe it will make the ballast last longer?
Maybe you could find the best ballast and tube configuration by taking the ballast from one CFL and using that with the tube from another CFL?
A
brew of CFL.
Maybe you could find the best ballast and tube configuration by taking the ballast from one CFL and using that with the tube from another CFL?
A
brew of CFL.
Interesting thread, grouchy. Was just checking my temps in veg and cfls really throw the heat. Never saw a remote cfl. Very clever.
Pipedream has a thread in his sig using spot cfls. He used an Exact o knife to cut and separate the cap from the enclosure. The enclosure works like a built in reflector.
Compared to a small HID, 180 f isn't that hot unless you have numbers. A circ fan would dissipate heat and reduce the hot spot.
Pipedream has a thread in his sig using spot cfls. He used an Exact o knife to cut and separate the cap from the enclosure. The enclosure works like a built in reflector.
Compared to a small HID, 180 f isn't that hot unless you have numbers. A circ fan would dissipate heat and reduce the hot spot.
ST8DunWSociety
Member
Hey grouchy! Love the idea, I'm curious about the possibility of over driving these, would seem like it would be more likely to having two ballast running one bulb would be ideal for over driving. Looks pretty groovy though. The main advantage i see in doing this would be to reduce the amount space the CFL is using.
grouchy
Active member
I came up with a little idea for an air cooled remote ballast 42w.
Tools and equipment:
80mm pc fan
Small folgers coffee container
exacto knife or some way to cut plastic
metal strapping
aluminum tape
two small screws
First step: Cut a hole in the bottom of the coffee container
Second Step: Make a bracket for the bulb
Third Step: Cut container in half and mount bulb into container with the bracket. Secure with aluminum tape.
Fourth Step: Mount fan to bottom of container with aluminum tape. Make sure you run the wires out for the bulb next to the wire for the fan before the fan is secured with tape.
After making this air cooler the bulb temp stays around 110f. without the cooler it was steady at 180f. It has made a big difference in temperature.
Tools and equipment:
80mm pc fan
Small folgers coffee container
exacto knife or some way to cut plastic
metal strapping
aluminum tape
two small screws
First step: Cut a hole in the bottom of the coffee container
Second Step: Make a bracket for the bulb
Third Step: Cut container in half and mount bulb into container with the bracket. Secure with aluminum tape.
Fourth Step: Mount fan to bottom of container with aluminum tape. Make sure you run the wires out for the bulb next to the wire for the fan before the fan is secured with tape.
After making this air cooler the bulb temp stays around 110f. without the cooler it was steady at 180f. It has made a big difference in temperature.
grouchy
Active member
I think vertical is the way to go with the spiral bulbs. They seem to be built very well for it.
Drop by with some pics if you get anything done with it.
As you probably know you can buy external ballast CFLs already, so there is that option. I mean, it might work, but I would just get the ballastless bulbs designed for the ballast. But even if you do that, you're paying pl-l prices for cfl light distribution.
That's kind of my opinion too - the advantage of CFL's is that they're no-fuss and cheap.
However, if we sort out how to run say 8 42's off a Workhorse then we can start talking about micro scale (1 sqft/plant) vert scrogging using 6" diameter pots and screens giving 320w in a square foot
cooling would be monster though
However, if we sort out how to run say 8 42's off a Workhorse then we can start talking about micro scale (1 sqft/plant) vert scrogging using 6" diameter pots and screens giving 320w in a square foot
cooling would be monster though
Not sure what you mean bro. 8 ballasts that you pull out of 8 standard CFLs are going to take up the same or less space than the workhorse/s
JackStraw21
Member
If one could wire cfl bulbs to pll ballasts, would it be that far of a reach to assume you could also wire pll bulbs to cfl ballasts? I know cfl ballasts are kinda shitty, but it would be so cheap!
