PLL Club. (if you don't know, now you know)

[ScrubNinja]

I think that was Hydro-soil's info/pics above, someotherguy. You should be good to go now, alex - good luck.

Edit: I wasn't paying too much attention but heat shrink is for insulating only.

 

[rives]

Wow thanks for the info. Is it okay to use heat shrink instead of wire nuts?
Also If you dont mind showing me how you hooked up all the yellow wires.
Thanks again

"You must spread some Reputation around before giving it to someotherguy again"

No, you cannot use heat shrink in place of the wire nuts. Wire nuts make a mechanically sound connection and insulate at the same time. Heat shrink is just for insulating - if you twist the wires together and solder them, then put heat shrink over it, it would work well.

 

[alexonfire]

Thanks guys. I will post pics once I have everything set up.
I think im going to wire them up the way fulham told me by jumping the wire like in the picture of the 3 sockets. I can use less wire and wire nuts that way.

 

[someotherguy]

hey Scrub, didn't mean to give you credit you didn't earn but i have been following your work for a while, as well as Hydro-soil's work, and i know neither of you do it for the recognition but only to help others so thank you for all you've shared here and thanks to Hydro-soil too for all he has shared.

anyway, as to the use of shrink wrap instead of wire nuts, i personally like how clean everything is with the shrink wrap and as long as it insulates well enough to prevent shorts, that's good enough for me.

and if it's safe enough to use if the wires are soldered then it's safe enough to use without soldering your wires, it just doesn't hold the connection together like a wire nut would, ...so make your connections tight before sealing them up.

anyway, here's a couple pics of my clone factory that has been in operation, 24/7, for almost 6 months now and no troubles with the wiring at all.

pic 1) here you can see the twisted wires and the wrap ready to be slipped over the connections and shrunk. (this transformer being wired is to power all the PC fans)

pic 2) here you can see the wrap in place just before i shrank it.

anyway, using shrink wrap is safe, it's just that the connections can come loose if not twisted tightly together and if you have a soldering iron, use it to solder all your connections before wrapping them.

peace, SOG

btw, i'm a lazy fuck so none of my connections are soldered, and i own TWO soldering irons, lol.

 

[rives]

Bad idea, SOG. If you were just wiring your a 8-track into your '57 Chevy, then the worst you could expect out of a loose connection would be shitty sound. When you are dealing with the voltage and current available from your wall socket, you are playing with a potential fire. There is a reason that a connection is supposed to be mechanically sound, and it is as you stated "anyway, using shrink wrap is safe, it's just that the connections can come loose if not twisted tightly together". Anytime that you move the wiring, you are begging for it to come loose. If you want to take the chance of burning your own house down and are aware of the risks, that's fine, but don't advocate an unsafe wiring technique for other people to follow that may not be aware of the potential risks.

 

[gdbud]

A lot of grow operations are discovered right after a fire!!

 

[MozartMan]

Hi all,

Are pll's more efficient than cfls? I recently found the bulb in this picture at a random store. They are 26 watts, so are they worth replacing my 26w cfl's in terms of efficiency?

 

[someotherguy]

Hi all,

Are pll's more efficient than cfls? I recently found the bulb in this picture at a random store. They are 26 watts, so are they worth replacing my 26w cfl's in terms of efficiency?

high man, the truth is that PL-L's actually are a form of CFL as are the bulbs in the picture you posted, the main difference between the PL-L lights and the standard twisted bulbs are that PL-L's are remote ballasted so they run much cooler, meaning that heat is less an issue in your cab and you can get your plants much closer to them.

plus, being straight rather than twisted, they spread the light more efficiently over the canopy.

btw, those in that picture you posted, like the more common twisted CFL, have ballasts built into the bottoms of the bulbs so that is what generates most of the heat.

hope this helps, SOG

 

[Garuda]

plus, being straight rather than twisted, they spread the light more efficiently over the canopy.

Thats actually my main point for PL-L In my opinion the PL-L design is far superior to the regular CFLs used in a growing environment.

 

[someotherguy]

Thats actually my main point for PL-L In my opinion the PL-L design is far superior to the regular CFLs used in a growing environment.

i agree wholeheartedly, frankly, IMHO, the only way in which PL-L's don't beat standard CFL's is in cost in that my 55watt PL-L's cost me $9.99 each and i can get 4x 23watts for under that so, cost wise, the CFL seems to beat the PL-L's.

i say 'seems to beat' because, when you really think about it, what we spend on equipment and nutes is just a 'cost of doing business', as it were, so anything that can increase efficiency and yield will pay for itself in very short order, lol. (if this weren't true no-one would be using 1000watt HPS bulbs)

and MozartMan, i realize in re-reading my response to you that i didn't answer your question at the end and the answer is no, those U bulbs are no more efficient than the twisty ones, still too much of the bulb focused into itself rather than out to your plants, plus, they still have the ballast built into the base of the bulb so will generate too much heat that you will have to find a way to remove from your cab.

peace, SOG

 

[MozartMan]

i agree wholeheartedly, frankly, IMHO, the only way in which PL-L's don't beat standard CFL's is in cost in that my 55watt PL-L's cost me $9.99 each and i can get 4x 23watts for under that so, cost wise, the CFL seems to beat the PL-L's.

i say 'seems to beat' because, when you really think about it, what we spend on equipment and nutes is just a 'cost of doing business', as it were, so anything that can increase efficiency and yield will pay for itself in very short order, lol. (if this weren't true no-one would be using 1000watt HPS bulbs)

and MozartMan, i realize in re-reading my response to you that i didn't answer your question at the end and the answer is no, those U bulbs are no more efficient than the twisty ones, still too much of the bulb focused into itself rather than out to your plants, plus, they still have the ballast built into the base of the bulb so will generate too much heat that you will have to find a way to remove from your cab.

peace, SOG

Thanks SOG, that answered my question

 

[bmweater]

I just picked up an old server case which I promptly gutted out. I then ordered 3 36watt PL-L and a fulham 5....as soon as I have it all built I cant wait to post some pictures since this is the thread that inspired me!

 

[someotherguy]

I just picked up an old server case which I promptly gutted out. I then ordered 3 36watt PL-L and a fulham 5....as soon as I have it all built I cant wait to post some pictures since this is the thread that inspired me!

right on man, can't wait to see some pictures!

and good luck with the build, pc case builds can be a real pain, lol.

peace, SOG

 

[ZAPOT]

Hi!

I have been trying to find these http://www.alibaba.com/product-gs/338646541/PLL_55W_grow_lights.html lamps as 2100K for a PL-L grow seems like an ideal.

Does anyone know where to buy let´s say like 30 pieces of 55W (exactly those lamps) and get those shipped to Europe too?

From Alibaba you would apparently have to order 3000 pieces minimum and that is a bit too many for me!

 

[someotherguy]

Hi!

I have been trying to find these http://www.alibaba.com/product-gs/338646541/PLL_55W_grow_lights.html lamps as 2100K for a PL-L grow seems like an ideal.

Does anyone know where to buy let´s say like 30 pieces of 55W (exactly those lamps) and get those shipped to Europe too?

From Alibaba you would apparently have to order 3000 pieces minimum and that is a bit too many for me!

high man, frankly, 2100Kelvin is too far in the red, if you have 6 bulbs i'd maybe have ONE at 2100.

anyway, here is a link to a site where you can buy just one bulb at a time but the warmest bulb they sell is 3000Kelvin.

BuyLighting

hope this helps, SOG

btw, just because a company calls their light a 'grow' light doesn't mean it's actually good for the job, ...their job is to sell lights, not grow plants.

 

[ZAPOT]

high man, frankly, 2100Kelvin is too far in the red, if you have 6 bulbs i'd maybe have ONE at 2100.

anyway, here is a link to a site where you can buy just one bulb at a time but the warmest bulb they sell is 3000Kelvin.

BuyLighting

hope this helps, SOG

btw, just because a company calls their light a 'grow' light doesn't mean it's actually good for the job, ...their job is to sell lights, not grow plants.

Howdy High,

Interesting!

Maybe i have done my homework badly as i had thought that the more red in the spectrum comparing to blue the better when flowering simply because red has less energy and the penetration of the light emitted by PL-L could be better then it is... are you able to give me the ratio of different K´s that´s good for flowering?

btw, yesterday i came across to a site about the light spectrum in CFL generally and there was a picture of a CD that showed a visible spectrum of some CFL when a CD was held in a certain position. Basically you could see a rainbow on that CD. You could not determine the ratio of that spectrum, though.

That give me an idea: Why not have a simple device that you can use easily, visibly to determine the real spectrum of any given CFL or PL-L by using that CD method for example?

That it would be extremely easy to see the actual ratio in the spectrum of some bulb by yourself. The strength of actual wavebands would be very nice to determine too.... of course there are wavebands that you would not be able to see but as a general tool it would be nice.

I could use that mechanical device. So i would not have to buy any expensive electronic tools for that as i´m interested doing some experiments with light.

WHAT? You don´t trust what the salesman says? Yes, i think that SOG is a good practice when needed.

Thanks for the link though i can easily buy different temps for PL-L here in Europe but just haven´t found that 2100K. I see that people tend to look for things related to chlorophyll when thinking about lights but there is more then that to think about.

 

[Tilt]

Zapot check out this thread https://www.icmag.com/ic/showthread.php?t=104860 Knna provides a huge amount of info on spectrum, pll lamps, etc..

 

[Rouge]

Thanks Scrub for this info on PLL's. I've been holding out on you guys but here's my contribution. If you scroll down further on the 1000bulbs.com site, there is a 70 watts PLL that looks like a standard 42W bulb type CFL. It puts out twice as much light as a 42 watts CFL at >5000 lumens. Like all PLL's the ballast is remote and GE makes a lamp about 8" long. Small enuff to fit in a cooltube if you have that setup already and want to supplement. I believe Econolight also sells this lamp as an outdoor light.
Does anyone know where I can get the plastic tubing that serves as a cooltube for the 55 watts PLL's? How much of the heat and light does it block?

 

[ZAPOT]

Zapot check out this thread https://www.icmag.com/ic/showthread.php?t=104860 Knna provides a huge amount of info on spectrum, pll lamps, etc..

Thanks!

Rouge, polycarbonate protective tubing for T12 from any special shop that sells general lighting gears will work perfectly. Just don´t let the PL-L glass tube rest on the plastic as it does melt on the glass and then it will rip off some glass from the tube when separated, trust me...

At least when separated cold. That is one of the reasons i don´t use that tubing myself anymore as i have swapped those to glass instead. Plastic ones are better to isolate the heat, though but i don´t find that as a problem myself. Glass lets more light go through and stays clear forever as it is not easy to damage the surface of it. You need to be careful when cleaning the plastic ones not to damage the surface of it as it is easy to damage it with some wrong stuff. I use hardened laboratory glass so it is not so easy to break it either. Of course it costs more. Yes, there is some variety of glass that is even better but it costs a lot more too and not very easy to find around here.

Tilt, thanks for the link to Knna´s excellent thread!

Tilt, you can find all this information about PL-L tubes also in this forum but i thought it would be convenient for Rouge to just spell it out here too... as i just happened to be around at this time to read his question. Happy to advice when able.

 

[ZAPOT]

Ok, how about this one then? http://greenpowerluminaires.com/index.asp 55W PL-L red and blue mixed in one bulb.

Tried to contact the company myself but haven´t got any answer from them. Anyone tried those and/or knows where to buy?