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

[dudin]

Go vert and use 2x55w and grow on each side of the pll's. A wall of light thing. Almost twice as much grow area.

 

[quinoa64]

Even if you stay with 2x36W, vertical PL-L does a few important things for you.

You get more headroom, since you don't have lights and reflectors up top. You get light all the way down the stem. And you get to use both sides of the light, unreflected, for free.

In a PC case, I'd be really tempted to use fluorescent tube protectors from floor to ceiling, to completely isolate the heat generated by the PL-Ls and convect it right out the top of the case. Done right, you might not even need fans on the tubes.

 

[algreen]

Hej Dudin and Hi Quinoa!
Thanks for the reply´s!
Im a bit worried to start my second grow with this vert technique and want to do it the easy way to score the grow, so my plan with 2 36w with reflector at the top and maybe 2 36w on one side is not good? Im very interested of this vert thing, but i think i will need a little more practice the "good old way" before i go nuts with all new techniques

 

[HappySloth]

algreen - Go back a page to 54, and check out Chloemobile Micro PL-L Vert grow, should help you get the idea. Growing this style isn't any harder really, its just a different method. If you can grow the "good old way" you can grow using the Vertical method.

 

[algreen]

algreen - Go back a page to 54, and check out Chloemobile Micro PL-L Vert grow, should help you get the idea. Growing this style isn't any harder really, its just a different method. If you can grow the "good old way" you can grow using the Vertical method.

Hi HappySloth!
That is a good example and all, but i dont now how i can do it in a computer case, should i have a scrog-net round the pot or?
I like the idea of vert, i really do but i cant figure it out in the case..
My friend got this 2 36w with reflector for a really low low price, but should i consider growing with 2 55w vert-style instead?

 

[HappySloth]

algreen - Its up to you but techincally speaking the vert should yield a little more since your gaining some extra growing area. You have about 1.19 sq.ft of space, its recommended you have 50 watts per sqft, tho I like to shoot a little more like 65-75 watts for florescent.
Either set up should work fine, if you feel more comfortable go with the 2 36ws, but if you want to challenge yourself and learn something new, go with the vert style, plus you may be rewarded with more yield by doing so.

 

[algreen]

algreen - Its up to you but techincally speaking the vert should yield a little more since your gaining some extra growing area. You have about 1.19 sq.ft of space, its recommended you have 50 watts per sqft, tho I like to shoot a little more like 65-75 watts for florescent.
Either set up should work fine, if you feel more comfortable go with the 2 36ws, but if you want to challenge yourself and learn something new, go with the vert style, plus you may be rewarded with more yield by doing so.

Thanks for the knowledge HappySloth!
I will consider doing it Vert but then i need to do a new plan but thats not a problem.
Ive seen the 55w lights is to long for the box thou, it measures 57cm and the case is only 52,2cm long, you maybe know a place to order shorter lights? Sorry for my English.

 

[HappySloth]

Wait how tall is your box? Your first post you said 650mm, or 65 cm, now your saying its 52.2 cm?

My 55w lights are about 54cm with the sockets. And I ordered mine from 1000bulbs.

 

[algreen]

Wait how tall is your box? Your first post you said 650mm, or 65 cm, now your saying its 52.2 cm?

My 55w lights are about 54cm with the sockets. And I ordered mine from 1000bulbs.

Oops my bad, its 65cm, i was confused by the Chieftec MESH miditower, mine is a fulltower!

Then i got 11cm left to play with, thanks for the link and for all the help!

 

[marvil701]

I don't know if this is the best way to ask for it, but here it goes anyway:

Could somebody please upload/link to the exact measurements of the ahsupply.com reflector (http://www.ahsupply.com/36-55w.htm)? Meaning this image in particular:
http://www.ahsupply.com/images/36402.jpg
A simple sideways picture would be great!

I'm from Germany and shipping the kit overseas would probably cost a couple hundred (thinking worst case here). Besides, I already have a kit from Elektrolux (German company) for 2x55W PL-Ls and all I really need is better reflectors.

Regarding the vertical setup, I would encourage people to try scrogging one plant around one 55W PL-L (use some kind of mesh or tubing around the PL-L to keep the plant from burning).
If you place four plants around one PL-L, each plant is only receiving 1/4 of the light. I reckon giving one plant the entire 4800 lumens will result in a greater overall yield compared to the 4plants1light setup.

 

[marvil701]

Since there doesn't seem to be an option for editing posts:
This thread is already massive with 800+ replies and 100,000+ views. Wouldn't a subforum just for PL-Ls (or T5s and T8s in general) be more adequate? Because I don't think most people (myself included) have the nerves to dig through 800 posts just to see whether or not some detail regarding PL-Ls has already been discussed.

 

[HappySloth]

Regarding the vertical setup, I would encourage people to try scrogging one plant around one 55W PL-L (use some kind of mesh or tubing around the PL-L to keep the plant from burning).
If you place four plants around one PL-L, each plant is only receiving 1/4 of the light. I reckon giving one plant the entire 4800 lumens will result in a greater overall yield compared to the 4plants1light setup.

I see what your saying but to veg one plant big enough to take the place a 4 is where your losing out IMO. You would lose a month or so doing this, I could harvest 5-6 times a year using 4 seedlings (or even better clones) with not much veg. (with an 8 week flowering strain)

Using the 1 plant method your probably going to be at 4 harvest a year, unless you got an extra room to veg in. Either way works fine and can yield a good amount.

Personally I like SOG lots of small plants with little veg, instead of Scrog on 1 or 2 plants. Its what ever you feel is best really.

And sorry don't have an answer about the reflectors, if money is tight I would just make my own. Tho I don't have any plans right now to go by, been thinking about doing it soon, I'll make a post if I ever make some.

 

[headseed]

Could somebody please upload/link to the exact measurements of the ahsupply.com reflector (http://www.ahsupply.com/36-55w.htm Meaning this image in particular:
http://www.ahsupply.com/images/36402.jpg
A simple sideways picture would be great!

I'm from Germany and shipping the kit overseas would probably cost a couple hundred (thinking worst case here). Besides, I already have a kit from Elektrolux (German company) for 2x55W PL-Ls and all I really need is better reflectors.

From the webpage you linked

Each reflector in a 55watt Bright Kit™ is 22 inches long, 4 inches wide and 2 inches high. With a 2x55w Kit, for instance, the two reflectors can be installed end-to-end on a 48" long aquarium in one 4" wide row, or installed front-to-back on a 24" or 30" long aquarium. The 1x36w Bright Kit's reflector is 17.25"L x 4"W x 2"H. 2x36w Bright Kits come with two 17.5"L x 4"W x 2"H reflectors.

Hope that helps!

 

[marvil701]

Thanks for the hint headseed. What I'm looking for though is the exact angles etc, because the ahsupply reflector presumably has been calculated with the use of ray-tracing software. I've tried to reconstruct it on paper, but so far my sketches seem to be too far off.

 

[marvil701]

I took matters into my own hands to get an almost perfect design:

http://imgur.com/PqHSiCt

The forum will only permit 150kb for a gif.

With this design next to none of the light is reflected back into the twin-tube. The only losses occur in between the tubes, but this can't really be helped and it doesn't matter that much anyway, because PL-Ls reach their greatest effifacy at 35°C, so some losses which convert to a rise in temperature are bareable.
It's quite a compact design at 10cm x 3.5cm and could be reduced in width by 1-2cm without losing too much light.

Unfortunately bending aluminium into this given shape is probably impossible in terms of DIY, so a simple approximation with a polygon would be a sufficient substitute with most likely neglegible losses. In other words, cut a couple of 1-2cm wide aluminium stripes and arrange them as close to the parabolic curve as possible.

 

[lil_wayne99]

You guys do some amazing things with these lights. Keep up the great work.

 

[majortom9]

Kick Ass !

Kick Ass !

I took matters into my own hands to get an almost perfect design:

http://imgur.com/PqHSiCt

The forum will only permit 150kb for a gif.

With this design next to none of the light is reflected back into the twin-tube. The only losses occur in between the tubes, but this can't really be helped and it doesn't matter that much anyway, because PL-Ls reach their greatest effifacy at 35°C, so some losses which convert to a rise in temperature are bareable.
It's quite a compact design at 10cm x 3.5cm and could be reduced in width by 1-2cm without losing too much light.

Unfortunately bending aluminium into this given shape is probably impossible in terms of DIY, so a simple approximation with a polygon would be a sufficient substitute with most likely neglegible losses. In other words, cut a couple of 1-2cm wide aluminium stripes and arrange them as close to the parabolic curve as possible.

Thats nice. Any chance you could make an accurate 2d drawing with dimensions ?

 

[CottonwoodJoe]

PLL lights are great! I figured I might as well submit my entry into the PLL club now. I chose them for my first indoor grow thanks to all the info from this awesome thread. They're perfect for micro growing.

Here's where I started:





Here's where I'm at now!

 

[marvil701]

Thats nice. Any chance you could make an accurate 2d drawing with dimensions ?

My drawing skills are really bad, which is why I used the computer

I used the width of the 24W and 55W PL-L (which are both 38mm wide (official measurement)) to model the reflector.

In reality, at least my 55W PL-L are exactly 36.6mm (close to socket) to 37.15mm (other end) wide and the tubes have a diameter of 17.2mm. I measured the width using a vernier scale.
This I haven't accounted for, but with a slightly smaller lamp you basically just need a slightly stronger emphasis on the V shape and the V needs to move ever so slightly closer to the lamp.

So if you want a fairly accurate print-out, I recommend simply trying different scaling numbers in your image viewing program. I used "Image Viewer" (a program included in Ubuntu/Linux) and scaled it to 67%, which gave me the exact measurements on paper. You can press ESC to view a single image in the gif.

Or use this picture:

 

[marvil701]

And here's what it looks like in reality:

If you want a fairly precise copy, you'll have to make your measurements absolutely as exact as possible (I used 1, 1, 1, 1.8, 2.5 cm long line segments). You will need a long piece of wood with a sharp edge to bend around (and another long piece to push with) and before bending, mark the edges you want to bend. Before bending, use a sharp metal tool to scrape down the entire line 2-3 times, which will make the aluminium bend at the right position. Scrape 6-7 times and bend it over entirely, if you want to cut it at a certain mark.