I humbly request assistance... NEWBIE ANXIETY

[Fesnyng]

Hi wonderful people,

The past 3 days and nights I've been researching and planning my very first grow using CFLs.
I'm really overwhelmed with information and I literally can't get to sleep because I have so many things buzzing around in my head, I would really appreciate any and all help. Here goes.

1. So apparently the CFL's need to be constantly about an inch away from foliage for photosynthesis to happen effectively. To achieve this, wouldn't I have to have a really adjustable light, maybe a desk arm lamp like the Pixar dude? Yet looking at videos of small grows a lot of people have their lights fixed to the box and have awesome lush greenery. Confused.

2. I am by no means an electrician and setting up the CFLs looks like it involves at least a bit of wiring. While I am not so stupid I can't figure out how to do this, I am extremely worried that I'll be creating a fire hazard. Needless to say I would choose an intact house over some bud any day but there must be a safe way to have both. I would appreciate any detailed information on safe wiring techniques and general wisdom on the matter.

3. Although not strictly a lighting matter, what is the minimum requirement for ventilation of a regular sized dresser when using CFL lighting techniques? Quite broad I know but please have mercy for I am a newbie!

Thanks so much for reading and I apologize for my ignorance.

Fesnyng

 

[Adze]

Fesnyng,

You should check out Terpene’s threads. He has used CLFs quite effectively. Here is a link to one of his many grows. https://www.icmag.com/ic/showthread.php?t=232614
Do a bit of study and you’ll find you can be safe and quite productive. Best of luck

Adze.

 

[justanotherbozo]

like it or not you have a lot more research to do grasshopper.

try and understand that while this is new to you, it ain't new so ANY question you can think to ask has already BEEN asked, MANY times.

now, i'm not trying to discourage you from asking questions but rather i'm suggesting to you that better, more reliable answers can be found among the older threads on ANY topic than the answers you may get to your questions, too often the only responses you'll get to simple questions will be from other inexperienced people.

...anyway, CFLs work just fine, and they don't need to be expensive, high-wattage bulbs to work, these are all 23's and 26's.

we all have to start somewhere grasshopper, just be warned, growing weed is HIGHLY addictive!

...but it doesn't have to be complicated.

peace, bozo

 

[Fesnyng]

Wise words. Thanks guys!

 

[Fesnyng]

I should mention... that's an awesome looking lush garden there bozo.

 

[xmobotx]

I see you're concerned about safety & of course, good, correct wiring is going to be paramount. It's pretty straight-forward when standard bases. IDK if justanotherbozo's fixture is a vanity fixture pared down to the basics or something he made but running a basic vanity fixture means splicing 2 wires & pluggin it in. A lot of people use those "Y"s & they aren't a good fit w/ my micro ~but many use them quite effectively

Next however & some folks don;t do so well w/ this: stability of your assembly is critical. You need your wiring to be routed or supported securely so it doesn;t rest on anything hot. Whatever holds your lights up has to be up to the task. If it's hooks screwed in to the top of your cab or something; make certain the threads have a good purchase. Make certain your chain is up to spec {if you use chain like justanotherbozo ~notice it's closed loop dog chain & not decorative or plastic chain}


{his setup is tight & it looks good} You'll find some people have used iffy setups to effect & the reality is that it helps to know what you can get away with.
~w/o that "knowledge" lean towards "bulletproof"

 

[Fesnyng]

Cheers mobot. Does the base of the light fixture generate heat as well as the bulb itself? I see the main orange power cord in bozo's garden is resting on the support, just wondering how hot that component gets.

 

[TheCleanGame]

Don't forget the #1 Grow tool for success... Information!

There's TONS of information on this website, most of the really good stuff (like gold) is buried and you have to dig for it. My advice is to read as much as possible until you don't really have questions you can't answer yourself...

Then come here and post your specific questions in a new thread. We'll be happy to help out where we can.

Keep it Clean!

 

[monoclepop]

Cheers mobot. Does the base of the light fixture generate heat as well as the bulb itself? I see the main orange power cord in bozo's garden is resting on the support, just wondering how hot that component gets.

The base holds the ballast - which converts the voltage of your line to the correct voltage to run your bulb. Because it's built in CFL's can be described as self-ballasted.

The ballast is the hottest part - it'll make part of the base hot enough that you wouldn't want to hold it in your hand for too long.

CFLs do pump out a fair bit of heat - but they're a great place to start. Easy to upgrade to LED bulbs if you get the itch.

 

[justanotherbozo]

...i know all this seems like an awful lot to learn but once you start doing it you'll see that none of this is really all that complicated, even the wiring you'll need to DIY simple fixtures like my CFL fixture are easy if you can follow simple wiring diagrams and instructions.

anyway, here is a link to a collection of DIY projects that will surely contain threads on topics you need to read, my own motherbox is listed near the bottom of the first group of links, just look for my username.

https://www.icmag.com/ic/showthread.php?threadid=40637ICMAG'S OFFICIAL ~DIY~ LINK-O-RAMA

...if you're at all unsure of yourself with electrical stuff take extra time to study up and in your assembly and if you still don't get it, ask questions and if you STILL don't get it, buy a fixture, lol.

and a good rule of thumb with any DIY fixture is to use a power strip to test with, in other words plug the power strip in the wall and plug your DIY into that power strip, that way, if you didn't do it right, the circuit breaker built into the power strip should pop rather than anything worse happening.

...here, if you're unsure of your electrical skills then you should read Phillthy's excellent thread on the topic before you start, with electrical stuff, safety first isn't just a catchy phrase.

https://www.icmag.com/ic/showthread.php?t=117867Growroom Electricity and Wiring

...and just for shit's and giggle's, here's a few shot's of that motherbox i spoke of.

...btw, if you have a few bucks to spend a superior alternative to CFLs is PLLs which are a newish form of remote ballasted CFL that has more than a few advantages, first, being remote ballasted most of the heat is removed from the growspace, and secondly being straight rather than twisty they are more efficient.

good luck, bozo

 

[Hold Your Fire]

What about T-5's?
Seems like they would be great in a cab.

 

[The OrigF/clred]

What about T-5's?
Seems like they would be great in a cab.

helped a bud build a PL-L fixture - the advantage is they come in 55W output, and only a 22" long tube. The T5s, you have to go to 48" tube to get 54W output. The PL-L bulbs have a good life and fairly cheap costs ($4-$20, depending on mfgr). Last advantage, the tubes are shallow so the light cabinet (or the volume taken up by the lights) is minimalized.

The dis-advantage is the expense of setting up - my bud's fixture has six 55W tubes, so he had to pickup 2 ballasts (fulham workhorse 8) at $50 each. By the time he was thru with everything, he was into it @$175.

- that included a few spare tubes (diff color temp), retaining clips etc. He fabbed his own reflector channels and fabbed his own 24X24" light frame/cabinet

Placing the tubes 3" apart, left him room for two 65 CFLs in the center (the screw-in curly Q type, (and not factored in the above $175)

The tubes do give the plants an even "spray" of light, real even. Temps are not bad, but to be frank, i don't know about the efficiency being greater than the self ballasted curly Q type bulbs.
The two 65W bulbs (total of 130W) in the center sure appear brighter and harder to look at than 3 PL-L tubes on either side (all tubes and 65W bulbs are 3000K), which sez that maybe that light that folks feel is lost from the opposite side of the curly Q bulbs, maybe it's not lost at all. I been meaning to take a light meter over to my bud's and measure them....but for the money, i swear, if the extra space taken up isn't an issue, the curly Qs are the way to go. Was looking at them on amazon, 65W at approx $15, 85W at $22 and forget the price on 105W bulbs - these are all bulbs that will screw into a normal E27 household light socket.

330W fm PL-Ls cost $175 + the value of the reflectors & cabinet

325W (fm 5 65W bulbs) = $75 + $12 for 3 double sided sockets + value of reflector & cabinet


FWIW

 

[justanotherbozo]

What about T-5's?
Seems like they would be great in a cab.

T5's work great and if you have the skills to build your own fixture they are a good alternative, if not and you have to buy a fixture then they still work great but they run hotter than PLLs because the ballast is built into the fixture and not remoted outside of the growspace. ...note that that's a T5 fixture in that motherbox.

peace, bozo

and thanks for the bump Dutch, it's good seeing old friends. Viva la CanCom, lol.

 

[xmobotx]

that motherbox is great justanotherbozo

Fesnyng, I got the impression you were asking about the "base" and meant "socket" ~or~ "fixture" ~the base is the base of the bulb {w/ an incandescent it's only the part that screws in to the socket/fixture. CFLs have an extra, plastic section to the base which houses the ballast.} ~nothing should contact any of the bulb/base except the socket. something has to contact the socket/fixture {it won;t levitate in place lol} including the wiring to route power to it

if that's too much info or my mis-understanding; apologies in advance.

 

[Fesnyng]

No misunderstanding mobot, thank you everyone for your time. I definitely need to do more reading. Those links are awesome thanks bozo, just what i was looking for. Man that is such a sweet cab! i love the false drawers. Ideas....

 

[Fesnyng]

Guys i jumped the gun quite a lot because this is all so exciting! I can't remember when I was so excited about a new project. Anyway, I have some seedlings poking their heads up outside just from old bag seed to practice on. They can't stay outside for much longer at all so my question is this: how long can i keep 4 seedlings under a 18w cfl? I understand it won't be long at all, but I need another day or two to begin full construction.

Thanks again,

Fes

 

[Fesnyng]

Hey monocle, I thought CFL's were quite cool running? Am I correct in believing they are still much coler than HID?

 

[xmobotx]

CFLs are cooler than an incandescent bulb ~let alone HID

You shouldn't have any concerns w/ a few days under a single CFL.
Think about horizontal lighting vs vertical lighting: w/ horizontal, the CFL can be either pointed down above the canopy or mounted "sideways" so the side of the light illuminates the canopy {canopy could be 1 plant or many right} w/ vertical, the bulb can be mounted either way as well but the lighting comes from the side instead of the top. {or, from the center?}

Now, say you had a desk lamp which adjusted to hang the bulb over those seedlings & as they got taller you went from having the bulb over them to having them positioned around the bulb being lit from the side {so they gradually went from a horizontal-type grow orientation to a vertical-type orientation as they got taller}

See, you could easily have 4 seedlings around a single CFL for up to a couple weeks {depending on the vigor of your strain and your conditions}

 

[trichrider]

seedlings will do well under 18watts and cfls do run cooler than hid.

keep reading.