This sounds interesting. Hope to see pictures sometime when its up and running. Cfls do just fine just remember that most the light comes from the sides not the tip and everything will be peachy. I honestly don't get all the CFL hate, yes I know they are not as good as hps or mh but no one with a brain would claim they are better but they do work very well for what they are.
-
Happy Birthday ICMag! Been 20 years since Gypsy Nirvana created the forum! We are celebrating with a 4/20 Giveaway and by launching a new Patreon tier called "420club". You can read more here.
-
Important notice: ICMag's T.O.U. has been updated. Please review it here. For your convenience, it is also available in the main forum menu, under 'Quick Links"!
Designing my new CFL micro-SoG
- Thread starter ThePhiloStoned
- Start date
ThePhiloStoned
Member
Any ideas on how to mount the lights horizontally? My design requires them to be mounted from the ceiling of the box and not the sidewalls...
what kind / type of box are you going to use?
you can use a free standing shelf or storage rack to mount things to.
i have (4) 55 w pl-l and fulham workhorse 8 ballast that gets used as extra veg lighting so any questions you have on them just ask. i made a diy reflector using a stiff wire mesh to make the shape and reflectex to reflect the light....it far easier to use than mylar. the reflector is attached to a long broom stick so i can hang it and i have the ballast attached to it.
peace
you can use a free standing shelf or storage rack to mount things to.
i have (4) 55 w pl-l and fulham workhorse 8 ballast that gets used as extra veg lighting so any questions you have on them just ask. i made a diy reflector using a stiff wire mesh to make the shape and reflectex to reflect the light....it far easier to use than mylar. the reflector is attached to a long broom stick so i can hang it and i have the ballast attached to it.
peace
MicroRoy
Active member
You can get these with out the base under $4. I have seen these mounted into old t/8 reflectors.
These are for my next cab. I am going to make a frame with 1×4 and mount them on the inside. Then put pins inside the cab so I can move them.
Then some people use the side mount fixtures for vanity mirrors.
ThePhiloStoned
Member
Building it from scratch with a 2x2 frame covered in plywood.
Now I was thinking about using those but I feel like the lights won't be spaced evenly enough within the box and I'll get some spots with weak lighting toward the edges of the box...another thing I've done in the past with success is stagger the lights in sort of a brick pattern for better light coverage.
I did something like that once with a PVC frame, it worked great and was a powerful custom light fixture, it even held all the wiring within the PVC, but for this application I don't think it'll work quite like I want it to...if I could find a fixture that I could pivot whichever way I want (vertical, horizontal or diagonal) I think that would be perfect. That way I could space them evenly and angle them how I want to...anyone ever seen a light cleat/fixture like that?
ChasingGreen
Member
Thanks. Yes, I mounted a 10" computer fan to the end and wired it to a wall wart that's plugged into the power strip so there's only the two power strip cables that have to be plugged in to somewhere (2 port timer). I made it from a full size 4ft shop reflector I had laying around, cut it down with an angle grinder. It worked great and put out more lumens (since it was only 2" above the top of the plants and didn't really raise the temp of canopy) than a big ass t5 would at 6-12".
You could probly even get away with y-splitters if you had to I would just make sure to have a reflector of some sort to get the most out of the light. If you could build your own light fixture you could use the y-splitters mounted so the are on their side with a reflector right above. Just a thought. I'm working on a reflector design similar to what I described above.
ThePhiloStoned
Member
So here's the idea so far:
Not bad for my first time ever touching SketchUp, if I do say so myself.
Those are two 4" dark vent louvers for passive intakes.
All the red bulbs (2700K) are 27 watts and all the blue bulbs (6500K) are 23 watts bringing the sum total wattage of CFLs to 300 watts with almost a 2/3-1/3 split of red-to-blue spectrum.
Plants go in on the right side and get shifted left every week.
I'm very happy with the design thusfar, just haven't really figured out how to apply a reflector to this setup yet.
Not bad for my first time ever touching SketchUp, if I do say so myself.
Those are two 4" dark vent louvers for passive intakes.
All the red bulbs (2700K) are 27 watts and all the blue bulbs (6500K) are 23 watts bringing the sum total wattage of CFLs to 300 watts with almost a 2/3-1/3 split of red-to-blue spectrum.
Plants go in on the right side and get shifted left every week.
I'm very happy with the design thusfar, just haven't really figured out how to apply a reflector to this setup yet.
Last edited:
Not bad at all. I play in sketchup for hours on end, just love it.
I wouldn't worry too much about a reflector if your going to hang your bulbs that way. Just paint the ceiling white instead.
Pretty sure I read the other day you were gonna use a speed controller for your 4" fan. (good fan size btw) I'd do a larger passive intake to have more control.
Ambient temps are whats gonna make or break your cab.
Good luck. Lookin' forward to the build.
I wouldn't worry too much about a reflector if your going to hang your bulbs that way. Just paint the ceiling white instead.
Pretty sure I read the other day you were gonna use a speed controller for your 4" fan. (good fan size btw) I'd do a larger passive intake to have more control.
Ambient temps are whats gonna make or break your cab.
Good luck. Lookin' forward to the build.
ThePhiloStoned
Member
I wasn't gonna hang them vertically, it was just easier to draw that way..I chose my intakes based on reading red_greenery's Ventilation 101 thread, two 4" intakes per one 4" exhaust...so who thinks I can get by with just white paint? And who thinks I need a reflector to increase my light output? Also, is it absolutely required that I hang these lights horizontal, or can I still get by with vertical? It makes a huge difference to how I'll install the light sockets, one way will be two rows of six sockets and the other will be one row down the center with six T-splitter sockets...also ambient temps are pretty high in my neck of the woods, try as it might my central air can never seem to get my house much below 80 degrees in the summer daytime, I know this is a problem, so is it worth buying a cheap small window unit and building an A/C box around it with another intake to pump in cool air (I found a guy selling 3500 btu units on craigslist for the low-low)?
Last edited:
I was reading your other thread. Do you think it is a good idea to be doing this now? Aren't you do to report to county? What if they come by for a look before your release to see what is up.
Wait until you get out and then see if the probation office plans on stopping in.
Wait until you get out and then see if the probation office plans on stopping in.
ThePhiloStoned
Member
iTarzan I'm just doing 30 days straight time and nothing more, the probation office will have not a thing to do with me...I'll be just fine.
Last edited:
ThePhiloStoned
Member
I can't stop something I wasn't trying to do. I don't have any kids and never wanted any kids.
I was interested in this fun thread and decided to click on what other posts my rasta brother had going on. Saw you had almost as many threads as posts and clicked on the one where you said you were turning in on the 20th and actually cared about you for a minute.
You need more calming smoke.
I stopped caring now. Pardon the interruption.
I was interested in this fun thread and decided to click on what other posts my rasta brother had going on. Saw you had almost as many threads as posts and clicked on the one where you said you were turning in on the 20th and actually cared about you for a minute.
You need more calming smoke.
I stopped caring now. Pardon the interruption.
ThePhiloStoned
Member
You are correct, I need some smoke, unfortunately I don't have any and won't for the next 30 days or so...I apologize.
Last edited:
ThePhiloStoned
Member
Just bumping my previous question, because it got buried on page 2.
Get by with just white paint?
Yes, plain flat white paint.
And who thinks I need a reflector to increase my light output?
A reflector can trap heat, with multi CFL set up, not really increasing output.
Also, is it absolutely required that I hang these lights horizontal, or can I still get by with vertical? It makes a huge difference to how I'll install the light sockets, one way will be two rows of six sockets and the other will be one row down the center with six T-splitter sockets...
Mount them horizontal if possible for max light output.
Also ambient temps are pretty high in my neck of the woods, try as it might my central air can never seem to get my house much below 80 degrees in the summer daytime, I know this is a problem, so is it worth buying a cheap small window unit and building an A/C box around it with another intake to pump in cool air (I found a guy selling 3500 btu units on craigslist for the low-low)?
Try a professional tune up of your central air unit first. Could need a re charge of freon.
Change the filter in the fan box/air handler unit, might be too dirty for good airflow.
Yes, plain flat white paint.
And who thinks I need a reflector to increase my light output?
A reflector can trap heat, with multi CFL set up, not really increasing output.
Also, is it absolutely required that I hang these lights horizontal, or can I still get by with vertical? It makes a huge difference to how I'll install the light sockets, one way will be two rows of six sockets and the other will be one row down the center with six T-splitter sockets...
Mount them horizontal if possible for max light output.
Also ambient temps are pretty high in my neck of the woods, try as it might my central air can never seem to get my house much below 80 degrees in the summer daytime, I know this is a problem, so is it worth buying a cheap small window unit and building an A/C box around it with another intake to pump in cool air (I found a guy selling 3500 btu units on craigslist for the low-low)?
Try a professional tune up of your central air unit first. Could need a re charge of freon.
Change the filter in the fan box/air handler unit, might be too dirty for good airflow.
ThePhiloStoned
Member
Well thanks for the advice, I happen to have just had a professional tune-up a month or so ago, and I just now replaced all my filters after you reminded me, but I'll be leaving for a month so I won't know how effective that was...the bigger problem is that this is a very old house with 3 old doors and about 20 old windows and lots of a/c leaks, and that would cost thousands of dollars to fix...not to mention I never run my A/C lower than 76 degrees and that is only late at night, which would leave my cab at 78-80 degrees which is a little high for my taste in grows...you see I live in Central Florida and it is 100+ degrees every day, so to cool my house below 75 degrees would cost a fortune and my light bill is already $350+
ThePhiloStoned
Member
Added a modification I thought of while on my little county-provided vacation.
It's just a stepped regression of the plant height to help level the canopy top.
Also thinking of increasing wattage as the plants progress, and designing an A/C box to add on the end with a small window-unit (3500 btu or less) to aid in temperature control.
That lighting may go from 23W-85W (1600-5800 lumens) per light...making it a total 544W (35,950 lumens) after I run it once with the original scheme, and I'll begin to compare the schemes yield increase. The original lighting scheme being from 23W-27W (1600-1850 lumens) totaling at 300W (20,700 lumens). An 81% wattage increase with a 74% lumen increase so a 70-80% increase in yield would be lovely if it actually happens.
It's just a stepped regression of the plant height to help level the canopy top.
Also thinking of increasing wattage as the plants progress, and designing an A/C box to add on the end with a small window-unit (3500 btu or less) to aid in temperature control.
That lighting may go from 23W-85W (1600-5800 lumens) per light...making it a total 544W (35,950 lumens) after I run it once with the original scheme, and I'll begin to compare the schemes yield increase. The original lighting scheme being from 23W-27W (1600-1850 lumens) totaling at 300W (20,700 lumens). An 81% wattage increase with a 74% lumen increase so a 70-80% increase in yield would be lovely if it actually happens.
Latest posts
-
-
-
-
NL5xHz test comparison grow outdoor greenhouse grow- Latest: RoyalFlush
Latest posts
-
-
-
-
NL5xHz test comparison grow outdoor greenhouse grow
- Latest: RoyalFlush
