well tonight brings the axe - not because of OG/CW/HS but because it was time

So here we go this is the blue satelite x jack herer. she smells dank, spicy jasmine/day lilly floral smell, with sickly sweet undertones. Glad i have a carbon filter

so here she is before I chopped


and a macro from before I chopped



the big buds from the plant



the lower buds of the plant



a bud hanging to dry



roots - yeah Pipe dream you're the man to inspir e me to the DWC and as we can see the results are amazing - this plant was sprouted from seed and vegged in DWC - at 21 days from putting the seeds in the paper towels I flipped to 12/12 - now 56 days later I harvest. total days from seed to chop 77.

wow dude, 77 days? that's not bad at all. I was always under the impression that you had to veg for two months or so.

JH151399-OG

the simple answer is no, you don't have to veg for 2 months or so.

There is reason to believe including my own personal experience that some strains, sativa doms esp, get stronger with longer age from seed. However the difference will be barely perceptable and considering the ability to pull a quick harvest from seed the advantages are obvious. I mean look at the macro - does this plant look like it needed more time in veg?

And remember what this is all about - the 150 watt hps - and this is 1 of 2 plants to be harvested grown from seed under my 150 watt hps.

Howdy Folks,
I wanna go up in light to the 150hps. The ones at home depot have the activator switch to go on in the dark. How difficult is it to remove or de-activate the switch?
Thanks for the help
Woof

[BombSquadron65]

SmokingDog, it should be simple. Unscrew the housing and simply cut the wires going to the detector and reconnect them to the wires running into the ballast. Interestingly, the 150HPS security light I got from Lowes didn't include a sensor. Ask about it. There's a very good chance they stock ones without the sensor since a lot of business' (the main people that are gonna use those kind of lights) are gonna hook the lights to a universal timer/switch.

I'll try to see if I can google a diagram for ya.
-edit- no such luck. here's the article from OG, minus the pics. :( Still, you should be able to figure it out. The articles written pretty well and very easy to understand, even without pics.

How do I convert a common home security light into a remote ballast grow light?
Added by: 10k Last edited by: 10k Viewed: 661 times Rated by 52 users: 9.41/10


How do I convert a home security light into a remote ballast grow light?

Contributed by: Spliffco, Inc.

For some reason growlight manufacturers are completely ignoring the small, personal grower. A quick look around Overgrow and you can see some very respectable bud being grown under 150's, and even 70 watt HPS lights. But the smallest ready made remote ballast growlight you can buy is a 250 watter, and they usually cost well over $150 (US).

So, as usual in the medicinal herb growing world, you need to take matters into your own hands.

Here’s how to turn a 150 watt HPS security light available at most Home improvment stores, into a nice remote-ballast grow light.



Materials & Tools:

MATERIALS
Regent GT150H, (About $79)
Heavy Duty extension cord of suitable length
One heavy duty grounded electrical plug end (male)
Electrical box
Electrical box plate
Romex cable connectors (3)
Wire nuts
Bolts, nuts washers
Strip of metal to secure ballast
Project case from Radio Shack ($6.99) #270-253A

TOOLS
5/16 nut driver (for removing parts from the casing -- regular pliers will work)
Philips head screwdriver
Regular screwdriver
Hammer
Power drill and assorted bits
Metal file
Wire cutters
Utility knife or wire stripper
Diagonal Pliers
Pliers

Wiring Diagram
Be careful...



Remove guts

Remove the guts from the casing - bulb socket, ignitor, light sensor socket, ballast. The ballast was glued to the casing. I heated the casing for a couple of minutes on an oven burner (high), and when it was getting too hot to hold, I put it on the floor and wedged a hammer between the ballast and casing and popped it out gently.



REMOVE LIGHT SENSOR

These security lights are designed to automatically turn on when it gets dark, so there is a built in light sensor that needs to be removed.

Remove all wire nuts.

Disconnect the white wire that comes out of the sensor (currently connected to all 3 other white wires).

Disconnect the black wire that comes out of the sensor (currently connected to the black “power in” wire).

The red wire coming out of the sensor is currently connected to the black wire coming out of the ballast. Remove the red wire, and then connect the black wire coming out of the ballast to the black “power in” wire.

Reattach wire nuts (there were 5 originally, now you only need 4).

Refer to the wiring diagram!



WIRE THE SOCKET

The socket on this particular light had some metal wiring connectors that stuck up and made it impossible to attach to the electrical plate without some modification (sorry no photo). Just pull the black and white wires off of the connectors, and cut the connectors down flush with socket base with diagonal pliers. Now loosen the connectors (screws inside the socket), slip the wires under them and tighten them back down. Please use some plastic electrical tape on the end of the socket to prevent any chance of the metal from the connectors making contact with the electrical box cover plate.

Secure the cord in the electrical box with a romex cable connector and wire it to the socket: black to black, white to white, secure with wire nuts. Some electrical boxes have a green screw inside to fasten ground wires, use that if yours has one, otherwise fasten the green ground wire to the box using one of the cover plate screws when you tighten the cover plate.



WIRE THE REMOTE BALLAST

Hopefully you can see the wiring clearly in the photo, but if not, refer to the wiring diagram for details.

You’re going to have to cut some holes in the Radio Shack project box for the power cords and some bolts to hold the ballast, ignitor and ground wires down.

I used a short length of metal (plumbing department) to secure the ballast. The ignitor had a notch that made it easy to bolt down. The ground wires from both electrical cords are screwed to the base of the box.

Cut a short length off the socket (female) end of the extension cord and wire it appropriately (again - see diagram). Wire the remaining electrical cord, including the grounded male plug to the other end of the box.

Use a tie wrap to bundle up the wires in the box and try to keep them away from the ballast, which will heat up during use.



TEST IT!
If you've done everything right, it should light.



Now, build a reflector and you’ve got a nice little custom grow light.

Safety Warnings:
Always wire the male plug to the bulb socket and the female receptacle to the ballast to avoid possible electrocution! Always use an all metal project box which already has ventilation cooling slots, or if your project box has none, please cut adequate cooling slots, or drill several vent holes in the ballast enclosure (project box) to allow the heat to escape the box. Not adding the cooling slots or holes, could result in failure of the insulation and/or the transformer. Also, please be sure the enclosure is located in a well ventilated area to aid cooling.
Last modified: 06:25 - Nov 23, 2001

[highonthechroni]

the continuation is looking good!

excellent FAQ post BombSquadron!

And Polar_Bear, that's the whole reason I was looking into MasterLow... the quick pull. You're saying a sweet-ass indica in 77 days? That sounds simply amazing!

Has anyone tried to supplement thier 150 with cool white flouros? How did it work, and did it increase the heat much?

And... after many designs and re-designs (plan 1000 times, build once) I have settled on my growbox design. It will be 2'x1'x~3' (lxdxh). If I were to stuff a 150 watter in there, would it get too hot you reckon? Or should I not really worry too much about it?

My current plan for lighting was 1 100 w HPS and two supplemental 30 or 42 watt cool white CFLs (to encorage vegatative growth). What do you guys think would be a better set-up? I am planning on cooling it with two 4" PC fans for exhaust, and ample passive intakes. All help would be really appreciated!

[StickyGreenCola]

Originally Posted by JH151399-OG

excellent FAQ post BombSquadron!

And Polar_Bear, that's the whole reason I was looking into MasterLow... the quick pull. You're saying a sweet-ass indica in 77 days? That sounds simply amazing!

Has anyone tried to supplement thier 150 with cool white flouros? How did it work, and did it increase the heat much?

And... after many designs and re-designs (plan 1000 times, build once) I have settled on my growbox design. It will be 2'x1'x~3' (lxdxh). If I were to stuff a 150 watter in there, would it get too hot you reckon? Or should I not really worry too much about it?

My current plan for lighting was 1 100 w HPS and two supplemental 30 or 42 watt cool white CFLs (to encorage vegatative growth). What do you guys think would be a better set-up? I am planning on cooling it with two 4" PC fans for exhaust, and ample passive intakes. All help would be really appreciated!

Thats almost exactly what I have done. I have the one 150(hanging in a batwing now that the big plants are gone) and four cool white 20w cool whites in the 4 corners of the box. My box is 2.5' x 1.5' x 3' ( wide x deep x high )

It does add heat, so be prepared, but in my opinion if you can manage the heat, the mixed spectrum is worth the work. It takes a little extra ventillation, but the benefits are unmistakeable. Sidelighting is a big benefit to compact spaces. It expands bud volume from the top few inches of canopy all the way down the plant. Much improved lower development.

Whatever you decide good luck.

I also found an el cheapo attic thermostat (at lowes) that has 5 degree power on increments. I'm going to give this a shot to cut down the energy consumption even further. The more efficient the better. Its only an $11 experiment. Either way I'm smokin like royalty for awhile.

Originally Posted by StickyGreenCola

Thats almost exactly what I have done. I have the one 150(hanging in a batwing now that the big plants are gone) and four cool white 20w cool whites in the 4 corners of the box. My box is 2.5' x 1.5' x 3' ( wide x deep x high )

It does add heat, so be prepared, but in my opinion if you can manage the heat, the mixed spectrum is worth the work. It takes a little extra ventillation, but the benefits are unmistakeable. Sidelighting is a big benefit to compact spaces. It expands bud volume from the top few inches of canopy all the way down the plant. Much improved lower development.

Whatever you decide good luck.

I also found an el cheapo attic thermostat (at lowes) that has 5 degree power on increments. I'm going to give this a shot to cut down the energy consumption even further. The more efficient the better. Its only an $11 experiment. Either way I'm smokin like royalty for awhile.

That is good to hear, especially your dimensions... you have an entire extra square foot of space compared to me. I guess I'll just stick with the 100 watter and the cool whites. I appreciate your input!

And by the way... is my favorite smiley!

JH151399-OG,

yeah sure man you can pull a sweet ass 7~8 week flower time indica in 77 days frorm seed if grown in DWC hydro as the growth rate is very fast. I think 90 days in soil is do-able too. Just wait till I harvest the other plant - she's a very sugary pure indica.

If you scrog and/or LST with a 150 this method works well. Only hard part is that you have to start a few seeds and get rid of the males when they show at about 10~14 days into flower.

Feminized seeds have a distinct advantage here. I know some people have had very good success w/female seeds.