400W CMH + 2.75'X2' room?

[Vorsprung]

This is what I am going to get: http://www.htgsupply.com/viewproduct.asp?productID=47929

the complete ballast, Euro 6" 'air cooled' reflector, and a 'backup' HPS lamp for $180. Then I'll buy the CMH from advanced for $55, total cost $235.

The other route is advanced CMH and Ballast (about $110 total?) but then you need the reflector, which is $85 on it's own, and you need to build/wire the ballast and put it in some box.

I think it's worth the extra $40 for a built ballast and to have an HPS bulb as backup / experiment purposes...

 

[deltronZER0]

I'm about as cheap as I am handy (very, in both cases) and am wondering how much I'd have to read to familiarize myself with building an enclosure/mounting system and wiring the bulb?
is there serious danger here? (fire or otherwise)

 

[barletta]

It's no big deal to do, but I wouldn't recommend it as your first wiring project. 400w (4a @110v) is a lot of juice, and I felt good about getting a well made, pre-built box for the extra few buck$$. Plus if it burns out, or starts buzzing or popping bulbs, I have a warranty. No run around of "...well you wired it, and you are not an electrician, so you are beat...". I had a cheap digi 400w, and it worked for ~6mo. It blew ~55weeks after I bought it (3weeks out of 1yr warranty). I had it in storage for a while, and used it to run a MH in a new veg room, and ~2mo later it blew.

If you can change a light switch/electrical outlet/lighting fixture, you can wire a ballast. Computer power cords and heavy gauge extnetion cords can be butchered for the lamp/power cords. I sleep better knowing that mine are built like tanks, not the cheapest way I could go. A fire would SUCK.

 

[deltronZER0]

I agree with you on the safety and how much a fire would suck, but realistically, I'd rather just spend <$75 bucks on a ballast and hps and then upgrade later with a CMH and a more reliable ballast. Also, I don't want to plunk down 230+ on growing gear before I know that I'm able to grow and don't have a black thumb of some sort haha

 

[Murphy]

Or you could look at and say "if I plunk down $230" on grow gear, I should be able to at the very least net a couple of zips.....and that's cheaper then buying on the street"

Really man, I couldn't even keep a house plant alive before I jumped into this. Keep it simple from the start and you will be successful, after you grow one through one cycle, you will have a ton of knowledge, keep reading and posting and you will continue to get better. Get the right equipment for you're grow from the start, you won't regret it when you chop you're first crop.

 

[deltronZER0]

See, if I plunk down 230, I know myself well enough to know its going to push me to sell with the mindset of "gotta make back my investment"

 

[Vorsprung]

Or you could look at and say "if I plunk down $230" on grow gear, I should be able to at the very least net a couple of zips.....and that's cheaper then buying on the street"

Really man, I couldn't even keep a house plant alive before I jumped into this. Keep it simple from the start and you will be successful, after you grow one through one cycle, you will have a ton of knowledge, keep reading and posting and you will continue to get better. Get the right equipment for you're grow from the start, you won't regret it when you chop you're first crop.

exactly - i did one cycle under T5 w/ rigged ventilation.. now that I've learned the process, I'm much more confident dropping the dime to "do it right". I almost feel like I SHOULD do one run w/ HPS just to have done it, and then go CMH.. but then I see CTSV's pictures and his experience speaks for itself.. and the fact he thinks his current run of 2 CMH / 1 HPS isn't as good as his 3 CMH tells me just go straight to CMH!

 

[Wacky Tobacky]

i got a DR80 its 2'8" X 2'8" X 5

i have a CMH running in it right now with a 270CFM can fan. right now the fan is running 100% also i have air cooled hood. the temps inside right now is maybe 1 or 2 degrees warmer then outside the tent. i ordered the thing to adjust the fan speed cause its loud and i can definitely turn it down a little without the temps getting to high. ill prolly set it to like 70%

just thought id let ya know.

 

[Murphy]

Deltron, I just re read some of thread and I saw that you mentioned an air cooled reflector.......if that's the case, reconsider the CMH bulb. When I read the CMH thread, one of the key points to using the bulb is it's output of UVB light because it's a quartz bulb, not glass, once you put that bulb in an air cooled reflector, you loose the UVB output and it's basically the same as MH bulb.

I'm not a lighting expert, I'm just going off of what I read from Simba. I welcome others to chime in if I'm wrong about this but, I can run the CMH bulb in a cabinet 4-5 inches off of the canopy without an air cooled hood because of the way I have the cabinet ventilated.

 

[barletta]

A good CMH/reflector/airflow setup will pull 10% more bud. If you pull 300g, 30 more is a zip. AND you have the better equip from the get go. I bought a shitty digi cause it was cheap, and it was just that, cheap. Ran hot and loud, and died quick.