Remote CFL Ballasts..... Who has the skinny on these?

[Hydro-Soil]

mate i have homebox ,200CFM extractor and 2 oscilation fans
1/2 inch ? i thought i must keep PLLs 10'' away from young plants ? 1/2 '' isnt too close ?

i will only use 4X55 watt PLL lamps for first 15 days of seedlings from seeds .I'll vegg them under 600w dual spectrum HPS.

PS: i am newbie

When they're a week and younger I'd keep the lights at least 6-10" away until they started stretching. Then I'd move them closer over 2 days until they were a half inch away.

Under the 5600K lamps I'm using to veg I get super tight internodes. I actually have to move them at least 5" away to get a long cut for a clone.

 

[Hydro-Soil]

I ended up canceling my order with 1000bulbs for these lights and ballasts.

I ordered on the 5th(thursday) and they said it was all in stock except the sockets which would be in by the 10th(tuesday) and then everything would ship out. Tuesday came and went with no notice so I called and they said now the bulbs are out of stock and would be in the 13th(friday). that date came and went and no notice from them, so I called and they said it would all be in the 20th(friday). so again, that date come and goes and no notice from them, so I call today and they say the bulbs have been in stock all along they were just waiting on sockets which will be in on the 27th( friday again.)

So I canceled my order - which they didn't care about. Usually when you tell a company you are dissatisfied with their customer service they would want to do something to make it better.

I guess I'll check htg as was mentioned before, and some other places.

I'm sorry to hear it. If you get good results through another place, please post. Can't let a single company stop progress

 

[Tanuvan]

Yep, same happened to me with some T5 bulbs. I've not had any good luck with 1000bulbs and their inventory run around. I ended up canceling my order as well.

 

[Hydro-Soil]

I've taken a moment and picked out a few links for other sources, in case people are looking....

55w PL-L lamps

Lightbulbemporium
elightbulbs
Atlanta Light Bulbshttp://www.saveonlighting.com/i-sylvania_20590-3561.htm
Sunshine lighting



U.K. Sources for PL-L 55w
Lamps Online
Bltdirect
Link to bulk order page of german mfg of 2700K lamps The kind I wouldn't mind having a few of during flowering.

It's discouraging to see the 2700Ks only overseas. Still looking for a U.S. source for them. (other than the bulk import link) Anyone have a website they run that they could import a couple cases and sell them on in the states?

At least the first shipment would sell out fast.

 

[Squeeky]

Also planetbulbs.com

They carry 2700 & 6500 at 6.59 a piece with 7.99 shipping to have 10 shipped within US. They are Eiko brand bulbs which run 15-20 dollars elsewhere. They said they could get in the sockets but would take a week and cost roughly 3 bucks. I chose the DIY terminal strip connection.

 

[staank]

excellent links!

I ended up ordering from bulbs.com:

http://www.bulbs.com/Single_Twin--Tube_4--Pin/results.aspx

 

[Hydro-Soil]

Also planetbulbs.com

They carry 2700

Would you do me a favor and throw me a link for those? I can't seem to find it. Nor any other U.S. supplier of them.

 

[Squeeky]

Hydro,

I greatly apologize as I lied. I just looked at my bulbs again they are 3000k. Please excuse my error, however I may give them an e-mail and see if they are available. Their customer service was very good, actually was able to price match to 1000bulbs $4.50 bulbs. They actually matched the price on both my 3k and 6.5k, not sure if this is regular practice though.

 

[Hydro-Soil]

Hydro,

I greatly apologize as I lied. I just looked at my bulbs again they are 3000k. Please excuse my error, however I may give them an e-mail and see if they are available. Their customer service was very good, actually was able to price match to 1000bulbs $4.50 bulbs. They actually matched the price on both my 3k and 6.5k, not sure if this is regular practice though.

No problem. I'm using the 3000K myself, just wanted to find a U.S. source for these. My alternative is to find a buyer and have them import me a few crates, set a up a website and sell em.

 

[J-Blunt]

No problem. I'm using the 3000K myself, just wanted to find a U.S. source for these. My alternative is to find a buyer and have them import me a few crates, set a up a website and sell em.

quite ambitious of u! lol

 

[rave420]

mhhh i am rather sure that you could order crates of bulbs from the manufacturer directly?
I know i ordered a crate of 40W twist spirals straight from sylvania, smallest quantity they would ship was 12 boxes with 6 bulbs each. It arrived as backorder from one of their production facilities / warehouse locations by UPS.

I really don't know if that is a good thing, since the LOT number can be traced back to my adress now

 

[Hydro-Soil]

mhhh i am rather sure that you could order crates of bulbs from the manufacturer directly?
I know i ordered a crate of 40W twist spirals straight from sylvania, smallest quantity they would ship was 12 boxes with 6 bulbs each. It arrived as backorder from one of their production facilities / warehouse locations by UPS.

I really don't know if that is a good thing, since the LOT number can be traced back to my adress now

Thanks for the tip. At that rate I should look into finding those 2100K ones as well.

 

[rave420]

no prooblem.

Right now i am working on a rather weird project.

Essentially i am remote - ballasting CFL spirals. I take 4 coils and line them up to make one long coil. Then i wire them, each bulb to their own ballast wich is hot-glued onto a sepperate board. I yet have to design an efficient reflector for this ... i call it "super coil". I like the idea of one huge 160W coil, since i could fit SOOOO many into my box. The only thing that is a real pain is the wiring, and buying endless meters of cable is expensive.

here is a pic to show the basic idea in use.

Of course you could just have the coils inside the box (they still get rather hot) and the ballast outside. I am mainly doing this to squeeze as much light as possible in one place, and if you have to screw all the bulbs into sockets... nooo that takes too much space. Imagine if you were to plaster your whole ceiling with these coils tightly packed. It would make up for any light loss too

Oh well... I just thought i share that!

 

[Hydro-Soil]

no prooblem.

Right now i am working on a rather weird project.

Essentially i am remote - ballasting CFL spirals. I take 4 coils and line them up to make one long coil. Then i wire them, each bulb to their own ballast wich is hot-glued onto a sepperate board. I yet have to design an efficient reflector for this ... i call it "super coil". I like the idea of one huge 160W coil, since i could fit SOOOO many into my box. The only thing that is a real pain is the wiring, and buying endless meters of cable is expensive.

here is a pic to show the basic idea in use.

Of course you could just have the coils inside the box (they still get rather hot) and the ballast outside. I am mainly doing this to squeeze as much light as possible in one place, and if you have to screw all the bulbs into sockets... nooo that takes too much space. Imagine if you were to plaster your whole ceiling with these coils tightly packed. It would make up for any light loss too

Oh well... I just thought i share that!

That's great!
Please take detailed pictures and post a writeup on your process of remote-ballasting. Those look excellent!

Now, does anyone know how to wire 220w worth of those coiled ones to a Fulham Workhorse 8 ballast? ROTFL! I'm curious as to what kind of heat production it would put off, vs. the 55w ones I use. Maybe wire 2 in series to make a 46w? Dunno.

Seriously though, put up a thread on your process. Would love to see it.

 

[rave420]

these heat produced by the CFL's is 90% from the coil and about 10% from the ballast.

If you want to to know how i did it then... well... go and crack open a bulb. just use a screw driver to pry it open, and you see two wires connecting each side of the bulb. Just replace this connection with however many feet of cable you want, place the ballast in a safe location and make it safe (after all there are 110V on BLANK contacts, so be mighty carefull.) that's why i spread hot glue over everything, to minimize accidents. I wonder what would happen if i use two ballasts to drive one coil... mhhh.... gotta do some research!

oh, and you have to be familiar with using soldering irons. I know that some people have their difficulties with those. A good soldering iron for electronics is a good investment if you're a DIY guy like i am. Don't even bother wtih the 10$ ones from home depot, since they don't get hot enough. Also, use lead free solder with flux core.

 

[Hydro-Soil]

these heat produced by the CFL's is 90% from the coil and about 10% from the ballast.

If you want to to know how i did it then... well... go and crack open a bulb. just use a screw driver to pry it open, and you see two wires connecting each side of the bulb. Just replace this connection with however many feet of cable you want, place the ballast in a safe location and make it safe (after all there are 110V on BLANK contacts, so be mighty carefull.) that's why i spread hot glue over everything, to minimize accidents. I wonder what would happen if i use two ballasts to drive one coil... mhhh.... gotta do some research!

oh, and you have to be familiar with using soldering irons. I know that some people have their difficulties with those. A good soldering iron for electronics is a good investment if you're a DIY guy like i am. Don't even bother wtih the 10$ ones from home depot, since they don't get hot enough. Also, use lead free solder with flux core.

Thanks Rave, but I'm perfectly capable, yes. I was hoping you'd throw up a thread with pics of the steps you've taken at each point. There are a lot of folks that would love to see that as they're not exactly as with it as some of us are. At least not at figuring this exact stuff out. EVeryone has their specialty.

 

[Tanuvan]

I know you can remote ballast the PL-L. But, do the ballasts actually get so hot that it makes much of a difference?

 

[Hydro-Soil]

I know you can remote ballast the PL-L. But, do the ballasts actually get so hot that it makes much of a difference?

Ha! I was talking about Rav's remote ballasting the coiled cfl types.

The PL-L's are already remote ballasted. (I use Fulham ballasts 'cause they rock!) My ballast sits in a corner that get's air wash from my air scrubber exhaust. Not directly on it but constant. The ballast is cool to the touch, even when running maxxed out at 220w. Bitchin ballast totally silent as well. (They run hot for a couple weeks when they're new)

 

[Tanuvan]

Yes, I know. I have the same ones (Fulham ). I was debating on whether the ballast should be mounted at the top of the cab near the exhaust...or outside of the cab completely in a separate compartment (NGB style). I'm talking PL-L not spiral. I am not sure how hot the PL-L ballasts get. If they are not too hot, then putting them inside the cab would be more convenient

 

[Squeeky]

I had my workhorse 7 ballast on for only about an hour just in testing. I was surprised that it do not get very hot. However I still plan on mounting in a utility area. One recommendation would be to use spacers when mounting that greatly reduces the heat as air will travel around the entire casing.

I did see one post on a reef forum about the workhorse 8 getting very hot, however they were running 24/7 for coral growth. He mentioned it wouldn't burn you instantly, he couldn't rest his hand or anything on it though.