Why you should make the switch from spirals to tubes(PL-L

[big ballin 88]

First off i'd like to say thanks to ScrubNinja for turning me onto these.

I just finished a cab in which i was using spiral CFL's but still had me hoping for more. Light penetration was poor as was coverage. But what if you could stretch that spiral out and get the benefit of the tube. Too bad you cant fit an 18" tube in a 12" cube.This is where PL-L's come in, they manage to give you the power of a long t5 tube in half the length switch they bend it in half. It is also cooler since the bulb has more surface area for cooling. Not only that but a long single tube is much easier to cool than a balls of tubes just due to air contact, as long as theres a fan flowing over the bulb it should stay cool. You can also keep the heat out of your cab due to a remote ballast allowing you to run higher wattages cooler.

One big problem with spirals is that they toss light into each other in the center of the spiral, where this light can't be utilized and just increases restrike. The penetration of PL's are also much better due to bulbs ability to spread out the light and direct it far better than the spiral. If your not using a spiral cfl vertically your wasting much of the lights potential. This would be the opposite with tubes though due to their ability to spread light over a larger coverage area.

Costs would be a little more expensive for a micro grower but not by much maybe $30 if that. I just purchased 6 bulbs, sockets, clips and a ballast to power 4-18w bulbs for $80. I think if your starting from a new and need to buy sockets and everything thers no reason not to make the switch. Why use outdated technology if your trying to achieve the best buds. Not to mention that most of us micro growers are limited by space and a spiral takes up way to much space if using a cab such as mine. The tubes really stay out of the way and would allow you to get the most out of your small space.

I believe with pl-L's you can use less watts compared to CFL to gain the same or better yield. i'd easily spend the little bit of money again just to utilize the better light.

 

[ScrubNinja]

Bravo. If I may add:

It's important for CFL heads to realize that they are not energy-saving a damn thing with CFLs. A cfl will tell you it's 100 watts, but it's like 23w, and the really messed up bit is that neither of those are right. It's drawing more like 35+w probably. I don't trust anything from a CFL manufacturer after they lied to me twice about the wattage and had the nerve to call themselves energy savers or energy efficient. Put simply, even a t-8 is more efficient than a cfl. Then you have t-5 and pl-l. Seriously, we're already kicking shit uphill by growing with fluoros, so why would anyone then go and get the least efficient form of fluoro apart from cold cathodes? Cost & Ease has always been held up as the reason for growing with CFL but as we can see, that is not true. CFLs lose on Cost, Ease, AND Performance.

To break down the power factor thing a little: you have a 24wcfl and a 24w pll like the following (the pl-l was a very old bulb so don't judge on brightness)



So the PLL is putting out more lumens, that's just a given. But the power factor discussed above means that the pll is drawing like 25w or so (no calculators were used in the making of this post) whereas the 24w CFL, as we touched on earlier with the 23w CFL, is drawing something roughly like 35. So just for that one measly 24w of light, there is an absolutely unnecessary 10w or so of energy banging around and pretty good chance it will show itself as heat.

Happy grows

 

[Gr33n_Chr0nic]

I really have been looking all over locally to find some plls but with no luck.... Im going to look into some online vendors... who is the best for this? 1000bulbs?

 

[big ballin 88]

It really depends, if your looking to get everything from the same spot. I got my ballast from a different place than my bulbs and sockets. 1000bulbs has everything but the sockets but their more expensive then my other source. But than again i'm running 18w ulbs right now.

Thanks Scrub you put it in good words. I see so many people running tons of CFL's but really think their better off with PL-L's. I'm real tired of seeing shadows around my veg box! Not to mention the restrike is terrible, not good for a small cab like mine..

 

[unthing]

At least around here, all kinds of fluoros are easiest to find in hardware stores.

 

[615]

I totally agree, I'd get at least 15 more cm of plant height if I used PLL-s. It's a mad investment around here though. With the fan I have, I'd better get a 150W HPS set for 35$.

 

[feral]

I have become a BIG fan of PL-L's after 2 grows now on my third. The veg process is way better than with the twist/spiral cfl's.
I use the same 6500 spectrum for both veg and flower and have noticed a few things flowering with them in this spectrum:
*The buds are way more denser than using the red spectrum or cfl's. I think it has to do with the blue giving you tighter inter-nodal spacing.
*The main thing I have noticed is that the resin production is off the chart. Probably because the source is close to the UVB side of things so the plants kick it up a notch.

 

[Fuzz420]

Ill be making the switch as soon as i can afford it.If they were readily available in the stores like cfl are i would have went this route from the beginning

 

[U_Puff_Peter]

What brick and mortar stores carry PL-L? Do I need to hit up an electrical supply company for it?

 

[big ballin 88]

I recently saw that my local Home Depot had some 13w Pl-L's but and the probably sold a ballast that was compatible. Its just a matter of finding sockets in the US. You can tell in scrubs picture how the spiral looks to be a more intense light but underneath the screen the pl-l is putting out more light along the whole bulb. My 55w PL's weren't even that hot, i think a spiral CFL of the same wattage would be much hotter. They really screw with my ventilation in the higher wattage's. The one thing you can telll right off the bat is the increased efficiency of the pl's. I easily think the extra couple dollars you spend will be more than paid off after a grow or two.

 

[U_Puff_Peter]

I had some spirals but what I'm using would use a tube so much better. Dimensions are 22"H, 20"L, 8"W although the L might get cut depending on how stealth I go with my filtering but that would still leave me about 18"L. That's good enough to jam some 36w in there. I could probably go 3 on the top and 2 on each side.

Edit: 3x26w CFL didn't even need a fan going as the case is all aluminum. I might even be able to stick a HPS in this considering it acts as a huge heatsink.

 

[feral]

current gtrow under PL-L

current gtrow under PL-L

Here's a sample of Mandala #1 being grown under them. (cant get a good shot inside the closet so here she is in the sunlight)



Trying original haze (LST'd) under them just for shits and giggles. If I pull it off it will be something.

 

[feral]

here a better pic of her inside the cab;

 

[big ballin 88]

Very nice feral!

This is probably my favorite thing about PL-L's is that you can flower off them and still acheive a great yield for wattage used. Its nice being able to fill a ceiling with PL-L's and i think for a microgrow these are ideal. Other bulbs just take up a lot of space which some of us cant deal with. Before i could only use 2 CFLs or i'd lose space for plants this way i'm going to be able to fill up the cab if i'd like. i'd rather fill up the ceiling with lights than my actual growing space. Even with CFL's things get burnt in a cluterred enviorment. For my 11x11 cube this is the only way i could achieve a high light output with manageable heat/ventilation. I have two 75mmx75mmx25mm computer blowers for exhaust and two 60mm computer fans for blowing over the bulbs.

My main thing is since i live in a hot climate why put extra heat stress on my plants?
being able to eliminate the ballast and crappy cooling efficiency of spirals from my cab, really helps with total efficiency.

 

[thehappyguy]

i think im going to go with 3x 55w pl-l on my next grow...workhorse 8 would run all 3 of them right? probably going to order four bulbs, 3 blue and one red...use the red during flowering with 2 blues also. i lost a lot of headroom using those stupid spirals. i wish i could find this shit locally, ordering stuff like this to my apartment makes me feel uneasy.

 

[onewhokills]

what type of pll would you recommend for a 30inch wide 30 inch tall 18 inch deep dresser? I was thinking about going cfl, but if this makes more sense, i could easily do this.

Can you link me to the bulb on 100bulbs or something like that.

Thanks!

 

[feral]

I got my whole set up for like 70.00 which included 2 bulbs, and the reflective hood from HTG Supply. Could of probably made it a hell of lot cheaper myself but ordered, delivered, plugged it in and I was growing within a few days.

 

[big ballin 88]

I spent about the same amount hooking up these 4 bulbs. Its not bad if you dont like wiring. I'll get some pic's up soon of my cab its looking a lot better even with 2 bulbs of a higher wattage/ Also for a room that can handle 22" PL-L's you can buy the 80w that they make. the only thing that bothered me about this was wiring all those sockets. Lucky for me i got it right on the first time, the fulham ballast are simple to wire. I'm surprised by how much light this little cab has now, this is going to be a fun project.

 

[big ballin 88]

Well I just have some liquid nails drying to keep the clips in place for two of the bulbs which are a different style socket. I like the newer sockets i have, their much better at holding a bulb in place. Here's some pic's and just so you know these bulbs are super cool, even without the fans.


Compared to this

The inspiration for PL-L's

Not to sound cocky or anything but i'm really thinking i'm starting to get better at building project cabs. Not to mention wiring all sorts of floros and other electricity. I guess its true, the only way to learn is to get out there and do.

 

[yesum]

http://www.ahsupply.com/index.html Probably gonna order a couple 55 watt lights from AH. They have a nifty reflector with them. 55 watt is the best lumen per watt. I have my seedlings under 52 watts of cfl, but that is not a good way to grow them out beyond a few inches high compared to pll. You can use the pll as an extra light source with a hps or whatever as well.

I have an LED but want extra spectrum and pll seems the way to go. Not to argue ballin, but lumens do add and 10 inches from light is about the penetration you will get for good flowers. Check knna's posts for confirmation.