so i decided on using cfls for my lights. i almost have my grow box ready and the only thing that is stopping me is what do i put the cfl light bulbs into? well i went to lows and i looked around and the only thing i could think of that was simple, clean and cheap was to take an "elctrical plug/socket" and plug into a cheap extension cord. Shop Cooper Wiring Devices 660-Watt Ivory Medium Light Socket Adapter at Lowes.com= Shop Utilitech 6' 16/2 household cord white at Lowes.com does anyone else have any ideas? i tried looking around but i havent seen anything good
I ended up doing that same exact thing, if you plan on putting more then one bulb on one extension cord make sure it can handle the voltage. Most cfls I've dealt with are like 120 volts and all my household extension cords could only handle 125 volts, so that meant one bulb per cord, so I just bought a short, heavy duty extension cable and and outlet splitter. A power strip would work great as well.
Get these: or these: And connect a bunch together depending on how many bulbs you have... you could fashion a bunch together with a hood over it to point light down or just hang a bunch of lights all over the place for more coverage. Also you're gonna have to use those socket to outlet converters you saw... without those, CFL lighting would be a bitch.
well i saw the v shaped ones and that gives me double light bulbs....the problem i am having is where do i plug in the first light bulb? if i buy that v thing, what do i plug that into?
Sorry bud, this is not how it works. The equation to remember is: Power (Watts) = Voltage (Volts) * Current (Amps) An extension cord would be rated in Amps. Say you have a normal 26W CFL that runs off wall power, 120V. You'd calculate: 26W = 120V * Current (Amps) ---> Solve for current drawn --> 26W / 120V = .216 Amps So if your extension cable is rated 2A, you can put 2/.216 = 9.25 of those CFLs on it without overloading. Always round down, so you can put 9 bulbs on it.
well i am going to use 1 6ft extention cord for each socket. however i am considering using a v bulb thingie so i can get 2 lights at each location but either way i dont think i have much to worry about except for the "main" extension cord that will run from the wall to the power strip. im thinking of using a heavy duty extension cord for that. do you think that if the cord is feeling warm from the current running though it, then maybe its to thin and i will need something thicker?
Even the cheapest extension cord should be fine for CFL lighting. For example: Husky15 ft. 16/3 Extension Cord-HD#448-544 Max rating of that one is 13 Amps, therefore your max load will be: Watts = 13 Amps * 120 Volts = 1560 Watts You never want to load up all the way, but even 80% of that is a shitload of CFLs! You never want a hot cord, though, so if you find that is the case you probably want to move some load off to a different outlet or get a larger cord.