Hey everyone, I am about to start building a new cab 56" wide 28" deep and each chamber is 36" high. The lighting system is going to be 4 4-bulb t8 ballasts for each chamber(512watts = 16 bulbs = 48" 32watt t8s). I want the lights to be staggered so if by some freak chance one ballast goes out, there will still be sufficient enough light to keep the plants alive. Also, i am building notches to raise and lower the floor depending on the plants' growth rate. I'm not sure of the strain yet but I want to LST all of the plants and maybe try some FIMing and topping on one or two. I might even scrog one, but that is to be decided later. I'll have dual 300+ cfm centrifugal fans(one for each chamber) and both of those leading into one fat carbon scrubber. I want a continual harvest system and 2 mothers of different strains at all times, switching the mothers every 5-6 months unless i find an absolutely priceless girl. I have a question about wiring though... I got this idea from a very ingenious grower on overgrow named DubPhiend, he proved fluoros can be as good if not better than HID lighting. I had everything set, even a wiring guide.... but overgrow, dear overgrow, got deleted and I never saved the thread that taught me how to wire the lights up. My question is, how do I do it? I am buying holders for the lights (2-pin based) and i will glue them 1/8th of an inch apart. I don't have any idea how to wire it up, especially staggered. DubPhiend said to use 18/6 gauge wiring and different colors so its harder to get mixed up with which wire goes where and comes from where. If anyone has had some experience in electrical wiring, could you please help out. the lights should look like this (the numbers being which ballast the light goes to).... i got lazy and didn't want to have to draw in the rest of the numbers by hand, but you should get the picture. The yellow bars each stand for one t8 tube. If you can help me, you'll be the biggest life saver ever. hehe Thanks. edit: sorry about the quality, just click the picture and it'll link you to better quality... wish i didn't have to have a link..... is there a way to directly upload to the thread without using an image hosting site? Peace and stay blazed Nugz
Also, do you think if I put a sheet of glass directly below the lights, the temps will be able to be controlled easier? Or even a fully contained-in-glass lighting system with an exhaust port on the top.. it would be tough, but I wonder if it would benefit the grow... The top of the self-contained box would be wood, so I can use my jigsaw to cut a port for a fan to suck heat out. Maybe perforate the glass to allow intake for greater heat expellation (new word? lol). Thanks again whoever answers my questions. Peace and stay blazed Nugz
hey token, sounds good man it'd love to see a tight fluro grow! as far as the glass to reduce heat, i heard that was a myth but im not positive. also i noticed your cab is like 3' ... im think that may not be high enough. i think height of plant, plus dirt/hydro bucket and the light and distance between it is all less that 3' may be really tough. but with CFLs that'd be tight man, and man your avatar is fugging tight peace bro
Hehe thanks for the kind words bro. Yeah, 3ft is perfect if I lst it right. This cab was made for a scrog type grow, but it can work with lst. Also remember that i'll be using t8 fluoros so i can get the plants pretty damn close to the lights without burning them! Gotta <3 fluoros. I hope to be using some kind of hydro system. I'm leaning more towards an aeroponics cloner in the veg chamber and a fill and drain system for the mothers, larger vegging plants, and the flowering plants. I dunno about the glass but it's worth a try as long as it doesn't cost over $50. Thanks for stopping by edit: i found a table that will fit my cab pretty well. I may make one like it, lots cheaper. http://www.4hydroponics.com/hydroponics/bigfoot.asp Peace and stay blazed Nugz
To get wiring diagrams from this site, http://www.advancetransformer.com/ecatalog/flb_lookup.asp, input a few parameters. Four F32t8 bulbs, 120 v ballasts looks like this. Hope it helps. http://www.advancetransformer.com/ecatalog/FLB_Art/FWDIA66.WMF
Hey man Ive done a couple floro grows. One of the best advice or secrects I was ever given was simple put a strip of foil tape or exhaust pipe tape on the back side of the floro tube.Doing this just rederected all the light which would have gone to the top down on your girls.So simple but it makes SUCH a difference try it flro;s kick ass!!!!!!
i was hoping this would get finished. i was anxious to see your T-8 grow out-perform my 3 x 600hps. are you still waiting on the flouro's to produce buds?