I did this just this week. I grabbed everything from Home Cheapo. and here is a list of the supplies: (1) 5-6 foot 1 inch PVC pipe. (6) 1 inch "T" fittings (4) 1 inch 90 degree elbows (1) 1 inch (i dont know what it is called but it sticks into the tee and has a smaller hole at the other end of it) (5) cheap light sockets ( the ones with the 2 wires attached) cost like $2 a piece (1) power cord 2 Prong (1) spool of 16 gauge lamp wire (can get 2 spools to distinguish between hot and neutral but I just used one) a bag of wire nuts (1) tube epoxy (5) CFLs 2700k or the 5000k (depending where you are putting the lights) Tools you will need: Hacksaw or sawsall (whatever you are going to cut the PVC pipe with) wire strippers ( i bought at home cheapo for 5 bucks) electrical tape not the dollar roll but the better stuff (Just to be safe) Ok so you get home and you have all the stuff. keep in mind that this is how i did it. You can make your own design however it works for you. ok you are going to cut (4) 6 inch pieces (2) 4 inch pieces and (4) 3 inch pieces of PVC pipe (this is how i needed to cut mine to fit around my mother bubbler (15 gallon tub from Home Cheapo)) lay out your design elbows in the corners to make it square (2) tees on each side and (1) tee at the top and bottom. at the sides with (1) tee put your 6 inch pieces on each side of your tees. on the sides I put the 4 inch pieces in between my tees and the 3 inch pieces on the outsides. this makes it kind of a rectangle shape. now that you have it setup like you like it you have to take it apart piece by piece to run the wires and install the light sockets. take the tees off piece by piece and epoxy in your light sockets in the end that is sticking out of the tee (the end that doesnt have pipe sticking out of it) Ok now you have noticed that i have 5 sockets and 6 tees. put the 1 inch thing i dont know the name of into one of the holes. this is where your power wire will be going thru. I used one of the tees that I only have 1 on each side. ok epoxy your sockets into your tees and let them dry for at least an hour (depending on what epoxy you used) then run your wires as shown below. red is the white wire and green is the black wire. if you arent confident with your electrical skills I wouldnt try it due to the fact that you could burn down your house/growroom/neighborhood lol. ok I used the wire nuts on the wires then electrical taped them extra good just to make sure they dont come undone and that they wont get wet or whatever. best to be safe than sorry.put your power cord wire thru the tee and tie a knot into it. this will keep it from coming out of your tee. and it will hold because you put the cap with the hole in it and you wont have as big of a risk of it ripping out. now when you have all of your wires at the end of the pipe use a big wire nut to connect the white wires from the bulbs to the black wire on your power cord. and the black wires from your bulbs to the white wire on your power cord. and tape this up very well also. make sure you keep this inside of the pipe and protected. NOW BEFORE YOU DO ANYTHING ELSE CHECK YOUR WORK!BEFORE YOU PLUG IT IN! Electrical is not forgiving. now that you have your bulbs in and it is checked out and the lights work. notice i didnt tell you to glue the tees to the pipe. this way you can turn the bulbs to give you more angles of light. do not turn tham around and around do you will break the wires and stuff. and with the way I wired it if one bulb goes out then the rest will still work. I hope this helps and if you need anything or have questions let me know. Enjoy!
update! I bought a LED square off ebay with blue red and white bulbs and it just so happens to fit right in the middle of my light setup. it came with straps so i just wrapped it around the pvc and tied it down and it works perfect. Not what I had planned for it but it worked so good I figured WHY NOT! lol Maybe it will help out. Anyone else experimented with CFL LED mix?
It's just that a cfl fixture with 5 bulbs is good for like... 1 Plant... There's just better ways to set up your CFL's. You need to be able to move them around your plant as it grows to get maximum light penetration, and this would just give you light in a little ring around your plant. Having that LED probably helps a ton though. How many watts are you running to both your CFL's and LED's?
I just finished building one out of two of these n man I don't think I have ever measured as much as I did tonight lol. Just have to wire it up n make the reflector.
A friend of mine just built me one using 1/2" pvc (4 bulbs) but he made it into a adjustable light table for my setup for underneath the plant they adjust to a 45-90 degree angle it looks great i'll try to post some pics as soon as i figure out how