Wiring CFLs

Discussion in 'Grow Room Design/Setup' started by realitybenderZz, Mar 6, 2006.

  1. Hi everybody,
    I've never grown before, and I'm currently buiding a grow box for my first grow. The box will be divided into three chambers, a mother chamber, a father chamber, and a flowering chamber. I'm going to use a 70 watt hps security light from home depot for the flowering chamber, but my question is about the mother and father chambers. I plan to use CFLs for the mother and father chamber. Each chamber is about 1 square foot (wide x deep). the mother chamber is 20.5" tall and the father chamber is about 14" tall. I want to mount the CFLs on the two side walls of the mother and father chambers, but I have no idea how to do this. I'm not very good at this kind of stuff so please let me know some of the simplest ways possible.

    Thanks,
    rbZz
     
  2. You can unscrew the sockets and pull the positive n negative wires from the ballast in the socket. Just wires the lights with lamp cord and enjoy.
     
  3. Thanks.
    Any ideas on how I could mount them then?

    rbZz
     
  4. What I did was bought some wood and made a frame and just hot glued the lights on the frame. Use high temp glue, as the heat from the lights may not be good for normal glues.
     
  5. Could you post some pics?
     
  6. I wish I could. It'd help alot w. the problems I have. But I dont know a camera, had 2 but both bit it abit back. Maybe I'll just invest and purchase a nice one soon. sorry man
     
  7. wtf is a father chamber. are you planing on breeding them to make seeds? and a 70 watt hps is really only enough for 1 or 2 plants. As for the cfls, go to the hardware store and buy adapters that go into an electrical socket, you can also buy a splitter that splits one bulb into two.
    [​IMG]

    [​IMG]
     
  8. Dr. Dank what watt are your 4 lights? How did you go from 4 lights to 1 plug? Were you able to grow in that from seed/clone to smoke?
     
  9. The lights i have are 20watt and like i said the hardware store sells adapters that are one bulb to a plug and they have one bulb into 2 bulb splitters.
    Rite now this is my temporary veg box(i plan on upgrading when i clone these plants)
    You could deffinetly get away with using it all the way through veg in there, and if you wanted to flower in there too you should use a short strain like lowrider of try stacking another one ontop.
     
  10. yo, dr.dank, i dig ur setup. is that adapter thing for the fluoro's available at home depot do u think? and what is the thing you buy that just plugs right into the extension cord? i want one of those for my box lol. anyways i just need help on how to get CFL's going. Also, an even bigger problem, how do i wire the fans? those little damn things seem complicated, if i buy one would it come w/ instructions? should i just ask some1 at the store i get it from? I am basically making a box that is 3' high and 2'x2', it will be made out of wood and what type of fan do u think i should use? thanks for any help! peace out
     
  11. Yes you would probebly be able to get them at home depot, but they really dont have anything to do with floruos, they are for regular bulbs, which is the same as cfl. The thing on top is a timer(home depot also) that regulates the lighting to 18-6. as for wiring the fans, just go to like radioshack or an electronics store and buy 12volt ac-dc adapters, and 12v pc fans, cut the plug off the pc fan so you have 3 wires, take the black end and the red end and push them into the correct holes on the ac-dc adapter. then the fan should turn on when plugged indisgard the other wire as it isnt important.
    i then used a drill with a cutting bit to cut a hole on either side of the box.
    Make the intake in the middle and the exhaust closer to the top of the box and skrew the fans into the box. Feel free to ask for any more pictures or explaination
     
  12. [​IMG]

    theres a close up of the fan setup they are just taped at the connection and the adapter gets pluged into the wall.
     
  13. On the subject of CFLs, I keep seeing people say they have 100 watt CFLs or 150 watt CFLs... Does anybody know where I can buy one of these? I live in ohio, the only stores around me that I can think of are wal-mart and home depot, can I buy a 150 watt CFL at either of those stores?

    Also, the father chamber is so I can control the amount of seeds my plants produce, I'm not going to try making clones my first time growing...

    rbZz
     
  14. home depot is a good place to find the larger watt cfl, they have reflectors you are supposed to use for them too(im not sure if the bulb has a ballast or it is in the reflector. And i will suggest forgeting about that "father chamber" idea. Cloning isnt really that hard. Dip a cutting in rooting hormone or gel put it in vermiculite peatmoss mixture. and keep the humidity high. Take lots of clones so even if some dont root you will still have others. If you do decide to take my advise and clone you should adapt the plan so that the "father chamber" could be a room for your mother plants.
     
  15. thanks for the info, but i just sort of remembered i have no where to put a box....:confused_2: so ive decided that under my bed (dont worry its a really big bed w/ drawers on the bottom sides) is a good spot and i dont think i really need a box for it. only 2 questions about this, there is definitally no way i can paint under my bed white lol so is it ok if it is just normal? if not is aluminum foil fine? i know its better if its white but thats just undoable. and second is the fan absolutely needed? it wouldnt help keep a good temp because the temp under my bed is perfect, prolly around 70ish... i know the fan helps strengthen the stem but is it really needed?

    what exactly were u saying about that CFL's are the exact same thing as a normal light bulb? and i hear its not good to go by watts its better to go by kelvin, so would a 20watt w/ 6,500 kelvin be just as good as a 40watt 6,500 kelvin?

    thanks for any help people! peace out
     
  16. [quote name='drumanick91']thanks for the info, but i just sort of remembered i have no where to put a box....:confused_2: so ive decided that under my bed (dont worry its a really big bed w/ drawers on the bottom sides) is a good spot and i dont think i really need a box for it. only 2 questions about this, there is definitally no way i can paint under my bed white lol so is it ok if it is just normal? if not is aluminum foil fine? i know its better if its white but thats just undoable. and second is the fan absolutely needed? it wouldnt help keep a good temp because the temp under my bed is perfect, prolly around 70ish... i know the fan helps strengthen the stem but is it really needed?

    what exactly were u saying about that CFL's are the exact same thing as a normal light bulb? and i hear its not good to go by watts its better to go by kelvin, so would a 20watt w/ 6,500 kelvin be just as good as a 40watt 6,500 kelvin?

    thanks for any help people! peace out[/quote

    use mylar for the inside(home depot)
    yes you need a fan if not more than one. it is necessary.
    cfls are not the same as normal lights, they are just compadable with the same socket because small cfl are self ballasted. Also you would go by lumens not kelvin.
     
  17. How many lumens would I need for a 3.5 sqft grow box using cfls? Right now Im using 4 x 42 watt CFL's for my stealth scrog grow.
     

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