Check out my DIY CFL fixture/hood

LemonHerb

LemonHerb

Well-Known Member
I could but I am thinking there probably isn't going to be a need, also I have too many plants under it so it's not wide enough for me to really utilize all the side lights.

But I don't really plan to build on more. I mean I do have a shit load of lights, and while it's cheaper start up then an HPS it will catch up in energy use pretty quickly. So for now this works well but I am on the lookout for a nicely priced HPS.
 
caddypimpin

caddypimpin

Well-Known Member
yea i aquired a hps bulb... im growing with cfl/grow lamps but i dont have the lamp to light the bulb.... sadly
 
LemonHerb

LemonHerb

Well-Known Member
I already got one off of the HTG site, it was like $110 or something. But once you add like the wire & socket, bulb, and reflector $52 isn't really that great of a deal.
 
goingreen2008

goingreen2008

Well-Known Member
yeah well i work construction so they have never cost me anything anyways.. but yeah your right especially the damn reflectors they sell way over priced if you ask me..
 
M

misdirekted

Active Member
LemonHerb said:
I already got one off of the HTG site, it was like $110 or something. But once you add like the wire & socket, bulb, and reflector $52 isn't really that great of a deal.
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Wow that's a pretty slick set-up man. I got a few questions for you:
Would it be possible to list all of the parts you used?
What did you use for the bulb sockets?
How much light output do you think you get compared with an HPS bulb? What was the total cost of your set-up (including bulbs)?

Thanks man; I'm in Riverside too - how are you liking this weather?
 
LemonHerb

LemonHerb

Well-Known Member
The weather is fine, hot but I keep reminding myself it would suck more if it were humid.

As far as parts though it depends on how cheap you want to be. All you really need to do is buy like a $2 extension coard, then pick which type of light socket you want, I think it's cheapest to use the ones that you screw the wires down onto it. You can just cut the extension cord to make the peices you need between your lights, use those round end caps for the wires and that's that.

But how much light it puts out is up to you, honestly it's really only useful for flowering since you can really veg well under just a couple of CFLs. So you can hit just about any stater brothers market around here and get 4 2700k 26w cfls for under $2, so you can really pack it in with as many bulbs and suckets/y spliiters you feel is necessary. But you can do it for under 50 easy.

I will say that my closet stays cooler with the HPS though, if I were to remake the thing I would put lots more ventalation holes in the top.
 
M

misdirekted

Active Member
LemonHerb said:
The weather is fine, hot but I keep reminding myself it would suck more if it were humid.

As far as parts though it depends on how cheap you want to be. All you really need to do is buy like a $2 extension coard, then pick which type of light socket you want, I think it's cheapest to use the ones that you screw the wires down onto it. You can just cut the extension cord to make the peices you need between your lights, use those round end caps for the wires and that's that.

But how much light it puts out is up to you, honestly it's really only useful for flowering since you can really veg well under just a couple of CFLs. So you can hit just about any stater brothers market around here and get 4 2700k 26w cfls for under $2, so you can really pack it in with as many bulbs and suckets/y spliiters you feel is necessary. But you can do it for under 50 easy.

I will say that my closet stays cooler with the HPS though, if I were to remake the thing I would put lots more ventalation holes in the top.
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Haha yeah, it would suck if it was humid for sure. One more question: it looks like you used different colored CFL bulbs in your set-up - is that to fill in the different color temperature ranges?

Did you get a HPS set-up?
 
LemonHerb

LemonHerb

Well-Known Member
Yeah I had a couple in there that were 6500k, I am not sure if that is better then having all 2700k or not. I am sure if you searched on here you would find the answer.

Yes I went with a 400w hps. Basically I had like 30 bulbs at say an average of 25w (probably a little higher average) which was like 750w to get roughly the same output as a 400w hps. So over the long run the HPS is cheaper. Not to say that you couldn't do better with 20 bulbs placed right. I will say though I should have made it bigger, or grew three or less plants under the cfl fixture.
 
M

misdirekted

Active Member
How did you hook up your ballast, fixture, etc? I'm torn between having a bunch of CFLs or trying to figure out how to use an HPS set-up. Apparently you can't just plug them in! Do you have any pictures of your new kit?
 
LemonHerb

LemonHerb

Well-Known Member
You plug the ballast into the wall, and the light into the ballast. That sounds like just plugging it in to me.
 
skatterman420

skatterman420

Well-Known Member
I just freebased some hashoil off a razor, oh and I like the "CFL cage" a fan in either side blowing a constant stream thru would kill 2 birds with one stone, your plants would get the movement needed and all that heat would be dissipated, i like it I might copy :)
 
PentaBiker

PentaBiker

Active Member
gardenman said:
i've read that fluorescent lights produce more heat actually per watt.
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can you please find where you heard this from? im still trying to decide between a scrog with a gang of 23w cfls, or sog with a low wattage hps.
my 2 biggest concerns are, electricty costs, and temperature.
 
stevemonett

stevemonett

Member
that a real nice light hood setup. you could toss a price tag on it and sell the plans for it on ebay.. lol, i'd probably buy one.
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