michomikhail
Active Member
posting this here so others can use my idea or even modify it for their growing pleasure. any coments or suggestions are welcome and let me know if this was helpfull and understandable!
price is based on what i had to buy and alot of this stuff you can find around your house but if you had to buy everthing it would be around 30$
Items needed
-2 double sided horizontal sockets(pic #1)-5$ at menards
-4 y socket adapters-6$ from menards
-1 reflective metal serving trayto fit grow space-2$ at the goodwill
-8 cfl lightbulbs- 10$ at menards( i use 23 w bulbs)
-2 ft of 1x2 board or simalar scrap wood-0$-2$ depending if your using scrap or not
-1 wired plug
-2 hooks for hanging light
-small peice of plywood at least 6 inches wide
first off you need to figure out where to drill the holes in your reflector for the wired sockets.(make sure your light bulbs arent to close and make sure they fit).
once you have drilled the holes you attach the sockets to the the reflector and add your y sockets when every you feel like it.
next you cut your 1x2 in 2 even sections and place on top of your light on each side and make sure they are evenly placed on top so the light is balanced and attach with screws from the undersude of light so you dont have anything protruding twords the light bulbs. i used 1/2 inch metal screw.
next you need to wire the sockets up to the wired plug so you can cover it up in the next step and to do this you just attach the 2 white wires to one of the wires from your plug and the 2 black wires with the other. if you have a ground from your plug then just attach it to the reflector.(you can test your wiring now to make sure it works
)
next take your plywood and cut it so you can place it over the 2 1x2 and secure it to cover expose wires. i drilled a hole in the center of the plywood and fed the wired plug through that but not neccesary.
now that you have the plywood attached you can attach the hooks you have for hanging on each side of the plywood .
congratulations! you have just made an 8 socket cfl light now just add your lightbulbs of the proper spectrum and grow your little heart out.
the second pic is the best one that i have of my light.
this is better than hanging your cfls at an angle since cfls put out more light when place horizontally. any questions just ask ill give some advice
price is based on what i had to buy and alot of this stuff you can find around your house but if you had to buy everthing it would be around 30$
Items needed
-2 double sided horizontal sockets(pic #1)-5$ at menards
-4 y socket adapters-6$ from menards
-1 reflective metal serving trayto fit grow space-2$ at the goodwill
-8 cfl lightbulbs- 10$ at menards( i use 23 w bulbs)
-2 ft of 1x2 board or simalar scrap wood-0$-2$ depending if your using scrap or not
-1 wired plug
-2 hooks for hanging light
-small peice of plywood at least 6 inches wide
first off you need to figure out where to drill the holes in your reflector for the wired sockets.(make sure your light bulbs arent to close and make sure they fit).
once you have drilled the holes you attach the sockets to the the reflector and add your y sockets when every you feel like it.
next you cut your 1x2 in 2 even sections and place on top of your light on each side and make sure they are evenly placed on top so the light is balanced and attach with screws from the undersude of light so you dont have anything protruding twords the light bulbs. i used 1/2 inch metal screw.
next you need to wire the sockets up to the wired plug so you can cover it up in the next step and to do this you just attach the 2 white wires to one of the wires from your plug and the 2 black wires with the other. if you have a ground from your plug then just attach it to the reflector.(you can test your wiring now to make sure it works
)next take your plywood and cut it so you can place it over the 2 1x2 and secure it to cover expose wires. i drilled a hole in the center of the plywood and fed the wired plug through that but not neccesary.
now that you have the plywood attached you can attach the hooks you have for hanging on each side of the plywood .
congratulations! you have just made an 8 socket cfl light now just add your lightbulbs of the proper spectrum and grow your little heart out.
the second pic is the best one that i have of my light.
this is better than hanging your cfls at an angle since cfls put out more light when place horizontally. any questions just ask ill give some advice