fire? cause of cfls?

Seems a lil shady to me but idk if im just nervous i got a tent with cfl 100 watt lights the twisty ones hangin on a cheap socket cord from a value mart then pluged into an extention cord for each light seprate into an surge protecter. the plastic bottom of the light is getting hot and smelling a lil after an hour? am i safe? what should i do ? if u need pics let me know if it helps

I don't see why it would smell--that weirds me out. I have 105 watt cfls and they've never smelled and they are cool to the touch. Some cheap sockets are only rated for a lower wattage (like 60), you sure you're not pulling too much juice through those fixtures?

i request pics of how its setup now and that stuff, what do you mean by "the plastic part of the lamp"? do you mean the ballast?

i guess the ballast. just like the regular lamp shade type curls bulb u know how its plastic at the bottom that part ill load pics give me a few

jimcity21 said:

i guess the ballast. just like the regular lamp shade type curls bulb u know how its plastic at the bottom that part ill load pics give me a few

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this is the kinda bulb thats in that socket. not the exact bulb

that plastic part the bulb sits on was getting really hot last night idk if it just stay like that but the set up ia a lil ghetto. i mean i can find any good socket and plugs

the reflectors are acting as heat sinks, trapping escaping heat from the lamp ballast and causing it to overheat.
you have to keep in mind CFL's are designed to be used vertically or horizontally in light fixtures, not grow ops, lol...
get some fans blowing on them to reduce the ehat buildup. it doesnt have to be much, but you definitly need some air movement.
make it so the fans come on as exactly the same time as the lamps, that is important, that way the fans can cool down the reflectors as the lamps heat up, removing heat before it becomes a problem. if you stick a fan in there after the lights are already on and hot, it will take them a long long time to 'catch up' to the lamps and start cooling

do u think the reflectors are helping any or should i get rid of them?

depends if its gettin to hot try it without it.

matter of preference, really.
some people like to use reflectors on big cfl's (100w actual or larger)
some people like to mount the cfl's horizontally and get them as close to the plants as possible.
i do the latter.
look up posts by Roseman. He has the cfl thing down pat

sweet ill check him out thanks im trying it without the reflectors now im let it run. i dont got a fan yet and its snowing so i aint trying to drive in this shit ill wait lol

Been doing it in similar fashion for years. The ballasts do get hot on the twisty cfls but if you will notice the shade has holes around the base to dissapate some of the heat. All of the el cheapo work lights I have found at Wally World are rated for 150 watts. Course it does dump a bunch of heat in the grow closet so it is prudent to figure out some way to keep the heat down if it spikes too high. I either open the window or the door and keep some good airflow moving through. If it gets too hot I will even turn off some of the lights for a while. They extra heat can come in handy on a cold winter day or night.

well see thats the thing the bottoms of the lights get hot but its not making the temp in the cabinet rise t all. I got 4 27watt supposly really 100 watt cfls in there and the temp is 74degrees. im just worried about a fire cause people live above me and i dont neeed some disater happening

jimcity21 said:

well see thats the thing the bottoms of the lights get hot but its not making the temp in the cabinet rise t all. I got 4 27watt supposly really 100 watt cfls in there and the temp is 74degrees. im just worried about a fire cause people live above me and i dont neeed some disater happening

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yep same thing with out the reflectors they just get really warm at the bottom plastic i dont wanna say hot cause i can touch it but its boarder line i see what the fan does

once you get a few good fans it will be fine, i use the exact same things basically, except i use only 42w lights. i have had 22 42ws going at a time in the same 2x2x4 grow box and It was fine. ventilation is key.