Power Strip CFL Fixture

I had thought I read that the top of the CFLs give off more than the sides. Only reason Ive been having mine face downwards.

Skoad said:

I had thought I read that the top of the CFLs give off more than the sides. Only reason Ive been having mine face downwards.

Click to expand...

i could be wrong, that is just my common sense talking to me.. if you look at the bulb, the side has more surface area exposed. more of the spiral.. more bulb surface area.. more light... that was my reasoning. that and i heard it somewhere... seems to be working pretty well...

although one of the power strips failed today.. thoughts anyone?

that sucks the strip failed time for a new one , but i kno its got like 5 plugs in it but its prolly not made to run that many watts all at once i could be wrong maybe check into that and i think your rite about the side of the lights putting of more light than the end,, oh and i got boared to day and cut a dr. pepper can out and made a shield for my light , im thinkin a monster can mite work for a bigger cfl

feel a little dumb now.. the strip wasn't out.. my main power strip has a built in timer, as well as an always on outlet.. one was plugged in always on, the one i thought was out was plugged into the time.

so... one stayed on.. the other shut off... all worked out now!!

Awesome lol. I made the same mistake the other day with something I had plugged in.

Also you are correct about using CFLs from the side. I dont know where I read to use the bottom of the spiral, but it was wrong. haha.


So now for me to come up with another way to mount my lights.

oh well good you dont ha ve to go get another one now lo

I tweaked my setup a little over the weekend. Would explain what "I did but pretty self-explanatory when looking at pictures.

Lowes had a perfect piece of tin. It was in the ducting area, came in that exact shape, I didnt have to do any bending, I just cut off about 10inches in the length because I didnt need it all.

Have also learned that zip ties are the shit!

kho20 said:

that sucks the strip failed time for a new one , but i kno its got like 5 plugs in it but its prolly not made to run that many watts all at once i could be wrong maybe check into that and i think your rite about the side of the lights putting of more light than the end,, oh and i got boared to day and cut a dr. pepper can out and made a shield for my light , im thinkin a monster can mite work for a bigger cfl

Click to expand...

yes monster work great. if you get the big ones with the big metal lid and cut a little of the lid off it fits great..

i thought it mite lol

Skoad said:

I tweaked my setup a little over the weekend. Would explain what "I did but pretty self-explanatory when looking at pictures.

Lowes had a perfect piece of tin. It was in the ducting area, came in that exact shape, I didnt have to do any bending, I just cut off about 10inches in the length because I didnt need it all.

Have also learned that zip ties are the shit!

Click to expand...

i hate to say this... but why are you skimping on lights? haha

i see the tent.. the duct work.. good looking soil..

why not go HPS?? i'm ballin' on a budget. but you look as though you could upgrade.


Shack

my guess is well see an hps in that tent pretty soon maybe hes ballin on a lil bigger budget and gettin all his shit togheter so he can plug and play that bigg ass light lol

Shackleford.R said:

i hate to say this... but why are you skimping on lights? haha

i see the tent.. the duct work.. good looking soil..

why not go HPS?? i'm ballin' on a budget. but you look as though you could upgrade.


Shack

Click to expand...

Haha. Im pretty much balling on a budget too. My budget was $200 to start, and ive gone FAR past that lol. Ive got those 8 CFL's plus 3 others that are on clip reflectors, two on side and one in middle(which cant be seen in pictures).

kho20 said:

my guess is well see an hps in that tent pretty soon maybe hes ballin on a lil bigger budget and gettin all his shit togheter so he can plug and play that bigg ass light lol

Click to expand...

I started on a itght budget but have already gone far past that. The little CFL setup I made only cost me $9 (counting: 2-pwr strips/1pc tin/tip ties.

The chain is a different story, I could have gotten all the chain for about $5 but got a little thicker than needed, and got the $1 per foot, and got 10feet.


I do plan to upgrade to a HPS though in about a month haha. Dont have the money just yet and going to Miami next week, so hopefully when I get back Ill be able to get it. Before I enter flowering though for sure.

hell i wanna see the hps in action pretty soon man lol you gonna keep the cfls close too the buds tho rite ive heard that it makes for some good ya kno lol

Yea, I hope to see it sooner than later myself. Uber broke tho. Just sold one of my new paintball guns on eBay (auction actually ended within past couple hours) just to get the money for Miami. Wont be long tho.

I keep the CFLs a little over an inch away, the 8 of them on the fixture anyway. The ones on reflectors are about 5-6inches away.

thats where i keep mine bout 1" but no more than 5" plus a a set of 40w shop lights jus for fun lol and i hear ya on bein broke lol

i just ordered 2 36" 12 outlet power strips. the outlets are spaced 3 inches apart. i plan on mounting them parallel to each other about 10 inches apart on a piece of plywood. with y splitters i can put a total of 48 bulbs on both strips combined. with 23w bulbs thats a total of 1104w. the plywood is then going to be hung in my cabinet so it can be raised and lowered. this is going to be a SOG setup with 18 lowryder #2's. i think the power strips will handle around 2000w a piece. im well below that in watts. im just kinda worried about the wall outlet. please give me your input on these thoughts.

P.S. the power strips were only 21 bucks a piece from amazon with free shipping.

now that i think about it thats alot of lights. with my lights drawing .34 amps a piece thats 16.32 amps for the total setup. im no electrician. will one wall outlet handle 16.32 amps or could i run an extension cord to another outlet and use a total of 2 outlets. im thinking all the wall outlets are connected though. like i said im no electrician. also would 1104w of cfl be overkill for what im wanting to do?

im no electrician.. but most growers plug their 250W-1000W HPS ballast to standard wall outlets.. and NO i don't think thats overkill for your grow.. i have 6 plants going with 8 bulbs and they're healthy.. you plan to triple that (18 plants) so think triple bulbs (24 bulbs)... no i think you're good long story short.. then again, i'm also a stoner.


Shack

Shackleford.R said:

im no electrician.. but most growers plug their 250W-1000W HPS ballast to standard wall outlets.. and NO i don't think thats overkill for your grow.. i have 6 plants going with 8 bulbs and they're healthy.. you plan to triple that (18 plants) so think triple bulbs (24 bulbs)... no i think you're good long story short.. then again, i'm also a stoner.


Shack

Click to expand...

arent we all

lol i dont think itll be a problem and the worst itll do is blow the breaker so then youll kno lol but nah it cant be overkill with only 1000 some odd watts but thats gonna be a shitload of lumens your plants are gonna love you lol