Questions about light

So I currently have a grow box made a month or so ago that I have been quickly upgrading. I now have a bumber of different 23w/42w/13w cfl bulbs that are wither 6.5k or 2.7k. I currently only have one 42w 2.7k since I only have 1 small plant that is flowering. I do have a random assortment of like 12 other CFL's though. I am growing 5 plants atm under them and am currently sitting around 14k lumens. So I am pretty close to what I need, on the other hand a lot of light is being wasted because the box is HUGE O.O

Sorry for the rambling in the beggning, what I need to ask is how hot and big are the 75-100ish watt cfls. My random array of small bulbs is gettting FAR too cluttered and im looking to invest in a few massive CFLS.

So the questions are:
Do the 75-100w CFL's get too hot to run without their own ventilation?
Also, is it ok to just plug these huge bulbs into a normal ol light plugin?
 

Skunko

Member
Hi Armstrong. I have one of the 125 watt cfl's and it does throw out a decent bit of heat. Without a fan blowing fresh air down into the box, the temp will easily reach 95 to 100 degrees F. With the fan on it stays around 82. It's about a foot long and maybe two or so inches in diameter...so it's huge...lol. Although I can touch the bulb without burning myself it's still pretty warm, nothing my little fan doesn't help but if you get several of these bulbs together in an enclosed space...you'll definitely need some ventilation, it will get hot.

As far as I know, for any bulbs over 42 watts..you'll likely need a mogul socket which is slightly bigger than a regular light socket. My light kit came with one, but I've read that these can be bought at home depot, lowes, or any type store like that.

I read a post today where Roseman gave some great information that may help you choose whether or not you'd want to use the higher wattages, and some tips on multi-spectrum use...I think knowing what I know now...I would have opted for more of the 26 or 42 watt bulbs myself...but you may feel otherwise.

here it is... https://www.rollitup.org/cfl-growing/244202-hid-cfl-my-box-too.html

I'm sure that some of the more seasoned cfl'ers will chime in here, but I hope this helps you some. happy growing!:weed:
 
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