CFL Array's

[NuOldGrower]

I recently read the book ...Buds for less ...about cfl growing.
Right now I'm using hps, but if I can do the same ...and maybe better (less electrical $$$)with the cfl's, then I'm game.
I was wondering how others are hooking up their light array's?
Does anyone have any pics of their light set ups?
I'm really interested in those that aren't using a cabinet, but more of an area.
I'd like to get some ideas for adequate all-around lighting using just cfl bulbs.
Like I said, I already saw the one idea in the book, but that was just for 2-3 plants.
I wanted to get an idea of what kind of set up I would need to properly light 4-5 plants.
...and i know i may have to put some in between each plant.
...maybe something i could put on a pulley system to raise and lower and maybe use the flexible metal connectors to adjust the widths easily, from time to time???

Any advise is surely appreciated!!!


In the meantime ...enjoy some pics of my (hopefully last) hps grow:

 

[Gastanker]

You can find cheap bathroom vanity fixtures for around $4. Throw a reflector on the back (not pictured) and you are set.

http://www.lightingdirect.com/maxim-990015pb-four-light-bathroom-fixture-from-the-maxim-collection/p860557

 

[jesus of Cannabis]

i veg with T5 and flower with my hps

 

[Gastanker]

Those fixtures I mentioned would be more ideal for vegging/scrog. If you are growing larger plants just drop bulbs down from above with large bulbs in between plants.

I was pulling an oz a week with this set-up:

Veg Box:

Flower Box:

8 plants at various stages in the flower box and another 8 rooting/vegging in the veg box.

 

[KushXOJ]

Bathroom vanity light fixtures and y spiltters is the way to go with cfls
hers a pic of my setup and im happy with the results so far

im going to be getting another to hang down in the middle of my lights

 

[MrDank007]

My old one, but I don't think you are going to save that much money. You need alot of CFLs

 

[makinthemagic]

View attachment 1547813View attachment 1547814View attachment 1547815View attachment 1547816

 

[NuOldGrower]

wow ...thanks for the replies everyone.
I should be able to get some ideas from all these.

 

[NuOldGrower]

Gastanker...


Thanks again for replying...

Could I bother you for just a little more info?
As I'm just learning (noob) about these lights ...the watering, nutes, soils, etc.. I've already learned well enough from the hps lighting side.
I'm guessing those things will pretty much stay the same?

I was going to ask about side lighting, but your last photo showed a good shot for that problem, ...pretty cool.
I like how you hang some of them on indiviual lines!
What are you using for the side reflection? Is that just foil, or mylar?

Could you please share some info on the particular bulbs?
I'm getting all sorts of info off the board here but nothing really straight forward.

The only thing I have learned so far would be that one use's 2700k for flowering and 6500k for veg.???
Is this correct info?
I've also seen the 23 - 24 watt range alot, but also seen some mention as high as 125 watt.
What kind of wattages are you using for the particular stages?

Is running the cfl's cheaper, and less draw on the circuit?
Right now I have a heater, humidifier, and the hps light hooked up and if I hook in one more item the breaker trips.
Now this is not a dedicated line, so there are other things also running off the circuit.
Will using the cfl's stop this problem ...or at least be less of a strain on the circuit?
I know it probably depends on how many bulbs are used, and that would lead to the last question...
How many will I need to sucessfully grow say 4 plants?
I see in one shot you're doing 6 with 7 bulbs?

Thanks!

 

[Belesar]

Ive got another one for ya, been playing with this idea in my head for awhile.



The idea of this is to have it as an enclosed box and to attach it to chains via a pulley. The drawing of the side view, the hose will fit over the top of your exhaust fans and connect to ure vents at the top of whatever u hang it from. The flexability of the hose will make it easier for adjusting the height.

 

[matatan]

12 bucks at home depot 4 socket light fixture. gonna use ez hangers to suspend amd some y adapters to make 4-2-4-2 lights12cfls all 26watt(most lumen per watt) dual spectrum in both veg and flower. ill do 8 white 4 warm for veg and 8 warm 4 white for flower. also seeing how some people got there setups i might add a couple to hand down lower inbtwn plants... hmm.. love this site!

 

[NuOldGrower]

Thanks Belesar ...you could even use that outside of a box.
I have no problems with ventilation in the open/closed area I'm using.
So no need for the vent tubing.
I built a 5x10 area in my garage that is partitioned off (nothing inside is visible from outside), the garage is not sealed well so i get lots of fresh air in and out.

I was thinking along the same lines, but just using 2-2x2's in a cross or X shape.
Pretty much your design ...without the square plywood topper peice.

 

[NuOldGrower]

I had something thought of along the lines of the drawing below.
No it's not to scale ..just a napkin dream at the moment.
Also on the hanging light assembly, I'll make room to have 1 or 2 bulbs hang lower than the fixture for interior/center side lighting.
I guess it will be a box of sorts (3 sides plywood with material for reflection) when i'm done.
It's kind of hard to make you realize what I'm doing other than in drawings ...lol.




Sorry about the quality of my penmanship ...ever since computers came around,
my handwriting has become terrible, as I don't hand write things anymore ...lol.

 

[Hupomone]

I personally use the white plastic light fixtures that you can get for like a dollar at almost any store. They are circle and have 1 fixture in it. I mount them to the top with screws and wingnuts to hold in place and then use Y adapters to increase my bulb count. The problem with my setup is it's not as easy to make it work for lowering/raising such as a bathroom vanity fixture so I just to raise my plants to the light instead. Towards the end when the plants get a bit bigger it's easy to just buy some extension cords with an AC Adapter light socket and optional Y adapter light socket and have 1-4 bulbs easily suspended and dropped down where ever you need the light on your plant if you deem it necessary.

If I had to build my box over again I would definitely use a bathroom vanity fixture. It's just easier to be able to raise and lower than it is to raise and lower plants in pots. Because with lowering your whole fixture you can precisely lower it where you want it. With my method, you are limited to what you have available. Maybe that book is just a bit too thick and the lights are too close, but without the book the plants are just a bit too far away. See what I'm saying? It's cool for now but definitely wouldn't work out for the OCD amongst us. I originally built mine like this because I was going to have a separate light chamber but so far no go on that.

 

[Gastanker]

Gastanker...


Thanks again for replying...

Could I bother you for just a little more info?
As I'm just learning (noob) about these lights ...the watering, nutes, soils, etc.. I've already learned well enough from the hps lighting side.
I'm guessing those things will pretty much stay the same?

I was going to ask about side lighting, but your last photo showed a good shot for that problem, ...pretty cool.
I like how you hang some of them on indiviual lines!
What are you using for the side reflection? Is that just foil, or mylar?

Could you please share some info on the particular bulbs?
I'm getting all sorts of info off the board here but nothing really straight forward.

The only thing I have learned so far would be that one use's 2700k for flowering and 6500k for veg.???
Is this correct info?
I've also seen the 23 - 24 watt range alot, but also seen some mention as high as 125 watt.
What kind of wattages are you using for the particular stages?

Is running the cfl's cheaper, and less draw on the circuit?
Right now I have a heater, humidifier, and the hps light hooked up and if I hook in one more item the breaker trips.
Now this is not a dedicated line, so there are other things also running off the circuit.
Will using the cfl's stop this problem ...or at least be less of a strain on the circuit?
I know it probably depends on how many bulbs are used, and that would lead to the last question...
How many will I need to sucessfully grow say 4 plants?
I see in one shot you're doing 6 with 7 bulbs?

Thanks!

6500k for veg 2700k for flower - for flowering I would recommend a mixed spectrum of 3:1 2700k:6500k

I was using a mixture of 23w and 68w bulbs.

Wattage choices can be difficult. The higher the wattage of the light the higher the lumen output for a single light source. Due to how how light scatters and the inverse square law single higher lumen sources are more effective at greater distances than lower lumen bulbs.

So if you have a 150w CFL that puts off 8,200 lumen then 2ft away it will be delivering 2050 lumen. So technically you could veg a plant with this bulb 2ft away.
A 23w bulb 2ft away however would only be putting out 400 lumen which is pretty much useless.

That said what really is important is lux as I hope you will never have your bulbs further away than 6" max.
6.5 23w cfls (150w total) puts out 10,400 lux versus the 8,200 of the 150w bulb and allows you to get more of the light closer to each part of the plant.

Hanging a 150w bulb 6" from the canopy would provide the canopy great light, the sides crappy light, and the bottoms very little light - leaves block areas as you travel down and the inverse square law decreasing the lights power as it travels. Now if you used 6 23w bulbs the entire plant can receive equal lighting and you lose less of the lights power due to close proximity. ****

****For dense buds you need a minimum amount of lux at each area of the plant ~ 4000. This means you would need at least 3 of the 23w bulb for the canopy and three for each lower portion you want to light up. If you were using higher wattage bulbs you might only need a single bulb per area you want illuminated - like those 68w bulbs I was using. So if you had 4 23w bulbs and no others I would tell you to put them all at the top and trim the rest of the buds off the plant everywhere else. If you have 6 I would say put 3 at the top and 3 in the middle and then trim everything lower than that. If you had 9 I would suggest 3 at the top, 3 towards the middle and 3 towards the bottom. Does this make sense?

CFLs seems to pull a little less than what they are rated at. But watts is watts - 500w of CFL is equal to 500w of hps. If I were you I would remove the heater from the equation. Space heaters pull 800-1800w which is a ton - same as a couple big lights.

 

[NuOldGrower]

Fantastic info Gastanker!!
I'd like to pull the heater, but the nights are still dipping into the low 40's.
It's rarely on during the day anymore, but winter was hell and that's when all the breaker tripping was going on.
Going to try to grow enough (in spring/summer, and a little fall) that I won't have to grow during the winter months.
...or at least just clone one plant right before winter and keep the one plant/clone small and going through the winter, and then clone it again, for multi plants, the spring.

 

[Gastanker]

I'm the opposite. It snows here in the winter so I use my lights to heat my house. In the summer it gets too hot to really have anything going on indoors without a major AC unit. You should switch to a 600w and use the ducting as a heat source instead of going with CFLs. Might cut down energy charges in the long run if you don't need to run your space heater

 

[NuOldGrower]

****For dense buds you need a minimum amount of lux at each area of the plant ~ 4000. This means you would need at least 3 of the 23w bulb for the canopy and three for each lower portion you want to light up. If you were using higher wattage bulbs you might only need a single bulb per area you want illuminated - like those 68w bulbs I was using. So if you had 4 23w bulbs and no others I would tell you to put them all at the top and trim the rest of the buds off the plant everywhere else. If you have 6 I would say put 3 at the top and 3 in the middle and then trim everything lower than that. If you had 9 I would suggest 3 at the top, 3 towards the middle and 3 towards the bottom. Does this make sense?

YES! Thank You ...but one last Q?
Is the quote above for 1 plant or multiples?
...and yes I do plan on lighting at least the canopy and mid section areas.

CFLs seems to pull a little less than what they are rated at. But watts is watts - 500w of CFL is equal to 500w of hps.

I figured this ...but i won't be using 400w - 500w of cfls, will I?
If you state that 6.5 23w cfl's equal 150w. So even if I use 13 that will only be 300w's.
...and I dont think I'll be using 13? ...will I?

 

[Gastanker]

YES! Thank You ...but one last Q?
Is the quote above for 1 plant or multiples?
...and yes I do plan on lighting at least the canopy and mid section areas.

I figured this ...but i won't be using 400w - 500w of cfls, will I?
If you state that 6.5 23w cfl's equal 150w. So even if I use 13 that will only be 300w's.
...and I dont think I'll be using 13? ...will I?

It's not so much about number of plants but light per area. That flower chamber of mine was running 388w and was 2x3x4. That's about 16w per cubic foot. Taking into consideration that there were no bulbs at the bottom with stems and pots I would recommend an average of 1 23w bulb for every cubic foot that contains budding plant matter.

 

[NuOldGrower]

Thanks again Gastanker!!