Lights

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BuddhaC

Active Member
I'm about to buy a two-bulb CFL ballast for ~50$ and two 6500ks and two 2700ks. Is that a good price? (Fyi, for the long CFLs I need a ballast, right? I don't have anything in my house that looks like it can plug into it)
 
John Jacob

John Jacob

Active Member
yea thats about where they are priced at.. i have a 100watter laying around somewhere I know it needed a ballast for it, and the socket was larger than normal bulbs

be ready for the heat my man, cuz they let off a lot of it!
Goodluck!
 
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BuddhaC

Active Member
John Jacob said:
yea thats about where they are priced at.. i have a 100watter laying around somewhere I know it needed a ballast for it, and the socket was larger than normal bulbs

be ready for the heat my man, cuz they let off a lot of it!
Goodluck!
Click to expand...
Damn, mine are just 32 watt! Is it still a good deal? And I thought CFLs gave off very little heat.
 
John Jacob

John Jacob

Active Member
the lower watts give off less heat, but ive been with a couple 32w as well.. just to see the comparison between an HID and CFL's.. Trust me those 32W will give off some heat, the pointless 12watters (actual) are those very little heat. IMO I htink you actually get a little more heat using cfls then using one HID if you compare the same wattage. so just be prepared you will need some ventilation regardless
 
ML75

ML75

Active Member
cfls dont give off a lot of heat. I have a 300watt equivalant and it produces the most heat and it isnt much more than the rest. just have some fans in there. get some 42 watt 2700ks. those are better than the 32 watts.
 
ML75

ML75

Active Member
CFL emit VERY LITTLE HEAT!!! I have freaking 15bulbs in my closet and it doesnt get hotter than 80. thats part of the reason people use cfl so they dont have to worry about ventalation
 
R

Rj41

Well-Known Member
John Jacob said:
the lower watts give off less heat, but ive been with a couple 32w as well.. just to see the comparison between an HID and CFL's.. Trust me those 32W will give off some heat, the pointless 12watters (actual) are those very little heat. IMO I htink you actually get a little more heat using cfls then using one HID if you compare the same wattage. so just be prepared you will need some ventilation regardless
Click to expand...
This is nonsense.
CFL's produce nowhere near the heat that HID's do. I speak from experience with both.

You might be better off with a bunch of smaller CFL's though.
As the (actual) wattages increase, the number of lumens decreases.
The higher the actual wattage of the bulb, the less efficient it is.
Ex: 23w=~1600 lumens, 42w=~2600 lumens, etc. So for 2x23w (46w total) you get 3200 lumens vs only 2600 at 42w.
Plus, they're self ballasted.
And with lots of 'em, you can position them all around the plant(s) for better light distribution.

I hope this helps.
 
ML75

ML75

Active Member
Rj41 said:
This is nonsense.
CFL's produce nowhere near the heat that HID's do. I speak from experience with both.

You might be better off with a bunch of smaller CFL's though.
As the (actual) wattages increase, the number of lumens decreases.
The higher the actual wattage of the bulb, the less efficient it is.
Ex: 23w=~1600 lumens, 42w=~2600 lumens, etc. So for 2x23w (46w total) you get 3200 lumens vs only 2600 at 42w.
Plus, they're self ballasted.
And with lots of 'em, you can position them all around the plant(s) for better light distribution.

I hope this helps.
Click to expand...

THANK YOU /. sheesh
 
John Jacob

John Jacob

Active Member
ML75 said:
CFL emit VERY LITTLE HEAT!!! I have freaking 15bulbs in my closet and it doesnt get hotter than 80. thats part of the reason people use cfl so they dont have to worry about ventalation
Click to expand...

Trial and error my friend.. your flowering or vegging with 15 bulbs.. why not save your money and get one hid? or better yet get a cool tubed HID and if my math is right should be around the same amount you would rigging and creating a decent setup..

IMHO CFL gets you fluffy leafy < HID get you solid nugs/ getting to your full potential of potentcy

but for Veg I also use a high watt CFL saves electricity over a MH and still does work in the right spectrum.. but I cant touch the bulb thats for sure, that shi# is hot!

for real tho not gettin into the, CFL vs HID argument.. CFL'rs are serious about there lights, which I guess they need to be since its kinda newer to growin.. I tried it with HPS/MH and CFL's for me and my setup a HPS will get a better result than a CFL.
ML my best advise for you is to try it and see, its the best way and only way to really know what works
 
R

Rj41

Well-Known Member
John Jacob said:
Trial and error my friend.. your flowering or vegging with 15 bulbs.. why not save your money and get one hid? or better yet get a cool tubed HID and if my math is right should be around the same amount you would rigging and creating a decent setup..

IMHO CFL gets you fluffy leafy < HID get you solid nugs/ getting to your full potential of potentcy

but for Veg I also use a high watt CFL saves electricity over a MH and still does work in the right spectrum.. but I cant touch the bulb thats for sure, that shi# is hot!
Click to expand...
You use many fewer bulbs during Veg.
You can make a 16 CFL bulb fixture for $35.

FACT: You can get tight solid buds with CFLs.
FACT: You can get fluffy loose buds with HIDs.
It's all in the growers knowledge and skills or lack there of.
 
montanachadly

montanachadly

Active Member
For limited spaces and low heat cfls work great i start all my plants in a 55 gallon tote i have rigged up with white walls and a bar to hang a few power strips that my cfls go into this works great for veg i can fit 8 plants in the tote and grow them till there 6-8 inches tall and have 5 or 6 sets of leaves and they are very short and little space between nodes thats what i like about the cfls small stout plants that are compact it helps when you do switch to flowering more nodes to flower. Also i havent ever used the cfls for flower just hps.
 
John Jacob

John Jacob

Active Member
Rj41 said:
You use many fewer bulbs during Veg.
You can make a 16 CFL bulb fixture for $35.

FACT: You can get tight solid buds with CFLs.
FACT: You can get fluffy loose buds with HIDs.
It's all in the growers knowledge and skills or lack there of.
Click to expand...
respect bra! CFL is just another way of getting to what we're all looking for. Like I said for my setup thats what works for me.. I think I'm still a little bitter from when I tried CFL I was expecting too much and didnt get it =( but yea if its what you have available then do it up! I like the ol'school watt the hell out of her with an hps.

Be good! buddha if you have anymore questions keepem comin brotha
 
red0021

red0021

Active Member
All my 125w CFLs are self ballasted, and pretty much all of them that I've ever seen sold in a store (to be completely honest I've never seen a CFL that wasn't self-ballasted, not saying they don't exist, but I don't recall ever seeing them).
 
B

BuddhaC

Active Member
Rj41 said:
This is nonsense.
CFL's produce nowhere near the heat that HID's do. I speak from experience with both.

You might be better off with a bunch of smaller CFL's though.
As the (actual) wattages increase, the number of lumens decreases.
The higher the actual wattage of the bulb, the less efficient it is.
Ex: 23w=~1600 lumens, 42w=~2600 lumens, etc. So for 2x23w (46w total) you get 3200 lumens vs only 2600 at 42w.
Plus, they're self ballasted.
And with lots of 'em, you can position them all around the plant(s) for better light distribution.

I hope this helps.
Click to expand...
The problem with that, Rj41, is that I don't know where to plug in all those lights :(, any suggestions? Ballasts/other things?
 
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BuddhaC

Active Member
There's quite a few words in there I didn't get. Basically, string-up the vanity, put on the extension cord into its outlet and it's good. Don't know what A y-splitter is, but for a layman I could just tape them together?

EDIT:
Thank you so much for the link!!! Almost forgot my manners :/
 
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