8 light CFL Fixture

Ok folks here is yet another CFL fixture. I was bored and have a whole ton of extra parts laying around.

and new strawberry kough x sour diesel that is just so tasty.

anyways back to the fixture

so it is made up of

4 cleat sockets

18 gauge lamp cable


and my new favorite tool
Hot glue gun.man wish i would of bought one of these years ago!

I made two of these. I am gonna use them as side lights to go along with a hps system


Here are the cleat sockets

First step is to coat the entire bottom of one the cleat sockets. Then stick another one right to it. Must be quick or the glue wont stick right.




Try to make sure that the wire connectors match up on each side. brass by brass and metal by metal.
this will make your wiring easier, neater, and shorter.

Repeat this process once more. you need to have two of them.

I decided to add two three way pvc connectors to the top. this will work as a means to hang or mount the lights. by using two i will able to use this as a side lamp and a top lamp. more on this later.



Im not a good photographer either so bare with me.

I took the two fixtures and put the on-top of each other and then spinning one 45 degrees. Then I glued the shit out of them. The object is to make a north south east west type looking thing. this will allow for 180 degrees of lights.

I didnt really get to many pics of this step you will see better with the upcoming pics.

if this is confusing just let me know.



Next up the wiring

So I wired this fixture in a basic series.

I numbered the fixtures 1, 2,3,4

1 = the end of the line

4 = the first in line

cut equal length and strip at least one inch of cable off of each end of the wire.

you will need 4 lengths about 6 to 8 inches long

once you wire up all the fixtures add in a toggle wheel switch and a basic prong plug.




make sure to be very careful here. it is best to mark the cable some how so you can easily tell which line is which.

remember to make the end that connects to large prong on the plug be the line that connects to all of the brass colored screws.

the small prong on the plug will be the line that connects to the silver/metal colored screws on the sockets.

always test off of either a gfci outlet or at the very least a surge protector.

make sure to stick around and monitor the fixture for at least an hour before you leave. safety first with electricity right folks.

here is the fixture when it is almost done. I ran out of cfls so as you can see its missing two bulbs. but you get the picture of what it will look like.

i am going to use 5 2700k and 3 6500 k

all 26watts.

tomorrow I am going to work out a hood for it. I have a sheet metal laying around, might be a good project to use my bend press.

to be continued.....

i like that ... looks pretty cool but u might wanna tape it up still or wrap it with wires or something cuz what if the glue fuckes up or somthing you know....

crazy7605150 said:

i like that ... looks pretty cool but u might wanna tape it up still or wrap it with wires or something cuz what if the glue fuckes up or somthing you know....

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I thought about that as well. I have decided to give it a trial run today. I am gonna enclose it in a decent size metal case. which is about the size of my grow tent.

I will let it run all day on full strength and see what happens. Will check up on it every other hour to monitor heat and to see if the glue has become pliable or not.

If it does then i will encase it in two part epoxy.

I like the way you think, very resourseful. Could this be made to rotate ? That could possibly spread the spectrum, so to speak. You're an artist for sure ! sofakinggsalutesu !!!

Johnboh said:

I thought about that as well. I have decided to give it a trial run today. I am gonna enclose it in a decent size metal case. which is about the size of my grow tent.

I will let it run all day on full strength and see what happens. Will check up on it every other hour to monitor heat and to see if the glue has become pliable or not.

If it does then i will encase it in two part epoxy.

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jonbo,you are a genius and threads like this will have people begging for you to spread the knoledge,you did good my friend,damn good

nikk said:

jonbo,you are a genius and threads like this will have people begging for you to spread the knoledge,you did good my friend,damn good

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Thanks for the kind words bro. I enjoy doing stuff like this. I have a big ass barn with lots and lots of tools and all kinds of parts laying around, and lots of free time.

Maybe one day Ill come up with someone that I can actually make some money off of.

Johnboh said:

Thanks for the kind words bro. I enjoy doing stuff like this. I have a big ass barn with lots and lots of tools and all kinds of parts laying around, and lots of free time.

Maybe one day Ill come up with someone that I can actually make some money off of.

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well if you could make me one of those i'll buy it right now...and im saying this with a serious face...you got skills bro

Johnboh said:

Thanks for the kind words bro. I enjoy doing stuff like this. I have a big ass barn with lots and lots of tools and all kinds of parts laying around, and lots of free time.

Maybe one day Ill come up with someone that I can actually make some money off of.

Click to expand...

i'd buy it right now if you made me one,and i could rally up atleast 10 other folks that would buy it too,if you are willing to make em special order

Johnboh said:

Thanks for the kind words bro. I enjoy doing stuff like this. I have a big ass barn with lots and lots of tools and all kinds of parts laying around, and lots of free time.

Maybe one day Ill come up with someone that I can actually make some money off of.

Click to expand...

i'd buy it right now if you made me one,and i could rally up atleast 10 other folks that would buy it too,if you are willing to make em special order

hell yeah man,i'll buy one of those from you right now,and i could rally up atleast 5 others that would buy them too

sorry for the re-posts,i thought my pc was messing up but it was just the site's database

Def going to have to agree myself. BRILLIANCE!! Have you thought of some sort of ingenious side lighting? that would be wicked if you had a crazy carnival ride of spectrum and lumens.....rotating and whatnot. like sofaking said....ahhhhhhhhhhhhh......the possibilities!!!! lmao

continue the good work sir

lol nikk it went from 10 ppl to 5 ppl pretty quick

BigdaddyYUMYUM said:

lol nikk it went from 10 ppl to 5 ppl pretty quick

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nah man i messed up,and i was messed up ya dig?
i meant atleast 5 people,but im shootin for 10 lol,lmao you caught that shit pretty quick

Thanks guys. I would rather help ya guys make them yourselves than sell them. although if need be sure I could whip them together for yah.

Today I took some left over sheet metal i had from when I sided one of my houses this spring. Its aluminum and its painted brown on side and and painted flat white on the other.

I bent a simple hood for the fixture. Ill post some pics in a bit. Right now I gots to eat some food.

I will also post how much it cost, although its gonna be a projection because I cant remember exactly what I spent on everything.

Johnboh said:

Thanks guys. I would rather help ya guys make them yourselves than sell them. although if need be sure I could whip them together for yah.

Today I took some left over sheet metal i had from when I sided one of my houses this spring. Its aluminum and its painted brown on side and and painted flat white on the other.

I bent a simple hood for the fixture. Ill post some pics in a bit. Right now I gots to eat some food.

I will also post how much it cost, although its gonna be a projection because I cant remember exactly what I spent on everything.

Click to expand...

If you build it they will come..

btw..where can i get some Y adapters for my cfl's? Not at Lowe's, least not at mine.

Thanks