Best Lighting Without a Ballast

fonzirelli

fonzirelli

Well-Known Member
just have a small area, need a minimum of about 5000 lumens can only use 2 bulbs. i could just get the cfls, 2 42 watts would work, but im wondering if there's anything better i can get without having to hook up a ballast or something. and i really wanna use least amount of wattage as possible. any ideas would be great.
oh and im on a /tight/ budget.
 
hoagtech

hoagtech

Well-Known Member
That will get you 7 grams in just 4 and a half months. Save your tight budget for a ballast kit. You can find them on eBay for 40 bucks for a 400w mh. Than all you need is a mogul socket and an extension cord. A good guide on how to connect them is typing these search terms in google and picking the first one: "how to wire marijuana grow lights" . You'll be glad you did
 
Green Inferno

Green Inferno

Active Member
fonzirelli said:
just have a small area, need a minimum of about 5000 lumens can only use 2 bulbs. i could just get the cfls, 2 42 watts would work, but im wondering if there's anything better i can get without having to hook up a ballast or something. and i really wanna use least amount of wattage as possible. any ideas would be great.
oh and im on a /tight/ budget.
Click to expand...
You could try LED lighting. They are a little expensive, but if you get a good one, it will work. No heat, and plugs right up, no ballast.
Depending on how tight your budget, CFLs may be your next best bet if you can't work with HPS. I grow with CFLs and LED. I use
multiple 27 watt CFLs and light splitters. My CFL set up was pretty cheap. My LED cost me $150, but I will not recommend that particular
one to anyone. Go for Blackstar LEDs if you can afford $270.
 
PeacefulKid1992

PeacefulKid1992

Well-Known Member
fonzirelli said:
just have a small area, need a minimum of about 5000 lumens can only use 2 bulbs. i could just get the cfls, 2 42 watts would work, but im wondering if there's anything better i can get without having to hook up a ballast or something. and i really wanna use least amount of wattage as possible. any ideas would be great.
oh and im on a /tight/ budget.
Click to expand...
get an LED,doesnt waste that much light,great grow light
 
Green Inferno

Green Inferno

Active Member
PeacefulKid1992 said:
how many grams do yall get with cfl bulbs?
@green inferno, hoagtech and the owner of the forum
Click to expand...
I have 5 plants under 148 watts (actual watts) CFL, and just harvested 1 plant, and got 3 grams.
It was the smallest plant in there, and it was not topped, just 1 small cola. 3 of the other 4 are
topped, and have multiple bud sites forming, and I have the CFLs focused right near the bud sites
@ no more that 1" away. And this was 12/12 from seed by the way. I'm expecting right around an
oz total once all plants are harvested. This is my first indoor grow, and it is more or less a practice
grow. I rather make mistakes on a small scale, and learn from that as opposed to messing up an entire
1000 watt HPS crop. Which is what I just ordered, 1000 watt HPS.

The LED I have sucks at flowering. Veg's pretty well though.
 
fonzirelli

fonzirelli

Well-Known Member
Green Inferno said:
This is my first indoor grow, and it is more or less a practice
grow. I rather make mistakes on a small scale, and learn from that as opposed to messing up an entire
1000 watt HPS crop.
Click to expand...
thats exactly where im at. i just want a successful grow, not neccessarily a big one. plus i wanna use as little power as possible until the electric gets redone.
 
Green Inferno

Green Inferno

Active Member
fonzirelli said:
thats exactly where im at. i just want a successful grow, not neccessarily a big one. plus i wanna use as little power as possible until the electric gets redone.
Click to expand...
Home Depot has a 12 pack of 23 watt CFLs for $21 1600 lumens per bulb. You can put them on splitters like I did.

With the links below, you can have a decent, yet small set up. Probably less than $50 for everything.

http://www.homedepot.com/h_d1/N-5yc1v/R-100676713/h_d2/ProductDisplay?langId=-1&storeId=10051&catalogId=10053

http://www.homedepot.com/Lighting-Fans-Indoor-Lighting-Indoor-Lighting-Accessories/h_d1/N-5yc1vZbvlm/R-100356967/h_d2/ProductDisplay?langId=-1&storeId=10051&catalogId=10053

http://www.homedepot.com/Lighting-Fans-Indoor-Lighting-Indoor-Lighting-Accessories/h_d1/N-5yc1vZbvlm/R-202191030/h_d2/ProductDisplay?langId=-1&storeId=10051&catalogId=10053

http://www.homedepot.com/h_d1/N-5yc1v/R-100664506/h_d2/ProductDisplay?langId=-1&storeId=10051&catalogId=10053
 
PeacefulKid1992

PeacefulKid1992

Well-Known Member
Green Inferno said:
I have 5 plants under 148 watts (actual watts) CFL, and just harvested 1 plant, and got 3 grams.
It was the smallest plant in there, and it was not topped, just 1 small cola. 3 of the other 4 are
topped, and have multiple bud sites forming, and I have the CFLs focused right near the bud sites
@ no more that 1" away. And this was 12/12 from seed by the way. I'm expecting right around an
oz total once all plants are harvested. This is my first indoor grow, and it is more or less a practice
grow. I rather make mistakes on a small scale, and learn from that as opposed to messing up an entire
1000 watt HPS crop. Which is what I just ordered, 1000 watt HPS.

The LED I have sucks at flowering. Veg's pretty well though.
Click to expand...
wow how tall was that plant? 3 grams on a plant...that sucks
 
PeacefulKid1992

PeacefulKid1992

Well-Known Member
Green Inferno said:
I have 5 plants under 148 watts (actual watts) CFL, and just harvested 1 plant, and got 3 grams.
It was the smallest plant in there, and it was not topped, just 1 small cola. 3 of the other 4 are
topped, and have multiple bud sites forming, and I have the CFLs focused right near the bud sites
@ no more that 1" away. And this was 12/12 from seed by the way. I'm expecting right around an
oz total once all plants are harvested. This is my first indoor grow, and it is more or less a practice
grow. I rather make mistakes on a small scale, and learn from that as opposed to messing up an entire
1000 watt HPS crop. Which is what I just ordered, 1000 watt HPS.

The LED I have sucks at flowering. Veg's pretty well though.
Click to expand...
do cfl's waste alot of electricty?
 
Green Inferno

Green Inferno

Active Member
PeacefulKid1992 said:
wow how tall was that plant? 3 grams on a plant...that sucks
Click to expand...
7" tall, tiny little gal :D. My biggest is 18", it has at least another month to go, maybe even 6-7 weeks. It's
definitely sativa dominant.

PeacefulKid1992 said:
do cfl's waste alot of electricty?
Click to expand...
My bill went up about $14, and that's with 90 watts of LED on 23 hours per day, and 148 watts of CFL
12 hours per day, 40 watts in fans 24 hours per day.

CFLs aren't really that efficient compared to LED or HID. 150 watts of HPS is equal to 250 watts of CFL.
They're good for small grows, and for people on a budget.
 
fonzirelli

fonzirelli

Well-Known Member
my problem is not the electric bill, the problem is too much plugged in and poppin a breaker. ill just have to see how much i can do. i found a power strip with a timer on it, ill see how that works. hopefully 148 watts will be fine, for now. thanks all
 
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