Constructing a 100% CFL Grow

Is my FAQ entry the best

  • yes

    Votes: 51 48.6%

  • no

    Votes: 21 20.0%

  • its good but not good enough

    Votes: 33 31.4%
  • Total voters
    105
Stormfront

Stormfront

Well-Known Member
ok...i see that's cool i had thought of using it before but had heard of the hot spots, but mainly that they cause burns from the crinkled areas, so if you kept it completely flat there probably wouldn't be a problem, though i never thought about the heat issue, so good to know, thanks for the input-

Storm
 
Fake Plastic Trees

Fake Plastic Trees

New Member
I know I am just repeating but I missed the pics too, I enjoyed reading the faq very much. Perhaps an added bonus would be to think of a way to make a horizontal fixing for 2, 3 or 4 lights it seems to be what is needed.

If its any help this has started to make me think more about growing under lights, in a box. I may have to if I move. Thanks for taking your time to help.
 
igstid420

igstid420

Well-Known Member
so u are wanting to mount 4 lights horizontally? simple fie to that....get an extension cord, al walmart for 1.19 you can get a adapter that plugs into a electrical socket and has a mogul to screw in a light bulb. you will need 2 of them, also at walmart the Y adapet, allow you to screw in 2 bulbs to 1 socket again you ill need 2, screw the Y adapter into the single socket electric adapter( not exactly sure of the name) plu 1 of thos fixtures to each side of the extension cord and screw in the bulbs, that will mount 4 lights 2 on ach side, hope that helps, actually similiar to what i am doing i just have 3 extra bulbs mounted in the area also....best of luck---------------------420
 
R

raybwoi

Active Member
i was just wondering if the cfl lights being turned on all day/night would it be a huge expense on ur hydro bill. will u notice a huge amount of difference or no.
 
R

raybwoi

Active Member
hey im a noob at this... since the cfl lights are being turned on all day/night does it show a huge difference on ur hydro bill? will it be like hundreds of dollars more?
 
ElBarto

ElBarto

Well-Known Member
igstid420 said:
Q1.What are spectrums?
A1. spectrums (Compact Fluorescent Light) are another type of fluorescent light, all based around the same properties. A glass bulb filled with a gas that reacts to a electrical current causing it to illuminate. There are 2 different basic types of CFL bulbs...
Click to expand...
Shouldn't this read

Q1.What are CFLs?
A1. CFLs (Compact Fluorescent Light)...

I try not to nit-pick too much, but you asked for input and as it stands that sentence doesn't make sense.
 
winkdogg420

winkdogg420

Well-Known Member
I ran 8 cfls for 18/6 , now 16 cfls 12/12 and i switched all my other lights in the house to cfl and my bill has gone down about twenty a month! Thats with 16 bulbs burnin half the time everyone should have cfls all over the house! They even make instant start if thr warm up time bugs you ! Even if you grow with hps/mh if you switch the rest of your house to cfl your bill should stay the same (not talking 5kw setups haha)
 
chronickb247

chronickb247

Well-Known Member
dont grow with those lights use these and your electricity wont go up and you will get big fat buds but make sure you get both red and blue spectrums.42 watt average $10.00 each 65 watts, = $23.99 average price85 Watt, average $29.00 each105 watt average $38.99 eachOr Look for Clamp Reflectors and Bulbs together:
 
b1izzard

b1izzard

Member
for a reflector what i do is buy this metal tubing that is used for dryers and stuff. you can easily cut it in half to give yourself to reflectors. then i get a small piece of scrap wood, screw a socket in each side, drill two holes in the metal, and then attach a hook threw each hole to the wood to attach them. This makes a great reflector and allows you to have more of the bulb facing the plant since the side is facing the plant instead of the top. there was a youtube video i saw that gave me the idea. it works great. And you can play with it a little to add more lights if you want.
 
M

Mercy38

Active Member
First off, i enjoyed your article, but found a few things you can add, or seem to be not there maby do to having little real world data,

I really think there is a little misconseption on using CFL's to the greater extent... I believe there is a limit to it and or use....

The cons out way the pro's when it comes to cfls.....

Long story short, last year i found my outdoor area being compramized after many years of no worries, and lost all but 1, so i took and thus began my indoor growing ...... and like so many new to indoor found CFL able and ready for the task....

Since then I have run 2 successful grows using Just CFL's and although i found them to be very handy, there far from ideal, and during my current run, i have decided, to use CFL for the last time, (((except for future seedlings)))....


First in relation to lighting and the grow,
i was and just did a run using 15, 200 watt (rated 42 watts) CFL's at 4100k/4600k for a total of 3000 watts ( so thats 630kw per hour) and we have about 45000 lums spread in an area of 4x4 ,,,, I did this for veging but wiil have MH next time around,,,,,( I have 6 girls)

The truth, as i see it, is a few things, first Cost, as you can see i ran 630Kw per hr, running around 3000 watts, and only got around 45000 lums, which is not cheap, when you look at a MH or hps at 400 watts, (400 kw per hr, running at 50,000-53000 lums, you can see where you come to a point were CFL's no longer are convinent, or cheaper,,, and when you add the cost of 15 CFL at a color range of 4100k/4600k and then 15 at 2700 for flowering again cost says 1 400 watt HID set would run cheaper or be dead even...... ( and yes i have over 25 CLF lights, at about 6-10 bucks a light you can do the math.....)

As to heat, with over 3000 watts 15 self ballast lights tearing up my grow room, it was more difficult to cool my area then it is now that i have switched over to flower and am using a 400 and a 150 watt, HPS lighting ...

I think if one wishes to use CFL they are great to a point, where until you find your self in my position, where it no longer stands to be any gains but more of losses due to the size of a grow and total costs...

Some real truth here...Flowering...the big other is the size of a grow, I found in order for the plants to grow with tight buds, and get a max yield i could not do more then just 2 plants, with the said setup i was using, and again thats where HID just puts a beating on CFLs ..... in terms of penatration and the amount of plants in the same space and yield vers cfls....

Having said all of this, if i would have known from the very start , i would have just got a few cfls, for seedlings and moved to hid from the begining....

This is just my feeling and my experence using cfls, hey if its a 1 plant grow in a closet , you can grow a great plant and it could only cost a few bucks all around and do a great overall job, but in a reality, on a scale of more then 1 plant, and to bring those or that plants to there full potential, there is just no use for CFLs except for getting the seedlings started.....

So i really think that there is a misconseption or a bit of a misleading info in regards to CLFs, thats my take on it, but then again when i was growing 2 of the most yummy smoke-able girls on the planet, i wasnt thinking about cost or this or that i was thinking , how many days till my big fat chubby girls were ready,......




-----------------------------------
Just in case , i have a sealed grow room with all the trimings, with enviroment controls, with incoming and outgoing exhaust and co2..... All my girls are in soil....and always will be....
 
ToucanSam

ToucanSam

Member
Hey everyone, I think theres is alot of very good information in this thread. I just want to add that you people should drop the tin foil and realize how easy it is to find mylar. just go to target or walmart and go to the camping section. there is a product called emergency blanket. For about $3 you get an entire blanket of mylar! silly people..tin foil..sheesh..
 
comtortablynumb24/7

comtortablynumb24/7

Member
long time indulger first time grower. i'm just a struggling college student who's tired of paying for a sack. i love CFLs and am trying my hand at some plain seeds from my last bag to see what works for me. i'll post another comment and maybe a pic of my progress in a week or so. peace!
 
B

bmxwood

Member
yes thank you alot the daylight and the reg cfls ive been wundering about for a while
ive been looking for the write cfl for flowering
 
R

rgl5440

Member
Mercy38 said:
First off, i enjoyed your article, but found a few things you can add, or seem to be not there maby do to having little real world data,

I really think there is a little misconseption on using CFL's to the greater extent... I believe there is a limit to it and or use....

The cons out way the pro's when it comes to cfls.....

Long story short, last year i found my outdoor area being compramized after many years of no worries, and lost all but 1, so i took and thus began my indoor growing ...... and like so many new to indoor found CFL able and ready for the task....

Since then I have run 2 successful grows using Just CFL's and although i found them to be very handy, there far from ideal, and during my current run, i have decided, to use CFL for the last time, (((except for future seedlings)))....


First in relation to lighting and the grow,
i was and just did a run using 15, 200 watt (rated 42 watts) CFL's at 4100k/4600k for a total of 3000 watts ( so thats 630kw per hour) and we have about 45000 lums spread in an area of 4x4 ,,,, I did this for veging but wiil have MH next time around,,,,,( I have 6 girls)

The truth, as i see it, is a few things, first Cost, as you can see i ran 630Kw per hr, running around 3000 watts, and only got around 45000 lums, which is not cheap, when you look at a MH or hps at 400 watts, (400 kw per hr, running at 50,000-53000 lums, you can see where you come to a point were CFL's no longer are convinent, or cheaper,,, and when you add the cost of 15 CFL at a color range of 4100k/4600k and then 15 at 2700 for flowering again cost says 1 400 watt HID set would run cheaper or be dead even...... ( and yes i have over 25 CLF lights, at about 6-10 bucks a light you can do the math.....)

As to heat, with over 3000 watts 15 self ballast lights tearing up my grow room, it was more difficult to cool my area then it is now that i have switched over to flower and am using a 400 and a 150 watt, HPS lighting ...

I think if one wishes to use CFL they are great to a point, where until you find your self in my position, where it no longer stands to be any gains but more of losses due to the size of a grow and total costs...

Some real truth here...Flowering...the big other is the size of a grow, I found in order for the plants to grow with tight buds, and get a max yield i could not do more then just 2 plants, with the said setup i was using, and again thats where HID just puts a beating on CFLs ..... in terms of penatration and the amount of plants in the same space and yield vers cfls....

Having said all of this, if i would have known from the very start , i would have just got a few cfls, for seedlings and moved to hid from the begining....

This is just my feeling and my experence using cfls, hey if its a 1 plant grow in a closet , you can grow a great plant and it could only cost a few bucks all around and do a great overall job, but in a reality, on a scale of more then 1 plant, and to bring those or that plants to there full potential, there is just no use for CFLs except for getting the seedlings started.....

So i really think that there is a misconseption or a bit of a misleading info in regards to CLFs, thats my take on it, but then again when i was growing 2 of the most yummy smoke-able girls on the planet, i wasnt thinking about cost or this or that i was thinking , how many days till my big fat chubby girls were ready,......




-----------------------------------
Just in case , i have a sealed grow room with all the trimings, with enviroment controls, with incoming and outgoing exhaust and co2..... All my girls are in soil....and always will be....
Click to expand...


Check your math, 15 x 42 watts= 630 watts. Over an hour thats .63 kw/hr (630/1000). So your cost is based on 453.6 Kw-hr per month.
15 x 4100 lumens =61,500 total lumens which you can place closer to the plants -since they are cooler after all. The light power decreases with the square of the distinace -close is a good thing,

400 watt @ 50,000 lumens compared to 630 watts /61,500 lumens plus closer to plants--CFLs seem like a good deal to me.
The larger 42 w CFLs generate more heat-- using more 26w bulbs would be better and gives more light distribution options above and around the plants.
CFLs are great for small grows and stealth.
 
P

pakynson

Member
Hi, I have a question about CFL bulbs:
I'm in the 7th week in vegetativ state (18/6), but from the start I used warm 2700k CFL buls, the plants are doing great, is it a problem? because in 2-4 weeks I'm going to swich to 12/12...
I found this thread a bit to late...
 
ManishWayz

ManishWayz

Active Member
I am building my first grow room that is going to be 5'w x 5'd x 6'h. I would like to know if I alternate the CFL bulbs as follows in the image would this work as enough light for all cycles? The lights will be on anadjustable chains to move up and down. The reson I ask is because I was told to use the math of 20w per sqft for my space (est. 500w).
CFL Setup.jpg
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top