Easiest, Cheapest CFL fixture for side and overhead lighting

At Home Depot, Lowes, etc., pick up the following supplies:

As many pairs of socket adapters and bulbs as your budget allows, remembering one cord for each pair of other items that you can afford. Even if you only have 10 bucks, you can dramatically reduce internode length and increase plant vigour. 10 bucks will only get you enough light for 1 or maybe 2 plants' worth of SUPPLEMENTAL light. To get at least 3000 lumens/ft2, as is necessary for vegetative growth, you'll need around 2 lights per plant, and reflective material around your light and plant. This means that for 12 plants, you'll need at least 20 lights. Intimidating? It needn't be

Pictured is the cord you need, and the socket you need IN PAIRS, so the bulbs can hang opposite of one another and are thus balanced and stable, with the most-luminous sides of the bulb facing the plant, no matter where you hang it.

Plug a socket into both sides of the extension cord, so that the bulbs hang opposite one another with cord and sockets in-between. Shouldn't be too hard to figure out Screw two bulbs into the sockets. Daisy-chain the pairs of bulbs with that super handy third outlet on the extension cord. Make sure you plug in the next cord into the upper outlet, so that the next cord isn't touching the bulb or blocking the light to your plants.

Watch your plants explode!

nice im using the same stuff in your pick

Cannabis has a way of inspiring the human mind to be creative in creating the Cannabis.

how much does that small socket cost?

small socket shouldn't be more than $3 at small hardware stores like Ace, but at big retailers like Home Depot, I haven't seen them for higher than $2.50.

sweet pic

Thanks!

Hmmm...so why is this better then using a SurgeProtector and Y splitters?

he's just sayin this is super cheap..i believe. extension cords are a little less expensive than a surge protector..and you'd need more adapters....also if you add y splitters to the fixture setup he described....it would give you more bulbs( OBVIOUSLY) and a little more room and clearance so the cords wont touch bulbs....
surge protectors are very handy tho! why not use a surge protector and about 5 extension cords..15 adapters and splitters 30 bulbs..... maybe that would be a fire hazzard haha im doed.

it all comes down to the individual's overall growing technique; my style is a little different in that I veg my plants out to be about 2W x 2L x 4H and then tie them out to about 3W x 3Lx 3H, and thus need a large space for both flowering and vegging (my flower room is 8W x 10L x ~7H and my veg room is 8W x 4L x 6H).

when my plants are first beginning their lives in either room, they haven't filled out the space, so I have shadows in the corners that I need to light for my plants to grow at (what I hope to be) their full potential. otherwise, it's stems stretching out into the darkness.

so for me, I think a surge protector with Y splitters would be good for top lighting a small cabinet (like a clone room), but, for side-lighting, in rooms without HIDs, I think it's more efficient to use separate cords (since they're easily affordable) and YOU GET MORE ANGLES OF LIGHT.

since the CFLs don't penetrate hardly at all, the lights ideally come from spread-out angles.

In my mind, the best set-up would be at least 1 HID in the middle of the room, on top, with surge protector/Y splitters (6 bulbs at least) as side-lighting in each corner, since the Y angle of the bulbs would fit the 90 degree angles of the corners pretty well.

then set a pair of splitters (4 bulbs) hanging opposite from a 16 gauge cord as top lighting in those same dark corners.

here's a diagram made of smilies... ahahaha

KEY- =HID, =3 splitters in side-corner, =2 splitters on top-corner (- is just there so I could space out the diagram)

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This way, all corners have no shadows from the top down, AND from the sides out, and there's a great big Sun in the middle of the room.

You'd still be using about 2000 watts, have near-total coverage, and about 210,000 lumens, so 1/5 less than two 1k HPS,

but it would be COMING FROM 17 SEPARATE ANGLES (2 angles per corner on the sides, 2 per corner on top, 1 in the middle)

sorry about the caps and stuff, but these are the most important points

I wish I had the $$$ for all that stuff right now. I still need to buy the HID for my veg room.

no fire hazard, Goodro, as long as you hang everything properly; even with 40 bulbs, that's little more than 2/3 of what a SMALL 16 gauge cord can handle, if they're 27 watt bulbs (1080 watts=27 watts x 40 bulbs)

this also applies to the surge protector that these cords would be connected to (they're both rated at 15 amps ~1500 watts), so make sure you don't put more on the surge protector than you would put on one small cord (but always add up the wattage!!!!).


make sure the cords don't touch the bulbs like Goodro said

another thread got a kick out of these
View attachment 951123

i just use clamp lamps with y slpitters and take the reflectors off most of them....it was hard for me to find something to clamp on too well so this would work better and get good coverage
art"s diagram would work great...but this is the cfl forum so i say F HID;s! haha just playin

canniboss said:

another thread got a kick out of these
View attachment 951122View attachment 951123

Click to expand...

Hmm, materials? Cost? I love the look of these. lots of coverage and a good reflector hood would be excellent. have 1 for the top 4 for the sides!

D, those fixture set ups in Canni's pics are just y splitters on 120v socket adapters

for reflective hoods, I've seen someone take 4'' sheet metal ducting (the thick, inflexible kind) and open up the whole length so it was crescent shaped; then cut sections to about 1 foot and a half to cover the two bulbs hanging opposite of one another, then thread the cord up through a small hole you put into the finished section of ducting.

maybe you could use 6'' or 8'' ducting to cover the same set-up using Y splitters

just an electric cord, 2 splitters, 2 Y adapters, 8 bulbs (4@6500K, 4@2700K), zipties, wireclamps
$5 $12 $12 $30 $30 $5 $2

$96 per fixture X 2 = 192
40 for center fixture = 232
fan and filter $125 = 357

less than 400

Then you've got surge protectors, timers, and all sorts of other odds and ends. In short maybe think about getting a growshop light (they are really not that expensive)

i love these ideas there helping so much with my setup! im still puzzled on how many watts of CFLs i should use though...my space is 3 feet 7 inches tall 2 feet 5 inches wide and 1 foot 7 inches deep lined with mylar on the inside, and ill only be growing one plant....any suggestions?

the more, the better.

with CFLs, as long as the plant isn't being crowded or burnt, and you have a fan to control temperature, use 8 per plant and see how big your buds get!

make sure you side-light as well as top-light in that grow space

anything from 23 to 27 watts should suit your needs, but if you wanted, you could top-light with 42 watt bulbs and side-light with 23s

I wouldn't recommend 42s on the sides in that small of a space; your plant will feel crowded and not grow to its potential

if you can afford it, go with 42s on top and 23-27s on the side. if not, just go all 27s (or even 23s, but make sure you have at least 6 bulbs, if you want good growth).

awesome! thanks a lot i really appreciate your advice i cant wait to start!

I got exactly what you have pictured and it works really well!

I'm using 60watt and they fit nicely, but what about using 100w bulbs or greater? Will they also fit in that kind of adapter?

this is like my setup is..... i got a 400watt HID lamp up top, a cool/warm 48" flurosent at the back and 2 23watt CFLs with hood reflectors going up to the 2 different main colas...wasnt to expensive, maybe 30 bucks for the cfls plus the reflectors, and i had the flurosent and HID lamp as well