Cheap lighting!

[altitudefarmer]

My electrician buddy set these up. The bulbs are 100w each; some cool white and some warm white. I was thinking of doing a few of these for some of my patient's micro grows. The numbers are incredible; I have yet to test them for flowering. They work extremely well for veg.

This fixture represents 1300w of fluorecscent light. It uses 120v standard outlet electricity, and pulls around 3 amps. It can be operated cheaper than 3 100w incandescents. With a power strip, you could operate 4 of these on a standard 15amp circuit. You can actually get 7200w of cfl lighting on a GFCI-protected 20 amp circuit...

Different configuration; 1200w.

These can be built for relatively cheap, especially when you compare them to HID lighting. Does anyone know whether or not they will produce good buds? I know of a dispensary that uses all t5s, scrog style, and their meds are good.

Another thing my buddy is offering is the plug-n-play power source for big lights. This unit can be plugged in to a stove/dryer 50amp/240v outlet. It then will power 8000w of HID lights, along with a GFCI-protected outlet. He also has an option that will control all the lights with a single 110v timer... Contact me if you're in CO and interested. I make nothing off this deal, but "Bob" is a great guy, and this option is fairly affordable.

Anyone with experience blooming in fluorescent lighting, please advise. About to test it out. Peace

 

[negative 1]

them there are some funky lookin handy dandy double duty dashboard duche kits lol. i'm intrigued by these though so will keep an eye on them for sure. interesting stuff

 

[DazedNconfussed]

interesting light setup, but dont you think a 1000 watt hps will work better, I mean they put off more heat, but hell im sure 13 100 watt CFL can put off some heat also, and with less light penitration....I bought my 1000 watt HPS off craigslist for $200, and it came with 2 new bulbs....

 

[CAPO]

no, no you read that wrong DnC.
Less than 300 watts with an equivalent of about 1300 watts.
Yes they are great for veg.
How much is he charging for the 8 lamp controller?

 

[altitudefarmer]

CAPO,
The 8-lamp power supply runs between $300-$400, depending on the length of cord you need. up to 25' is $300, 50'- $350. 75'- $400. That's simply because of the cost of the fat wire... He can also do 30amp supplies, etc.

D-n-C,
I already use HID lighting for my big garden. I will supplement corners, etc, with these. I am more interested in helping out those who can't spend $200 on 1000w of light, or don't have the electric, or don't have the space... They put off minimal heat- you can place your plants within 2-3" and not worry about burn... these are great for placing BETWEEN plants as well, to help the lower growth out. IMO, light "penetration" is not even a valid idea. If the light was strong enough to penetrate the top 4-6" of canopy, it would be called a laser :). Light "penetration" through a canopy is best achieved by multiple sources of light, not a single bulb. And i hate craigslist for any MMJ posting, just a bunch of trolls, haters, and cops, for the most part in my city.

 

[DazedNconfussed]

no, no you read that wrong DnC.
Less than 300 watts with an equivalent of about 1300 watts.
Yes they are great for veg.
How much is he charging for the 8 lamp controller?

yeah...I hate that equivelent stuff....I thought he meant 13 of those big 100 watt CFL's....

and altitudefarmer....sorry bro im medicated right now...i was thinking the cost of 13 big 100 watt cfl porch lights at like $25 each would cost more then what you could buy a used grow light....but heck I bet you could build that setup for under $50...nice....as for craigs list, around my area its great for buying grow equipment and even meds.....I have meant alot of great small time growers through it......

 

[CAPO]

ya those 100w cfl's throw off some heat, bro. personally I prefer HID and if you break those CFL's they are supposed to be like a HAZMAT danger! If some one wanted to get a lot of light cheaper it would definitely be something to look into.

Look outn everybody Dazed and Confused is getting medicated.LMAO! Bro your username is gotta be one of the best movies of all time. I just might have to go and watch it whilst I spin out some bubble.hehe

 

[zoeronerer]

hid are more efficient ...more lumens and less heat per watt ...these work in a pinch but are only cheaper to purchase not to operate...

 

[supasticky]

Those setups look killer I would love to get one of those.

CFL's work pretty well. The buds won't be nearly as big, but the quality of smoke is just as good as HID's. Bud density will be an issue too because you wont have any intensity on the buds because fluoro light isn't intense at all. My first plant I grew with 5 CFL's and the bud was very good. The strain was Blue Dream.

http://i257.invalid.com/albums/hh230/itschillbro/StewyFullandtaggedcopy.jpg

http://i257.invalid.com/albums/hh230/itschillbro/StewySingleandTaggedcopy.jpg

http://i257.invalid.com/albums/hh230/itschillbro/S6304086.jpg

The general structure of the plant is going to be kind of hard to maintain, but the only reason this plant got so big was because I didn't know much about LST at the time. As long as they tie down or do a scrog type system and keep the plants close to the light your patients should do fine.

I ended up getting a 1/2 Oz off of this plant. It was vegged for 6 weeks and flowered for 9 weeks.

-Supa

 

[altitudefarmer]

right on, guys, thanks for your input. I think we'll use these to get a couple newbies started. I knew there was a reason we hadn't all switched to cfl's already...LOL Peace

 

[convex]

Vanity strips can be found for 10 bucks at most hardware stores.
A couple of 6 lamp fixtures may be easier to deal with then the disco invention.

 

[4u2sm0ke]

Vanity strips can be found for 10 bucks at most hardware stores.
A couple of 6 lamp fixtures may be easier to deal with then the disco invention.

Yeah that ^^^^^


and with the wye conector you will also save on space..IMO..when you get to the disco ball..lol..funny shit..if ya did the research you will find that it will cost ya more and get less lumes with cfl vers a MH..just my thaughts..take care and be safe


:animbong:

 

[Malachi]

Looks like a couple of crazy CFL Octopuses (Octopi, lol) fighting over a cord. Haha. I am curious to see what kind of results you get. You should build like 10 and set them up for a vertical grow, that would be serious!

 

[altitudefarmer]

Looks like a couple of crazy CFL Octopuses (Octopi, lol) fighting over a cord. Haha. I am curious to see what kind of results you get. You should build like 10 and set them up for a vertical grow, that would be serious!

Hysterical! I actually was considering that, but after further research, I think my time and resources are better spent elsewhere for now... Maybe I'll set up a veg room that style...

Vanity strips can be found for 10 bucks at most hardware stores.
A couple of 6 lamp fixtures may be easier to deal with then the disco invention.

But I want my plants to get Saturday Night Fever...LOL GREAT IDEA, tho. i originally just wanted some supplemental lighting that I could place between plants, thus the config. Thanks for posting!

 

[Widowmaker]

Something to think about when choosing your light fixture is the distance from the lamp to the plant. CFL are cool so you can make up for lack of intensity by getting them very close. The intensity falls away very fast so distance is a big deal. It’s called the inverse square law, for example, if your light is working great at 3 inches away, when you double the distance to 6” you will have approximately 25% as much light as you did a 3”. At 12” you have 25% of the 25%, so as you can see there is allot of loss due to distance. The sun is so far away, millions and millions of miles away that to lose 75% of the brightness you would have to go millions and millions again, wish I could grow outside. So that bathroom strip light thing maybe a very good idea, depending on your plant layout.
:icon_spin:

 

[20north]

yea dont break clfs i broke one in my grow room and the small corner where it broke seems to make my tummy sick

 

[supasticky]

Does the vanity move though? I like shop lights. There are shop lights that come with 4 fixtures and some that come with two. You can put in T8 or T12 fluorescent lights that put out about 3200 watts per light. The light is spread out 4 feet though so make sure the walls are reflective and that those lights are like no more than 3 inches away from the plants. You have to move the lights up a lot, but for a new grower that will only help them get into the habit of checking out the plants and grow room every day.

-Supa

 

[convex]

Screw them to a 2x4 with chain to raise/lower.
6x23 watts @ 1600 lumens is 9600 lumens per strip and a lot more concentrated light than a T8/T12. A viable veg option for smaller closets.

 

[Donk Frog]

"Vanity strips can be found for 10 bucks at most hardware stores."
Yep, that what I use to veg
:banana1sv6:

 

[Beeronymous]

haha ,i have two 18 inch cabinet lights(flouro) i got from walmart for 13 bucks a piece.they work great till the plant gets to be about a foot tall then the distance thing kicks in,they work GREAT though.its funny because they're only 15 watts a piece.i cant post any pics theyre all too big