Any advice about these floros i've been given?

[Bond]

I've just picked up a load of old floro shop lights and i'm wondering if i can mod them a little to add additional lighting to my veg room.

Each unit contains 4 x 18w fluoresent tubes tubes that are about 2ft long. Heres some pics:











I was thinking about moving the starters to the other side and adding another 4 tubes in each case. Then bolting 2 complete units together to give me 1 unit with 8 tubes in each half....seemed like nice additional lighting for my veg room.

I'm not sure which type of light these shop lights give out, is it warm white or the more bluey cool type??

are they suitable for using at all?

Any suggestions you have much appreciated.

 

[blackone]

Those are 3500K lights - probably ok for vegging but since they're old the lumens may have dropped a fair bit. I would get some new ones - 840(4100K) or 865(6500K).

 

[hedpi]

those are very low in lumen, and the only thing that heats up is the ballast.
you could get them closer together and make a clone/seedling/germing zone, for veg i think they wouldn't give you enough grow, but yeah they work..
Or you could put them on the sidewalls, to promote sidegrowth.
I don't see where they say the kelvin rating, but 2000-3000 is warm white, 5000-7000 is cool white.

They are suitable for using.. of course But don't expect any miracles with old lights with low lumens!

 

[Guest]

Blackone and Hedpi are on point. For a grow to come out right, start right and while it can be done frugally it is hard to get good yields on the cheap unless you walked into a bargain on decent equipment. LIGHT is MIGHT.

In the colonies we have yard sales during good weather---------- when the skies are fair have one and use the Guineas towards new or used (not too used)equipment that is consistent with growing Ganja.

Get off on the right foot and you will embark on a journey that is thoroughly enjoyable start to finish............. if you don't, a quality finish is unlikely, if even at all, and the problems in the interim will frustrate.

Have fun,

Ty-Stik

 

[Bond]

These were all free and i thought i may be able to use them as additional lighting only. I may use a couple of them for additional side lighting in my mother cab, they are about the right size to cover 1 side nicely. I'll have a go at modding them to hold 8 tubes in each one i reckon.

If i was to replace the bulbs am i limited to the same as is already in there or can i go to something like "865(6500K)" as blackone mentioned without changing the ballast or capacitor?

Any ideas how much a tube these 6500k are?

 

[blackone]

Yeah as long as it's an 18W it's gonna be fine.
I don't know prices in the UK, but you should probably be able to get them for 4-5 euro.
535, 827, 840 and 865 are color codes. 827 is the most available color followed by 840 (I believe 840 is also referred to as color 33). 865 might be hard to source unless from a growshop.

The first digit refers to the quality of the light spectrum, where 10 is sunlight. The second 2 digits means Kelvin/100. So a 535 means its spectrum is poor for lighting purposes because of poor color rendition - but that doesn't mean that the spectrum is necessarily bad for plants.

 

[Bond]

Thanks for the help, much appreciated.

I've found these these, if i replace the old bulbs with these one will it be more efficient?

 

[Bond]

Anyone care to comment on these tubes i found? If they are suitable i'd like to get some ordered and in use asap, but i don't wanna buy them if they aint gonna work.

 

[hedpi]

yeah it sure will, plus you get to keep the old ones for spares if you have a mishap.
good luck

 

[Microwido]

I would reccomend you get these

T5 6700k 54w

Cheers

 

[Guest]

Ditto's on that Microwido---------------

TyStik

 

[Bond]

Those ones won't plug right into the ballasts i've got though will they?

I'm looking for some tubes to plug into what i already have, so i think i need somat thats only 18w and 2ft long.

They do look good though, may well get hold of some to use as primary (veg only) lighting.