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Can you grow with cold cathode computer lighting?
- Thread starter ScrubNinja
- Start date
Thanks again. I looked at the pic and links and can't work out what the razors are for. Do you cut a slit, then place two razors pushed together in the slit so there's a tiny gap you look through between the razors? I will google it anyway bro, you've given me enough info to get started 
Edit: Haha no worries Huggie. By the way the HID kits would be cool. My friend ordered some to try but they never turned up.....ebay
Edit: Haha no worries Huggie. By the way the HID kits would be cool. My friend ordered some to try but they never turned up.....ebay
W
WTA
I have an HID that will be going into a case here next week. I'll let you all know how well it turns out.
That would be great WTA, cheers. I had a bit of a mess about with my current lights and a cd. It's very interesting but I need to read what to look for better. These both look the same or similar to me. Maybe a bit more purple/uv on the daylight cfl? They did look more different in person but I'm high, it was fun.
I should add that the room wasn't pitch black, but fairly dark with daylight leaking in.
Also, did someone say....high pod?
I could easily set it all up in this. Total height is just over 40cm. I am thinking about adding a very small wattage CFL to round out the spectrums, and this would be a very efficient way to add that (cfl vertical in centre). Thoughts?
I should add that the room wasn't pitch black, but fairly dark with daylight leaking in.
Also, did someone say....high pod?
I could easily set it all up in this. Total height is just over 40cm. I am thinking about adding a very small wattage CFL to round out the spectrums, and this would be a very efficient way to add that (cfl vertical in centre). Thoughts?
DonkeyPunch
Member
Not a helpful post, because I know nothing at all about these lights, but for some reason I am just picturing these rings placed around a lolipop/budsicle, like a belt. One or two per plant, in some futuristic looking grow...
LOL
I've wanted to do it for a long time with the circular fluoros! It's just such a hassle finding the ballasts etc, but they are larger and perfect for growing I reckon. They're over a foot round I think.
The CCFLs would be good for budsicles like you say, but you wouldn't want them to get too tight.
...or would you?
hehe
canna cola
Member
Thanks ScrubNinja, I will check Bunnings next time I go there.Canna, if you have a Bunnings nearby, or probably similar stores, you can buy big sheets of real dimpled reflector material. If you have some solid well cut bits of hardwood and a rubber mallet or similar, you can achieve pretty good crisp bends. I have a large sheet and may use some for this project.
Do you use LEDs at the moment or just planning to? About the mirrors, I'm not sure if LED light behaves differently or something, but with any regular type of growlight at least, mirrors eat light. You will get less light than any other common reflector material (mylar, panda, flat white paint, even alfoil). Well, that is what I believe anyway. You seem pretty clued up so I may just be missing something.
Another alternative to scrog would be to hang the bulbs from the ceiling so they dangle through the plants. I may have mentioned that, I forget.
Nothing growing at the moment, haven't for years but will be starting again soon due to medical needs from injuries even though we don't have MMJ laws downunder.
I have seen something mentioned about mirrors eating light but have not researched it, I can't see how that is supposed to work though, I can see my reflection in a mirror but not in flat white paint or panda plastic so how can paint or plastic be better at reflecting light?
Nice idea hanging the CCFLs through the plants, help the inner buds to form properly and get more solid.
I had the same idea as you about the circular fluros and when I saw that headlight CCFL kit I thought the same.
Actually that is probably the best way to go about CCFL growing, a box or cabinet with, for example 3 x 3 plants done this way would mean a fair bit of the light not travelling towards the plant that the CCFL is surrounding would contribute to the other plants and vice versa.
This would scale up nicely.
Tending to the plants would be more difficult but you could make a frame for each plants light rings that would make them easy to remove.
I looked it up and there are a few threads on other weed sites about it. Seems some people say it does eat light, some say it doesn't, some say it causes hotspots... so I dunno now. On my cab thread we discussed reflector materials and I think something shiny, like mylar or probably a mirror, is going to reflect heat and light (and maybe cause hotspots), whereas a panda coated or flat white reflector light without so much heat. Well, that's the conclusion I came to anyway.
I was trying to work out a way to scale up PLLs well, like for a whole room, and I thought of a grid of plants, with 55w PLLs hanging vertically at each grid point, so each plant would be surrounded by 4 x 55watts
That's probably overkill so your "tri" idea would work well with that. In a way, ccfl will be a cheap easy way for me to test various lighting configurations.Right now I'm really liking the high pod clone idea! I switch plans a lot.
I already have that container and it's cut up suspiciously so I can't use it for anything else. I worked out if I use 12 bulbs around the circumference, there will be a bulb every 6.5cm or 2.5". With the bulbs being approx 1cm thick, this would give me a 5.5cm actual gap between bulbs. If I worked that out right.So following in one rotation, I'd have
BRRWRRBRRWRR
W = White of course
And the 2 short orange bulbs would be located on the roof, either side of the fan.
Wow! nice to see so many people putting time into this ccfl business! 
Scrubninja, I put the 2 razor blades edge to edge, they are my slit. I could have just lined up 2 pieces of cardboard or whatever. I figured the blades would be a more durable, finer edge. *edit: DOH I realized the CD slipped alittle when I took the picture of the scope! The edge of the CD normally lines up with the edge of the tube for a better viewing area, so that the center hole of the cd isn't part of the viewing area.
If you look at my scope you can see how I lined up the cd, it's kind of centered ya know? You need the curves of the cd to be somewhat parallel to the incoming light. CDs are alllmost prefect to use, except for the curvature of the rings in the disk. That's why the plain CD won't work as well as if you have the light come through the slit first making the beam of light to a finer point. You're pictures capture the colors well, but the way they blend together towards the center of the CD it's hard to see the full wavelengths.
Wow this is hard to explain in words lol. (below)In your first picture, of the 4k light, I compare that to the picture that I pulled of the web, you did a great job of capturing the wavelengths accurately up till the blue/aqua band..from there it begins to blurr to the center of the disk because the rings near the center of the cd are at...I guess sharper angles? If the disk was a little wider, or not curved, you would have seen the aqua/blue bands more clearly,then a gap, then the purple bands. the 2 spectrums (below)aren't exactly the same but they're close enough to give you an idea of what to look for.. It's probably easier to just look through a scope fer a while when yer all stoned, and lol hell yeh it's pretty fun. It's a trip seeing all those colors come from plain ole white.
I stretched them around a little to try to line them up kinda.
Those angeleyes look pretty cool, like plant halos lol. I like that idea.
mirrors: I always thought people say they "eat" light because of the glass on them. Think about it, if the light has to pass through the glass, reflect, and pass through the glass again that's a huge light loss. It would be like your light traveling through double pane glass then reflected off mylar before it hits it's target.
mini highpod: I've been staring at this pringles can in my room for 2 days now.
..ok I'm all out of typing energy. Sorry for crappy punctuation n' stuff.
Scrubninja, I put the 2 razor blades edge to edge, they are my slit. I could have just lined up 2 pieces of cardboard or whatever. I figured the blades would be a more durable, finer edge. *edit: DOH I realized the CD slipped alittle when I took the picture of the scope! The edge of the CD normally lines up with the edge of the tube for a better viewing area, so that the center hole of the cd isn't part of the viewing area.
If you look at my scope you can see how I lined up the cd, it's kind of centered ya know? You need the curves of the cd to be somewhat parallel to the incoming light. CDs are alllmost prefect to use, except for the curvature of the rings in the disk. That's why the plain CD won't work as well as if you have the light come through the slit first making the beam of light to a finer point. You're pictures capture the colors well, but the way they blend together towards the center of the CD it's hard to see the full wavelengths.
Wow this is hard to explain in words lol. (below)In your first picture, of the 4k light, I compare that to the picture that I pulled of the web, you did a great job of capturing the wavelengths accurately up till the blue/aqua band..from there it begins to blurr to the center of the disk because the rings near the center of the cd are at...I guess sharper angles? If the disk was a little wider, or not curved, you would have seen the aqua/blue bands more clearly,then a gap, then the purple bands. the 2 spectrums (below)aren't exactly the same but they're close enough to give you an idea of what to look for.. It's probably easier to just look through a scope fer a while when yer all stoned, and lol hell yeh it's pretty fun. It's a trip seeing all those colors come from plain ole white.
I stretched them around a little to try to line them up kinda.
Those angeleyes look pretty cool, like plant halos lol. I like that idea.
mirrors: I always thought people say they "eat" light because of the glass on them. Think about it, if the light has to pass through the glass, reflect, and pass through the glass again that's a huge light loss. It would be like your light traveling through double pane glass then reflected off mylar before it hits it's target.
mini highpod: I've been staring at this pringles can in my room for 2 days now.
..ok I'm all out of typing energy. Sorry for crappy punctuation n' stuff.
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Haha that's ok bro, very interesting stuff! Thanks for the explanation, I'm beginning to understand!
I read over the High-pod thread and I'm currently figuring out the hard stuff. I said it's 40cm high but it's more like 38cm with the slightly raised floor, and the way the lid indents down. I'm expecting the lights to be about 32cm? I have a tupperware plastic piece that I can use as a lid to raise the roof and be my carbon filter, I just gotta figure the finer details. I could use a pot but I want the bottom filled with coco.
Not sure whether to hang the ccfls or attach them to the wall, I will wait until I inspect the bulbs close up.
Not that they'd really need cooltubing, but imagine if you had a 100mm perspex tube (I do) and mounted all the bulbs inside the tube. "Cold tube"!
I will call this project the Highpod Mini
Oh and I agree about the mirrors.
Edit: just for kicks, and only for kicks, I did the numbers on the highly suspicious lumen conversion that is all we have to work with at this time.
0.6sq ft floorspace
20,064 lumens from 12 bulbs (snicker)
= 33440 lumens per square foot.
lol I didn't even include the two short orange bulbs.
I worked it out as about 34.2 watts (again not including the orange). And that equates to 57 watts per square foot. Not too shabby. I think this will kick serious ass.
I read over the High-pod thread and I'm currently figuring out the hard stuff. I said it's 40cm high but it's more like 38cm with the slightly raised floor, and the way the lid indents down. I'm expecting the lights to be about 32cm? I have a tupperware plastic piece that I can use as a lid to raise the roof and be my carbon filter, I just gotta figure the finer details. I could use a pot but I want the bottom filled with coco.
Not sure whether to hang the ccfls or attach them to the wall, I will wait until I inspect the bulbs close up.
Not that they'd really need cooltubing, but imagine if you had a 100mm perspex tube (I do) and mounted all the bulbs inside the tube. "Cold tube"!
I will call this project the Highpod Mini
Oh and I agree about the mirrors.
Edit: just for kicks, and only for kicks, I did the numbers on the highly suspicious lumen conversion that is all we have to work with at this time.
0.6sq ft floorspace
20,064 lumens from 12 bulbs (snicker)
= 33440 lumens per square foot.
lol
I didn't even include the two short orange bulbs.I worked it out as about 34.2 watts (again not including the orange). And that equates to 57 watts per square foot. Not too shabby. I think this will kick serious ass.
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The fan controller with lights and the dual set I ordered turned up. The fan controller doesn't work The Vantec (blue) and the Bitspower (white) both seem like reasonable quality bulbs. They don't have any coating and have the small return wires. The white one is actually pretty damn bright compared to what I was expecting. There is a visible difference in brightness between 1 and 2 bulbs on one inverter - about what you'd expect from the power consumption difference mentioned in the big cold cathode/pc lights link.
I bought two new pod candidates today, one is perfect for a CCFL only grow (approx 30 litres), the other is perfect for a CCFL/CFL grow (60 litre trash can). I'll update when I can. I'm hoping I can get this together real quick.
I also bought foil tape and I realised it's actually quite shiny on the sticky part. However, I don't think that trick would be a good idea on these as it'll only get reflected through the perspex tube again. Like the mirror thing Dragon just mentioned.
The Vantec (blue) and the Bitspower (white) both seem like reasonable quality bulbs. They don't have any coating and have the small return wires. The white one is actually pretty damn bright compared to what I was expecting. There is a visible difference in brightness between 1 and 2 bulbs on one inverter - about what you'd expect from the power consumption difference mentioned in the big cold cathode/pc lights link. I bought two new pod candidates today, one is perfect for a CCFL only grow (approx 30 litres), the other is perfect for a CCFL/CFL grow (60 litre trash can). I'll update when I can. I'm hoping I can get this together real quick.
I also bought foil tape and I realised it's actually quite shiny on the sticky part. However, I don't think that trick would be a good idea on these as it'll only get reflected through the perspex tube again. Like the mirror thing Dragon just mentioned.
Actually I think it was the box. Here it is:
5.5mA (2 lamps)
6mA (1 lamp)
Here are both bulbs
Here are several pics and I think it's a good indication of how bright it is. I'm pretty impressed.
23w daylight CFL + 55w 4000k PLLs
VS.
~3w of trichome exploding CCFL power.
Stared at up very close to your eye, it's enough to impair your vision for a while. The inverter box rattles but otherwise pretty happy with 'em. I may have to buy a couple of 20cm reds to allow for an intake vent. I could drill a band of small holes all the way around the bottom and stick a band of black aquarium foam around the outside to sort of block the light. The band of holes would let air rush in and flow over the bottom part of the bulbs.
hmm.
hmm.
Lookin good scrub, do have the same inverters as me? I don't notice any sound from them at all.
Are you sure your fan controller is broken? I know you're a smart guy and I don't mean to insult your intelligence or anything, but you know the yellow fan wire has something to do with the speed control right? I'm sure you know alot more about fans then I do
good news, I got my inverters today!! I thought I would be waiting a while, but it turn out they just made a mistake or something. I'm not sure exactly what happened, but it's ok with me.
Only thing is, lol I don't know how to hook them up! there's normal out puts that the ccfls plug directly into, but I'm not sure where or which plugs exactally I need to plug into to power them up, there's a 6 pin input, I'm thinking some of the pins are to connect dimmer controls or a on/off switch.
Here's how the pins are labeled.
1.+12V
2.GND
3.Enable
4.LOGIC HI
5.VCNTL
6.PWM OUT
?? do I need jumpers on the connects I'm not using? I only plan to hook up the 2 +/- wires, these 2 should plug into #1 and #2? or #1 and #6?
here's a link to the pdf spec sheet.
Can anyone help? I bought an extra inverter, but I'm nervous messing with them. I have plenty of old plugs and connectors from old pc's. I opened up one of the original inverters and there's, of course, only the 2 pin connection.
anyone have any suggestions/advice before I start tinkering?
hmm.
Lookin good scrub, do have the same inverters as me? I don't notice any sound from them at all.
Are you sure your fan controller is broken? I know you're a smart guy and I don't mean to insult your intelligence or anything, but you know the yellow fan wire has something to do with the speed control right? I'm sure you know alot more about fans then I do
good news, I got my inverters today!! I thought I would be waiting a while, but it turn out they just made a mistake or something. I'm not sure exactly what happened, but it's ok with me.
Only thing is, lol I don't know how to hook them up! there's normal out puts that the ccfls plug directly into, but I'm not sure where or which plugs exactally I need to plug into to power them up, there's a 6 pin input, I'm thinking some of the pins are to connect dimmer controls or a on/off switch.
Here's how the pins are labeled.
1.+12V
2.GND
3.Enable
4.LOGIC HI
5.VCNTL
6.PWM OUT
?? do I need jumpers on the connects I'm not using? I only plan to hook up the 2 +/- wires, these 2 should plug into #1 and #2? or #1 and #6?
here's a link to the pdf spec sheet.
Can anyone help? I bought an extra inverter, but I'm nervous messing with them. I have plenty of old plugs and connectors from old pc's. I opened up one of the original inverters and there's, of course, only the 2 pin connection.
anyone have any suggestions/advice before I start tinkering?
Yeah I'm pretty sure the fan/light controller is DOA but I'll try again just in case, it's very simple connections. I hooked it up as per directions to a 3amp supply etc. Sucks
I have nooo idea about your thing. I hope someone can help. Otherwise, they seem pretty sturdy and hard to break so... I reckon it'd be #1&2. I think the PWM and Vcontrol stuff is for non static use - ie volume controlled? PWM from my knowledge is like a speed control but instead of traditional ways, it shoots the jigawatts at different speeds.
Slow - . . . . . . .
Fast - ............
Yeah I'm not much help sorry
All my lights turned up now! My inverters are black boxes (the new ones I looked at don't rattle) and I sure didn't notice any sound.
All I need to know now is how many tubes can I run off a 3amp 12v power supply? I don't have a PSU yet. Would that run 12, 13 bulbs?
Edit: The red is very pink
The orange is very yellow and warm...sorta like a 4000k cfl or so.
Some inverters rattle, some don't
There are a lot of colours mentioned on the nice printed boxes of the short oranges.
All the reds came in a simpler plainer cardboard box with simple text. The others came in nice boxes but don't mention the colour choices.
Hmmm! I was thinking, maybe the speed controller is dependent on the other voltage besides 12v that comes from a PSU? Now I have to pull down my computer, great.
Edit: YEAH! I got the speed controller working, I was right! And my computer is a pretty cool grow case into the bargain. I've never seen a door mechanism like this. One thumbscrew holds the top panel on, then when that's removed, the sides clip off and it's really easy to light-proof.
I have nooo idea about your thing. I hope someone can help. Otherwise, they seem pretty sturdy and hard to break so... I reckon it'd be #1&2. I think the PWM and Vcontrol stuff is for non static use - ie volume controlled? PWM from my knowledge is like a speed control but instead of traditional ways, it shoots the jigawatts at different speeds.
Slow - . . . . . . .
Fast - ............
Yeah I'm not much help sorry
All my lights turned up now!
My inverters are black boxes (the new ones I looked at don't rattle) and I sure didn't notice any sound.All I need to know now is how many tubes can I run off a 3amp 12v power supply? I don't have a PSU yet. Would that run 12, 13 bulbs?
Edit: The red is very pink
The orange is very yellow and warm...sorta like a 4000k cfl or so.
Some inverters rattle, some don't
There are a lot of colours mentioned on the nice printed boxes of the short oranges.
- white
- blue
- red
- green
- yellow
- purple
- UV
- orange
- deep blue
- deep red
- deep green
All the reds came in a simpler plainer cardboard box with simple text. The others came in nice boxes but don't mention the colour choices.
Hmmm! I was thinking, maybe the speed controller is dependent on the other voltage besides 12v that comes from a PSU? Now I have to pull down my computer, great.
Edit: YEAH! I got the speed controller working, I was right! And my computer is a pretty cool grow case into the bargain.
I've never seen a door mechanism like this. One thumbscrew holds the top panel on, then when that's removed, the sides clip off and it's really easy to light-proof.
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Well me and a friend worked on a billion different wiring configurations and had no luck with the inverter today.
What did you do to the speed controller to get it to work? Did you use a PC power supply to get the 5v? I think the problem I was having had something to do with the 5v line....I dunno, I'm tired of thinking about it for a while.
I'm just planning on using the regular inverters for now, I'm not sure if I'll ever figure out the other ones.
I might have to put this on hold for a few weeks due to some bug problems in my main box, I was just gonna rotate the pc plants into there but, omg wtf are leaf miners?
Answer: spidermites on crack.
I'd trade mites for these things anyday. I have to break up my perpetual to sterilize everything, it fucking sucks. In the mean time I'll probably test these in a makeshift veg setup or something.
What did you do to the speed controller to get it to work? Did you use a PC power supply to get the 5v? I think the problem I was having had something to do with the 5v line....I dunno, I'm tired of thinking about it for a while.
I'm just planning on using the regular inverters for now, I'm not sure if I'll ever figure out the other ones.
I might have to put this on hold for a few weeks due to some bug problems in my main box, I was just gonna rotate the pc plants into there but, omg wtf are leaf miners?
Answer: spidermites on crack.
I'd trade mites for these things anyday. I have to break up my perpetual to sterilize everything, it fucking sucks. In the mean time I'll probably test these in a makeshift veg setup or something.
Highpod Mini
Highpod Mini
Ah damn, that sounds terrible man. Good luck with that!
Yes, the fan control just needed the other voltage as well, I assume...it worked fine as soon as I hooked it up to my running desktop's molexes. I got it to control some Delta fans which are pretty loud but it works great!! It says in the manual not to use it with pre-adjustable fans, only one speed fans, but I'm pretty sure it would take both, especially something like the Thermaltakes which have a jumper on the fan. A quality bit of kit and only $25aud including the blue cathodes. The same store sells dual cathode kits for $19aud.
But forget that noise... smoke a fat one and space out to this
Sorry I only had a tomato plant at hand The walls are coated with mylar tape (I thought it would block all the light but halfway through, I looked through it outside and it's see thru :/ Very reflective though. I put it on my head like a helmet and it's a trippy experience.
Then I unpacked it all and plugged it all in. My fingers are aching with molex pains! A lot of wiring is going to have to be shortened and I'll make it very neat. There's even more you can't see!
The foam in the bottom of the boxes could be good for the intake foam. I won't be doing my intake louvers because it's gonna be essential to have circumferential airflow. It gets slightly toasty in there with all the mylar. I'm thinking a small, high cfm on the inside tilted up to encourage a vortex spinning around so it runs over the bulbs.
And a bonus pic of why you should filter your intakes
Highpod Mini
Ah damn, that sounds terrible man. Good luck with that!
Yes, the fan control just needed the other voltage as well, I assume...it worked fine as soon as I hooked it up to my running desktop's molexes. I got it to control some Delta fans which are pretty loud but it works great!! It says in the manual not to use it with pre-adjustable fans, only one speed fans, but I'm pretty sure it would take both, especially something like the Thermaltakes which have a jumper on the fan. A quality bit of kit and only $25aud including the blue cathodes. The same store sells dual cathode kits for $19aud.
But forget that noise... smoke a fat one and space out to this
Sorry I only had a tomato plant at hand
The walls are coated with mylar tape (I thought it would block all the light but halfway through, I looked through it outside and it's see thru :/ Very reflective though. I put it on my head like a helmet and it's a trippy experience. Then I unpacked it all and plugged it all in. My fingers are aching with molex pains! A lot of wiring is going to have to be shortened and I'll make it very neat. There's even more you can't see!
The foam in the bottom of the boxes could be good for the intake foam. I won't be doing my intake louvers because it's gonna be essential to have circumferential airflow. It gets slightly toasty in there with all the mylar. I'm thinking a small, high cfm on the inside tilted up to encourage a vortex spinning around so it runs over the bulbs.
And a bonus pic of why you should filter your intakes
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J
Jebus11
Watch out bro they might get your fingerprints from that wall of dust lol!
Naw, I had to clean it, man this whole venture is nothing but work!
Check this out:
On the left is a blue bulb, on the right is red.
Check this out:
On the left is a blue bulb, on the right is red.
Haha cheers bro, it's pretty incredible to play with. I feel like an astronaut too, flipping all those switches, powering up for takeoff I want to start using these for mood lighting and accenting in my house. I plugged in the UV later and looked at it up against the nm scale on my screen. I think it's UV-A. I also think that nm scale I posted earlier may be wrong? (inaccurate numbering)
Well, I had to unplug every goddamn bulb and pack it all up because my insulation may be happening this week. Can't have grow shit lying around, and besides, I have to pick up all this other grow stuff that's lying around.
So this will be continued as soon as that's all dealt with. Thanks for reading.
Oh, does anyone know if anything can be ascertained from the heart shape? Is that how far it penetrates perhaps? Or is it simply where some reflected light rays cross and nothing more?
I want to start using these for mood lighting and accenting in my house. I plugged in the UV later and looked at it up against the nm scale on my screen. I think it's UV-A. I also think that nm scale I posted earlier may be wrong? (inaccurate numbering)Well, I had to unplug every goddamn bulb and pack it all up because my insulation may be happening this week. Can't have grow shit lying around, and besides, I have to pick up all this other grow stuff that's lying around.
So this will be continued as soon as that's all dealt with. Thanks for reading.
Oh, does anyone know if anything can be ascertained from the heart shape? Is that how far it penetrates perhaps? Or is it simply where some reflected light rays cross and nothing more?
