CFL Question.

[Laxpunker]

As most of you probably do not know, I've been growing outdoors for quite some time. I'm currently in the midst of a HPS grow. I'd like to keep some mothers, however it'd be impossible to divide the closet into a veg and flower chamber. I'm thinking of starting a "micro" grow of sorts in two very old, fairly tall speakers (4ft). Now clearly an HPS would be out of the question, so I'm looking into CFL's for the speakers.

I've read quite a few things on here, however none discuss exactly how you wire up CFL's. I understand they run on normal light fixtures, but my question is how to get that light fixture to connect to a power cord. Are there ballasts for CFL's? Or do you just splice a power cord onto a cord (if so would I ignore the copper ground wire?)? I don't mean to sound like a noob, however Home Depot is fairly far away and going there to hash it out myself seems like far to much work.

If theres a thread out there that already exlpains this please point me too it, I looked but couldn't find anything of the sort.

 

[bostrom155]

hey lax, how big are these speakers? Why do you say that a hps is out of the question. How many plants you gonna throw in. They make small hps's. Check out this site under ballists http://www.e-conolight.com/Product/EFamily.asp maybe a 70, but cfl's throw off alot of heat and with the hps, wire it so the ballist is out of the speaker.

 

[Laxpunker]

The speakers are about a 18" wide and 4'2" tall. I think it would just be too hot for a HPS, but this was before I was under the impression that CFL's threw off less heat. Each speaker will only have one plant in it, so I was thinking two CFL's two different spectrums per speaker box.

 

[bostrom155]

The speakers are about a 18" wide and 4'2" tall. I think it would just be too hot for a HPS, but this was before I was under the impression that CFL's threw off less heat. Each speaker will only have one plant in it, so I was thinking two CFL's two different spectrums per speaker box.

How deep, you could do a hps, you going to have to vent it anyway. Just cooltube a small 70 or 150 remote the ballist. Flowering with cfl's sucks, burning leaves, not knocking the cfl grower. love ya, do it a few times. But light penetration is better, you should scrog too.

 

[Laxpunker]

How deep, you could do a hps, you going to have to vent it anyway. Just cooltube a small 70 or 150 remote the ballist. Flowering with cfl's sucks, burning leaves, not knocking the cfl grower. love ya, do it a few times. But light penetration is better, you should scrog too.

Woah man, Im not thinking about flowering. I'd just like to keep a couple mothers alive to take cuttings off of. I already thought about venting, I'm thinking a passive vent on the bottom and perhaps two computer fans on the back.

 

[bostrom155]

Woah man, Im not thinking about flowering. I'd just like to keep a couple mothers alive to take cuttings off of. I already thought about venting, I'm thinking a passive vent on the bottom and perhaps two computer fans on the back.

Sorry man, then yea, your good, they have 45 watters too. Guess I got flowering on the brain, as always

 

[Laxpunker]

Sorry man, then yea, your good, they have 45 watters too. Guess I got flowering on the brain, as always

It's all good. However I still have a question, CFL's just screw into normal sockets, so my question is how do I wire a traditional ceiling mount up to a power chord?

 

[Guest]

I use 2 of the $10 CFL's which are 42W each. You can buy them at any home department store such as Home Depot. Like I said they are $10 + tax. Those are what I use to veg and keep mothers alive. I use to use 2 of the 42w's and a few of the 23w ones. But I haven't noticed any difference in growth from taking away the smaller ones and just using the 2, 42W CFLs.

Heres what I did to use the CFL's.

 

[bostrom155]

the fixture will have a black wire and a white wire. Cut an extension cord keeping the plug end the long piece. the extension cord will be the same color or the cheap ones will have ridges on one side of the wire cover and the other is smooth, smooth is same as black, ridged is white.

 

[Laxpunker]

Oh i know how to splice, but the thing is ceiling fixtures have a ground, neutral, and hot wire...or at least older ones do/did. So I ignore the ground wire?

 

[bostrom155]

Oh i know how to splice, but the thing is ceiling fixtures have a ground, neutral, and hot wire...or at least older ones do/did. So I ignore the ground wire?

Yes

 

[Laxpunker]

Yes

Thanks man. In my paranoia induced state I wanted to make sure I didn't burn my house down. I know the hazards of not grounding electronics in cars, so I'm just a bit standoffish about things of that nature.

I swear to god I'm not retarded...though I may be slowly smoking myself there.

 

[Sauce]

This thread is confusing; you shouldn't need to wire anything. The ballast on a cfl is on the lightbulb base, not remote. You simply get a light socket with cord and reflector ($5 at Wal Mart or Home Depot) and plug the cfl in. If you want to put multiple lights on one socket get a Y splitter. Just make sure that you don't put more watts on the socket than it can handle. The $5 light socket I got is rated at 150w.

 

[Guest]

Hey Laxpunker,

Check out my growbox design using CFL's. Hope it gives you some ideas for your speakers.

http://www.icmag.com/ic/showthread.php?t=31605

Our Microgrow area is starting to get active. Check out some of the threads. You'll find guys putting lights and fans in just about anything!