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FlipBox BY PowerBox??

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Strain Whore Extraordinaire!
Veteran
Got my flipbox by powerbox today,looks to be good quality. Hope it performs as good as its heavy cuz its pretty fuckin heavy thick steel case no wonder its a pretty penny for powerbox to get em made.
 

green_thumb...

Strain Whore Extraordinaire!
Veteran
So its obvious I'm a newb to flipboxes,do I have to plug a timer somewhere inbetween or does this thing flip on its own every 12hrs???
 

green_thumb...

Strain Whore Extraordinaire!
Veteran
So plug timer into wall trigger cord into timer ballast into slave? Then set timer to normal on at say 8am off 8pm or every 12hrs off then back on?? I'm confused
 

green_thumb...

Strain Whore Extraordinaire!
Veteran
Lol ok I think I got it,plug ballast power into wall so it runs 24/7,then plug trigger cord into timer for normal 12/12 timing I didn't understand that the trigger cords only purpose was an on/off switch. Will post results when I get it up.
 

Powerbox

New member
No wait!! Plug timer into wall, trigger into timer, ballast into separate power source. The slave outlet is for daisy-chaining multiple flipboxes to be triggered by one timer.
 

green_thumb...

Strain Whore Extraordinaire!
Veteran
Lol sweet thanks replying so quickly dude,I'm so excited to get it up and going,so if I wanted to stagger lights in the same room like the above pix I'd just set the trigger timer to flip every 2hrs or so?
 

green_thumb...

Strain Whore Extraordinaire!
Veteran
Effin A cotton!! I got her all set up gonna wait til the next on for my gals then I'll plug the ballast in they are asleep at the moment I figure I'll just leave one tent off for 24hrs then let the cycle go, what do you guys think? Think itl stress her into herming switching her 12on cycle to the opposite?
 

Avenger

Well-known member
Veteran
Thanks to Powerbox for being so open about their internal construction.

The point previously mentined about using one relay per ballast, so that you are switching both legs is paramount. Switching only one of the legs leaves the un-lit bulb in the live circuit.

The heavy duty power relay used instead of the cheaper cube relay is paramount.

Also using "SO" or STO" cord that is rated for 600 volts for the wiring from the ballast to the fliflop and then to the bulb is paramount. Do not compromise with standard utility extension cords made from "SJ" or "SJO" cord as it is only rated for 300 volts. All 600 watt and over HID's have open circuit voltages well over 300 volts.
 

green_thumb...

Strain Whore Extraordinaire!
Veteran
He's just trying to save people some money. Once you realize how simple a flip is, it seems like a waste of money to buy one. Unless of course you can't wire a basic receptacle or really like the pretty packaging.

Yeah when it comes to wiring I know RC and autos not too familiar with housing type wiring I fucked with a cieling fan once and got shocked with the main off so I try to stay away,but after opening this unit I see how easy it is to build and the case is pretty lol. I think I'll make my own from here on out and machine cases out of aluminium theyl be spiffier hehehe.
 

green_thumb...

Strain Whore Extraordinaire!
Veteran
Well as of 530 my first flip was initiated,I'm really stoked it worked like a charm,and with the ballast already goin when it flipped tent B's light fired instantly and was fully lit before Tent A's bulb was fully cooled. We'll see how she does
 

green_thumb...

Strain Whore Extraordinaire!
Veteran
So was wonderin just now,could I possibly hook 2 more of these units in place of its lamp outputs and kinda zigzag flipflop? Like if I had a bigger 2 rooms and have main flipbox hooked to ballast then another flipbox plugged into lamp A socket and another in lamp B socker then plug 2 hoods into each of the 2 added flipboxes and flip those every 2 hrs or so during the 12on cycle???
 
hook 2 more of these units in place of its lamp outputs and kinda zigzag flipflop? Like if I had a bigger 2 rooms and have main flipbox hooked to ballast then another flipbox plugged into lamp A socket and another in lamp B socker then plug 2 hoods into each of the 2 added flipboxes and flip those every 2 hrs or so during the 12on cycle???
sounds like 4k worth of grow only burning a constant 1kw. thats pretty damn cool.
You guys are talking like these are new though? Havent they been around for awhile?
I think this is the first single ballast flip box Ive seen and for sure the most affordable.
 

green_thumb...

Strain Whore Extraordinaire!
Veteran
Flipbox go boom,gayness good thing I was here for it too!! It fuckin shot sparks out of somehwhere and caused the ballast to stop and try to reignite the bulb I quickly uplugged everything found where the burnt smell was comin from. And took it out,I'm pretty dissapointed. What's up with that jeff??
 

green_thumb...

Strain Whore Extraordinaire!
Veteran
So got it apart and looks like the lamp A internal socket had a little meltdown and shot 1k worth of sparks pretty gay easy fix but don't wana go in myself to fix it
 

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