CFL Light Tutorial

Lil Neutrino said:
Now with a reflector hood! :cheer:

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Looks good, looks very good! Is that WHITE poster board?
 
That's not poster board, it's just the underside of the hood painted white with a flat white spray paint...that second photo definitely makes it look like poster board though. The can said not to use on galvanized metal or in any areas where temps will exceed 200F but seems to have worked just fine.

I have seen that list before too which is why I didn't hesitate too long before painting it flat white...I figured that galvanized metal does not reflect light as well as flat paint but wasn't positive.
 
And all those options are in the 90%+ range or reflectivity. There is one other option that falls somewhere along the line. Panda film (aka Black and white) provide excellent reflectivity, is waterproof and easy to work with.

Personally, I painted the closet flat white and then stapled Panda film to the floor and walls most but not all the way up. The panda film on the floor has made after grow clean-ups a breeze and if I spill some water during a res change it's no big deal.
 
Galv paint.....make sure you paint it outdoors....nasty stuff.

However in thinking about things that reflect light well...a street sign crossed my mind. There is some type of tape over the metal. And it does reflect. And the metal is alum. I am not advocating the stealing of street signs....but I'd understand if it was for my plants.

I am sure someone out there has done this. Wondering how it worked.
 
Lil Neutrino said:
That's not poster board, it's just the underside of the hood painted white with a flat white spray paint...that second photo definitely makes it look like poster board though. The can said not to use on galvanized metal or in any areas where temps will exceed 200F but seems to have worked just fine.

I have seen that list before too which is why I didn't hesitate too long before painting it flat white...I figured that galvanized metal does not reflect light as well as flat light but wasn't positive.
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I agree with you on the flat white paint and the galvanized metal. I am seeing a lot of white and black plastic film used, and some white plastic drawer liners used too.
 
Since we are on the subject of reflectivity, I have a question. We all know the loss of lumens with distance and the inverse square law. Since plants use of light is not measured in lumens but in PAR or PPF, does anyone know if the amount of loss of lumens correlates with PAR or PPF? (It may be PFF), I read about it in Setting Suns LED journal and don't have a good understanding of these values yet. time to research and learn what I can! :peace:
 
origamijoint said:
Galv paint.....make sure you paint it outdoors....nasty stuff.
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Galvanized paint or galvanized metal? And yeah, I did paint it outside...at 25F or so, but I'd paint a little bit, bring it in to stay warm and let it dry (with proper ventilation of course), repeat until finished lol.

However in thinking about things that reflect light well...a street sign crossed my mind. There is some type of tape over the metal. And it does reflect. And the metal is alum. I am not advocating the stealing of street signs....but I'd understand if it was for my plants.
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I don't think I'd understand even if it was for my plant as there are much cheaper alternatives ;) Those signs are not cheap and I personally don't like the idea of taxpayer money being spent to replace them due to "premature existence failure" :p An interesting thought though, street signs were one of the first things that popped in to my mind when I saw the Rustoleum reflective paint I posted above at the store. My question regarding the usefulness of the reflected light ties in with 420warrior's question about lumens vs PAR.

I am sure someone out there has done this. Wondering how it worked.
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I was going to rant about thieves but decided to just shut up for once lol :roorrip:

However I'm not sure admin would appreciate the discussion of stealing road signs for their reflective tape...unless someone knows where to purchase the material they use to increase the reflectivity of the sign? I'm sure some hardware stores would carry something very similar especially if they carry some paint that does the same thing. The question is if it reflects the proper light though...

420warrior said:
Since we are on the subject of reflectivity, I have a question. We all know the loss of lumens with distance and the inverse square law. Since plants use of light is not measured in lumens but in PAR or PPF, does anyone know if the amount of loss of lumens correlates with PAR or PPF? (It may be PFF), I read about it in Setting Suns LED journal and don't have a good understanding of these values yet. time to research and learn what I can! :peace:
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That is my question as well...I haven't had a chance to dig around much myself, let us know if you find anything out. I'll search around myself later on.

One way to think about lumens vs PAR is that lumens are based on the wavelengths that humans can see and PAR is based on the wavelengths that plants utilize best to synthesize energy. That's not exactly it but it gets you in the ballpark. Try this link I posted earlier on page five:

Light and Plants
 
Lil Neutrino said:
Now with a reflector hood! :cheer:

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Your variation on the theme is great! You have taken the design and tweaked it to your needs. That is exactly the intent of a fixture like this, build what you need. You assess your needs and make it work for your application.

I'd love to see some other variations too. Keep it up man, with the reflector you are cooking!
 
Cool Blitty...looks great! Might I make a paranoid suggestion? lol Change that rope to something inflammable asap, I've had some y-splitters get a bit hot when pulling a fair bit of juice through them. Not hot enough to catch something on fire I don't think but it's generally a good idea to keep flammable materials away from electrical connections. Nobody wants to get busted because they had a fire...plus it only gives ammo to the "other" side. Other than that it looks great!
 
I saw a dude, a young college student on limited funds grow a plant in his closet with ONE 42 watt 2700 K bulb. He was so proud and got a little over a half ounce of dried bud from his plant.

I remember reading this somewhere else from you Roseman, so I know I have enough to keep mine alive, and hopefully thrive!
 
Lil Neutrino said:
Cool Blitty...looks great! Might I make a paranoid suggestion? lol Change that rope to something inflammable asap, I've had some y-splitters get a bit hot when pulling a fair bit of juice through them. Not hot enough to catch something on fire I don't think but it's generally a good idea to keep flammable materials away from electrical connections. Nobody wants to get busted because they had a fire...plus it only gives ammo to the "other" side. Other than that it looks great!
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Thanks for the heads up Lil Neutrino! I will definitely consider your suggestion. :smokin:
 
Roseman said:
The Importance Of Mixed Lighting (Dual Spectrum with CFLs)

It is common knowledge that plants absorb warm and cool spectrum of light throughout its life. But I find that the importance of mixed lighting is understressed throughout the growing community.
During the flowering phase of a plants life, Warm light is better utilized to increase the size of a plant's buds. As CFL growers we tend to pile up on 2700k bulbs to increase our yield. In most cases, growers assume that warm light not only grants us larger buds, but insures that those buds are of connoisseur quality as well. This is not to say that one can not achieve a very successful crop off of pure warm spectrum 2700k lighting. We see it all the time as members of the Grow Forum Internet community. But as CFL growers, almost all of us demand a higher efficiency for our dollar.
So what does this mean? Clearly I'm trying to emphasize the necessity of cool lighting during the flowering phase of a plants life. But why? Well thats simple. As many of you may have heard or read before, Cool lighting (6500k) introduces a UVB spectrum that benefits the potency of the buds our plants are producing.
" The writer's own experience allow for a more specific conclusion: If the UVB photon is missing from the light stream(a), or the intensity as expressed in µW/cm2 falls below a certain level(b), the phytochemical process will not be completely energized with only UVA photons which are more penetrating but less energetic, and the harvested resin spheres will have mostly precursor compounds and not fully realized THC(c).

Now it would be completely unreasonable to ask a grower using a 1000watt HPS to switch out for MH lighting even though it produces quality of the weed. Sticking with blue spectrum lighting in a plants flowering phase would greatly decrease the size of the buds and the yield of the plant. People using high wattage systems tend to grow for cash crop. No single person really needs a pound of buds.
" "Metal halide produce the best potent buds with less lumens for the money but better smoke. After years of testing with some friends who did want to keep THEIR recipe (more hps) I found their buds to be harsh, full of CBD, make me eat and sleep. The blue spectrum will give you a final product that have everything included:taste without curing, potency and yield.
For lower wattage growers who grow for self use, and are not on a low budget, it would be beneficial to replace their HPS with an MH for the last week or two of budding. This is because the last weeks of a plants life before harvesting is dedicated to the ripening of the buds, and not the growth of the bud itself. It would not greatly impact the yield of the plant, but have a great effect on the quality. Interesting, but this only applies to a few amount of growers that fit this category.
As CFL growers, we would be fools to ignore such information. It is astonishing that so many fantastic growers to not utilize cool lighting even to a small supplemental degree. We owe it to our selves to scrounge up a few bucks in change and take a drive to Home Depot. Buy a pack of 6500k bulbs (26watts tend to be popular, 42s are better) and set them somewhere not far off from your buds. Don't let your hard work return with unsatisfaction. Added quality with increased quantity(more light). Mixed lighting should be standard knowledge, not found in the advanced cultivation section.

Side Note: Reptile lighting found at pet stores is not ideal for UVB lighting. Yes they do emit a high % of UVB than regular CFLs but they output less light and emit over 12x more UVA light than UVB light which can harm your plant.
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Hi I been reading your thread on lighting and It has been very beneficial and after reading all this wanted to ask one thing.

As you state above you say if your not on a budget to switch out my HPS for the last 2 weeks of flowering so as I have a switchable 1k ballast you think I should switch out the hps bulb to the MH bulb for the last 2 weeks but I also leech my plants for 2 weeks what I am wondering is do you also leech and if so do you use 2 weeks or 1 week? I am trying to determine if I should consider giving them a feeding of bloom ripener on the day I switch to MH then leech only on the final week do you think there will be any residual taste from the nutes?
 
Theanswerto1984is1776 said:
I really love that light!!!! Way to go FPF and Matagrowa! I decided that after I get my 600 HPS fired up, I am going to make me one of those with all my left over bulbs. I probably don't even need it, but I just love to build stuff! I guess I can use it vertically too and blast some buds from the side.Hmmmm............
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That idea he had would work awesome if you were to devise a way to put that framr of cfls around the outside of your HPS's reflector . As I dont have any way to put in a diagram Ill try to describe what I mean

Imagine your hps reflector then think of a way to attach a frame like the one above to the outside of the reflector as a surrounding trim of cfl bulbs by attaching the CFL bulbs to your HPS reflector you can then create an even distribution of light personally I Have bought 2 bright wing reflectors which are made to hold a 250w and 2 125w cfl bulbs so In my grow room I have a 1000w hps light with air cooled reflector and on each side I have a bright wing as I described above with a 250w 6500k bulb and 2 125w 4100k bulbs in each giving me a spectrum of light in grow room ranging from 2100k - 6500k
Or if you would like details of watts and kelvin per bulb the listing is as follows

1 1000w 2100k bulb
4 125w 4100k bulbs
2 250w 6500k bulbs

And as you all can see final total is 2000watts with spectrum ranging from 2100k-6500k
 

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