Diy Custom CFL Growlight

[Stoned4daze61]

All from Home Depot
-Piece of sheet metal for reflective hood
-2 or 3(more sturdy) pieces of flat iron steel to Drill & Bend (with hands) for sheet metal reflective hood
-Any # Fixture Vanity $ 10-25
-Y adapters for the bulbs $2.50/ea
-Extension Cable to wire fixture
-Chain to hang like 40 cents/ft
-Whatever CFL's you prefer (Personally I like the 27w's I'm using for $5 a 2-pack because they are 1750 lumens & im using 12 bulbs so that's about 21,000 lumens)
I had 6 clones Vegging under 3 CFL's & I moved them under this & it's a worlds difference & it takes up the same space the 3 clamp lights did

 

[Box of Rain]

I have heard that the majority of the light you want comes out of the sides of the bulb not the ends. Do you have enojgh room to turn the y's so that your bulbs are horizontal?

 

[Stoned4daze61]

With the Y's positioned how they are in the pics, I have 5 clones Vegging under it & they are doing great & could double the # easily if i needed. I have the top nodes of the plants in between each splitter so they get light from the sides & tip of the bulb. You cannot position the Y's horizontal, but i don't see how that would help, you would get the same footprint, if anything i would think you would get less supplemental lighting for the lower nodes. I'm currently only using 10 of the 12 bulbs in the light , mixed with 3 more cfls for supplemental lighting & they are lovin it ! My friend has 4 plants under 6 clamp cfls & mine have almost grown double the amount of his in the last week !

 

[SourSkunkD]

they look bomb bro, and theres an old sayin if it aint broke dnt fix it! keep it up cant wait to see the budz!!!!!

 

[Dashiznet]

Looking good and Stoned! Are you going to start a grow journal?

 

[jwb87]

Ive gotta come up with something like this for my Cab for supplemental lighting.

 

[Stoned4daze61]

Thanks, I think im going to buy a 4 fixture vanity w/y adapters & mount it on the wall for supplemental because this one is working so good. I was actually considering a journal, I think I might start one tomorrow. Here are a few pics of the ladies. Before I cut clones & pruned

Clones

After cutting clones & pruning a bit & transplanted into 3 Gallons (A Bit naked but who doesnt like some naked females )

And a few pics of my flowering girls outside (3 are clones & look very odd with their single leaves: Vanilla Kush, Headband, & Plat. OG)

 

[jwb87]

nice! id like to see how your next project comes out.

I want to make some kind of a light strip along the back wall of my cab, as I already have a T5 fixture over head, but once the girls start getting bigger I want something to get some light inbetween them.

Plants look great!

 

[ImWaldo]

Man those clones look funky! in a good way of course

 

[SourSkunkD]

And a few pics of my flowering girls outside (3 are clones & look very odd with their single leaves: Vanilla Kush, Headband, & Plat. OG)

[/QUOTE]

bro mine are doing this as well wtf is happening!?!?! ive been told its not transplanting them that stunting them, others think it just needs to grow out of it. some think its not alot of light penetration, i have no idea but i feel this is bad

if you find something out please lmk!

 

[Stoned4daze61]

I've done quite a bit of searching & the only thing I've come across several times is that the plant was flowering & started revegging. heres a thread https://https//www.marijuanapassion.com/forum/showthread.php?t=50206


Thread: Re-Veg Question

 

[Hammerjack]

What a great little project Stoned4daze61. I have been trying to figure out how to get the girls more light. This is PERFECT. I have plenty on top but want to get more in the sides. This is a great idea, I go to BJ (costco, Sams) and they have bargains like 8 CFL's for 10 bucks.

Thanks, gotta go get some fixtures. Back in a bit LOL.

 

[Stoned4daze61]

Here is another one I made because the first ones working so well.
They are sooo easy to make !! At first I was thinking of getting a 125w CFL w/hood for around $70 but it is only around 7,000 lumens with a small light footprint. I made my 12 cfl hood for less then $70 & it puts out 21,000 lumens with a 3'x2' footprint. This one below I just made today and it holds 8 bulbs which could easily be increased with more y socket adapters. It cost me around $40-$50 & puts out 14,000 lumens. Mind I am using 26w & 27w bulbs which are cheap and put out 1,750 lumens each. So why buy large CFL grow lights or T-5 fixtures for lots of $$$ you could DO IT YOURSELF & save $$ while having even MORE lumens. In my Veg closet I currently have my 12 bulb & 8 bulb diy fixtures which cost under $130 (thats shooting high) for both & together they put out 35,000 lumens from CFL's. They are working wonders in my 4'1/2 x 2' closet
Not to mention it is just straight up fun & self gratifying

 

[bluegil]

home depot sells a 68 watt cfl 2700k bulb they say is the same as a 300 watt hps. i use 4 in my flower box!! they work great

 

[Excited2start]

I did the math on this and you can use a 250 watt HPS and get 4000 more lumens and use about 100 less watts of power saving you ,oney. Just an idea to think about great build though.

 

[Stoned4daze61]

bluegil a 68w isn't even close to a 300w hps. Thats salespeople and their wattage equivalent bullshit.

Excited you are correct however you forget about the ballast. Tests show a 150w hps actually draws 199w.

Here are some HPS specs
70w(90Watts actual)- 6000Lumen 67Lumen/Watt
100w(124Watts actual)- 9500Lumen 76Lumen/Watt
150w(199Watts actual)- 15000Lumen 76Lumen/Watt
250w(300Watts actual)- 29000Lumen 97Lumen/Watt
400w(468Watts actual)- 50000Lumen 107Lumen/Watt
600w(660Watts actual)- 90000Lumen 136Lumen/Watt
1000w(1140Watts actual)- 140000Lumen 140Lumen/Watt

Cfl's aren't really meant for medium to larger grow ops, but they have very useful places like smaller grow ops, vegging, mothers, cloning, etc.
You aren't really getting anymore efficient unless you get a 250w hps or higher.

Keeping that in mind, I feel that cfls could be a wise option for many growers out there not wanting a large scale op or spending hundreds on an hps,ballast,hood, and fans/ducting to a/c your hood. I have a 150w hps, actually 199w, 16k lumens. With 8 cfls using 208w i can get 14k lumens. Yes on paper the more watts/less lumens looks bad. But think about the footprint, that 16k lumens from the hps was struggling to veg 2 healthy plants in my 2x4 tent. The 14k lumens of cfl had no problem vegging 3 or 4 plants and keeps the tent cooler.

If you don't a/c your hoods, you will not be able to use those valuable lumens we worked so hard for because it will force you to keep the light higher above the canpoy. My CFLs can be strung throughout the grow room and kept 1-4 inches away.

I look at it this way. HPS's should be air cooled. Thats major $$$ right there. Were talking bulbs,ballest,hoods,fans,ducting,etc

With just the $70 I spent on that 150w hps i never use. I could of built TWO of my 12 bulb fixtures. Can use daylight bulbs for veg and soft white for flowering or mixed spectrums.

I don't know, different strokes for different folks.
Don't get me wrong, you can't compete with those high watt hps's. But those aren't for everyone. Heres a great alternative. Or just a great veg/mother/supplemental fixture.
I've seen plenty of journals using halogens/floodlights/ or a cfl per plant, so if this helps any plants or growers I would feel like my time was well spent.

 

[NDERGROUND]

home depot sells a 68 watt cfl 2700k bulb they say is the same as a 300 watt hps. i use 4 in my flower box!! they work great

yeah i have a couple of those bulbs they work great, the plants love them in flower. very soft, warm light.

but they are nowhere near a 300w HPS output, i think you are looking at the watt equivalent of an incandescent bulb, which are probably the least efficient bulbs around. HPS are actually more efficient than fluorescent, for instance if you have 300 watts of CFL's you'd have the same or fewer lumens than a 250w HPS. metal halides are even more efficient. theres lots of info on these boards about the topic. its confusing to me that the more efficient bulbs kick out so much more heat, but that's what the data shows.

 

[Excited2start]

So even if a 250 watt draw 300 watts of electricity you still are going to save money. because the 12 27 watt cfls draw 324 watts with 4000 less lumens than the HPS bulb. you are still going to better efficiency from the HPS.
I have switched from using CFLS to a combination of a 70 watt HPS and a 70 watt MH for a total of 140 watts or by the scale you provided 180 watts with the ballast. I am getting 12100 lumens from these two bulb. the HPS is 6300 lumens and the MH is 5800 lumens. Before I switched to these lights I was using 245 watts of cfls and only getting 13460 lumens between all the bulbs I had in the box. They still generated a lot of heat and if my leaves or buds touched the lights the would leave burn marks on them.
With the HIDs the temperature in my grow space has dropped and I can keep the lights about 3 to 5 inches away from the plant.

 

[Stoned4daze61]

High Intensity Discharge (H.I.D.) bulbs including Metal Halide (MH) and High Pressure Sodium (HPS) emit light from a very small source - a two to four inch arc tube inside the bulb. The light is very intense and needs to be spread across the entire garden from this one small point of light. So, not matter how efficient the reflector, bulb, ballast, or power consumption, the light still has to travel a distance from the arc tube and across the garden losing light intensity along the way.

Even though you have 4,000 more lumens, your footprint for optimal coverage is very limited, meaning you have to rely on your hood to disperse the light in a larger, even footprint. One large light source is not necessarily as efficient as several smaller sources.

It varies on your growing style as well. I like to veg longer for fewer large plants. You want more light in flower if possible obviously since this is where most the magic happens. I would have trouble even vegging my plants with anything less than a 250w, hell I don't even know if the 250w would be adequate. I looked it up, and the optimal area coverage for a 250w is 2'x2'. That being said, a 250w would be cutting it close in my 2x4 tent. While I can string CFL's throughout and keep adding or subtracting bulbs for increased plants or to lower temp. Basically I'm saying CFL's are a cheaper alternative while still providing pretty good results and suit my needs perfectly at this point in time. I don't flower with cfls, I take advantage of the sun. But I do veg with daylight cfls and maybe will make an upgrade to a 600w mh sometime in the future.

How has your growth been since you made the change ? Efficiency can't just be determined by your extra lumens. I take into consideration, cost of initial purchase, cost to run lights/ventilation, and most importantly plant growth.

I have spent about $100 total if not less and can effectively Veg 12+ plants in 1 Gals. In order to do that with hps, I'd be looking at a cost I can't afford right now and I'm sure some others are in the same boat. Not saying cfls are game changers, Just very helpful tools that have their places.

 

[bluegil]

bluegil a 68w isn't even close to a 300w hps. Thats salespeople and their wattage equivalent bullshit.

Excited you are correct however you forget about the ballast. Tests show a 150w hps actually draws 199w.

Here are some HPS specs
70w(90Watts actual)- 6000Lumen 67Lumen/Watt
100w(124Watts actual)- 9500Lumen 76Lumen/Watt
150w(199Watts actual)- 15000Lumen 76Lumen/Watt
250w(300Watts actual)- 29000Lumen 97Lumen/Watt
400w(468Watts actual)- 50000Lumen 107Lumen/Watt
600w(660Watts actual)- 90000Lumen 136Lumen/Watt
1000w(1140Watts actual)- 140000Lumen 140Lumen/Watt

Cfl's aren't really meant for medium to larger grow ops, but they have very useful places like smaller grow ops, vegging, mothers, cloning, etc.
You aren't really getting anymore efficient unless you get a 250w hps or higher.

Keeping that in mind, I feel that cfls could be a wise option for many growers out there not wanting a large scale op or spending hundreds on an hps,ballast,hood, and fans/ducting to a/c your hood. I have a 150w hps, actually 199w, 16k lumens. With 8 cfls using 208w i can get 14k lumens. Yes on paper the more watts/less lumens looks bad. But think about the footprint, that 16k lumens from the hps was struggling to veg 2 healthy plants in my 2x4 tent. The 14k lumens of cfl had no problem vegging 3 or 4 plants and keeps the tent cooler.

If you don't a/c your hoods, you will not be able to use those valuable lumens we worked so hard for because it will force you to keep the light higher above the canpoy. My CFLs can be strung throughout the grow room and kept 1-4 inches away.

I look at it this way. HPS's should be air cooled. Thats major $$$ right there. Were talking bulbs,ballest,hoods,fans,ducting,etc

With just the $70 I spent on that 150w hps i never use. I could of built TWO of my 12 bulb fixtures. Can use daylight bulbs for veg and soft white for flowering or mixed spectrums.

I don't know, different strokes for different folks.
Don't get me wrong, you can't compete with those high watt hps's. But those aren't for everyone. Heres a great alternative. Or just a great veg/mother/supplemental fixture.
I've seen plenty of journals using halogens/floodlights/ or a cfl per plant, so if this helps any plants or growers I would feel like my time was well spent.

i was going off what i thought the box said!! it dose say i get 4800 lummens per bulb,so that 19200 lummens in a 2 by 3 by 5 space. i dont really know shit about all the aspects of different lights.i just know i have no way to control that kind of heat,so cfls is it. i think i get great little buds with steller highs and taste so until they make it legal its cfls.i would like to throw one of those new led set ups in there just to see!!