Next, install the plastic cable tie through the hole or slit as shown.

Now, install the bulb, get everything lined up, and tighten the plastic cable tie around the ballast while keeping the reflector wrapped tightly around the ballast as shown in the first attachment. Do not over tighten as the reflector will have to be positioned after the bulb is installed. The second attachment shows the bulbs with reflectors installed in the closet. When installing and tightening the tie, hold the bulb by the ballast, not the glass bulb as you will twist the glass tube off.

After running these reflectors for a couple of weeks, I had no fires and only some melting of the plastic backing where the reflector came in direct contact with the bulb as shown in the attachment. The reflector material is unfazed by this contact and does not stick to the bulb.

Overall, some light does pass thru the reflective material and I will try again with some aluminum dryer ducting in the future.

Stay tuned...

Hi all took quite some time reading this post. Looks like you got some nice buds happening there!

Sure got a lot of lights for that area, with all that wire hanging around are you not concerned for fire? I see your shades are showing melt?? I didn't know cfl's gave off that much? What is you temp in the room? What about humidity, does the reservoirs cause a lot of humidity in the room?

Enough questions

Good Job

JAS

I recently overhauled my CFL flowering room setup, increasing the number of bulbs from a dozen, to nearly forty! This does not include a few 42watters, each in a store-bought reflector (Home Depot) that are clamped to areas where extra light is needed.

I'm posting this to comment on the safety issues mentioned, as well as 'wires hanging around'. If mounted properly, this is no more dangerous than a household lamp. I'll try to remember to take and post a few pics later, if you're interested.

Yes please! I wasn't meaning anything by that comment, I just saw his wires laying on top of hie reservoirs and well you know water and electricity.

I use them all over my home and they are very safe.

Pics of your set up would be cool for sure.

Welcome Jonny,

Yeah, it's a pretty long read for only six months, but we sort of got off track with the HID vs. CFL thingy. Tempers flared, blood boiled... but I was having a great time and thought most comments were favorable. I had my reasons though and had to explain the initial lumens rating thing as well as how the inverse square law actually can be used in one's favor when using CFLs. (I still don't think some of the HID backers got it but hopefully that's over for now... at least here)

Yes, there are a lot of lights in that closet, one bulb per square foot to be exact, but that was part of this experiment i.e. twelve light sources instead of one, mounted as close to the plants as possible. Please note that these are not your ordinary CFLs. These things are big (and cheap), measuring about ten inches long and four inches in diameter and costing about fifteen dollars apiece (at the time), and require no external ballast or special fixture. Also, they were purchased at my local Home Depot and I like cash and carry. You can see one of these 65 watt bulbs here. While they do get hot, it is not so much that they cannot be handled while on.

Those "wires" that you see hanging are drop light cords purchased from Home Depot (see attachment) that are UL rated for seventy-five degrees (C) or about one hundred seventy degrees (F). Some of them are in direct contact with the bulbs and have been for six months with no damage at all.

As far as the plastic reflector melting, I thought I explained that in my previous post, but will elaborate. I was looking for a cardboard backed windshield reflector but found that these things have a sort of thin bubble wrap type of backing that melts at a very low temperature. That's why I ran them for two weeks to see what would happen in the small area of contact before posting. You noticed the results. The reflector is not in contact with the whole bulb, only two small points that you noticed, and the mylar or aluminum reflector material is unaffected. The plastic melts and pulls away from the hot spot, but shows no dis-colorization or indication of possible fire. I will however continue to monitor.

As far as temperatures in the closet, I guess you overlooked the first post on page twelve.


Note that forty two inches is at the top of the canopy and sixty-six inches is well above the bulbs.

As far as humidity goes, while I don't have a hygrometer to give you numbers, the plants show that everything is okay. All of the tubs are sealed and though it rains in the tubs, very little escapes into the ambient air.

One last thing about the CFLs, Grassy and I were recently talking and he pointed out these 55 watt bulbs. They put out the same number of lumens as my sixty-five watt bulbs but use fifteen percent less power thus should run cooler and decrease my total lighting power consumption from 0.78 kWh to 0.66 kWh. They're getting better all the time...

"Enough questions" you say, then enough answers for now, but if you have more, ask and I will do my best to answer.

Best regards, 52.

Sorry Jonny, I misunderstood...

I thought you were referring to the electrical cords hanging around the lights.

If you go back to page one and look at the photos again, you'll notice that all of those "wires" on top of the tubs are not electrical at all. There are five air lines going to each of the five tubs and eight feed lines running to each of the two plants in four of the five tubs for top feed. The last tub gets air only as it is filled with water for flushing in the ninth week.

The only electrical power that gets down to the tubs is the line for the air pump and the line for the pump itself.

Note that the four tubs on the left are connected together by a common drain line and the pump is located in the center tub. That makes all four tubs part of the reservoir. The pump draws from the tub it's located in and pumps to the tops of all of the tubs. As the level in the tubs without the pump rises (and the level in the one with the pump lowers), everything levels back out by way of the drain line.

This misunderstanding certainly made me laugh out loud... yeah, those are twenty gauge extension cords laying on top of my tubs... now that's hot!

Hey Doobie,

I'm interested, and if you post photos of your new setup, please post a link here so as to give the information to me and other CFL growers that contact me both here and by PM with questions, comments, discussions, etc.

Tell me (please), what wattage bulbs were you using (when you had a dozen) and what wattage did you go to when you went to "nearly forty"?

Best regards, 52.

High 52.

I use mostly smaller wattage bulbs - 27w - 30w depending on the brand. These are full sized spirals, not the 'mini-bulbs' you see in grocery stores. Decided long ago to go this way, as I believe it spreads out the light better than say, a handfull of higher wattage lights. I do, however, use a few higher wattage bulbs as well.

When I'm finished harvesting my current crop, I'll clean up the flowering room, and take a pic or two.