Indoor All PC, mini-cab, CFL growers: Come hither!

[KindredSpirit]

After seeing the CFL light how-to that realcarlos posted in the DIY section (http://www.autoflower.org/f28/cfl-12-pack-diy-3370.html), I decided I wanted to give one a go. After going to the local hardware stores and finding out that they wanted $3.50/each for plastic light socket cleats and $7.50/each for porcelain cleats, I decided to check out fleaBay to see if I could snag some off there. I got VERY medicated and started my search. Imagine my joy when I came across some for $1.49/each and were located in my state. I figured I might want to build a couple different sized lights, so I said what the hell, I'll order 40.

A couple days later UPS shows up with a package. My first thought was "Damn, they must've done a killer packing job" because the package was so small. As I'm taking the tape off, I start questioning how they could possibly fit 40 of those effers in this small of a box. Upon opening, my doubts were confirmed. In my medicated state, I failed to see that these were candelabra (E12) light socket cleats. :no:

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Fairly disgusted with myself and knowing there was a 7-day return policy, I put them back in the box and forgot about them for a couple days. Then for shits and ha-has I decided to check the interwebs to see what light bulbs they made for these bases and if by some chance they made a CFL for it. Sure enough, they make 13 watters:

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The E12 CFL's are 4.1" long and their diameter is 1.8". They're listed at 880 lumens. When screwed into the candelabra base, they're 4.5". I took out my 13W and 26W CFL's with the regular light socket bases and snapped some pics for size comparisons.

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Bases (wish I also had a regular light socket cleat to compare to):

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13W's

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26 W vs. 13W E12

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2 13W's vs. 2 13W E12

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I figured I would use 20 of these little 13W, 2700k E12's for my light. After a quick walk through the house and a quick trip to the auto parts store for electrical connectors, I had my materials to build the light. Here's the light bar, wired with 660W wire and spade connectors.

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I wanted to use the gutter reflectors like in the DIY, but could only find K-style gutters at all of the local hardware stores. I did, however, have some spare pieces of sheet metal laying around.

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I spent 15 minutes with 000 steel wool and another 15 minutes with 0000 steel wool. I mounted the metal to a wooden base taken from an entertainment center that I'm converting to a grow setup. After marking where I wanted my vent holes to be and where the light bar would mount up, I took a center punch to all those marks to make drilling through the sheet metal a little easier.

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I drilled 1/2" holes for my vent holes and used a (rather dull) countersink bit to clean up the sharp edges. For the holes for mounting the light bar, I drilled just deep enough to get through the sheet metal using a 3/16" bit, then drilled my pilot hole with a bit sized to the wood screws I was using.

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Mounted up the light bar.

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Screwed in the bulbs.

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The result:

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I ran it for 4 hours to check for any issues with heat and there didn't seem to be any. I might still add a top to it like the one in the DIY so that I can hook up a duct to it.

Anywho, these mini CFL's are the bee's knees. It means we can grow in a space that's a shade over 4.5" wide and cram more of these in than with the regular CFL's and light socket bases.

Edited: I was able to find the mini 13W CFL's in 2700k, 4000k, and 5000k. They also make a 9W mini CFL.

Cheers :smokebuds:

-KS-

 

[realcarlos]

Awesome!

 

[KindredSpirit]

Cheers, rc thanks again for posting that in the DIY. Forgot to mention the light is 12" x 21"

 

[realcarlos]

You're welcome
I just copied and pasted you actually did the work.
I wanted to try it out sometime but am kind of confused of how the wiring worked and how it's connected to one outlet

 

[KindredSpirit]

The sockets are wired in series. My Dad always told me to think about series wiring like an oval racetrack. If you trace my wires around both sides of the light bar, it essentially forms a long oval loop.

The starting line of the track is where the wire connects to the positive prong on the plug. On my light, the white wire runs from the positive prong.

If you were to follow the white wire from the positive prong as it connects through all the positive connectors on the sockets until you reach the last socket in the series, that would be the main straightaway.

The positive terminal on that last socket in the series is like turn 1. The current flows across that last socket and over to the negative terminal. The negative terminal on the last socket in the series is like turn 2.

Follow the black wire from the negative terminal on that last socket back across the negative terminals of the sockets to where it connects back into the negative prong on the plug. That length of black wire would be the back straightaway.

Turns 3 and 4 of the racetrack are where the current goes from the negative prong in the plug back into the electrical outlet, then back into the positive prong of the plug.

I'm sure there are better ways to describe it... that's just how I've always thought about it. As long as you keep your positive going to your positive connections, and your negative to your negative connections you should be in good shape. The connection should form one uninterrupted loop. Also, make sure you're using wire, sockets, and connectors that are rated to handle the wattage you'll be drawing and then a good chunk. I get nervous when things are rated to handle an amount too close to the amount I intend to draw from them.

 

[realcarlos]

Thanks +rep

 

[Noods]

Very F*ing Good KindredSpirit! Great work. :thumbs: +rep

 

[Jackal]

That's got to be the coolest fucking cfl rig I've seen. Good job bro.

 

[Joe Dirt]

Very nice work, bro. :thumbs:

 

[UHF]

Nice bro, that rocks!