CFL Light Tutorial

[Roseman]

i recently bought a 250w blue cfl, the site i bought it from claims it produces 24,000 lumens! do you think this is correct? the reason i ask is because im sure i read that a 200w produces 9,000 lumens.

I am pretty sure that all fluorescent bulbs in a tube type produce 60 to 70 lumens per watt, MAX, so 250 watts would be about 16,000 to 17,000 lumens at MAX.
ACFL can be as low as 50 lumens per watt. My 200 watt CFLs said 9600 lumens on the carton.

 

[crazy horse]

ok thanks, maybe it was 300w that was 24,000, that would work out about right!

 

[Tokensmoke10]

Now to construction:

I first cut (10) 2 1/2" pieces of pvc, these will be the connectors for the socket holding T's and the corner L's. I determined this length by putting sockets into two T's and then measured the spacing between the lamps, adding for the amount of pipe going into the T's and L's I came up with 2 1/2". You will need to adjust this length to fit the size lamp you select.

I took an L, added a connector, then I took a T and placed a socket into the end and threaded the wires out the other end, refer to the first picture. In this picture I'm wiring the first two sockets together. You string them in parallel, that is you connect the black to black and white to white for the length of the fixture. The first connection you make, (do the same for the other side of the fixture) will have three wires bound together, the black (say) from the first light, the black from the second light and then the lamp cord I used to string them all together. Be careful with the lamp cord, it is only one color, I bought white. But they make the plastic coating on one strand smooth and the other is ribbed for identification.

After you have connected the first two sockets all the rest of the connections will consist of the lamp wire coming from the previous connection, the new socket and then the lamp wire going to the next connection. I made all connections using both wire nuts and electricians tape. I didn't want to have to take the damn thing apart to trouble shoot if it didn't work.

Proceed to make all the connections for both sides of the fixture. This really isn't very hard at all, it just takes some patience and time. I was cutting about 9" pieces of the lamp cord to make the running connections, that length gave me enough wire to work with but still not too much to cram into the pvc pipe for each connection.

After completing both sides of the fixture you need to determine the length of the end pieces that will define the width of the fixture. I placed the bulbs I'm using in the sockets to see how long to cut the end pieces. I left about 1" between the bulbs, this was just a guess, but it seems to have worked out fine. I then tied the wires coming from both sides of the fixture together, drilled a hold in the end pvc and pulled them out. This is the one place I missed in my material buying calculations. I only bought 10' of the lamp cord which only left me 4' sticking out of the fixture when done. I'd suggest you leave at lest 6' out, 10' would be better. If you buy 20' of lamp cord you will have plenty left over.

You'll notice that the only screws I used were to fasten the L's at the corners, these connections seemed to be pretty loose so I used the screws. The other fittings were plenty tight so I left them free so I can make adjustments to the lamp orientation if I want to in the future.

I then used these screws to fasten the hanging chains to the fixture. I made them long enough that when I hooked up to my hangers the chains would be approx 6" above the finished hood. Sorry but I didn't measure this length, just held it there and did what looked best. Just make certain the chain on both sides are the same length. Though that's not a deal breaker either, you can make up for it.

Next step was to put on the hood. I bought a piece of 8" dia galvanized metal duct pipe. I painted the underside with the flat white spray paint to aid the reflectivity. Then I drilled holes in the metal in the four corners and attached the reflector to the fixture using the zip ties.

This is a very simple fixture to make. You can make it any size, mine turned out to be 23" wide and 24 1/2" long. Just small enough to fit into a standard residential clothes closet. Be sure to verify the size of your lamps prior to cutting any material, those 2 1/2" i used may not work for you.

I'm constructing something very similar, I'm using 8 27 watt CFL's so its a 3x1 fixture. But what I'm wondering is that even with the tutorial showing how to wire the rubber connectors together, I still don't understand how they are all wired together.

I too bought lamp cord, but I have no idea what side (smooth or ribbed) of the lamp cord is the black or white wire.

I was wondering if anyone could go on paint and try to sketch a simple picture on how to wire them all together.

Thanks

 

[Dowg]

Hello Tokensmoke10
If the wire is not marked, Lay your wire down flat. At the plug end of the cord you will see that one male prong is wider then the other at the end. Follow it back. That will be your white wire/ground and follow Mr.FryingPanFlyer lay out, white to white and Blk. to Blk.
Hope this helps.

 

[Tokensmoke10]

After PMing FPF, I figured it out and rig up my whole lighting fixture. But thank you Dowg!

 

[origamijoint]

Hello. I just joined this place and someone way way way up there in 420 land linked this thread to me. And not wanting to offend the gods...I am going to respond. Because I am using CFL's right now. And from a very brief scan of the post it seems that the color spectrum and numbers of the color spectrum are in question. No problem. Well it was when I was putting CFL in my kitchen (no weed involved in my life at this time) and had to order or "find" the correct color of light for the kitchen. (i want clear crisp light in the kitchen....and soft warm love light in the bedroom. And I was able to get the info. And most electricians do not know why some flor. lights "look different" than others. And all the lights are available wherever you are. They got em coast to coast...

And the PVC light eight pack.....OMG....I love it. Wire color is really really really simple.....I am going to post about it in a day or two. Make people smile.
And with the wire color i will illuminate (ha) a little bit about wire size and the evil witch tramp....voltage drop. But good job on the light rack....you are the kind of man that I want on my jury....should the need ever be.


Tomorrow...

me sleepy....i am sure some of you understand.

 

[origamijoint]

Blitty D.
I can help you with the spectrum with the cfl you are running. I have my clones under a similar set up. No problem...just takes a little patience at the home depot.
hb

 

[Lil Neutrino]

Voltage drop should not be an issue in almost any grow room/area unless someone does a poor job of splicing the wires together or goes way too small on their wiring and the wire heats up enough to increase resistance to a problematic level. The distance required to create enough wire resistance to cause a problematic voltage drop is relatively large. The ballasts of CFL's are designed to feed the correct voltage to the "exciter" with a degree of input AC voltage variation taken in to account...probably at least 10%+, I could email a manufacturer and probably find out if we want to calculate this out. I have a copy of the 2005 NEC book in my car that should have decent estimates of wire resistance per foot for whatever gauge wire. Based on what the manufacturer says is a safe voltage drop we can calculate the maximum length wire run that can be installed without causing issues. Fun fun! I love electrical stuff...

Personally I don't really care for the yellow interior lighting schemes, I like the daylight spectrum better unless it's really late at night. That's probably what you were hunting for for use in your kitchen. Makes things easier to see imho, great for work areas.

 

[Lil Neutrino]

Oh, and welcome to the forums! Btw, the above is not meant to discourage you from posting about voltage drop...it's something people should be aware of.

 

[Tokensmoke10]

After rigging up something like FPF did, I came up with a problem. It seems like a fairly simple fix though if anyone could help.

The lights are wired in parallel according to what side they are on. Far right light and the bottom lights are wired parallel, and the far left and top lights are wired parallel, then both sides connected and spliced to a lamp cord. As you can see though all the lights work but one. What would cause this? I don't want to go taking everything apart to try and figure it out without having an idea first.

Thanks everyone!

 

[Setting Sun]

If you haven't tried another bulb in that socket, I'd do that before taking anything apart.

 

[MostlyCrazy]

Well, I'm going to ask a stupid question from what I see but is the bulb screwed into the socket or did you just unscrew it for picture taking? OK, that's the extent of my electrical knowledge! LOL!

 

[Lil Neutrino]

Nice chandelier, I like it! I built one last night too but had some problems...

As you can see though all the lights work but one. What would cause this?

1) Dead light bulb

2) Bad splice in the wiring

3) Incorrect wiring

Do you have a multimeter or a device to let you test continuity? These things are invaluable at times like this. If you do and know how to use it do so before disconnecting the entire assembly. If you do and you're not sure here is how:

1) Disconnect the power cord from the electrical outlet.

2) Remove all of the bulbs but note where you put the one that is not working so you don't get it mixed up.

3) Set your multimeter to measure continuity (check your owner's manual for the right setting if you're not sure, mine has some "soundwaves" iirc).

4) Put one lead on one prong of the power plug and hold it there.

5) Using the other lead touch the metal parts of the sockets, there are two seperate contacts with one being the threaded metal to screw the bulb in to and the other is the contact in the very bottom of the socket. On my bulb sockets the white wire goes to the threaded metal, yours is probably the same but verify.

6) Go through each socket one by one checking both metal contacts, for each prong on the power plug it should only beep when you touch the same contact in each socket.

a) If you get a socket that does not beep no matter which contact you touch it means you have a bad connection between that socket and the prong, most likely at that socket in the wire nuts/butt splices/whatever you used.

b) If you get a socket where it beeps but does so on the wrong contact it means you have your socket wires mixed up where you spliced them to the power cord.

c) If you get a socket that checks out, each contact in the socket corresponds to the correct prong on the power plug, then most likely you have a burnt light bulb. The easiest way to check this, as Setting Sun said, is to just swap the bulb

Hope that helps...I'd post pics of the one I made last night but it had some technical difficulties, came apart, and tried to crispy my plant. Luckily I caught it at 3:15AM (hadn't gone to bed thank god) when I saw my temp at 88F in the cabinet, still mad at myself for making such a mistake as I did since I know better.

 

[Lil Neutrino]

Well, I'm going to ask a stupid question from what I see but is the bulb screwed into the socket or did you just unscrew it for picture taking? OK, that's the extent of my electrical knowledge! LOL!

??? It's in there...or maybe you were looking at the open ended PVC pipe where his wires came out? I did the same thing on mine...used a tee and no need to drill holes for the wire to come out.

 

[Tokensmoke10]

Thanks for all the responses guys.

For the record, I did try another bulb, still didn't work. But I don't have a multimeter, I believe I might have something that tells you if a wire is "hot" but that's it.

I don't know if this will help but that is the last bulb in the 4 bulb series. It just seems odd that that's the only one with a problem and all the rest are fine.

 

[Tokensmoke10]

Got it guys! It was from a lose wire nut, the wires weren't connected at all. Thanks for all the help though!

 

[Lil Neutrino]

For the record, I did try another bulb, still didn't work. But I don't have a multimeter, I believe I might have something that tells you if a wire is "hot" but that's it.

Well, you can even use a regular voltmeter but it requires working with live wires and not everyone is comfortable with that (but not everyone should be working with live wires). Your device may or may not work in a similar fashion, if you can post a pic of it or find out what it is for sure I can tell you how to use it next time something like this pops up...assuming it has the ability.

Got it guys! It was from a lose wire nut, the wires weren't connected at all. Thanks for all the help though!

Good to hear! A good rule to follow when wiring electrical stuff whether you are crimping connections together with butt splices, spades, forks, etc. or are twisting them with wire nuts is:

Always give a tug to the wires in the connection to ensure they are snug.

If a wire comes out easily the connection needed to be reworked anyway. For those of us with continuity testers it is a wise idea to check your connections before applying power, especially if you used a cable like the lamp cord often mentioned on these forums since both wires are the same color and differentiated only by little ridges on the insulation of one wire. Easy to get mixed up and it only takes a minute to go through even eight or ten sockets.

 

[hydronewbie]

Oh, too late. I was just about to send my mother in-law over with instructions to wet her finger and stick it in the socket. Hmmm...come to think of it, maybe I still will. If that happens and she starts jumping around don't worry about it. It's just coffee nerves.

 

[420warriors]

Oh, too late. I was just about to send my mother in-law over with instructions to wet her finger and stick it in the socket. Hmmm...come to think of it, maybe I still will. If that happens and she starts jumping around don't worry about it. It's just coffee nerves.

Wow,I wish I had a mother in law who is so versatile! She can check electrical connections AND be a tent stretcher for SS!

 

[Setting Sun]

Oh, too late. I was just about to send my mother in-law over with instructions to wet her finger and stick it in the socket. Hmmm...come to think of it, maybe I still will. If that happens and she starts jumping around don't worry about it. It's just coffee nerves.

Well, first you're gonna have to relieve her off from tent-stretching duty in my garage.

You MIL is sorta like a multi-tool .