First time indoor grower having CFL burnout issues

[bloo58]

Hi all, I'll just start out by saying this is my first attempt at an indoor grow, I've gathered my most of my knowledge from these forums and it all seems to be going fairly well, I'm just wondering if anyone has run into issues with 27k CFL tubes burning out, just had my 2nd tube in 2 weeks go and not sure what the problem is, my 64k ran for months on a mechanical timer with no hitches whatsoever, also when I put the 2nd 27k in (was thurs or fri), I put my belkin surge protector between it and the timer just to be sure, however when it blew today, it took half the house down from the SP at the meter box

I've had a search thru the forums and on google but cant find much helpful info on why the 27k's would be playing up, I heard from a fella at the store I bought the 2nd one from that they dont like timers, but a thread I've read here is saying digital timers are a no no and mech ones are aighty, and they dont discriminate between the spectrum of the tube.

So could I have just lucked out and received 2 dodgy tubes? its not a dire situation as yet, I was reducing the light gradually into 12/12 and its still at around 16/8 and no big changes, so I figure putting the 64k back in till I can get a new 27 wont do too much harm, but I sure would like a pros opinion on this ,

I'll chuck up a few pics of my bodgy setup, and its exactly that, but its easy to dismantle should the need arise, and I only need enough for myself and a few mates, in short it should serve its purpose, but enough chit chat, pics

My Closet, as I said really quite bodgy, she lives in about a 50-50% mix of vermiculite and perlite, sprouted in grodan cube

I've decided to go with this setup if you can call it that, as I don't really want a solid reservoir, this way I can duck to the shops every, 8-10 days and buy a new container of fresh, clean water, stable PH etc, and either siphon it into the current container or just cut the top out and sit my pot back in, takes around 10-15mins to do a change out and 15-20 mins to completely dismantle it (good for inspections), I also dont need to grow pounds, so the smaller I can make this rig the better, that being said, taking as much care as I can to keep an eye on the PH, feeding her with around 40ml of Ionic veg nute every 3-4 days, and giving her a taste of around 15-20 mls of A + B Biorganics bloom every 6-7 days, I have some yield/root booster (any info on if this stuff is good would be bonza) aswell but I think I'll wait till my 2nd grow to play with that

Closer image of her, around 12-14 days after sprouting

And this is her over the last few days

Got a bit carried away with trimming her up

and here is my ballast and 64k tube, riveting stuff, i know

any info, advice, etc is welcome, or if you just want to rag on my shitty setup go hard, I would like to hear from anyone that could shed some light in the 27k tube burnout problem tho, as I dont really wanna shell out another 30 beans to have it blow straight away

any way, thats my bit for now, cheers for reading my rant, look forward to rantin some more

Peace
Bloo

 

[oldhippie64]

Hi I like your dodgy set up. it's not the biggest or the best but it looks like would do the job to grow a little for yourself. the 27K bulbs blowing and not the 65k in the same setup has me guessing the 27k bulbs were bad or there was bad connection. the only connection changed is the bulb and socket right? I'll assume so I've seen different bulbs screw in different amounts so if the 27K bulb didn't srcew into the socket as far as the 65k it wouldn't make good contact with the tab in the center of socket and cause your problems. to check if thats the problem you'd need another 27k bulb put it in with power off and check for continuity at the cord end while shaking/tapping fixture/bulb if you lose continuity. to fix try pulling center tab in socket out a little so it makes good contact when bulb is in. hope this helps

 

[oldhippie64]

another thing is make sure voltage for bulb is right I just saw a 220volt 27k like yours in another post ( Need advice on CFL Flowering )

 

[bloo58]

Hi I like your dodgy set up. it's not the biggest or the best but it looks like would do the job to grow a little for yourself. the 27K bulbs blowing and not the 65k in the same setup has me guessing the 27k bulbs were bad or there was bad connection. the only connection changed is the bulb and socket right? I'll assume so I've seen different bulbs screw in different amounts so if the 27K bulb didn't srcew into the socket as far as the 65k it wouldn't make good contact with the tab in the center of socket and cause your problems. to check if thats the problem you'd need another 27k bulb put it in with power off and check for continuity at the cord end while shaking/tapping fixture/bulb if you lose continuity. to fix try pulling center tab in socket out a little so it makes good contact when bulb is in. hope this helps

Thanks Hippie, I've replaced the tube again and it seems to be stable so far, I'd say I just lucked out with 2 dodgy tubes, also changed to manual on/off, instead of timer.

I'll have a look at the center contact tho, you might be onto something there, Thanks for the advice

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