CFL Question...

ok so i switched my lighting setup to cfl.... right now i have 4 lights with reflector, 2 of the 6700k daylight CFL's and 2 of the 2700k CFL's, i can probably fit 2, maybe even 4 more CFL bulbs into this small space, however, i didn't know about the heat produced (which for now is minimal), or if more light is better, do i have enough or should i add more?

pics...

...soon...camera batteries charging

For how many plants? ... I only seen one in the cabinet but you have 2 more? .... i'm sure it'd be enough for one or two .. here's a pic of what i did in my first grow which is still going on ...


You can see my hand in the upper left corner holding the lid up ... but there are 4 5700 and 4 2700 .. all 26 watter's ... the heat does build up but my ventilation much to my surprise is holding it down ... i'd add atleast 2 more imo ... just to be sure your getting enough thro those leafs .. and i keep the light no more than an inch 1/2 to 2 inches max ... the nvision bulbs from home depot don't get hot at all, i've touched my skin to um a few times moving um around ... i like um ...

sounds good, im going to rig up something like what you have i think as far as lighting, i found a vanity plate that looks to be about the right size im going to suspend in the cabinet, and run Y connectors throughout the sockets... should make it have an 8-light capacity much like yours, it also has a silver veneer so i can ditch the bulky reflectors i have now....

as far as ventilation, the lights aren't so hot, i can't hold them in my hand for too long but to touch for a minute its just warm, I'm not terribly worried about the heat anymore, but i wondered, what are you using, im working on rigging up 4 or 5 computer fans
(2 at the bottom sucking air in and maybe 3 at the top exhausting) dunno if it's enough tho, i cant really fit a fan in the space with the plants....let me know what you think.

Storm

Hey man, I use an old 200 watt atx power supply to run 3 fans atm ... 2 for the exhaust and 1 for the intake .. in the picture you can see the exhaust ... if you can i would go with the 3 for the exhaust an two for intake ... vent is very key from what i've read ... i personally will be adding more as it is abit warm in there .. "no temp gauge just yet" ... when i bought the vanity i thought it was silver, got home it was gold and just said hell with it ... also from reading around, CFL's do there best sideways, which is why the Y-spliters provide much better coverage ... i'm learnin as i go .. More exhaust tho over intake, you wanna cause i form of suction, by pushing more air out, you'll cause the intake to "draw in" fresh air .. i'm sure ya knew that tho .. just a heads up ... and long as heat isn't an issue, they'll enjoy the fresh air .. mine do.

aiight thanks, i appreciate the advice, you said you had the fans running through an ATX power supply? I set mine up with 12v adapter's, a few 3 speed fans, right now im waiting on getting a decent cutting instrument to put holes all over my cab, though in the same boat, no temp gauge, so im kinda messing with the fans to see what speed gets the best airflow, i thought fast, though i'm afraid it might blow too hard and hurt the plants, who know's i just gotta try everything i guess, i was thinking of adapting my plan a lil bit more and adding another fan in the top of the grow cab...a sort of cool air intake, since this cab is located just under a window, which has a great view, of the underside of the porch, i was thinking i would exhaust through the window, and also take some of the colder air, from outside and vent that in, seeing as it is getting to be winter round here, any idea if it might be detrimental, having the cold air coming in? maybe i should just keep it all room temp? what do you think?

Hey dude, morning ...

I started out with a few 12v adapters but didn't like having to plug in each adapter for the fans, so what i did was take the green wire on the 24 pin connecter and wire it to a 5v black wire and it will turn on without the computer .... wired up the fans to each 12v line and waaala ... works great ..

Venting wise, keep in mind heat rises ... so pulling cold air thro the top and warm out the bottom wouldn't work too well ... also pulling cold air inside i would think would be a bad idea, you wanna try to keep the temp stable around 75-80 degrees or so "i could be off" ... i'm no expert ...

Fans - Putting a air flow on the plants themselves is a good idea, it helps promote sturdy stem growth ... just don't go putting a 12 inch fan on max so there blowing in a hurricane ... a small fan or a few more pc fans putting a nice breeze inside "which i plan to do" would help alot ... Plants love fresh air.

Also if you can get say like a smaller 3-4 inch fan in there that might mount to the side, having it blow into a corner so it circulates the air didn't seem to be bad for when i did it for mine ... air was pushes them over so i moved it to swirl the air and seemed to make them happier than pushing the air directly on them, smaller fans might work better ... it was a 8 inch fan in a 50 gallon tubberware ...

thanks for the input again, right now i've got three 3 inch fans exhausting out of the top and two 3 inch fan as intakes one on each side near the bottom it's going well as far as airflow, the intakes are providing a nice lil breeze to the cab so it seems to be going pretty well the power supply is a good idea, right now i have 3 fans on one plug, and 2 fans on another, so 2 plugs isn't killing me, but still would be nice to drop it down to one...maybe in the future....

i scrapped the cooler air thought cuz i realized exactly how cold it gets at night out here, and i'd probably let the heat from my house out as well as the heat from inside the cab...so thas a no go-

again appreciate the advice.

Storm