They're 300w equivalent (I think they might be 68 watt?) but fit in a regular socket. Got them at Home Depot for $15 each.The maximum watts is based on the heat from the type of bulb it was designed for, one of the first lights I used for seedling was a desk lamp, the one with the four tube floro's.
If the bulbs you have are 65 watt, not 65 watt equivalent, you might consider getting better sockets and using 12 wire with a 20 amp breaker for just those 4 lights. Most actual 65 watt cfl's have a mogul base, so I am guessing you have 65 watt equivalent bulbs, and in that case all of what you are considering should be fine. You might want to protect the cords and plugs from spilled water. I appreciate the support, that is funny. VV
Nope, No concern at all about the light. Actually it is a brand new 250W Digital electronics ballast and cord set. I also have an air sealed/cooled glass reflector. I just figured there would be some simple attachment i could get to hook up to my light plug that will turn it off if it gets to a certain temperature. I have no idea about wireing and i wouldnt know where to begin to install a thermal switch.. is there a noob thermal switch where i can just place what i want plugged into it and have those shut off in the event that the temperature reaches 150 degrees or whatever. Also i will have PLENTY of ventilation as i have the tents exaust and the lights exaust competly seperate from eachother so i should be able to get that light RIGHT DOWN THERE BABY.. WOOO.. anyway is there any nooby thermal switches or does noone bother>?
Kinda like the fan control speed things, only a heat senor and circuit breaker instead.. make sence?[/quote
I agreewith VV you won't need the thermal shut off switch but if you hve an extra $100 burnin a hole in you pocket you could buy this:
CAP HLC-3e High Temp Shut-Down W/15 Minute ON Delay
[199848]
$89.90
CAP HLC-3e High Temperature Shut-Down with 15 Minute ON Delay
- HLC-3e combines the functions of HLC-1 and HLC-2 to protect your lights from hot starts and your garden from high temperatures
- A high temperature shutdown provides insurance from crop damage due to high heat from ventilation and cooling problems
- HLC-3e senses a power interruption and will start a 15-minute delay to keep the light from trying to re-fire during the cool down period
- Rated for 15 amps at 120 volts
- Includes 3 ft remote temperature sensor
All of the wires in a ballast are marked. As long as your neutrals all stay connected and you only disconnect one Hot wire you should be fine. There could be two or 3 parts in there, Mh has a capacitor and the ballast, the hps has a starter as well. All of the items you would be concerned about should be clearly marked. VV
the formula is volts x amps = watts. Divide watts by volts it will give you amps. For an operation like that, you would want to install much more than a couple of 20 amp circuits. I have 8 circuits dedicated to my op and I only have 3-1000 watt lights. VV
This may help. The colors of the wires and screws will be the same in the fixture. You should use wire nuts and seal those off with electric tape.
VV
From three posts up on this page. Case in point. This is the kinda stuff i'm talkin about! You say you bought this. From which junk dealer and in which decade? Looks like somethin Ben Franklin might have worked with, and you've got it sittin on a piece of cardboard? Can you really not see the fire hazard? Scrap that shit bro, and go " buy " a new system from a reputable supplier. I'm serious, before you do harm to yourself or someone else, throw that shit away!!!! Don't give it to someone else. Don't sell it. Throw it away. WTF?
There is a post on using a telephone charger cord or cords from other similar devices posted in FAQ, upper left hand corner of every page, check there. VV
The ballast is internal, its in the base of the bulb, you will probably need a mogul socket, available at all hydro shops for around 10 buck with the cord. VV
Okay, i've only read through the first 15 pages of this thread so far, but I felt extremely compelled to jump to the end and post before I finish reading.
Please people, just stop now!!! To all of you trying to do your own funky wiring, trying to refurbish old equipment or make use out of some old shit that you found, or were given from a friend, whatever!! JUST STOP NOW BEFORE YOU HURT YOURSELF OR MORE IMPORTANTLY SOMEONE ELSE!!! Don't fuck around with this shit!! Were talkin about lots of electricity and heat, and some of you fuckers are gonna start a fire and kill someone. I'm not kidding!! I had ( notice the post tense ) a dumb ass friend who tried fuckin around with some hokey shit and burnt half his house down and nearly killed three people!!! Neighbors had to bang on their front door to wake them up or they would all be dead now. PLEASE STOP NOW!!!
Bite the bullet and go buy lights and peripheral equipment that is manufactured and rated for this kind of usage, and maybe THEN ask questions on how to properly set it up. Quit doin all this funky do-it-yourself slab together this shit with that shit. Nobody is going to benefit from your half-assed setup or be impressed with your thriftyness. They might not even come to your funeral when you kill yourself due to your own stupidity. And if you end up harming someone else, well, better run far and fast, cause everyone's gonna want a piece of your ass. I definately wouldn't want to be living next to some of you people, not with the fire hazards you are creating.
A very large number of the questions and pics I see on here scare the hell outta me. Yes, some of you people scare me. You have opposable thumbs and an extremely large frontal cortex; please use them wisely. If you don't have the cash to do it right, then DON'T DO IT!!! Wait until you can do it properly, and here's the most important point, safely.
Our movement, our cause, our desire to be able to enjoy what we want to do in our free time, is not going to be helped by dumb asses startin' fires and killin people and destroying property. So just stop now please. Do it the right way, or don't do it at all.
I just gotta say also, this thread is great, and will hopefully save some people from gettin hurt.
P.S. don't forget to have smoke/fire alarms and a fire extinguisher OUTSIDE of your grow space and easily accessible.
I knew someone would have somethin to say to me directly, and though I didn't address you directly, i'm glad
I appreciate your sentiment, the purpose of this thread is to give folks advice so they won't have accidents. If I were you and I had four cfl's hanging from cheap extension cords using y splitters that are not wrapped with anything, I probably wouldn't have posted anything like this until I took care of that. I am sure you have done this before, its not your first grow, I am sure you are trying to be helpful. Maybe there is a way you could say about the same thing without trying to sound like 'the authority', especially since questioning authority is part of all of your posts. VV
you appreciate my sentiment. Obviously this thread is meant for advice to avoid accidents, but since I didn't find that anyone had echoed my sentiment, I gave some advice as well, meant of course to help people avoid accidents. I hope you found a little more from my threads than somethin to try and dog me on, but since you brought it up, yes my four cfl's are on cheap ( as opposed to terribly expensive ) extension cords, but hmmm, the cords are rated for thirteen amps, or 1625 watts, and i'm not even pullin one tenth of that, so ah, I think i'll do alright. As for the splitters and sockets, I don't have the numbers in front of me, but I did do the math, and I'm fine there as well. And what the fuck would I wrap them with, and why? To actually CREATE a fire hazard? Do you wrap the sockets of all the lights in your house with somethin? Am I missin part of the code somewhere?
I think the only thing anyone who has read your post came away with is "Wow, that riznoob1000 guy is a real asshole."
