How-TO Save money on YOUR CFL'S!

[jonnynobody]

Many people may have already discovered this but I found out how to save a considerable amount of money w/ purchasing your cfl bulbs. In the process of constructing my veg cab, I bought 4 42w cfl's at a cool $10/each. Total cost w/tax $44 and some change which was quite a hit to the grow fund.

Low and behold, after seeing many other cfl growers setups, I discovered most people were using 23w cfl's. Why I thought?

This is why:

As you can see from the link above, you can purchase a 16pack of 23w cfl's, w/shipping for less than I bought 4 42w cfl's.

16x23=368watts for $31
42x4=168watts for $44

As you can see, you can get double the light output for $13 less if you just avoid 42watters and use the 23watters with those sweetass little $1.25 Y adapters. So I could have used 4 Y adapters that would have allowed me to hookup 8 23 watters (184watts) for significantly less $$$ spent. And to put some sweet icing on the cake, you could use the extra 8 23w cfl's to supplement your flower cab

 

[putillor]

thats what my setup looks like.

 

[downthedrains]

Many people may have already discovered this but I found out how to save a considerable amount of money w/ purchasing your cfl bulbs. In the process of constructing my veg cab, I bought 4 42w cfl's at a cool $10/each. Total cost w/tax $44 and some change which was quite a hit to the grow fund.

Low and behold, after seeing many other cfl growers setups, I discovered most people were using 23w cfl's. Why I thought?

This is why:

As you can see from the link above, you can purchase a 16pack of 23w cfl's, w/shipping for less than I bought 4 42w cfl's.

16x23=368watts for $31
42x4=168watts for $44

As you can see, you can get double the light output for $13 less if you just avoid 42watters and use the 23watters with those sweetass little $1.25 Y adapters. So I could have used 4 Y adapters that would have allowed me to hookup 8 23 watters (184watts) for significantly less $$$ spent. And to put some sweet icing on the cake, you could use the extra 8 23w cfl's to supplement your flower cab

It may be cheaper and you might get the same lumens, but...
the intensity doesnt add up
you still only have the intensity of a 23watt...
which is jack shit
id rather use an incandescent, lol

 

[AeroKing]

You should be paying more attention to the lumen output than the wattage.

Some 23w output only 1100 lumens. 42's output 2600 lumens. You do the math. However, some 23w output up to 1600 lumens, so it really depends on the bulb.
You may also find more bulbs = more ballasts = more heat. I don't know if it will add up to enough to matter, but it could be a concern.

 

[downthedrains]

You should be paying more attention to the lumen output than the wattage.

Some 23w output only 1100 lumens. 42's output 2600 lumens. You do the math. However, some 23w output up to 1600 lumens, so it really depends on the bulb.
You may also find more bulbs = more ballasts = more heat. I don't know if it will add up to enough to matter, but it could be a concern.

yes yes!
and lumens dont add up like youd think they would
they do to a point pending on positioning

and aeroking is soo right
HEAT ISSUES!

 

[AeroKing]

yes yes!
and lumens dont add up like youd think they would
they do to a point pending on positioning

that's where more, but smaller lights could be beneficial. Well placed, you could get a more even coverage, which means more usable light for the plant(though using Y's won't likely accomplish this).

What you will never get with the lower wattage lights is penetration. Unless you hang them between the plants, down into the canopy, your lower branches will never see this light.

I took my light meter and was measuring different bulbs and positioning. A huge amount of light comes out of the top of the cfl, (like if you were looking through the coil like it were a tube), like 100,000 lumens at about 1" away (far enough not to burn the plants). That's a lot of light, but at about 1' away, it's like 2000 lumens. From the sides of the bulb, It's only like 1000 when close, and in the 100s when a foot away. This is the 42w, 2600 lumen bulbs I'm talking about. I've never measured a cheap 23w, but I think I know what I'd find...

To tell you the truth, I think I'm going to abandon cfl's all together. I was using them for side lighting, but I believe that single bulb t5 fixtures will be more effective at providing usable light throughout the plant. (sorry, that part was off topic)

 

[jonnynobody]

You know...suppose instead of spending the $31 on all those cfl's, I could actually just get one of the cheapy 150w MH security lights from e-conolights and remote the ballast for about $38 shipped & everything. Many more lumens for my babies and much less heat! there, problem solved very informative input.

 

[downthedrains]

You know...suppose instead of spending the $31 on all those cfl's, I could actually just get one of the cheapy 150w MH security lights from e-conolights and remote the ballast for about $38 shipped & everything. Many more lumens for my babies and much less heat! there, problem solved very informative input.

I run three of those...it cost 70 shipped for me for three of them.
and!
they are not MH!
they are HPS

I still run a 65 watt cfl with them for vegging to get a fuller spectrum

 

[jonnynobody]

My mistake....hps, you are correct. How did you assemble / configure the lights in your setup? I was thinking of doing 2 in a cooltube somehow but using 3 would really take some sit-down time for me to figure out for proper ventilation ya know....i had trouble battling heat w/4 42w cfl's ehh sad i know

 

[downthedrains]

https://www.rollitup.org/indoor-growing/127167-150w-hps-cfl-winter-harvest-9.html

Look through that thread...page 8 has great details...
That's a thread for winter growers using that light.

 

[GutterGravy]

a mix between hps and cfl willl be great .. i dont mind exclusively using 85w 6500k CFLs though