Despite my aching back, I did manage to get the tent set up today. It no longer stinks like a new vinyl pool, but like ... linseed oil.
I also fabricated a redneck-primitive mount for my plasma lamp. After making that, I could hang the fixture from a chain. Here it is before "first light". If my [bad word] back weren't in profanity mode, I'd have ripped some stiffeners for that slat of plywood. But it is, and I didn't. No crackling sounds yet.
![camdump 12nov24 001.jpg](/data/attachments/1698/1698437-dd3461394a194ed283aae72b0a5e97f6.jpg)
Here it is within a minute of power-up. Weird and cool ... for a few seconds the teenytiny light capsule does nothing ... then sparks up and goes through some very cool blue/violet emissions before getting brighter and whiter.
![camdump 12nov24 002.jpg](/data/attachments/1698/1698438-a2f519808547031be8c876c06d660104.jpg)
After a few minutes ... stable light that looks to be a dead ringer for sunlight. Note snorkel drawing off the heat from the fixture. This goes into a filter that I taped snugly to the fan's output side.
![camdump 12nov24 003.jpg](/data/attachments/1698/1698439-9ae553c96431c7d3084b175704fb6987.jpg)
Here are the four kids basking under the Secret Sunlet. I did notice that the fixture got quite hot ... the radial heat sink around the light capsule feels boiling-hot, and the white heat sinks in back are running maybe sixty degrees C. Maybe that's a problem with this technology: very efficient light source but a fair amount of loss in the energizing circuitry.
![camdump 12nov24 004.jpg](/data/attachments/1698/1698440-d987755bee5a6512e51f15b9bc30124b.jpg)
I also discovered today that #4 (right rear) hadn't been topped quite right. I had to nip off a big healthy growth tip. It always feels so wrong to injure a plant like that.
But it's nice to get them out of the Emergency Improvised Closet and into their own room.
cn