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Multiple CFL's

Posted by raoulie (My Page) on
Thu, Jul 9, 09 at 15:18

Hi

I recently found some 40W CFL's at a local hardware store which seem to be very bright and also are available in different varieties (cool blue/natural yellow, i believe roughly 4000k and 2000k). Now I live in Canada which is zone 6 if i read the map right (toronto ontario), and im growing a chili plant in a pot so I want to have a few lights up for the winter where there is maybe 10 hours or less of good sunlight, and temperatures that would kill the plants.

I dont want to keep getting desk lamps to hold the bulbs - the lamps are only 10 bucks, but its going to get expensive and take up alot of space when I recieve 2 more plants soon, so I wanted to make my own. I was thinking of something simple, piece of wood with multiple holes drilled in it to hold the sockets. I was wondering if

http://www.homedepot.ca/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/CatalogSearchResultView?D=905854&Ntt=905854&catalogId=10051&langId=-15&storeId=10051&Dx=mode+matchallpartial&Ntx=mode+matchall&recN=0&N=0&Ntk=P_PartNumber

Would work as a socket for the CFL's (40W)? And for wiring them, would I be wiring them in series or parallel? I dont plan to have like 10 bulbs connected to one outlet (could have 2 rows of 4 for example, with each row having its own outlet into the wall), im just unsure how to wire it, and if these outlets will even work with the bulbs.

I was considering getting one of those HID or MH lamps, but im growing these in my bedroom and can sleep with these CFL's on (with some creative use of foil and a huge laminated calendar), but I dont think having one of those would be possible in my bedroom (besides, these bulbs are under 10 bucks and put out 2500 lumens or so each, and I can have both "bluish" and "yellowish" light in whatever combination i need).

Thanks!


Follow-Up Postings:

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RE: Multiple CFL's

A couple of things:

I went to the hardware store, bought those metal light boxes, screwed them into a board, added a fixture to it, wired it and stuck the bulb in. The cost was about $5 per light.

Not sure why sleeping with a light on is a consideration, you only need 16 hours of light a day.

As far as wiring, run a wire from one fixture to the next. And yes, you can have 10 bulbs on one wire that's only 400 watts! An electric heater pulls 1500 watts.

Mike


 
 

 

 


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