Modifying a CFL..

jonnyappleweed

I did a lot of early CFL work(1988) converting outdoor incondesent lights fixtures to early generation CFL U tubes(PL series) I have seen a video demo of how to dissemble CFL's and relocate power supply only mounting bulb holder and 1/2 of plastic base to light panel.(I cant remember where,but I can remember how)They do carry a little voltage though.Input voltage 120vac- Output 300-600vdc@.25ma or there abouts. Use a stranded 14ga wire rated at 600v(you could get away with 16ga if needed)You'll see once you open the base.They're using 22ga.or smaller
OK. here we go, do this out side.Wear rubber gloves/goggles and be ready to hold your breath and run far away incase you burst bulb(Mercury Vapor)start by using a dremel cutter wheel and carfully cut through the plastic just above the threaded base The wire to the tip is input + and wire from the side is input - (mark your wires)
carefully cut away plastic surounding ballast,examine how ballast is wired and secured.Separate ballast from base mark wires and relocate.I think I covered everthing if not get back to me.

CaptainStoner

the plastic housing on CFLs just clips together, there's no need for dremeling it. I've been using a curved blade pruning knife as a lever to open bulbs. a pair of mole grips or big pliers will remove the metal screw cap fitting.
On my lights the metal screw fitting (or bayonet cap) is surplus to requirements, it can get damaged so i've just been removing the tube part from the tapered base, pulling the ballast out of the way, and chopping the mains input wires as close to the solder points on the threaded screw base as possible, then pulling said base off with pliers. It can then be recycled, thrown away etc. The plastic housing is needed and with care can be removed without damage, allowing one to reuse it when the lamps are reassembled.

Gonetripping

If holding one's breath and being prepared to run is part of the plan --- putting a wet paper towel around the bulb, then put it inside a freezer zip loc bag (or similar strength) and use electrical tape to seal the bag to the plastic part at the base of the light might provide one with a better head start ... *grin*

BTW - similar to CaptainStoner, I've found that the plastic housing is clipped together

CaptainStoner

Sorry for the lack of updates recently folks, just come back from a week's holiday which came up on very short notice. Like 3hr short.. I barely had time to secure my stash for the week so it wouldn't get detected. I've only been back 30 minutes or so, long enough for a quick shower and the cook of a pizza, which I am now enjoying with some dr pepper. There's been no progress, light mk1 is still set up in the workshop, etc. Just catching up on me threads and a week's worth of downloading

I've had a week to sit back, take a break from the design and see if i can't come up with some new ideas. from what I gather, a fluoro tube is a fluoro tube is a fluoro tube, so different types of tube should be able to run on CFL ballasts, such as T5s, PL-L type lamps, etc. Before i left, i'd been looking at a fluoro growlight from a well known "garden supply" e-shop that claimed its 24w T5 tubes were capable of 2000 lumens each. This could be a round-up or it could be true.. So i'm going to run some experiments to see what can be done, once i've emailed this company to see if this is actually true lumen output. 24w T5 tubes tend to be about 470mm (16-17 inch-ish) which are the perfect size for my cab

CaptainStoner

Been working hard on research and completing my grow cab over the last month. Right now my cab is too small for T5s so i've been looking around and have traced down a supplier of 30w (2050lm) warm whites. They also sell daylight 6500k lamps cheaper than anywhere else i've seen them in the UK.

The previous lamps i've been looking at were PLET U tube types. These tend to be 4 wire. This makes remote ballasting them a pain in the neck, and 4core cable isnt as cheap. The new 30w bulbs i've found are spirals which should as far as i can see be two wire which saves me a lot of messing about. I'm about to put four of these into a 1 square foot box for a perpetual harvest, densely packed SOG. I may add a 23-25w daylight bulb too as i'm buying a few of those for my veg cab. Should be roughly 8-10,000lm per sq/ft. It's my first grow and dense SOG like this is a relatively advanced grow method so i'm going to use an easy to grow strain like white widow (which is one of my favourite buds) from a reputable seedbank. What i'm trying to do is keep a grow to feed my consumption below my target of 200w. If i can get away with 120w in flower, 43w for my veg cab which is small should be enough. This leaves 38w for remaining items. I've budgeted 22w for fans (which i have) and after that all i need is a 8w air pump i have my eye on. 120+43+22+8 =193w. From looking at other grows, 14-24 grams is an average yield per plant(this is from 105w/sqft). I'm expecting to get less, but i only smoke about 10g a week and i'll be harvesting two per week so i should be able to hit that fairly easily.

As for any heating which will probably be needed due to the UK winter being cold as hell, The grow is to be next to a PC which is on 24/7. A duct from the PC to the grow is all that is required.

Ordering the spiral warm whites and the U tube daylight bulbs on wednesday, 5 day delivery means they should be here in about a week's time. I expect to be popping some seeds in about a month to six weeks so watch this space.

wb456

Those tubes / bulbs do not draw a lot of amps. The frequency it carries from the transformer lights off the tubes. The transformer increases the frequency to 700hz or so to energize the gases. The wire you use should be solid conductor wire not stranded. And should not be smaller than the wire you are replacing. I think the wire size is 18AWG. THHN wire rated at 90 deg. cent. It is ok to use wire nuts and I would tape them too, to be safe.
Soldering would be most excellent too.

jangel

Hey Captain! How are you? Your brilliance has been mixed! (LOL! Bad pun but hey, I try!) Seriously, hope you are feeling okay, and great info in this. You have done so much work. I am impressed. Love to see pics if you have them.

Also, where did you find those lights? It would be a good thing to post for other interested U.K. residents.

Nice to see you on.

Peace, and stay well.

__________________
Life,
j-angel


My Little Grow LST'ing w/Hardware

My Outdoor Odyssey 2008 BONSAI MUMS

Cloning a Flowering Plant My Little Grow Blueberry

CaptainStoner

certainly, jangel. I bought mine today from a little local electronic component store. However i have found these same lamps on the web, albeit at a higher price. Didn't know if it was ok to post links but www.lampspecs.co.uk sell spiral CFLs in 2700k warm white and 6500k daylight in wattages up to and including 30w. They also sell very handy low profile, discrete ceramic sockets for lamps. Picked up 6 of those locally a while back anyway. I'm going to keep the lamp casing intact but remove the ballast.

EDIT: i bought 2x25w daylight lamps for my veg lights, and the four 30w warm whites i'm using for flowering. I'm also getting to the point where i have all my pots and trays too.

Just realised, i'm bang on my target 200w. This is due to the upgrade in veg lights. I had planned to use a big plastic storage box at 12"wide, 9" deep, and 17" tall and may still have to if i can't keep the bonsai mother plant/s small but bushy. There isn't really enough floorspace with that layout so for now i'm altering the plan, now i will lay that box on its side, this is better for circulation anyway due to fannage, so it'll be 12" tall, 17" wide, 9" deep under 50w of daylight spirals.

It is eventually the plan to see if an electronic ballasted 70w HID lamp can replace the 120w CFL in flower as an experiment and also as a way to reduce the wattage used further. CFLs rock but i got into them purely to minimise cost for my supply. Electricity bills in the UK for 2 suppliers (the rest will follow) are to go up 16-24 percent today. cutting out 50x12hr = 0.6kwh/day x365..

/me shrugs, lights joint and sits. rests case.

MercyEternity

I have seen 65-100 watt CFL bulbs with no ballast except they have a mogul socket. They would require a ballast to be wired to them and the bulbs are a third less in cost than the same wattage with built in ballast.

If you can figure out how to wire that then please tell me! That would be the most efficient but doesn't the bulb emit the heat versus the ballast?

CaptainStoner

The ballast will come with instructions on how to wire it. You will need to purchase ballasts with those bulbs and dedicated, standalone ballasts tend to be pretty expensive. Here in the uk, a 30w lamp with ballast built in is, depending on where you get it from 2 to 7 UKP sterling. The tube alone type, are about 5UKP. The ballasts to run these, are 25UKP for a twin lamp unit. 1UKP = 1.8US$ last i checked.

You're right about the tube making the most heat out of the whole unit. This I found as a result of my experiments. I had been told previously that the ballasts make more heat and this is just plain bovine faecal matter. However, most ballasts use crappy electrolytic capacitors in them which do not like any kind of heat. In a conventional CFL this heat transfers into the ballast, shortening the life of the unit. This is why i have been looking at modification of the bulbs - longevity.

I have opened up one of my spiral CFLs and they're 4 wire. I'm now trying to decide whether its worth the time it takes to mod the bulbs, when I want to get going NOW. I could modify the next set...