hello fellow growers and DIY enthusiasts. so this has been my little project.
background: so i currently have 2 grow tents, one with a 400w HPS and the other with 4 25W CFL's.
The HPS tent just had a standard reflector which was good until my plants started to get a little taller, then i quickly realised that with a 400w light in a 60x60x140cm tent was creating to much heat, so i upgraded to a 125mm cool-tube and now everything is running like clockwork.
so now that left me with a reflector but no ballast or bulb. but i still had 4 CFL's just hanging in the other tent being quiet inefficient at directing the light to the plants. so i decided to incorporate the left over reflector that cost me 13 euros with the CFL's i already had. Here is how i did it.
1. so this is the standard reflector that i started with. as i mentioned before it only cost me around 13 euros. pretty basic.
2. i got a whole cutter and cut out 6 holes for the bulb sockets to fit into. there is no particular reason i laid the holes out in that way, i just thought it would maximise light coverage.
3. i added some wooden dowels to add structural support at the cheap reflectors are pretty flimsy and 6 25w CFL's are decently heavy.
4. installed the 6 bulb sockets in the pre-cut holes
5. organised all the wires
6. hung it up on some pulleys in the grow tent, fed all the wires through, gave it a good clean, installed the bulbs and plugged it in. at the moment i have 3 2700K & 3 6400K bulbs installed.
The build took me around 2 hours, and i only had to spend around 15 euros on the 3 extra bulbs, plugs and wires. the rest i had laying around the house.
feel free to comment, I'm always open to advice and even criticism as long as it constructive.
thanks,
trustfullytasty
background: so i currently have 2 grow tents, one with a 400w HPS and the other with 4 25W CFL's.
The HPS tent just had a standard reflector which was good until my plants started to get a little taller, then i quickly realised that with a 400w light in a 60x60x140cm tent was creating to much heat, so i upgraded to a 125mm cool-tube and now everything is running like clockwork.
so now that left me with a reflector but no ballast or bulb. but i still had 4 CFL's just hanging in the other tent being quiet inefficient at directing the light to the plants. so i decided to incorporate the left over reflector that cost me 13 euros with the CFL's i already had. Here is how i did it.
1. so this is the standard reflector that i started with. as i mentioned before it only cost me around 13 euros. pretty basic.
2. i got a whole cutter and cut out 6 holes for the bulb sockets to fit into. there is no particular reason i laid the holes out in that way, i just thought it would maximise light coverage.
3. i added some wooden dowels to add structural support at the cheap reflectors are pretty flimsy and 6 25w CFL's are decently heavy.
4. installed the 6 bulb sockets in the pre-cut holes
5. organised all the wires
6. hung it up on some pulleys in the grow tent, fed all the wires through, gave it a good clean, installed the bulbs and plugged it in. at the moment i have 3 2700K & 3 6400K bulbs installed.
The build took me around 2 hours, and i only had to spend around 15 euros on the 3 extra bulbs, plugs and wires. the rest i had laying around the house.
feel free to comment, I'm always open to advice and even criticism as long as it constructive.
thanks,
trustfullytasty
![DSC_1365[1].jpg](/data/attachments/154/154818-9e2edbab18941c2940ff2c7e9a3d1f13.jpg?hash=ni7bqxiUHC)
