Anybody have any close calls with lamps being too close to material so that it charred or burned it? Not sure if i should be worrying about leaving my box alone for 7 hours while im in classes. All ive got now is CFLs but still its a thought thats constantly in the back of my mind when im out of the room.

unless you tampered with the wireing or got the sockets wet CFL won't catch on fire. HPS on the other hand can get very hot but with a good ballast and good wiring and ventilation thats usually not an issue.

CFLs will heat up to about 175F, so they are still in the safe range. it is a other story with HPS and MH bulbs which get damn hot and can explode too. they have to be set up in a way to minimise fire risk. the bigger risk is really coming from multi-plugs, noob wiring and too strange breakers in a circuit. get wiring always done by a pro!

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keep the thumb green and the gun oiled, !

cfls actually get hotter then both hps and mh bulbs, but the heat is more dispersed.

i fixed up a fan by using a phone charger, thats the only wireing i did. Its a 12 volt fan and the charger i dont know what its capable of. Anything to worry about?
Links here with a picture of it on the bottom: Computer fan
I could just use the fan when im around and keep it off a few hours a day during classes

Nonsense - try touching a compact fluorescent with your finger then try the same thing with a HID bulb and then tell me CFL's get hotter than HIDs.

cfls have a greater area to dispense the heat, think about it.

Since when has being able to touch a cfl tube with your finger and not burning it and getting it burnt if you touch a HID bulb got to do with heat dispersal?

Try it - practical experiment for you - let us know which finger gets burnt.

BULL

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keep the thumb green and the gun oiled, !

^^ exactly. HID bulbs do get much much hotter than cfls. Heat dispersal has nothing to do with what bulb gets hotter [except inside the bulb 0_o]...

what your talking about doobs, is net heat output; and still HID's would have more net heat output than cfls, and net heat output does not matter when it comes to temperature the bulb gets.

anyways I actually had the same worries, I was scared the first day I left it when I was at school [way back when I was clueless and using incandescents]... cfls are perfectly fine though, I use them, and I actually found paper laying against the lit bulb today [had been like that for 8 or so hours], and no problem.