// AK47 - CFL Grow //

I have been on RIU learning all the ins and outs and I think it is time for my first entry of my grow journal.

I germinated on Aug 19th. (5 for 6 seeds)
I potted them on Aug 22nd.

My lighting rig has 10 overhead light sockets and is adjustable in height. I am currently using 5- 23W 6500K CFLs. (1 for each plant) with a conical mylar sheet reflectors that I made.

They are actually quite effective. The light is blinding. You can see the CFLs through the mylar, probably 1% of the light that is transmitted through the sheet.

I intend to use all 10 sockets and have CFLs on the sides and below the canopies when the ladies mature.
I intend to switch to 1 gallon pots eventually. The cabinet is about 1.5' x 2.5 ' x 6'
For flowering, I am trying to get 250W HPS system that I will mount on a homemade reflector system.
My partner is taking care of all the nutes and knows what he is doing.

Anyways, this is my first of probably a weekly update to log my activity. I know RIU will help me see this through to harvest!

Nice setup. That is a fuck load of cfl's and those mylar reflectors are cool, hope they don't get too hot.

Dr.Chronic said:

Nice setup. That is a fuck load of cfl's and those mylar reflectors are cool, hope they don't get too hot.

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thanks Dr. Chronic! I wish I could show a picture of how much brighter the bulbs are after adding the mylar cones. It was pretty insane. They aren't getting too hot either.

thats pretty cool

Those cones seem to be doing the trick. Your leaves are reaching up nicely towards them with minimum stretch....I'm intrested in how the grow goes. Are those regular AK's or auto flowering low rider AK's?

Dude,

Can you show some pics of the back of that cfl rig. I want to set one up but I don't know how to wire stuff or how much electricity I can flow through 1 socket. Good luck, brah!

midwest duder said:

Dude,

Can you show some pics of the back of that cfl rig. I want to set one up but I don't know how to wire stuff or how much electricity I can flow through 1 socket. Good luck, brah!

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Sure, I included a pic of my wiring. My wiring is very redundant. All the bulbs are in parallel, but there are multiple paths. I did this in case there is ever a problem with wiring and a connection is broken, there are other paths.

If you want to verify that the wiring is sufficient thick to handle the current, look up the gauge or AWG of the wiring on the net to see the max current. Note that a lower gauge can handle higher current. I'd say go with a 22 gauge or lower and you should be fine. To find the total current, just take the total power in watts and divide by 110V. So 220W will produce 220/110 = 2 A of current.

I just got autoflowering ak's. Looking forward to the grow. CHEERS

sakeser said:

... I'd say go with a 22 gauge or lower and you should be fine. ....

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yeah, you would be fine...fine making a fucking flash bulb with 22 gage wire, are you fucking insane?

Before giving electrical advice get a fucking clue, you can't use something fine like 22 AWG, that is like angel hair, and hooking that up to anything high wattage and you are going to smoke that skinny floss you used for wire.

Get a clue, pick up the NEC and do the math before you say that shit.

maybe sakeser meant 12ga wire...ya know, like 12-2 wire or something.

OK, first look at this table for information about 22 AWG wire. American Wire Gauge table and AWG Electrical Current Load Limits

It clearly states that the maximum amps for chassis wiring is 7 A. That can support 700 W, conservatively. That is the equivalent of running 27 26W CFL lightbulbs.

Before you say the power transmission rating like a douche, please read the description of those ratings above the table.

Another thing about the wiring, if you use the wiring that I have (shown in the pic above), you'd see that the maximum current through any wire is at the terminals and that would only be 1/2 the total load, clearly by symmetry. So that means the wires could potentially support 14A, or or 1400 W.

That website also contains a calculator so you can verify various numbers such as voltage drops and power dissipation if you don't believe me.

you're just an ignorant pussy who is all smug about your redundant safety. Clearly I know what I'm talking about, so you can go fuck yourself.

This is the next 3rd week in the ladies progress. One of the leaves (3rd pic) was damaged. I think it was caused by heat. The CFLs were actually a bit too close, but they're better now. I'm pretty pleased with the inter-nodal spacing.

Cool dude. I want to see them when they get a little bigger .

sakeser said:

This is the next 3rd week in the ladies progress. One of the leaves (3rd pic) was damaged. I think it was caused by heat. The CFLs were actually a bit too close, but they're better now. I'm pretty pleased with the inter-nodal spacing.

Click to expand...

Hey bro. I like what you got going on... In my opinion the plants appear to be stretching though. Might want to get those lights a little closer.

Otherwise the grows is lookin' grub.

icurbyou said:

In my opinion the plants appear to be stretching though. Might want to get those lights a little closer.

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What makes you say that? See I am bit wary when it comes to moving the lights closer because I don't have fans or any ventilation. That is why I used the mylar reflectors, so that I could direct most of the light flux towards the plant anyway. What makes you think it's stretching, I'm not sure.

Well.. I'm not saying that they are scraggly stretchy ugly things... I mean, it's not like the infamous white fork widow or anything...

However, the stem has more length between the bottom node and the dirt, than the entire rest of the plant. I would say if the length of trunk (below branches) is longer than the length of growth area - they are stretched..

Could be wrong...

sakeser said:

This is the next 3rd week in the ladies progress. One of the leaves (3rd pic) was damaged. I think it was caused by heat. The CFLs were actually a bit too close, but they're better now. I'm pretty pleased with the inter-nodal spacing.

Click to expand...

Plant's are looking good sake. Keep up the good work. I had a feeling it was gunna get too hot.

icurbyou said:

Well.. I'm not saying that they are scraggly stretchy ugly things... I mean, it's not like the infamous white fork widow or anything...

However, the stem has more length between the bottom node and the dirt, than the entire rest of the plant. I would say if the length of trunk (below branches) is longer than the length of growth area - they are stretched..

Could be wrong...

Click to expand...

Ah, Makes sense. I do think the trunk is a little too large, but I have to work with that now. We had some issues with lighting on startup, but it's ok now.


Thanks for the replies Dr. Chronic.

Looks good , look foward to following along!

Here are some pics from week 4.

Those initial leaves that were initially burnt and slowly dying off.

Questions
- Any comments on the inter-node spacing?
- Should I get a fan in there to help make the main branch stronger? Does it really make a significant difference?

I am planning on getting a 250W HPS for flowering. I will line the entire cabinet with mylar soon.