CFL Veg Cab w/ Cool DIY Reflectors

Just wanted to show how a nice little 3'x 1.5'x 4' veg cab can be made from spare plywood and a few hardware supplies.

Here we see the main bank of four 42w SW heliacals with Bake-Master reflectors. Ran out of little elbow brackets and had to ad lib with a short piece of shelving support on that last one on the right. These GE bulbs are surprisingly cool running compared to the 40w ones with smaller bases. I hole sawed some ventilation holes in the top. A PC fan pulls air up through there. There's another solid top above that one, making a 4" air chamber between them. BTW, large CFL bases won't normally be able to screw into that kind of socket far enough to make contact but they'll work if you pull the electrode out some with your fingernail, with power off of course. You know how the center electrode is like a metal flap? Well it can be bent out some.


This shows a red supplemental unit. Really improves the spectrum, one on each end. That 13w bulb uses a smaller reflector, the Bake-Master Mini. To make the reflectors, I cut a notch, or flap, in one end and folded it up and rounded it some so it would fit over the socket nicely. Then I zip tied the flap to the socket. It holds the reflector up from touching the bulb, though if it does touch it doesn't hurt anything. Reflectors make all the difference with CFLs.


And here we see the results, sweet sweet dope. See how much redder the spectrum is? It's like a super warm white or 90 CRI maybe. I put duct tape over the handle holes in the containers so perlite wouldn't fall out. A second piece on the inside too. Dollar store containers really come in handy. Those ones were $2.50 each.

BobCajun said:

Just wanted to show how a nice little 3'x 1.5'x 4' veg cab can be made from spare plywood and a few hardware supplies.

Here we see the main bank of four 42w SW heliacals with Bake-Master reflectors. Ran out of little elbow brackets and had to ad lib with a short piece of shelving support on that last one on the right. These GE bulbs are surprisingly cool running compared to the 40w ones with smaller bases.

This shows a red supplemental unit. Really improves the spectrum, one on each end. That 13w bulb uses a smaller reflector, the Bake-Master Mini.

And here we see the results, sweet sweet dope.

Click to expand...

nice!!!!!!! are you growing in perlite?

mauricem00 said:

nice!!!!!!! are you growing in perlite?

Click to expand...

Yes, perlite is my preferred medium.

Here's what's above the chamber shown earlier, after the 4" air space. I decided to try rooting clones in the full sized containers so the roots can grow all they want right away, and also avoids transplanting later. This is a fluorescent light forum, and I did have 9w CFLs in those sockets until today. I found a good deal on a 4-pack of 8.5w LED bulbs so I thought I'd switch them from the CFLs. Puts out about 50% more lumens than the 9w CFLs and cost about the same actually. I got 2700k. Look like they should work well for this. I figured I should post the pic here even though it's LED because it's part of the same cabinet I showed before.

BTW, the warmth from the air chamber below this section is just right for keeping the clones warm to help rooting. I put a layer of cardboard under the containers for a little insulation so they don't get too warm. There's water in those bottom containers and it's high enough to go in the hole in the top containers to keep it moist. The covers are just some clear containers that happen to fit well inside the white ones. I put some slits in the reflectors so I could bend the sides out more and to let heat out.