Club Vert(600)

I need a quick electrical question answered!

Is 17 ft too long from bulb to ballast? I figure the bulb at the longest point hangs 3 feet or so below the mover plus another 6ft of tent then 6 more feet till the area where the ballasts will be mounted.

My two ballasts will be outside my tent and I need the wire to have some slack so I can adjust the length of travel for the light mover.

Is 17ft from bulb to ballast too long?

@SnapsProvolone ?

Edit:From what I can see, I don't have to worry about the type of ignitor because this is ceramic metal halide.

I'm limited by the voltage drop of wire, which is determined by wire length and gauge?

Edit2: I'm going to do it and see if it works. I have an electronic CMH ballast, I believe it'll work from what I'm reading on the web. We'll see, fire extinguisher handy...

Edit3: I'll work on it later. I think if I use the largest wire I have around it'll be fine.

Not too sure though, would love from input from you fine folks.

Dr.D81 said:

I would think the 6 doughnuts would yeild more, and i would repot them or watering will be a everyday thing. I know you can do two lights per mover but six would push the unit and be a pain in the ass.

Click to expand...

Ok perfect I am settin up Tomorow and can grab pots in the am ,what size would you recommend ,stalks are larger than a quarter in diameter...
I have 3 gal smart pots I could use or get either 5 gal grow bags or make Hempy buckets,what would you recommend dr?

Also should I put a certain cage around each light or make tomato cages out of bamboo steaks and twist ties? Am I ok not to scrog these plants ?
Bless

Yea you will be fine with out the screen. I have done two vert grows with a cage now and hated both. I will support mine with hemp loops tied to eye hooks behind them. That way i can get to the pots, dirt, floor light ventilation, everything better. Look at Heath Robinson 2lb critical + grow you can google it he pulled 2 lb off 1 600 watt hps no wire. I would use 5 gal if they are as big as you say and let them root for a week or two and flip them bitchs

a senile fungus said:

@SnapsProvolone ?

Edit from what I can see, I don't have to worry about the type of ignitor because this is ceramic metal halide.

I'm limited by the voltage drop of wire, which is determined by wire length and gauge?

Edit2: I'm going to do it and see if it works. I have an electronic CMH ballast, I believe it'll work from what I'm reading on the web. We'll see, fire extinguisher handy...

Edit3: I'll work on it later. I think if I use the largest wire I have around it'll be fine.

Not too sure though, would love from input from you fine folks.

Click to expand...

My cord set is 12 ft so 4 more ft sould not hurt. Just run large enough wire to make up for added resistance

Dr.D81 said:

My cord set is 12 ft so 4 more ft sould not hurt. Just run large enough wire to make up for added resistance

Click to expand...

I'll get it done tomorrow hopefully if I find the time! Pics when finished and set in the tent

I finally got the two 315w CMH on the light mover and into the tent.

I still have to do some things to make it more safe and permanent, but for proof of concept this works.

Here's some pics.

My last post is incorrect, stoner math. I shortened the length between bulbs to be 4ft, not 6ft, because my tent is 4x8. I was too stoned and cutting wood and forgot a foot on either side, woops.





Once it's cleaned up and ready for prime time I'll post more pics... This is just an update on my slow progress.

Enjoy the day!

I did that using a Light Rail before. I was running two tents though, with a 600 in each tent and the mover mounted above the tents. Whodatnation did it too with two boxes he built. It will work very well.

Dezracer said:

I did that using a Light Rail before. I was running two tents though, with a 600 in each tent and the mover mounted above the tents. Whodatnation did it too with two boxes he built. It will work very well.

Click to expand...

I saw whodatnation's but not yours. Is it in this vertical section?

Only thing is I haven't seen any vertical setups with the Ceramic Metal Halide tech. I'm curious to see if the two 315w bare vert bulbs will be sufficient for the 4x8 space.

They're bright as hell but its a different quality of light than the HPS. With HPS I feel like its a lot of straight heat, with this tech it feels like straight light.

I can have the bulb running for ten minutes and turn it off and touch the bulb with my bare skin, not much heat being given off... (Edit: OK OK they do get hot, they are HID after all, but not hot like HPS)

I'm gonna close the tent and do a temp run to see where it goes to...

These are exciting times!


Temp run: two lower vents open in the tent, exhaust fan on lowest speed option exhausting through the top and straight outside. Ambient temp at 66F, temp went up to 72F with lights on for nearly 90minutes. That's passive intake, and no fans underneath yet. Looks like temps won't be an issue... I'll keep playing with my new toys

I never posted any pics of the actual mover on here but there were some old pics of the tents and you could see the bulbs hanging in the center. It was a few years ago now that I did that so who knows where the pics are.

I ran two of the 40"x40" tents and a DIY RDWC system with good results. I only did away with it because I built my room where the tents were to up the anty a little. Right now I've got a single 1K bulb in a 5x5 and am jonesing to get back to running a 2x600 setup again. I'm real curious about those 315 watt CMH bulbs in the vertical setup. I keep hearing more good things about those bulbs and am willing to switch if they work in a vertical arrangement as good as they do in a horizontal one. I think two of them in the center of my room would be a good deal.

I think I'm wrecking my own master plan before it even gets started!
Realistically, the earliest I can pop a seed is mid December, then in mid march I've gotta be away from home for a month.
Can I get a trellis full, finished, dried and into curing jars in that time? Seems tight to me...

Run 12/12 from seed or run autos and you can definitely make that happen. You can probably do it with a one week veg too but it would be tight.

Dezracer said:

Run 12/12 from seed or run autos and you can definitely make that happen. You can probably do it with a one week veg too but it would be tight.

Click to expand...

And presumably double up on plant numbers and go straight up rather than worrying about trying to widen each plant through training?
The original plan was for a 40² foot trellis. That would probably need 8 plants I guess?
Or maybe I save the trellis for next time once I've tested strains for suitability this time...

Whether you use the trellis or not doesn't really matter, IMO. I ran some autos once before and had good success with them. I ran mine in DWC though.

How big is your space again? I run a 5x5 room and have about 50 sq ft of screen (4'x approx. 12'6"). I leave a small area open so I can get in and out easily for watering and tying plants up. I also run my screen behind my plants instead of having them grow through the screen. Is that what you were planning?

a senile fungus said:

I saw whodatnation's but not yours. Is it in this vertical section?

Only thing is I haven't seen any vertical setups with the Ceramic Metal Halide tech. I'm curious to see if the two 315w bare vert bulbs will be sufficient for the 4x8 space.

They're bright as hell but its a different quality of light than the HPS. With HPS I feel like its a lot of straight heat, with this tech it feels like straight light.

I can have the bulb running for ten minutes and turn it off and touch the bulb with my bare skin, not much heat being given off... (Edit: OK OK they do get hot, they are HID after all, but not hot like HPS)

I'm gonna close the tent and do a temp run to see where it goes to...

These are exciting times!


Temp run: two lower vents open in the tent, exhaust fan on lowest speed option exhausting through the top and straight outside. Ambient temp at 66F, temp went up to 72F with lights on for nearly 90minutes. That's passive intake, and no fans underneath yet. Looks like temps won't be an issue... I'll keep playing with my new toys

Click to expand...

I'm really curious as to how this will work with those lamps. I really like everything I've heard about them and would be willing to run them if I could afford to buy a pair. I'd like to run them one on top of the other in my vertical room. I think a 3' diameter vertical setup with a pair of those bulbs would do great.

Dezracer said:

I'm really curious as to how this will work with those lamps. I really like everything I've heard about them and would be willing to run them if I could afford to buy a pair. I'd like to run them one on top of the other in my vertical room. I think a 3' diameter vertical setup with a pair of those bulbs would do great.

Click to expand...

They aren't too expensive coming from advanced, but that's if you're running barebulb at 220/240v if not, then it gets more expensive...

I can run a dedicated 220v line to my room if I want to. I have an extra conductor in the line running from the panel already. I would just need to install a new breaker in the panel and rewire the receptacles in my room. Do you have to buy the complete fixture from Advanced or can you just buy the ballast and bulb?

Here's some pics of four of my girls in flower. They're almost five weeks of 12/12 now. I feel the flowers are a little behind schedule and am hoping they catch up soon.