# wiring tanning bed lights for growing



## uwhcmw76 (Apr 4, 2009)

Hello all,

I have used the 10% uvb reptile lights on a couple of grows, and on my next setup would like to use the tanning bed lights with homemade reflecftors, these lamps are approx 6ft long and 100w and have 7.5%uvb, I want to use six of these wired to the same ballast but each individual lamp will be around 2ft apart, the questions I need to ask are has anyone used these lamps for growing and is there a different kind of ballast that is used to ignite flouros vs HID or could I use a 600w digital ballast to run all of this?

thanks


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## tom__420 (Apr 4, 2009)

If you are going to buy a 600 watt ballast you should use it with HPS or MH. HID will produce much better buds


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## 9inch bigbud (Apr 4, 2009)

i would not like to work in tha room fuck your eye site right up i dont think they are even good for growing under? iv never heard of a grow just using them on there own?


> Can you use sunbed lamps to grow skunk indoors?
> Tessa,
> Internet _Sunbed lamps contain a high proportion of light in the Ultraviolet A and B spectrums. These are the spectrums that cause suntan and sunburn and are associated with an increased rate of cancer. In one experiment, a researcher found that high THC varieties respond to UVB light by increasing the percentage of THC they produce in a linear ratio to the amount of UVB light they receive. This could be significant._
> _Using sunbed lamps to supplement the lighting during the last three weeks of flowering will increase THC production. Fluorescent lamps made for lighting reptile cages emit up to 10 percent UVB light. These types of lights should not be used alone because they don't have the proper spectrum for growth or flowering. _
> _If you do use them to supplement your lighting regimen, you should make sure to turn off these lights before working in the garden space._


http://www.cannabisculture.com/articles/3189.html


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## delstele (Apr 5, 2009)

If your gonna spend that much money go with HID lighting far cheaper to run and get replacment bulbs..


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## DubRules (Apr 5, 2009)

im assuming that you will be running these as supplemental lighting and not as primary lighting. typically, fluorescent bulbs use a ballast in the fixture rather than an external one. you will not be able to use your HID ballast for fluoro bulbs as HID ballasts are specifically for HPS, MH or are switchable between the two. you would most likely need to buy a fixture specific to these bulbs and the fixture should have a ballast in it.


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## uwhcmw76 (Apr 6, 2009)

thank you for the health concerns, but these will be for supplementing 1000w digital hps's and will be wired into a switch so when I go in I will have them turned off. I just had a digital 600w ballast laying around and would like to use it for this but I guess that a specific ballast will be reguired for the flouro's.

Has anyone used one of these bulbs for this???


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## DubRules (Apr 7, 2009)

how are you planning on wiring these..? i was just looking online and the only fixtures i can find that are made to work with these bulbs are full tanning beds. these bulbs are expensive and so are any type of fixtures. also, tanning bed bulbs are usually 6-8' which would require a lot of room. i dont know any of these things for sure, this is just what i found with a few minutes of search. my personal opinion is that you have a good idea, but its going to be more work than its worth,


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## uwhcmw76 (Apr 7, 2009)

Hello Best Bud, yea I am not sure if this will be plausible but my understanding is that tanning bed lamps are just 6ft flourescents of a very specific wattage and color spectrum, and I thought that the way a flourescent light fixture works is that all the lamps are in a series to equal the total that the ballast will ignite for two 54w t5 HO would require a 108w ballast, I could be wrong and light fixture with two t5 would have two 54 w ballast each one running one lamp . either way I would either buy 1 100w ballast for each tanning bed lamp or one 600w to run all six but since I have never seen a 600w flouro system then it would probably have to be two 300w ballast or 3 200w ballast, and you are probably correct about it not being worth the trouble, but for me i dont use a lot of my crop I really just enjoy the experimenting part and being on this side of this wrongfully controversial standpoint, this I think is the closest my generation has to a woodstock, where we can say damn the man, and demand change


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## purpdaddy (Apr 8, 2009)

i have 2 tanning beds at the office and they really dont pull that much watts.I was thinking of ordering sum bulbs and try them,but again they not as strong and will not penetrate like hids do,but it is a great idea and i will try it oneday!.But its HID for me!


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## uwhcmw76 (Apr 8, 2009)

I totally agree that HIDs are the way to go but I do want the supplemental UVB from the tanning bed lights


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## BallastGuy (Jul 30, 2009)

I have the UV fluorescent lamps, lamp sockets, small electronic ballasts to power the lamps, and extremely simple wiring diagrams if anyone wants to learn to use them. I don't know much about their affect on different plants' growing mechanisms but I know the electrical end.


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## RickWhite (Jul 30, 2009)

I would strongly urge you not to monkey around with wiring up stuff like that if you don't know what you are doing. That is a good way to burn your house down.

I was an electrician by trade and I don't know what type of ballasts those tanning beds use although my guess is that they are not standard ballasts. Maybe you can find the correct info online but asking in this forum is not a responsible way to research how to correctly wire stuff.

Maybe google tanning bed ballasts. Of course there are also different bulbs that emit far different spectrums of light. Yes, it is true that the better beds produce more UVA and UVB and the cheaper ones more UVC.

Plus, I'd have to imagine you will need to do numerous experiments to find a good level of exposure. I would do maybe a few minutes a day at a good distance. Given that those bulbs can burn your eyes out, they can proobably destroy your plants as well.


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## BallastGuy (Jul 31, 2009)

I wasn't asking for information in this forum nor did I mean to suggest that anyone do anything dangerous; merely just offering the source of information. These are small electronic ballasts. They can operate on either 110 or 220 volts; your choice. They will run (2) 100-watt fluorescent lamps, with each "tanning" lamp being 59, 60, 71, 72, 0r 73 inches long. These lamps emit only UVA and UVB. No tanning lamps emit UVC. UVC exposure is dangerous to humans. UVC is mainly used in germicidal lamps. The ballasts are virtually "plug-n-play". However, one should always wear UV blocking eye protection.


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## bluetick (Jul 31, 2009)

Tanning bed lights won't work with herbs by the way. Didn't read the whole thread but yea, use them to get a tan or throw them away. They are too hot and burn too much electricity. They are made for tanning not growing. Jmo.


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## BallastGuy (Jul 31, 2009)

They give off the same UV as the sun. The plants don't like them??


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## bluetick (Jul 31, 2009)

Read up online a bit about them. You'll get all of the information you'll need on 'why' not to use them. They will burn the plants up if I remember correctly.


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## Closet Grow (BuD) (Jul 31, 2009)

i want to see you tryto grow with a tanning bed...good luck, i dont think its possibe


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## BallastGuy (Aug 4, 2009)

Closet Grow (BuD) said:


> i want to see you tryto grow with a tanning bed...good luck, i dont think its possibe


The HID lamps tend to be almost all UVA. The fluorescent lamps have varying mixes of UVA and UVB. The more UVB, the more you get red instead of brown because the UVB is the burning ray. So that would make sense that a plant could get burned. So a low UVB / high UVA fluorescent lamp would be better.


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## WaxxyNuggets (Nov 9, 2011)

Bringing back a dead thread for info's sake, has anyone wired these puppies? ballastguy your probably not around anymore, but i'm very interested in how to wire these up for supplemental uvb. I'm not stressing on burning plants, if bitches can hop in for 10-15 so can the ladies


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## cannawizard (Nov 9, 2011)

*think about it, dont ppl bake under these in salons for 30-1h? ..


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