CFL mods are great, except for the fucking glass in my hand

so in the growfaq there's this great idea on how to open a CFL and use the wires to hard wire in to a circuit, eliminating the need for sockets, as well as making them smaller.. im all, "great, im so doing this"

i dont know how the fuck this fool opens a cfl ballast, but its not happening.. dont do it, its not worth the time/effort/blood... BUT, if any of you have done this successfully, please tell me how the fuck you did.. i really want this to work

^^ this is so funny... im reading this... then the blood.... ^^

ROFL !!! i cant stop laughing ^^ what happend got pics ?

actually i figured it out, the key is to not be retarded.

actually i'd say just use the tek as inspiration, because all bulbs are different, and they are not at all easy to open with a vice grip, like homie does.. what i did was use a hack saw to cut the plastic at the top of the male socket piece (i think its called a mogul), then its just a matter of exposing the pos and neg wires.. hehe im stoked, my clone/seed banger is gonna be fuckin cutty.!

i always get sketched out when it comes to pics... maybe ill show you the finished product.. if yer lucky

i used a towel in left hand over the glass, pliars in my right, ripped off the metal, then patiently cut the plastic with a serrated steak knife, lol. laugh all you want, took me about 3-4 minutes each bulb. it is a lot easier and safer to just buy sockets, but if you're handy and want to save money then go for it.

^^

cool ...... show us the end product please ^^

i want to, but im not feeling this whole "post pictures of sketchy operations" trip... i guess im just a big pussy

who doesn't want to attract any heat

I can't find this article anywhere in the Grow FAQ. Please link me

the silvery contacts on cfl bulbs are made of solder you can solder your mains wires directly to these to avoid buying loads of sockets, i have done it and had no problems, make sure u have a good working fuse in your plug and be safe.

I really hope you didnt break open a cfl in your hand (like the glass part) CFLs do have a small amount of mercury in them and mercury can be extremely dangerous to humans. You're alive thus far, so I assume no harm done...but do be careful more often

true story

I saw these twist-on(to the wire, has metal spikes they get forced into) hang sockets(comes with a tiny metal V-shaped loop to attach to a hook of whatever). $2 each @ Bomgaars. Then two 12-14 gauge wire, viola. $2 more plus cheap wire. And at that gauge with solid wire they'd probably hold shape from wire tension alone. Otherwise, as I got, were plug-in sockets. Much easier to attach raw wires to the holes on the prongs! Little electric tape and it's done. Home-made socket for way cheaper than the premade ones. $1-$1.49 for these, plus wire. I bought a 6' extension cord for the same price($1.49). Could really easily turn an extension cord(cut the two wire apart at certain intervals) into a string of lights with that screw-on socket, though(maybe 5*$2=$10 + $1.49 ext cord= $11.49 for a 5 socket, 6' string, plug 6 of these into a surge protector... 30 sockets good enough? Your breaker might handle it?). Even the cheap ext cords handle 13 amps!