I bought a couple of 65 watt cfls today and I need a ballast for them. I don’t know much about this kind of stuff. So do I need to get a ballast for exactly 65 watt cfls? Can I use one ballast for two bulbs? Anything else I should know?
I would really appreciate any help. Thanks!
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More info is needed. Maybe a link to the bulbs or a picture will help us to better assist you.
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I thought CFLs had ballasts built in, part of the compact part of it… could be wrong. Definitely need a link or a pic to say for sure though.
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Think he’s talking about the 65w ~20" long bulbs like you’d often find in aquariums.
Some of the universal electronic ballasts could handle 1-8 of them… If its the ones I’m thinking of - probably best bet is to dig a bit on the aquarium forums. I used to run 4 of them in my cabinet a long time ago, that was off a single ballast. Whats currently available is a different matter though. Most have been phased out for LEDs.
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thanks i wont get those lol, i bought dehumids that cant be used with timers,also dont come back on after outage learned there lol
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I don’t have a ton of money to spend. I’m looking to cut a corner here or there if I can
i just meant because you can’t use a timer with them is all
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Yeah I understand
Menards has all kind of ballasts for fluorescents. I don’t know if I can use something bigger then 65 watt, and can I use one ballast for multiple bulbs
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i have a 150 watt cfl , but thats equivlant i think its the curly type i got it from menards and it does have its own ballast, its about a foot long by 4 inch dia
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Honestly you could buy a couple of these
https://www.lowes.com/pd/Project-Source-4-Light-24-in-Chrome-Vanity-Light/1238521
And 2 packs of these
https://www.lowes.com/pd/GE-Basic-100-Watt-EQ-A19-Daylight-LED-Light-Bulb-4-Pack/1000969720
Pop off the plastic done and remove the diffuser inside and the you’d have a pretty decent light.
Plus this little setup would allow you to play with the spectrum as you needed by switching out different color temps
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Yeah that’s probably what I’ll wind up doing. Thanks man. It’s just that I bought these 50 watt cob fecidas off amazon for 25 bucks a piece and have burned 3 different grows with them. Now I have them 2 feet above. And I got these cfl because I can grow better under them. Also I can put them right on top of the plants with more lumens on the plant then the 100 watts of led.
Man fecida has got these leds cranking out light. The fixtures are small. There to hot to hold. They just cranking lumens. It’ll blind ya.
After all that I juse can grow better under cfl. I’m growing for seed too so how much does that require
This is what they are talking about @corey
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Yep. What kind of ballast does it have on it?
I need a ballast for 65 watts. Just don’t know how much I can fudge on one. I know I can prolly get awa with somewhat of a higher watt ballast just don’t know how much more. I need options before I go all the way back into town for one
I know I’m gonna have to wire in the ballast. I can do that. I need numbers
I thought the “Plastic Dome” was the diffuser?
I have 2 65 watt bulbs right. So can I split the watts from say a 120 watt ballast between them as well
Thats interesting. Granted I’m not super versed in them, but I’ve never seen that before. I did notice on the box that the spectrum on them is 6500K. Are you planning on using them for the full cycle?
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