Lights, Part II
9:40 pm in electronic components, Version 3.0 Modular Airlift Columns by Morgan Miranda
Unfortunately, I have absolutely no experience in electrical work, which the instructions in the 3.0 MAMA incorrectly assumes for those hanging lights. Granted, I had no experience with airpumps and plumbing, but those were very well explained. I just wish the electrical components also were explained so well (video tutorial or careful diagrams). Furthermore, I could not find anything called a “pin socket” at Lowes.
So If you are like me and completely hopeless with electrical wiring, Here is an alternative.
1. Depending on how many plants you have, select that many extension cords, lights and sockets with plug-ins.
2. Plug the sockets into the ends of each extension cord and space them vertically as you please.
3. Tie off the slack of each extension cord and tie the cords together at intervals with lock ties (or string if you don’t have any lock ties on hand)
4. Guide the cords with hooks to keep them out of the way of the farm. (Because my farm is leaning against my fridge, I have the lights climbing up the fridge and then go through some rings on top of the fridge, which I keep in place with magnetic tape.)
5. Plug in all the extension cords into a circuit breaker. I actually only had three lights and I found a special outdoor plug that had three outlets, so I used that instead.
It is probably not the most efficient set up, but until I come up with something else, this will work splendidly!
If you understand the basics of electricity enough to know that you have 2 wires, one is “hot” and the other is neutral(usually red and black respectively). You are hard wiring your sockets into those 2 wires that are contained within the extension cord.
http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_F0i917zfySk/S57AKmDSWnI/AAAAAAAABj8/kJJyP_QN54E/s400/desk-14.jpg
This is a pic of an extension cord with the wires exposed, you would tie the black to negative, white to positive, and green to ground(if you have one). If you use a 2 prong cord then you won’t have the green wire. If you are tying in 3 wires, you would just take the next bit of the cord and repeat, starting from the first bulb socket and passing along to the next(this is referred to as being “in series”).
http://our.windowfarms.org/2010/04/15/super-simple-light-system/
Here is the perfect post for your trouble. I knew I’d find a picture explanation.
if you Google the following item, it will show you what it does. i have experienced the light given off by these bulbs – my mood went from blah/depressed to one of joyful exuberance… don’t take my word for it, try em out for your self. the best thing about these lights, is you can daisy chain em together. depending on what your needs are. and they aren’t that expensive.
Sunblaster T5 Fixture & Bulb
Available in 2foot/3foot/4foot
• Full spectrum lighting with 6400 Kelvins of light temperature • Equivalent to “rising sun” 2:00 pm temperature • Perfect for starting seedlings • Initiates faster rooting time on cuttings • Adds valuable supplementary light