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My goal for 2009 was to replace www.effectiveconcept.net with this blog.

I will continuing posting there.

Grow Lights

Recently I was thinking about Grow Lights again. My mother raises most of her summer flowers from seedlings. Her friends and neighbors in the Garden Society do the same. In the past we string banks of cheap 2-lamp shop lamps in the basement 3-6 inches over the flats of plants. At one time Home Depot had a very nice fixture that would drive either T-12 lamps or T-8 lamps. (T-12 lamps are 12 eighths of an inch or 1.5 inches in diameter. A T-8 is one inch in diameter and requires an modern electronic ballast to drive it.) As a Sylvania distributor I have easy access to high quality T-8 lamps and specialized T-12 Gro-Lux lamps. On one hand the T-8 seem to give the most bang for your buck, but the T-12 Gro-Lux lamps give the plants the kind of light they want. Here is a short list of resources I ran across on the web (note some of these are PDF files) :

• Another Opinion on Home Depot Shop Lamps ($9 each). I’ve looked at them recently and the boxes state: rated only for T12 lamps only. This is a shame and would limit their usefulness. The fixtures I purchased (2002) were very well built. They weren’t flimsy and had nice rounded edges. I didn’t feel like I had to wear gloves to handle them. I haven’t tried them recently but the line drawing the box looks suspiciously like an inferior shop lamp I ran across from another source.
• Overdriving Fluorescent Lights by Jim Haworth. This post went into detail about overdriving lamps by using a 4-lamp ballast for two T8 lamps or a 2-lamp ballast for one T8 lamp. I was aware of this- it isn’t at all unusual, in fact it’s in the Sylvania ballast spec sheet. However it is also unnecessary. Sylvania sells high output T-8 ballasts. Every ballast manufacturer has a line of high output ballasts. Known as High Ballast Factor (HBF)- there is no reason you have to jam a bunch of ballast into a fixture to get extra output.
• mySylvania.com has a good collection of PDF files about all aspects of lighting. This also includes “Lights and Plants“, which explains why Gro-lux lamps work well when they don’t look very bright. And “Photosynthetically Active Radiation Units“, which delves into the science of light and photosynthesis.
• Indoor Lighting For Plants by Dr. Leonard Perry, Extension Professor of the University of Vermont. A nice quick overview of the subject.
• Indoor Growing FAQs by RVF Garden Supply. This FAQ went into more detail than most posts on the Internet. There was less conjecture and more science. Their thoughts on using 6500K T-5 lamps sparked my imagination.

RVF Garden Supply had some interesting notes on using a T-5 lamps with a good reflector finished…

T5 lamps provide the ideal spectrum for plant growth. Photosynthesis rates peak at 435 nm and 680 nm. A 6500K T5 lamp has a spectral distribution with relative intensity peaks at 435 nm and 615 nm. This equates to very little wasted light energy in terms of plant growth. T5 lamps promote incredible health and vigor of seedlings and cuttings. Root development is superior relative to other lighting sources.

The problem as I see it is one of cost. Everything about a T-5 system is dramatically more money than a comparable T-8 system. The lamps, ballasts, fixtures are all three times as much money and yet the jump in efficiency between a T-5 system and a T-8 system is minor.  With this in mind I set out to make a decent T-8 grow light fixture.

1. I looked at loading up a troffer fixture with extra lamps. It had a nice spectral aluminized reflector built in. That means it is almost mirror like. The problem was the reflector made adding more lamps unlikely. I wanted to get 4-6 lamps in the fixtures, but I had no easy way to make room for the sockets.
2. I also had some reflector kits. Once I set one up I released it was almost a fixture in itself. There is a metal bar, which supports the sockets and mounts to the reflector. All I need is a ballast and some lamps. I showed Ray and he suggested it really needed a channel for support and as a place to mount the ballast(s). My thought was to string a couple of these reflector kits together on a sheet of thin wood. The ballasts could be mounted on the other side of the sheet. This sheet of two reflector kits (8-lamps total) would replace each row of three shop lamps (6-lamps total).
3. I had some 1-lamp strip fixtures. I was about to take one apart for the channel, when I realized I had some 4′ blank channels laying around. No point in ruining a perfectly good strip fixture.
4. I also have a box of 2-Lamp HBF Electronic Ballasts. I wired two Sylvania Quicktronic QT2x32/120/PLUS to drive four lamps.
5. RVF Garden Supply made a good point about using 6500K lamps. This isn’t a lamp I stock. I have 2700K (Incandescent), 3000K (Warm), 3500K (Warm White), 4100K (Cool White), 5000K (Daylight), but no 6500K (Blue). I have only done one job with 6500K lamps. I found them to be very bluish, although the customer loved them. In the future I plan to get some. It seems 6500K may be the new grow lamp as its output spikes at the same frequencies: 435nm and 615nm. In the meantime I used four 5000K lamps (Extended 80 series), which give longer life and higher Color Rendition Index (CRI), which yields better light. I found a cord (The only item I don’t have in abundant supply.) The fixture was very bright.
6. The sockets weren’t stable enough so I replaced them with four that are screwed into the socket plate. I also ran some zip screws in so it wouldn’t fall apart. It’s a nice looking fixture. The reflector is sharp, but it is also flexible and easy to cut, so I can mount it almost anywhere. The wires running to the sockets aren’t covered, so it would never pass inspection. But for a grow light it’s very good.

Prince’s Resume

I was reading the February 4th issue of Fortune Magazine. This article caught my attention, “How To Get Hired By A ‘Best’ Company” By Anne Fisher. Rather than write up how it might apply to me, I thought it would be fun if Prince were applying for a new job.

It helps to know someone.
In addition to my former Masters at Time Warner, I know (biblical sense) lots of fine ladies  such as: Vanity (Denise Matthews), Madonna, Sheila E, Anna Fantastic, Carmen Electra, Jill Jones, Apollonia Kotero, Kim Basinger, Sheena Easton, Robin Arcuri, Troy Beyer, Susanna Hoffs and Nona Gaye.

Play up volunteer work on your résumé.
I like to help out anyway I can, as long as it’s on my terms. I once donated a song for a little project called “We Are The World.” I was also instrumental in the formation of the Parents Music Resource Center (PMRC), just ask Tipper Gore.

Get ready to interview and interview… and interview.
Although I have a reputation for refusing all interviews I have occasionally granted an interviews- as long as I get to write the questions and you don’t mind absurd answers.

Unleash your inner storyteller.
“I knew a girl named Nikki/I guess you could say she was a sex fiend/I met her in a hotel lobby/Masturbating with a magazine” Yes, I have all kinds of stories to tell, but if you’re asking how I’ve handled troublesome situations in the past, I usually just have my bodyguards beat them up, or just wait until they go away. Often just getting a new girlfriend makes the old one go away. This also applies to band members.

Do creative research.
I know a lot about Best Company Records… I’m looking for a label that will let me do whatever I want, whenever I want, will market whatever I release, wherever I tell them too, without any guff, and without taking any of my money. My lawyers and accountants tell me BCR is desperate enough to be that label.

No lone rangers need apply.
Of course I’m a team player. Just ask The Revolution or the New Power Generation. On second thought maybe you should just take my word on this.

If you’ve moved around a lot, be ready to explain why.
I’m not sure I understand this question. I’ve stayed in the Minneapolis area all my life. I have a home in the LA, but that’s for business. I also tour extensively- I have to keep in touch my my customers you understand.

Be open to learning new things.
Are you kidding me- I play every instrument on my records. I write, record and produce songs. I write, star, direct and produce my own movies. I run a complex of companies. I even sell perfume. I was one of the first artists to take full advantage of the Internet. Even now I’m one of the first to use the Internet to sue my customers. This is something I learned from the record labels.

If at first you don’t succeed, don’t give up.
Listen, I want you to give me serious consideration. If you decide to pass, I’m still going to write you a song so you don’t forget about me. Maybe we can do business with one of my many side projects.

Don’t coast on their reputation.
Hey, I gotta run. I’m playing the half-time show at the Superbowl, but I want to thank you for your time. I hope I can do business with Best Company Records in the near future. I have a bunch or records in my vaults that I want to release.

When A Date Goes Bad

This post isn’t about dating. I’m the last one to give advice on that topic. Instead this about what to do if you have a bunch of digital photos with the wrong date. This can be caused by forgetting to reset the clock when changing the batteries, or vacationing in a different time zone, or even scanning film photos.