250 watt HPS vs. 500 watts in CFLs

dluck

Well-Known Member
Efficiency of HPS is 125/lumens per watt. AND it has more red spectrum both by percent and total.

Id love to see your high yield CFL pics.
That's what I'm saying as I only get 69.9/lumens per watt...wish I had the pics...I harvested 54.8 grams (dry) with two 55 watt CFL's...the strain wAs Nirvana's Bubblelicious .
 

dluck

Well-Known Member
Efficiency of HPS is 125/lumens per watt. AND it has more red spectrum both by percent and total.

Id love to see your high yield CFL pics.

Either way i didnt have to adjust my light at all during flowering keep that in mind. Saves a lot of labor and reduces potential fall hazards.
I had to adjust sometimes twice a day...I was keeping the lights around 3/4 of an inch from the canopy..couple burns happened...I am now ordering a 250 watt Lumatek HPS system...can't wait to try it !!
 

Lysergicpt

Well-Known Member
Depending on the grow sometimes you gain light efficiency with the cooltube as you can have the bulb much closer to the canopy.
 
I'll snag some pics and upload them in a few days.

The air will be pulled in from my bedroom, which in the summer time heats up pretty hot, but I have an AC unit that cools the room down. The circulation in the tent is already much better as compared with my cabinet before, and my temps are a lot better now. I plan on getting a 440 CFM fan (with speed controller to reduce noise) to pull through my 400 watt hps cool tube. I will vent the air outside the tent either through a floor vent and into the ducting of the house or through a window behind the tent. It may change depnding on the season/ how well one option works. I also may move the tent to an attic during the winter if I can, and that will help bring cool air in.

just hung a tapestry up in front of the tent (it's in a corner of the room) and you can't see any light, and with all the fan's i've got running as it is ( high was 99 today), nobody notices an extra run on the tent. It's honestly a lot stealthier than before. And light proof.
 
I cited a study (like, a scientific one) in an earlier post that illustrated how when higher wattage HID lights are used on a lower setting (for example, a 600 watt set at 50%, so it acts as a 300 watt) the efficiency of the light, the longevity of the light, and the spectrum of the light are all negatively effected. I am all about efficiency, but I am also all about saving money. I did some research a week ago on the subject, and the conclusion i came to was, while it would be cheaper in the long run to get the 600 and use it as a 300, it would hurt the longevity of my bulb, the efficiency of my lights, and the spectrum of light put off by the bulb.

However, if I can still get good results doing that, I am always down. Can anyone provide a link to a grow or a study that contradicts the body of research I have, to this point, been reading?

I am getting a cooltube though. They seem outstanding for my purposes.
 

dluck

Well-Known Member
I cited a study (like, a scientific one) in an earlier post that illustrated how when higher wattage HID lights are used on a lower setting (for example, a 600 watt set at 50%, so it acts as a 300 watt) the efficiency of the light, the longevity of the light, and the spectrum of the light are all negatively effected. I am all about efficiency, but I am also all about saving money. I did some research a week ago on the subject, and the conclusion i came to was, while it would be cheaper in the long run to get the 600 and use it as a 300, it would hurt the longevity of my bulb, the efficiency of my lights, and the spectrum of light put off by the bulb.

However, if I can still get good results doing that, I am always down. Can anyone provide a link to a grow or a study that contradicts the body of research I have, to this point, been reading?

I am getting a cooltube though. They seem outstanding for my purposes.
I'm interested in knowing more about that myself !
 
Here's that citation again, I am sure you can find the article by googling the URL

Ji, Yunfen & Wolsey, Robert. "Dimming Systems for High-Intensity Discharge Lights" Lighting Answers, Volume 1 Issue 4, September 1994. http://www.lrc.rpi.edu/programs/NLPIP/lightinganswers/pdf/view/LAHID.pdf

Really a great study, easy to read too!!

According to the chart in the study, at 50% power, the lighting efficiency is almost 20 PERCENT LESS than if the efficiency were constant. That is a significant difference in my book. According to the methodology of the study, the researchers did; however, use Metal Halide lamps, not HPS in their tests.

In regards to light spectrum, the results indicate that at 50% power, HPS light wavelengths are also notably smaller than the wavelengths of the light at 100% power.

As much as I would like to save myself money in the future, a new lighting system would only cost around 200 dollars, which is a lot, but not too much. I want to do this right, I've tried to cut corners with lighting for too long with CFLs and I don't want to drop the money for a larger lighting system and have poor results because I have to run it at a lower power setting. I'll still with the 400 watt, and if it is too hot I can just do it at 75%, at least that way the efficiency loss will be minimal.
 
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