600s or a 1000watt - new room

mas3372

mas3372

Active Member
I will be setting up a small room. 5x5.5. Actual plant footprint will be more around 4.5x5.

I am tossing up the idea of a 1000watt HPS or 2 600watt HPS. The 600's give more lumen per watt and would add anothe 200 watts. Cost wise would be comparable for another 200 watts.

Also, the 600s allow me a bit closer to the plants.

What do you think? What would you go with?
 
Chem Dawg

Chem Dawg

New Member
2 600's no question. By far the best investment ive made! More lumens, more watts, lumens per watt, and a wider spread of concentrated light. Cant go wrong!
 
mas3372

mas3372

Active Member
Thats what I was thinking. I just remeasured the area to be sure and I actaually have 6.5 x 4.5 for 29ft2. 50watts per ft2 tells me I need 1450. Think the (2) 600s would do it. I can always had some flouros but I don't want to add another HID.
 
Chem Dawg

Chem Dawg

New Member
Well youd be close to it. The 600's emit a little more than 600w's . Could be in the 630's-40's. Not sure of the exact amount. But as I too know new England weather it's hard to keep steady temps due to our drastic season changes. So we are contantly battling winter night temps, and summer day temps. We have an extra expense at times to keep things growing.
 
MakeYourself

MakeYourself

Member
Check out the lumatek dual 600watt dimable ballasts, 1 ballasts runs two lights + you can switch it to Super Lumens setting.
 
[420]Haze

[420]Haze

Active Member
mas3372 said:
I didn't realize one ballast could run 2 lights. So is it like a twin 600 ballast kinda thingy majig
Click to expand...
Cost wise this is a great idea, however, running 2 lights off the one control gear in my opinion is not smart, if your ballast dies or shorts, youll lose all light, at least running seperate ballasts you will lose lumens but not all light heavily effecting your crop, all light lost can cause females to herm etc....light cycle is essential, this would be my first consideration. I run 2 x 600w lumatek digital ballasts with lucagow lamps, then grab 2 x 600w powerplant retro fit MH globes to use in your digital ballasts, run your MH retro fits for veg and your hps for flower, good luck man.
 
mas3372

mas3372

Active Member
[420]Haze;5344964 said:
Cost wise this is a great idea, however, running 2 lights off the one control gear in my opinion is not smart, if your ballast dies or shorts, youll lose all light, at least running seperate ballasts you will lose lumens but not all light heavily effecting your crop, all light lost can cause females to herm etc....light cycle is essential, this would be my first consideration. I run 2 x 600w lumatek digital ballasts with lucagow lamps, then grab 2 x 600w powerplant retro fit MH globes to use in your digital ballasts, run your MH retro fits for veg and your hps for flower, good luck man.
Click to expand...
Great help man. Thanks. These lights are for flower only so I only need HPS. Lumatek seem most popular but they are pricey. How do the chinese knock-offs on ebay compare. If I go lumatek I'm seeing like $500 each set up of ballast, aircooled hood, and bulb.
 
Gastanker

Gastanker

Well-Known Member
mas3372 said:
Do I need dimmable if I never plan to change wattage...
Click to expand...
Super lumens is nice but no you don't. Would still recommend a lumatek (don't know that they offer anything other than dimmable). You don't need to change bulbs to dim it - 1 600w bulb can act as a 300, 450, 600 or higher. Kinda nice at the begging of veg.
 
L

LionsRoor

Well-Known Member
mas3372 said:
I will be setting up a small room. 5x5.5. Actual plant footprint will be more around 4.5x5.

I am tossing up the idea of a 1000watt HPS or 2 600watt HPS. The 600's give more lumen per watt and would add anothe 200 watts. Cost wise would be comparable for another 200 watts.

Also, the 600s allow me a bit closer to the plants.

What do you think? What would you go with?
Click to expand...
I would go with a single 1000 watt. If you are going to be veging under the same light in the same room, consider one of the new ballasts that actually run different bulbs. Galaxy makes one that does 1000, 600, and 400 watt MH and HPS lamps! The Lumatek does 1000, 750, and 400... but the 750 watt lamp is impossible to find. Two 600 watt lights would be fine but are not a needed expense or hassle. A 1000 watt light is designed to throw a square 4-5 foot pattern; perfect for your zone. Just my humble opinion...

One more note about the dual 600 watt ballast - I would avoid it! They don't offer any advantage and they are currently more expensive than two singles can be had for. And when one ballast breaks... you need to take the whole thing down to repair -- and two lights are now off rather than one!
 
L

LionsRoor

Well-Known Member
Gastanker said:
Super lumens is nice but no you don't. Would still recommend a lumatek (don't know that they offer anything other than dimmable). You don't need to change bulbs to dim it - 1 600w bulb can act as a 300, 450, 600 or higher. Kinda nice at the begging of veg.
Click to expand...
I love dimmable ballasts - I use Quantum, Lumatek, whatever... but they aren't nearly as good as actually changing the lamp wattage. The big loss is color spectrum. As we all know, color spectrum is more important than lumens; PAR light. Bulbs are designed to burn at a certain temperature to create their complete color spectrum. Lamps burning at 75% and 50% lose much of their PAR light. Again, I am an advocate of the dimmable ballasts, but I think some of the advertisers claims are misleading.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top