crazed1011
Well-Known Member
lol!!! that would be pretty funny if someone believed though
CFL Lumens - more bulbs = more lumens, or no?
- Thread starter Brian.
- Start date
Talking down on CFLs, to me, from as much as I've been researching, from as much success as I've seen people have, from as much pros they have especially in terms of heat detection and power usage, is always one of three things:
1: The person talking down on CFL doesn't realize their benefits to small grows because their grows are too large and for them to use them would undo any benefits since they would need so much more to get what they get in a large space so they don't. That, or, they have a small grow and listened to the 1 guy just explained and don't realize they could get something good with these instead of wrestle the heat of even small lights of other kinds.
2: They are not very knowledgeable in other areas either once you ask them about stuff, and it's more about a pissing match of lights for them than actual plausibility of results with the equipment.
3: They are those guys you read about who are pathetic law pigs and want to get people in areas of prohibition to use high-heat, high electric stuff just up the chances of a closet grower getting busted. I've seen news stories about entire websites setup to look like a real growing or smoking forum and are populated with police and other forceful agency who pretend to be on our side. The weed version of that pedo show, but it was just a segment on 20/20 or something like that. I didn't even watch it on TV, just watched an upload of it one day randomly on youtube watching cannabis vids. That, or 3 is a salesman who sells them for a living and by the time the conversation is over, he will have pasted his amazon storefront to you.
Anyhow, the people I've seen talking down on CFLs usually fall into one of those categories judging by the grow journals and responses to them even on this site where there are plenty of posts of people pleased with cfl for their small personal grows. 1 is always obvious because his grow is usually awesome and he's always kind enough to share vids/pics and how awesome his sweet 10x10 room is. 2 is easy to spot by reading the unrelated things they say throughout the conversation - you quickly find that 2 is an idiot and probably loses as many plants as he harvests or otherwise must not grow and is just talking crap.
3 is when I can't place why they deny the viability of these lights or otherwise get paranoid about the way they are talking lol (not that I am doing anything wrong, just that people who don't make sense are always hiding something)! Unless it's the sales person, who always exposes themselves with the link. if it's an affiliate tagged link, he's an affiliate. If it's not, he's a small business who could never in a million years add CFLs to his inventory (never be able to buy as many at one time as home depot can, and there aren't places to just dropship cfl's with ease like you can with industrial lights).
Just a cool story, bro's and sis's. lol. Catching up on the consensus now on the topic of more lights = more lumen or not.
1: The person talking down on CFL doesn't realize their benefits to small grows because their grows are too large and for them to use them would undo any benefits since they would need so much more to get what they get in a large space so they don't. That, or, they have a small grow and listened to the 1 guy just explained and don't realize they could get something good with these instead of wrestle the heat of even small lights of other kinds.
2: They are not very knowledgeable in other areas either once you ask them about stuff, and it's more about a pissing match of lights for them than actual plausibility of results with the equipment.
3: They are those guys you read about who are pathetic law pigs and want to get people in areas of prohibition to use high-heat, high electric stuff just up the chances of a closet grower getting busted. I've seen news stories about entire websites setup to look like a real growing or smoking forum and are populated with police and other forceful agency who pretend to be on our side. The weed version of that pedo show, but it was just a segment on 20/20 or something like that. I didn't even watch it on TV, just watched an upload of it one day randomly on youtube watching cannabis vids. That, or 3 is a salesman who sells them for a living and by the time the conversation is over, he will have pasted his amazon storefront to you.
Anyhow, the people I've seen talking down on CFLs usually fall into one of those categories judging by the grow journals and responses to them even on this site where there are plenty of posts of people pleased with cfl for their small personal grows. 1 is always obvious because his grow is usually awesome and he's always kind enough to share vids/pics and how awesome his sweet 10x10 room is. 2 is easy to spot by reading the unrelated things they say throughout the conversation - you quickly find that 2 is an idiot and probably loses as many plants as he harvests or otherwise must not grow and is just talking crap.
3 is when I can't place why they deny the viability of these lights or otherwise get paranoid about the way they are talking lol (not that I am doing anything wrong, just that people who don't make sense are always hiding something)! Unless it's the sales person, who always exposes themselves with the link. if it's an affiliate tagged link, he's an affiliate. If it's not, he's a small business who could never in a million years add CFLs to his inventory (never be able to buy as many at one time as home depot can, and there aren't places to just dropship cfl's with ease like you can with industrial lights).
Just a cool story, bro's and sis's. lol. Catching up on the consensus now on the topic of more lights = more lumen or not.
ChronicObsession
Well-Known Member
Lumens are units to measure a quanitity of light we see with our eyes. I have a Lumens Meter, it detects how much light is escaping from a specific area, like a bulb's surface. HID has pinpoint emission, hence easier detectability by pigs because the source is so fucking hot. CFLs make heat in a different way because it is diffused from the powersupply in the base and from the tubular envelope of gas. So, adding more CFLs will not give you 16000 lumens in one specific area, rather it will just be more light to be diffused in a specific area larger than the bulb itself, as in more light in your grow box 
cowboylogic
Well-Known Member
Many assume lumens add up as additional bulbs are added. But you are correct that they just cover a larger area with the same amount of lumens with additional bulbs....10 bulbs x @1600 lumens=1600 lumens.....
Winner, winner, chicken dinner.....
cowboylogic
Well-Known Member
Most want to think this but the truth is your statement is not how it works......
delvite
Well-Known Member
take a look at this -------------------> https://www.rollitup.org/cfl-fluorescent-lighting/202718-cfl-tutorial.html
Illegal Smile
Well-Known Member
Well, I don't fit any of those three categories that I think exist mostly in your mind. I started growing with cfls and I had some success. But I got tired of having to rearrange them every day and getting lanky plants and airy buds. I'll say unequivocally that, with the price of hps as low as it is, that there is no reason for anyone to be growing with cfls other than those who are just sticking their toe in the water for the first time.
CoAcHrOaCh
Well-Known Member
I fall into that toe dipper category and for me the cfl decision can down to easy access to them for my first grow as opposed to hps or anything else. Also grow room size and number of plants both being factors...everyone seems to get caught up in right or wrong but really comes down to what u can get and when u can get it imo
Illegal Smile
Well-Known Member
Sure. But if this grow goes well, you are going to be saying to yourself, "I just harvested XXX dollars worth. And for an investment of under $500, I can double that!"
CoAcHrOaCh
Well-Known Member
Oh I definitely agree with you on that... when I started I decided on cfl for the reasons above...doesn't mean that major upgrades aren't needed to max out yield. From everything I've gathered its very hard to mess up a grow with cfls so of course noobs are going to gravitate towards them to get started. But in the end to each his/her own...and yes I will be buying an hps.......eventually
THE PUMPKINHEAD
Active Member
Just curious if lumens don't add up then why do the multiple bulb t5 units advertise as "x" amount of lumens? I'm pretty sure your not getting 60,000 lumens from just one bulb,correct? Are t5's different? Or is it just another "false advertisement"?
MorroN
Well-Known Member
You DO add the lumens. A Lumen is a measure of total ammount of visible light emitted by a source (bulb), double the ammount of bulbs, you double the ammount of lumens. Do not get this confused with light intensity which is measured in 'lux' which is lumens per m2
Read this thread:
https://www.rollitup.org/indoor-growing/83128-lumens-lux-adding-all-up.html
Read this thread:
https://www.rollitup.org/indoor-growing/83128-lumens-lux-adding-all-up.html
Illegal Smile
Well-Known Member
There's a difference between lumens created and impact lumens. When you add lights, of course you can add up the lumens created. But say you have overhead T5s that don't penetrate (as T5s don't). You can add 200 watts or X thousand lumens, but what you are delivering six inches down might only be 20% of that.
If you want to think of lumens as little particles spraying out from your light (incorrect but useful for the analogy), the only ones that count are the ones that strike your plants. How many don't? Any light beyond the edge of the foliage is wasted. Plus, even the lumens that strike the plant directly are not the same lumens that left the bulb. They have been weakened by traveling and dispersing. The higher the light is, the more lumens are lost.
If you want to think of lumens as little particles spraying out from your light (incorrect but useful for the analogy), the only ones that count are the ones that strike your plants. How many don't? Any light beyond the edge of the foliage is wasted. Plus, even the lumens that strike the plant directly are not the same lumens that left the bulb. They have been weakened by traveling and dispersing. The higher the light is, the more lumens are lost.
BullwinkleOG
Well-Known Member
right on. so outting out 16,000-20,000 Lumens from CFL's and tube fluorescents should be enough?
Brick Top
New Member
Just to compare HPS bulbs to others, if you have a 400-watt HPS it would take 5.3 125-watt, as in actual wattage, CFLs to equal the output of one 400-watt HPS, so you would be burning 662.5-watts to get equal lighting.
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scroglodyte
Well-Known Member
BullwinkleOG
Well-Known Member
yeah but thats not so say that they are even comparable right? I mean HID have much better output of certain spectrums and they can penetrate light much further
cowboylogic
Well-Known Member
Get your light meter out and get a reading higher than the max lumen output of a single bulb in a mutli bulb set up. You wont be able to do it. The highest reading you will get is that of the max lumen output of a single bulb no matter where you place the meter under the multiple lights.....
SirLancelot
Active Member
I know this is old but I've been trying to figure this out myself. And I have a 2 bulb hood. I always ran 400w mh during veg then switched to the 400w hps flower. I got another ballast to run both bulbs thinking it would double the light my plants were getting. When I put the meter under it maybe shifted up a little but still was reading like 8000 which is what it is with one bulb. The area was noticibly brighter and I had way more coverage area but after that grow I didn't notice a huge difference in yield or nugs, just gave me heat issues. Now I just go with a bigger wattage bulb...
Someone explained it too me like this. If you take two flashlights of the same brightness and point them on the same spot on the wall it's not going to get brighter as opposed to if there was only one but if you seperate them you have more coverage area.