CFL's

Does anybody have any good reports about CFL's? I'm currently using 1000w HPS/MH, and I'm thinking of switching to CFL's.

why in gods name would you switch to CFL's if you have that much power...

small room trying to cut down on heat, fan noise, and such.

I used CFL's for one successful grow and got about 1and 1/2 oz from one plant. I'm currently growing three with CFL"S and your right you don't need to worry about venting the heat. I use 5 85 watt 6500k and 4 85 watt 2700k so I get a dual spectrum, works well for me.

hey there i work with cfls and have had 2 good harvests and am currently growing kalashnikova. view my journal to take a peek at previous harvests and the one im on now.

I use 55w 2700k for spot lights.
Our shop uses 200w 6500k that replaced the 400w MH.
I have priced 300w 2700k CFL's ($124).

CFL's are not just for low wattage grows anymore.

On a side note, the 2700k CFL spotlights enhances the veg table at the indica end, the indica (northern lights) seems to like way more red than my sativa (bagseed) at every life stage.

I am currently about 3 weeks from my first harvest. This is a perepetual grow so ill harvest every 4-5 weeks. Pure cfl's. Anyhow, I over fed my first group and totally hurt their growth. I can give reports of yields, and will in my journal. I am very happy with my progress and i think that I can get my process down to bring my yields up quite high. It all depends on what you wanna do. heres a couple pics. Lots of other in my journal.

View attachment 1841320View attachment 1841321View attachment 1841322

I was harvesting an oz a week from 388w of CFL. Great bud but a bit of work - constant adjusting of lights.

For flouros I use 55 watt pl-l tubes. Most efficient flouros I know of. I use them vertically with reflectors in corners of my tent. Put the ballast outside tent to keep things cooler. ahsupply.com is where I went, but htg has some cheap overhead setups too.

If you use flouros remember to keep them close, I keep them within 1 or 2 inches of flowering plants. Do not know if you are trolling with the step down from 1000 watt, but anyways that is my 2 cents.

Phaeton said:

I use 55w 2700k for spot lights.
Our shop uses 200w 6500k that replaced the 400w MH.
I have priced 300w 2700k CFL's ($124).

CFL's are not just for low wattage grows anymore.

On a side note, the 2700k CFL spotlights enhances the veg table at the indica end, the indica (northern lights) seems to like way more red than my sativa (bagseed) at every life stage.

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have you checked to see how much power they actually draw? i discovered that my 23watt CFLs use 106watts. perhaps the higher wattage CFLs have more efficient ballasts. also, where do you get these high-wattage CFLs?

haole420 said:

have you checked to see how much power they actually draw? i discovered that my 23watt CFLs use 106watts. perhaps the higher wattage CFLs have more efficient ballasts. also, where do you get these high-wattage CFLs?

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Are you sure of this? My CFLs always pull less than they are rated at. 23w pulls ~ 18w, 14w pulls ~ 11w...

A subsidized 23w meant to replace a 100w incandescent pulling 108w... I feel like that would be a lawsuit.

haole420 said:

have you checked to see how much power they actually draw? i discovered that my 23watt CFLs use 106watts. perhaps the higher wattage CFLs have more efficient ballasts. also, where do you get these high-wattage CFLs?

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Yes I checked with a Killawatt meter and they draw exactly 55 watts including ballast. The most efficient cfl is around 27 watts or in the 20's. The most efficient tube type is the 55 watt.

Gastanker said:

Are you sure of this? My CFLs always pull less than they are rated at. 23w pulls ~ 18w, 14w pulls ~ 11w...

A subsidized 23w meant to replace a 100w incandescent pulling 108w... I feel like that would be a lawsuit.

Click to expand...

double checked and still drawing 100+ watts, even after giving it a few minutes to warm up. i got these from costco, by the way. i have another box of them from lowes. i'll test that one as well as a 100watt incandescent (to make sure my load tester is calibrated correctly).

yeah i think yer on crack haole...no way in hell a CFL is drawing that much wattage...is your meter showing peak wattage used or constant? Peak i could see that to fire it up, but that is only for very short burst...

haole420 said:

have you checked to see how much power they actually draw? i discovered that my 23watt CFLs use 106watts. perhaps the higher wattage CFLs have more efficient ballasts. also, where do you get these high-wattage CFLs?

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http://www.growlightsupply.com/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=6_59_108
http://www.growlightsupply.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=6_59_108&products_id=210

I want to add something here. Someone said to keep your flouros very close, I am sure that this is good advice. People also say to get your cfls close as well. Thats fine. Just remember the rule of thumb, if its too hot for you, its too hot for the plant. My point is that I use cfls but hang them 6"-12" from the plants. Again these are the huge 250 watt lights. They have remarkable penetration compared to what people think of when they think CFL.

massah said:

yeah i think yer on crack haole...no way in hell a CFL is drawing that much wattage...is your meter showing peak wattage used or constant? Peak i could see that to fire it up, but that is only for very short burst...

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it's not crack: it's ready rock.

pretty sure it's showing constant, as the number fluctuates a bit. going to check wattage of 100watt incandescent to make sure the load tester is calibrated properly. try it yourself! got a load tester from HD/lowes and plug that shit in!

seems like a lot of the light is going to be blocked by the bulb itself, as with all CFLs...
please update pics of your 2000w CFL grow!
curious to see how things work out.

haole420 said:

it's not crack: it's ready rock.

pretty sure it's showing constant, as the number fluctuates a bit. going to check wattage of 100watt incandescent to make sure the load tester is calibrated properly. try it yourself! got a load tester from HD/lowes and plug that shit in!

Click to expand...

i'm telling you guys, my shit is drawing way more power than 23 watts! finally compared it with 100watt incandescent to prove to myself that i'm not crazy. sure enough, the load tester is accurate.

appliance load tester with nothing plugged in = 4watts
100watt incandescent (+load tester) = 109watts
23watt CFL (+load tester) = 103watts (i've gotten readings ranging from 99 to 108watts on different days)