hey guys, don't want to bump a thread unnecessary but I have some answers to your questions.
The STA75 will not be available in a fixture until Q2 2013, simply because because you need to do production trials and the product needs to be ready for market. It is more efficient than the STA 41.xx series it is not by far as efficient as HPS (when you talk photons/watt - ppf). Though it is more efficient than the STA 41.xx series we currently put in our Gavita Pro 300 LEP units it is not necessary always the better solution. It will be hard to evenly distribute the light of this intense point source over a larger area. And though for sunlight simulations this extra light might be a great advantage, for using it in conjunction with HPS it is not necessary an advantage. You will find that based on our current recommendation (1x 300 LEP with up to 1200W HPS) the current fixture is more than enough to balance your light.
About the Philips CMD Elite Agro 315W lamp: In Europe Philips will not sell it. Horticulture is more interested in the daylight spectrum. For climate rooms efficiency is never a concern, and you are not going to use 315W lamps for production in a greenhouse for the simple reason that you would have to buy 4 315W fixtures instead of 1 HPS unit. Even indoor the combination HPS/Plasma is cheaper than the Elite Agro solution: 1x Gavita Pro 1000 DE and 1 Gavita Pro 300 LEP combined cost much less than 4 CDM 315 fixtures. Plus they would be more expensive in maintenance (4 expensive lamp and reflector changes against one or two).
For small climate rooms with low ceilings however the Elite Agro is a great lamp. I already did trials with the lamp and though it is very warm the results are good.
The LEP has a few advantages though:
- First of all we filter UVC from the light but our glass filter passes UVA and UVB. (CDM has UV blocking glass, so no UV)
- Secondly the light is cold (as in hardly any infrared radiation). This is an advantage when you add extra light, but also a disadvantage if you use it stand alone for flowering. You will find you will have to heat the room! It is the same problems you have with LED. But, when adding spectrum to the HPS this is an advantage.
- It is available in additional spectrum. HPS is most efficient in making the red colors, why not use LEP to just generate what is missing, including UVA and UVB? That is precisely what the 01 versions do.
LEP is not sulphur plasma. SP lamps are primarily fast rotating lamps with fans and motors inside them and work on sulphur in the cell. They do not emit UV light and are not suitable for greenhouses as they contain moving parts. LEP is based on metal halides instead of sulphur and a solid state construction without any moving parts. It does emit UV, including high quantities of UVC This UVC needs to be filtered out because it is very damaging for the eyes and ultimately the crop at high intensity. Never use the plasma light without the special glass filter. If you break it, order a new one because replacing it by normal glass will cost you the UVA and UVB.
Hope i brought you all a bit up to speed