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That's not a bulb ... That's a bulb

I have heard horror stories of growers ditching their HID for LED, the good LED, and loosing a lot of yeild per square foot. He threw away the led and got out the HID again.

Guillo1 said:
you are wrong my friend, the most economical as in higher lumens per watt are LED's.
Click to expand...

Light 101 on top of this forum page. Here is what it says at the end about LED "for now it is not your best choice, even though it is a good one."
 
That line actually went threw my head when i got my new bulb :) here is the comparison pic

107_0328.jpg
 
Guys! You compare apples to oranges! PAR is important.. Lumens less so.. For example, a 300w Halogen is really bright, but utterly useless for growing plants (or corals).

Another aquarium article on light for you to read:

http://www.americanaquariumproducts.com/Aquarium_Lighting.html

Keep in mind, aquarists have been researching this for years. Our corals (or plants in a planted tank) are photosynthetic, and by nature they are found nearer the equator which has stronger sunlight. Obviously that means it takes a LOT of light to keep them happy (especially SPS corals like Acropora).Since we aren't projecting our lights thru water, there are a few things we can ignore from the aquarium side. However, PAR is not one of them.. Give the article above a read, and you'll see..

Back to the thread at hand, WHAT kind of base is that? Almost looks to be the size of a mogul base bulb on the monster CFL!
 
Mine are medium base.

Thanks for the aquarium site link ... they sure seem to like these "SHO" CFL bulbs.

I think I'll get a couple 105 W 6500k ... to put at the ends of my shelf ... :idea:
 
the large CFL bulbs are cool but I had rather have a few smaller CFLs that will give me more even coverage...for good growth, 3K lumens per square foot is what I use as a guideline...a 42 Watt CFL puts out ~2800 lumens...essentially one bulb/square foot ( I have 18 of them for a 4' X 4' area)....the larger bulbs won't be able to be as "equidistant" from the plants from a "point" source as it will if you have a bulb/square foot..now, that is my opinion and it makes sense to me...
 
Pr0digal_son said:
Damn Bee that is huge.
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yea its a monster. And it Covers plenty of area for what im doing i think but i did notice after putting it up that i do agree with what AJ is saying. If i was growing more plants i would rather use lots of smaller cfls because to get this bulb to cover a large area with light i have to pull it further from the plants which i guess is bad :) this is my first year though so im still learning and trying to figure things out.
 
Another thing to keep in mind with cfls.. Their lumen output and color accuracy drop off quicker than any other type of bulb. If those bulbs were used for a period of time, say months, they most likely have lost a lot of their lumen output and the color wont be as accurate as when new.
 
I have been using my 42 watt CFLs for 3 years now and haven't noticed much difference in growth of the plants...not arguing with you about the drop in lumens because its a fact...I just don't think they lose as much luminence as quick as some people claim...
 
steel-n-peppers said:
I bought 4 LevIton Porcelain Lampholders for them ... 660 watts max

Mounted them each to a ceiling box ... Screwed into a 4' x 2' shelf ... And hung it from the ceiling with the chains that I had used for my shop lights last year.

Hung down some aluminum foil ... Leaving escapes for hot air ... Little fan going ...

I'm very pleased ... Last year I didn't get a great start indoors .. :(

When it's warm enough ... And the peppers go outside ...

I'm going to hang it in my little shop where I build pickups & steel guitars ...

It's freakishly bright ... :lol:
Click to expand...
The Leviton sockets your using are maybe the same i am going to be using and they say 660w 600v ...would you happen to know if i could hook up Sixteen 45w cfl's (720w total) in parallel ?
I am in the process of doing a diy cfl light from scratch and not to sure if running all 16 parallel on one line would make it so i would be going over the "660w" rating on the Leviton sockets..
Kind of hope i can hook them all up to one line and not have to run 8 cfls on one line twice.
 
fishing4fun2 said:
The Leviton sockets your using are maybe the same i am going to be using and they say 660w 600v ...would you happen to know if i could hook up Sixteen 45w cfl's (720w total) in parallel ?
I am in the process of doing a diy cfl light from scratch and not to sure if running all 16 parallel on one line would make it so i would be going over the "660w" rating on the Leviton sockets..
Kind of hope i can hook them all up to one line and not have to run 8 cfls on one line twice.
Click to expand...

sounds like you are wanting to set up something similar to what I have...judging from your post, I am thinking you are trying to set something up more linear than square?...is that right...

what are the dimensions of the area you want to light? and what is the rating for your circuit breaker?...20 amp?

I have a 4' X 4' area that has 18 42 watt CFLs for light...these are run on three 6-bulb vanity light bars (I think they are rated for 60 watts/socket on the bar)...I have been using these for three years with no problem...I am running a total of 252 watts (each light bar) on a line with three lines running to a power strip that runs to the outlet...756 watts total...

If you do a comparison between buying the Leviton sockets, the wire to wire them up and hardware to hang them, I am betting a 6 or 8 light bar would work..the 6 light vanity bars are 19.95 at home depot and the 8 light banity bar is 29.95...wow, just checked online and the prices have jumped...I have to go to home depot later today and will check the prices...the 6 light bar is 3 feet long with the lights about 6" between them while the 8 light bar is 4 feet long with the same spacing..
 
Watts per Lumen means nothing if a lot of the lumens produced by a light source are in wavelengths that aren't plant usable.
That's where LEDs come into play.
 
common knowledge among growers isn't it smoke?
 
smokemaster said:
Watts per Lumen means nothing if a lot of the lumens produced by a light source are in wavelengths that aren't plant usable.
That's where LEDs come into play.
Click to expand...

That's where PAR comes into play!

AlabamaJack said:
common knowledge among growers isn't it smoke?
Click to expand...

Not always AJ.. Newbies think brighter is better.. and a 300w halogen is way brighter than a 65w CFL, but the 65wCFL has more usable PAR.. We know the halogen is useless for plants (and corals) but I've seen many newbies misunderstand things and think the halogen would be better..
 
AlabamaJack said:
sounds like you are wanting to set up something similar to what I have...judging from your post, I am thinking you are trying to set something up more linear than square?...is that right...

what are the dimensions of the area you want to light? and what is the rating for your circuit breaker?...20 amp?

I have a 4' X 4' area that has 18 42 watt CFLs for light...these are run on three 6-bulb vanity light bars (I think they are rated for 60 watts/socket on the bar)...I have been using these for three years with no problem...I am running a total of 252 watts (each light bar) on a line with three lines running to a power strip that runs to the outlet...756 watts total...

If you do a comparison between buying the Leviton sockets, the wire to wire them up and hardware to hang them, I am betting a 6 or 8 light bar would work..the 6 light vanity bars are 19.95 at home depot and the 8 light banity bar is 29.95...wow, just checked online and the prices have jumped...I have to go to home depot later today and will check the prices...the 6 light bar is 3 feet long with the lights about 6" between them while the 8 light bar is 4 feet long with the same spacing..
Click to expand...
AJ the bedroom jury rig grow house i built is 44" wide 5' 9" tall and 6' long ..i built it in my computer room and made a cut out in the middle on the south side for sliding doors that open up so the light comes in through the window....

I just check and i have a 15a circuit breaker for this bedroom .

I seen a picture of you set up and thats what gave me the idea to build the house and try cfl's, At first i was going to mount the cfl's into a large HPS reflector then as i read more about cfl's etc i went with a vanity type light diy they will all be Horizontal into the fixture i am trying to build...8 on one side and across from them another 8 like there facing each other tip to tip....it will be around 24" Long and 20" across ..i made it this way so i could also use it in a cabinet ...

Those vanity light bars i have one on hold that is a 4 hole r ... just yesterday i bought a 8 lamp 48" t5 for the bedroom grow hut ...using that until i can finish the diy fixture its about 70% done i was just worried about if having 16/45W cfl's all hooked on one line in a parallel circuit would be to much for the leviton fixture rating of 660w..... just not sure but need to find out before i finish the wiring ....i am trying or would like to just have one plug...but if i need to split it up and use two i can do that..
Vic
 
The porcelain Leviton Lampholders were $2.79 each.

I bought 4 more 85 watt 6500 k CFLs ... Total of 8 in parallel.

Doing the simple calculations ... 85 watts x 8 = 680 watts

Current draw is 680 watts / 120 volts = 5.67 amps

CFLs are more complicated than incandescent ... They are said to be "Reactive loads" .....

So a " Power Factor" is used to differentiate between real power (watts) and apparent power (Volt x Amps or VA). They are identical in purely resistive loads ... when current and voltage are in phase ... the power factor is 1.0.

In AC applications ... Watts = VA x PF

CFLs are said to have a Power Factor of 0.5 to 0.9

Worst case scenario .... my 85 watt bulbs may at times, have an apparent power of 170 VA

So, in this worst case scenario ... Current draw is 8 x 170 VA / 120 volts = 11.3 amps

Well below my 20 amp breaker.
 
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