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lighting Clarification from people using MH lights

ok so just wanted to make sure that when people said 400w MH bulb is what they are using that this is it. It just took me by surprise cause in the pics it doesn't seem as bright.
 
can always go LED after the initial setup cost its really inexpensive - are the plants going to stay indoors entirely
 
If you're costing out your project I would also account for the average life of one of these bulbs. I'm not an indoor grower (so I have no idea what the average costs of those bulbs is), but I would assume that replacing one of those would be a hit to the wallet if you're trying to do this economically. Just a thought. Best of luck.
 
i run a 600W MH and i believe the bulb was approx $75.00 canadian. the 400W wouldnt be much cheaper. The life expectancy is longer than a year, but they say you should change them anyways due to a decrease in the light output. also to prevent coming home after a weekend or vacation to find a dead garden thats been in the dark.

the hit to the wallet for me was buying the ballast as well as the bulb and the timer/cord all at the same time. ive run my bulb through a couple grows over the past 2 yrs now, and cant see myself buying another bulb anytime soon. its been on maybe 7 months in total for 18 hrs a day.
 
Great info on that cost calculations. I haven't researched much I just figured that I would "mask" the spike in the bill with the winter heating, so the wife doesnt go crazy. But I havent seen a ballast/receptor like that so I cant really speak to the actual output of the bulb. I guess I am saying I am not sure if just because the bulb is 400w, it may not put that out if the ballast doesnt support it. But I could be 100% wrong.

I would say (especially for replacement parts and bulbs) check with eBay. I got a 600w ballast, MH and HPS bulb for under 200.
 
Walka said:
Yea i did that calculation later and didnt report it on here but the ballast actually required 416w. That changes the cost to around $250 a year to run the bulb 18 hours a day during off peak. You could cut down the cost a bit by not running the full 18 hours.

For me the plan is to grow the plant with CFL's then bring in the MH when a couple get to be a decent size.
Click to expand...

Correct, you are using what's called a "job lite" that has a pulse start ballast, ....they're really not meant for long duration runs.

Where I work we recently replaced high bay ballasts 1000w(r) bulbs with triple ganged 6 bulb high bay T8's, that's one way the City of Chicago Municipalities thought on saving money through energy saving.......I still think it was a stupid idea......but hey works, work...

Greg
 
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