mauricem00
Well-Known Member
another DIYer. I like that are you using A/C ducts for that? experimenting is half the fun of growing
Club T5
- Thread starter C.Indica
- Start date
sookmahdook
Member
Yep, it was a 5 foot duct, cut in half to make 2 hoods side by side
mauricem00
Well-Known Member
I have seen that on youtube. I built a 3 bulb pl-l55 light for a 2ft L* 2ft D* 8 ft high grow closet using ballast, sockets .tubes and tube clips from 1000 bulb. a mylar emergency blanket from e-bay and parts from home depot for under $60. it was a fun project.I am currently building the worlds smallest evaporative cooler using sponges and a computer fan. in the high desert where I live humidity runs about 5% and temperature often exceeds 100 degrees so this is the simplest way to raise humidity and lower temperature
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sookmahdook
Member
Very nice. Maybe ill get around to doing something similar one day for my top lighting. I could then use my current hood and stand it up for side lighting.
mauricem00
Well-Known Member
you could use your current hood as a top reflector just put a piece of lumber on one side to hold the 2g11 sockets and bolt the plastic support clip directly to the reflector. bolt the ballast on top run the wires and you are ready to go they also sell sockets for standard T5s that you could bolt to your reflector and run 4 foot T5HO tubes
fridayfishfry
Well-Known Member
I made a post a while back saying that t5s last for 20,000 hours and was corrected. I now see for myself that two of my eight bulbs burnt out after six months. however this was after 2 weeks of a fan being pointed at them. never point a fan at the t5s they will burn out. I corrected the problem and no more have gone out so far
JoeyV
Well-Known Member
yeah, I'm not really sure what you're trying to say... my method works for me as I simply grow for my own pleasure. I don't put much stock in quantity either, but quality, when growing bagseed, is always hit or miss and until recently I only had bagseed to work with.
I don't doubt your "meds" are probably more of a connoisseur quality, but all other things being equal, strain is probably more important than lighting for exceptional meds. In fact, lighting is only one part of growing...medium, water, airflow, nutrients, etc., they all make up the grow.
I don't stress over whether I'm getting peak light output or not. A few hundred lumins here or there isn't really gonna make much difference.
I'm not experimenting with different types of bulbs, actinic (sp?), 10000k, or whatever. A mix of grow and bloom bulbs seems to work fine.
I'm not concerned if the bulbs aren't premium quality, per se, though I do avoid the no-name generics.
I only need to harvest once or twice a year to supply my 'meds', so the way I see it, bulbs could last a couple years. Those that break or fail prematurely get replaced.
I'm also not sure you're "educating" anyone by suggesting they replace bloom bulbs every grow. It's hard to gauge the color of the light, without having the right tools. And while the bulb may degrade somewhat, it's hardly at the end of it's useful life after only one grow. So, as a rule of thumb, once every 4 grows seems reasonable, and affordable. Even the HID crowd only recommend replacing MH or HPS bulbs once a year. (I know, different animal, but...)
I haven't followed this whole thread from the beginning, so perhaps I miss some of your previous comments.
mauricem00
Well-Known Member
handling a bulb will also shorten bulb live. the oils from you fingers can crack the tube in time if you wipe of the tube with a clean damp rag after installing it then they will last much longer. I do not buy grow light from hydro shops. I use high quality commercial tubes from eiko or plusrite ( 1000 bulbs) and replace them once a year at this point lumen loss measures at about 5 % running 20/4 24/7 for a year. I also use high quality commercial ballast which may make a difference. many of the people promoting led grow lights have a relationship with the companies that make them and fail to mention that in there post.most people lack the type of education needed to understand the deceptive tactics these companies use.for my indoor grows I seek advice from professional greenhouse supply companies and commercial greenhouse operators. these sites are a great place to learn about strains and growing techniques but there is a lot of advertising disguised as "unbiased post" on these sites as well. anyone interested in growing soil should compare the ingredients in kellogg patio plus potting soil (home depot or lowes) to those in fox farms soil. you may save a little money
PSUAGRO.
Well-Known Member
You sure about only a 5% loss(lumen depreciation) on HOT5's over a year using instant-start ballasts?? those are unheard of #'s imo
If their T8 , then I might believe you
mauricem00
Well-Known Member
plusrite instant start ballast model #7319,eiko 6500k ft54T5HO tubes, light meter from local photo store used to monitor lights. those were the results my meter showed starting with output after 20 hours of operation and tested 1 hour after start-up (warm up period) lights used in commercial building often last a couple years.why wouldn't you expect the same results using the same commercial quality ballast and lamps in a grow room. these numbers match the manufacturer's stated life and lumen loss. and commercial building managers depend on these numbers in budgeting.many grow lights use fulham workhorse ballast which have been plagued with problems in commercial buildings but the plusrite ballast and eiko lamps are common in commercial buildings in europe and have a great reputation.I read these forums but also look to other sources for information and businessmen are not stupid. they use what works and is most cost effective.if commercial buildings had the same problem with fluorescents that some growers here seem to have than maintenance cost would be extremely high just constantly replacing bulbs with the number of lights they use.You sure about only a 5% loss(lumen depreciation) on HOT5's over a year using instant-start ballasts?? those are unheard of #'s imo
If their T8 , then I might believe you
PSUAGRO.
Well-Known Member
Nice..............checked the #s and your right at the claims, TBH i've been out of the fluoro game for some time now. Cree cxa cobs are now getting 160lm/w when driven soft sooooooooooo, I'm not betting on this light tech being around very long imo.
http://www.designingwithleds.com/inside-cree-t8-led-fluorescent-lamp/ only a matter of time till a cree T5 retrofit friend
be safe
mauricem00
Well-Known Member
I tried white leds and some strains may grow well with them but the strains I grow do not.all lighting technology is constantly improving so in 5 years we all may be using different lights.and leds especially top of the line ones like cree are still very expensive.the tri band leds from TRW and plasma lights both look promising but still need development and the price has to come down substantially. in specialty stores it is not uncommon to find low quality products repackaged and sold for a very high price to a niche market.but fluor's have improved a lot in recent years.living in the high desert heat is a problem. I am using a small evaporative cooler in my micro grow to lower temperature and raise humidity so have not tried HID lights but there have been some impressive improvements in those as well
mauricem00
Well-Known Member
warm white leds are a good supplement to fluorescents to provide the deep red light needed to better stimulate phytochrome during flowering http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phytochrome.but flouro's still do a better job for other pigments. a combination of the two seems to be the best option at this point with fluorescent for veg and then adding leds for flowering.
fridayfishfry
Well-Known Member
Are my bulbs too cold ? I'm pulling 75 watts on a 96watt ballast. Will it break if there is no air blowing on it ? Before it was pulling a 100 watts
fridayfishfry
Well-Known Member
look at all the replys! ...as it gets colder they grow dimmer and dimmer untill they don't strike anymore but they do not break.
pkyabigtime
Well-Known Member
Current T5 ScroG (first time scrogging) check out my grow in sig
https://www.rollitup.org/t/400watt-t5-scrog-tent.845858/#post-10916754
https://www.rollitup.org/t/400watt-t5-scrog-tent.845858/#post-10916754
turbobuzz
Well-Known Member
Therers a company on ebay selling maxlume t5 4 bulb 4' for $95. Got one that will be here Wednesday. They come with two 6500k and two 3000k. Seemed like Aretha good looking light
pkyabigtime
Well-Known Member
I use Maxlume its a good light. Yielded good results off one with just 6500 once.
MyLittleGrundle
Well-Known Member
Ok. So, this is my first post here and I have to say its been great reading up on these past threads. I have grown a total of 5 times in the past and this will be my first time with T5's. I am quite excited. Let me give ya a little info on what im trying to accomplish and then let the advice fly. I am doing a stealth closet grow. The dimensions are W6.5ft. x H55in. x D2ft. for flowering and the same for vegging. Each space is vented with a 4 inch Vortex fan thru Phresh Filters. The fans move 175cfm and the total space is 95 sq. ft. I'm using a 4' 6 bulb t5 for vegging and am looking to get a Sun Beam 4' 8 bulb VHO 95w from 1000bulb https://www.1000bulbs.com/product/88801/SUN-960375.html My question is as follows. Is the 95w VHO to much for my limited space? Im afraid the heat will be an issue. I am going to be using a 9" high speed fan for air circulation but not sure if this will be enough. I don't have any problems getting the 54w version i just want the most lumens possible. 40000 lumens as apposed to 56700 lumens. Any info or advice would be great.
JoeyV
Well-Known Member
It sounds like you got a nice setup going on there. Height is a bit limited but if you're keeping your girls short and bushy it should work out ok. I can't comment on the VHO lights other than to say I'd be concerned about heat. I ran a 4x6 T5 fixture in a space roughly same size but with an 8 ft ceiling, and had to deal with heat issues all winter. I couldn't vent the heat outside so the adjacent room was always warm. (Not a bad thing in the winter...) Temps in the grow area were in the 80's+ the whole time.
The disproportionate power vs. lumens also has me wondering if it's worth it... A 54W HO T5 puts out 5000 lumens, but a 95w VHO T5 puts out only 7200. That works out to 93 lumens per watt with the HO, and 76 lumens per watt using the VHO. Efficiency of the VHO is almost 25% less than the HO.
Or looking at it from another perspective, You're going to be using 760 watts vs. 432 watts. Perhaps you could put add another 4 light HO fixture for a total of 648 watts at 60000 lumens. You'll likely have to find different fixtures to fit the space, but you'd be dealing with less power, less heat, cheaper bulbs, less fan noise as you could probably get away with your current fans.
Here's an option: http://www.fluorogrow.com/index.php/premium-grow-light-fixtures/evergreen.html.
The light's aren't as high quality as the Sun Blaze, but they get the job done. Plus the width of the fixture is narrow enough that you can fit an additional 4 lamp fixture of theirs in the same space as a single Sun Blaze.The drawback is their packaging leaves a lot to be desired, but they're good about returns. Just a suggestion, I DON'T work for Fluorogrow or anything.There are other fixtures that might work out also...Amazon, Ebay...whatever.
What kind of grow are you planning?