Are Four 42 Watt CFL Enough For 2 Plants?

ae86 grower said:

i think this has more to do with there wattage that there lumens..

Click to expand...

Then you really don't understand power much at all. Wattage is a measurement of power consumption. Lumens are a measurement of light output. If all lights were equally efficient, then your point might have some validity, but they aren't so you don't.

Take a 400w HPS vs 400watts of cfl (23w lamps x 18 fixtures = 414watts). The 400watt hps will produce up to 55,000 lumens. The clfs will produce about 28,800 lumens (1600 lumens each x 1. So, if we're using the same amount of power for each, where does the rest of the light go when you use cfl instead of HPS? Answer=heat. Unused light is converted to heat output. People think that HID lights are a lot hotter, but in fact they are cooler. It's a fact of physics, don't try to argue. It's fact.

This is why you can't go by wattage. Plants use light to photosynthesize, not power coming out of your wall.

This is why I always think it's silly to use cfls anytime you are pulling over 250 watts. The HID lights of the same wattage push twice as much light. If you wanna pay for wasted energy, go for it. HID wastes enough as it is imo.

ae86 grower said:

cool, have a quick question for you, i want to run 4 65w off a 13a fuse, roseing the cable from light to light so only one cable for all four bulbs, when they come on i have heard the cfl flutter might trip or false trip my mcb? is this possible? can flutter really trip my switch or is this just myth?

if so would lowering the fuse to a 5 amp help this out or whats my solution?

just to put thing in perspective isn`t a 400w hps around 40k lumens and a 600w hps about 60k lumens...

so if you want to judge cfl`s then should add them up (as you need a few) to get your lumens up to these numbers?

Click to expand...

A 13 amp fuse will handle over 1500 watts, so I doubt that you will have cfl flutter that high from 260 watts of cfl. A 5 amp fuse will make this potential issue worse.