CFL Light setup
- Thread starter dern
- Start date
Guitarantula
Active Member
space_weaseal
Well-Known Member
OR: Use Both
The 400w HPS/MH from HGT Supply and 6 26w CFL's (made it for $30 bucks from WallyWorld, that includes the bulbs
The 400w HPS/MH from HGT Supply and 6 26w CFL's (made it for $30 bucks from WallyWorld, that includes the bulbs
Heh I give no credibility to that thread simply because thats 200w of CFL light and 250w of HPS. First off you cant make an even comparison between the two because a 6500k CFL is a vegging light and a 250w HPS is a flowering light.
Put simply, Plants grow differently in different light spectrums. Red spectrum will make the plants grow far faster but they are lacking the daylight (6500k) they need in veg.
Secondly 200w and 250w is a fairly large difference aside from the fact HPS puts off more raw lumens than CFL.
avg lumen per watt
HPS: 130-140lm/w
CFL: 70-90
Now when I say raw lumens I mean overall spectrum. HPS light produces much of its spectrum in an area of the PAR (Photosynthetically Active Radiation) that is far less active than the 2700k and 6500k CFLs.
And btw 2700k CFLs put off more lumens than 6500k
In short CFL's produce less light in a more active area of the par spectrum.
Also when considering lighting and lumens you have to remember the "inverse square law" this scenario isnt subject to it but most HPS systems are.
To quote my lighting article "To Create a Star" , "Lumens divided by (distance squared in feet) equals lumens per square foot putting distance into account."
Guitarantula
Active Member
----------------------------------------------------------
After all that, my 250 watt HPS is absolutely kicking azz over the 200 watts of CFL, 6500k IN VEG. That's just the simple truth of the matter, I have seen it with my own eyes. My plants have grown more in the last 35 hours under the HPS than they were growing in two weeks under the damn inconvenient CFL's. Don't know what else to tell ya.
th3bigbad
Well-Known Member
its alil long but might help some
https://www.rollitup.org/indoor-growing/8513-cfl-vs-floro-vs-hps.html
https://www.rollitup.org/indoor-growing/8513-cfl-vs-floro-vs-hps.html
kochab
New Member
[quote=Flavio Rojas
Does ANYONE use CFL's for veg and then HPS for flowering? Cabinet temperature issues and electricity usage issues are important. I only grow for myself. One or two plants are plenty.
~check out major tokes grow like this. he grew some pretty nice kush plants like this.
Does ANYONE use CFL's for veg and then HPS for flowering? Cabinet temperature issues and electricity usage issues are important. I only grow for myself. One or two plants are plenty.
~check out major tokes grow like this. he grew some pretty nice kush plants like this.
Guitarantula
Active Member
I have read that thread. A good one. As I said, my new hps has put more growth on my veging plants in the last 35 hours that the 200 watts of 6500k CFL's were doing in two weeks or more.
I think the situation is that with the CFL's it's hard to get even near the rated lumens actually to the plant. Using round reflectors with dual socket makes it hard to concentrate more than one light real close to any given plant. If you sue no reflector, then the CFLs pump their light all over the place. I think this is the problem I was having with CFL's. Now, flouro mounted above with a good reflector would probably do much better. So, when i say that the CFL's were inconvenient, I mean I had to constantly fool with them to get them close to the plants, and fitting two in one reflector didn't mean I was getting all that light narrowed straight at a plant. The HPS is pumping 33,000 watts straight down. The style of the top-mounted reflector allows me to blast my plants with light, while CFL's were a constant trouble and I believe that at no time was I ever really coming close to getting the same percentage of the light generated actually to the plant that I am getting with the HPS.
Most all of the pics I have seen on this site of CFL's either had the bulb in a lamp without reflector, or had a round reflector like i had gotten at Walmart or Lowes. With these, they are too big to allow you to get a number of bulbs concentrated on a plant, and with no reflector much of your rated lumens is taking off in the other direction. I believe this is the reason I am seeing such a difference after hanging the 250 hps above at 10 inches. The light from the HPS is blasting straight down at the plants, they are getting thousand more lumens from the HPS, not just because the light has more lumens, but because the style (hanging above with direct reflections straight down) of an HPS drives light like a motor straight down on the plants and seems to penetrate deep into the leaves. The CFL's never did this. When I put a socket splitter and put two bulbs in the round reflector, part of the bulbs protruded past the reflector edge, and much of the light was lost because the bulbs were nowhere near the actual center of the reflector. Then, the rflectors were big enough that they interfered with other reflectors i was trying to get near the plant. Take off the reflector, and you can put the CFL's right up close, and get a few of them in a small space, but they are round and shoot much of thier light backwards, up, down, you name it. That's what I mean when i say the CFL's were inconvenient. The HPS, on the other hand, absolutely swallows the plants with it's light. No need to try to manipulate several round fixtures to try and get them close to the plant. Just hang above and blast downward, simple as that.
Cheers.
th3bigbad
Well-Known Member
i know exactly what you are talking about. those reflectors blow. it was alot easier for me to not use the reflectors at all. i used the Y type spliters too, but i removed the reflectors and put the light right down on the plants,,, some down between the plants. but that was just me. it worked, and i got some bud. but to each their own. do what works for you, and HIDs do rock lol