CFL - Multiple 23w or one 250w?

Hi all

For a small cabinet lowryder 2 grow.

So in theory, would 10 23w cfl's be as good as one 250w cfl?

Smaller CFLs are more efficient but I would go with the one big one.

IMHO you should go with the single 250 & good reflector

The trajectory of the photons comming out from the CFL lights are not perfectly linear, they get scattered quite easily, so you will never get very good canopy penetration with just a single light. More lights, at various positions around your plant is always going to get you better results. Also the lights should be positioned so that the sides of the bulbs are facing your plant/grow area. Finally I will mention CFL's get less efficient the more wattage they pull - i.e lumens/watt is better with 10x23W CFL's, then with a single 250W.

In short, the 10 23's are actually better than 1 250.

Big thanks to all three of you. That is what is interesting about opinions; they are allways different!

I allready have the 23w cfl's so will probably go with this option, rather than shell out £50 for a 250w. This way I can position some on top and some by the sides.

Maybe you could also offer some advice on my other post? https://www.rollitup.org/grow-room-design-setup/385573-cabinet-grow-lowryder-2-newbie.html

Here is my other post:

Hi everyone and anyone

Looking to start a cabinet grow in garage, cabinet dimensions are H700mm, W 960mm, D 500mm.

Only just begun really, started by attaching some spare doors, fitting my old 250w hps and also wiring up 6 x 23w cfl's. (you cant see these as I took them down when experimenting with the hps). Not got to the stage of fans, venting, insulation, wall covering etc yet.

Anyway, this is my first problem: I think that my 250w hps is too hot for this small space so I am not sure how to tackle this. I left the hps on for 1 hour and the cabinet was lovely and warm but the top of the cabinet, especially the shelf unit got really hot to the touch and obvioulsy I worry about fires.

Should I stick with the cfl's and add a 60w tubular heater or is there a way to sort out the excessive heat problem with the hps? (without the expensive cool tube option). As well as the heat issue, I think that the hps does not have the space to enable the plants to go underneath. The garage is cold (around 5 degree celcius).

If I stick with the cfl option, I can partition the inside of the cabinet and only use the left side (so less space to heat up).

Any views? Cheers.

Yeah 2ft in height is a little tight to be fitting and HPS lamp, going to get really hot, even with fans. You should be able to keep a good temp inside w/ just the CFL's if you insulate your box, and are just passively drawing air.