moobyghost
Active Member
When, where, and how much will those plasma leds be?
Future of indoor lighting?
- Thread starter Vtec9010
- Start date
Sounds great thanks! I would encourage people to check out axjnkee's grow if your interested in seeing a great LED grow.
Heres some info on the Ceramic Metal Halide Bulbs I keep refering to when some people bring up things about metal halide and high pressure sodium lights..
Philips MasterColor Ceramic Metal HalideHPS-Retro White LampsSo maybe you have hear about the best grow light bulb on the market or maybe not - but now you have! The Philips MasterColor Ceramic Metal Halide HPS-Retro White Lamps are something new to horticulture. These bulbs are being manufactured to replace high pressure sodium (HPS) bulbs in factories and warehouses. Along comes the indoor gardener who sees the light and gets them thinking - I bet these would grow great plants! Well they do.
Grow Light Express has been testing these lamps for years and has sold lots of them. We honestly believe in these lamps. We get asked all the time if this is such a great bulb why isn't Phillips directly selling / advertising them to the horticultural markets. Well the technical reason is that with this type of bulb they would have to retool their manufacturing plants at great costs. With the coming advanced in lighting technology (and there is really some amazing stuff heading our way) we believe that they are unwilling to spend the money until the market proves worth investing further in Ceramic Metal Halide technology.
The basics:
These bulbs can be used in BOTH vegetative and bloom cycles - no more changing lamps during your grow. NO DIGITAL BALLASTS - you will destroy the bulb. ONLY use a standard coil and core HPS ballast (dont let the name confuse you). CMH bulbs cannot handle the frequencies of digital ballasts. Of course there are exceptions to this rule as there is at least one digital ballast that is designed to work with CMH lamps. They are fairly expensive and unless you know you have one of these you don't so don't try. The Ceramic Metal Halide bulbs are positional. This means that they are designed to be EITHER horizontal or vertical (they cannot be used universally) but not both. Placing the bulb in the wrong position will cause it to fail early. A tip to success is that most gardeners are reporting better success with the use of supplemental silica. Since these bulbs will make your plants grow fast, silica is helpful. Silica is involved in cell division and overall plant strength.
Benefits:
There are many benefits to these lamps. The main reason for even considering these lamps is the fantastic spectrum of light they produce. Check out the chart below to compare to output of a CMH to a HPS lamp.
As you can see there is a great deal of light energy available in the blue spectrum as well as the red. HPS lamps produce lots of light but its not the "right" light. It is true that plants can adapt and grow well under HPS but they will do better under CMH. Think of it this way, the sun, the light we are trying to reproduce inside, is full spectrum not just a lot of yellow / red. So why just give them yellow / orange? Basically HPS has become the standard for growing in supplied lighting conditions. This is mostly historical (now) because that was the best we had now we have alternatives.
Other benefits include they "throw" less heat, they have very little color shift (less than 200K over their life time), your plants will have less stretch (tighter internodes).
Ceramic Metal Halide FAQ:
1. I have noticed that the Ceramic Metal Halide HPS Retro bulbs produce less lumens compared to other HPS bulbs?
A: Lumens is an antiquated way of comparing grow lamps. Lumens are a scientific definition based on the human eye and NOT on a plants response curve. This is the hardest part for people considering trying the CMH's to get past. We have been snowed over by the manufacturers just focusing on the max lumens.
2. When are bigger wattage bulbs going to be available?
A: Hum sometime soon if Phillips keeps their promise! Also there is some new Ceramic Metal Halide technology on the horizon. This may keep bigger wattages of the market but the good news is that the new ones maybe extremely more efficient so you may not need bigger wattages. We will keep you posted on this!!
3. Will they run on my DIGITAL ballast?
A: NO (unless you have a specifically designed digital ballast for CMH lamps). They must be used in HPS ballast.
moobyghost
Active Member
bumpity bump
Hey moobyghost,
The LEDs that are most common and that most people are using are the 90 watt LED UFO. The prices on these can range but the average price that I seem to be finding is around $200 (USD).
moobyghost
Active Member
$200 for one? I guess you only need one, but still. wow.
Yeah, they are quite expensive which is why I currently don't have one. The price will come down eventually, especially with all the new technology we are seeing coming out of LEDs. You could look into Ceramic Metal Halide if you are leaning that way after seeing the price of LEDs
I think you speak for all of use when you say that! Just planted my tomatoes by the way
moobyghost
Active Member
Remember the environmental commercial from the 70's-80's with the Native American shedding the single tear?
That was me reading that.
That is the dream of us all.
Now to lighten the mood:
[youtube]bCbDF-OPDX4[/youtube]
mrduke
Well-Known Member
I for one would love the opertunity to do a test grow side by side my 1000 hps and the 327or 600watt led the artical refers to, maybe even go 600 hps to 600 led. anyone willing to shell out the 1400 bones they what for some unproven led lights? I'll be the nutes and spendall the time and money, except for buying the leds
wineart
Well-Known Member
I think the price for plasma lighting is around $7,000 according to Urban Gardener.
That would be great to see, but yes money would be an issue. Maybe we should start a donation to you so you can get some LEDs to see how the grow goes and hey maybe you could share a little of the harvest
hahahaYes the plasma lighting is still very expensive. Plasma has a ways to go before they can market lights to sell to the "average joe" grower.
BigBudBalls
Well-Known Member
If LEDs were SO great, you'd see more lighting the streets. Municipalities are looking to save every $$ they can.
I'm not understanding your point? We are talking about LEDs as growing lights. I agree that they are expensive now but I believe in the very near future their cost will start to come down because of advancements in technology.
mrduke
Well-Known Member
That would be great to see, but yes money would be an issue. Maybe we should start a donation to you so you can get some LEDs to see how the grow goes and hey maybe you could share a little of the harvest
i'm always open to donations, LOL but really do you know the company that light came from? I want to write them and offer the same with updated threads for others to see. thinking if they really work why not show everyone free adverstisment (well almoet free the cost of a light)
I'm not sure where they got the LED's for the article but here are some sites you might be able to talk to:
http://ledgrowlights.com/
http://www.hidhut.com/catalog/led-grow-lights-c-147.html
http://www.ledgrowlightsoutlet.com/
http://www.growlightexpress.com/led-grow-lights-1/?zenid=qab9jnab3tl8gph6ibkit27j71
http://www.superled.net/
http://www.led-grow-master.com/
http://shop.haightsolidstate.com/category.sc?categoryId=2
http://eloofaimports.com/magento/index.php/ufo-grow-lights.html
Hope this helps! Let me know if you are able to get any responses from these guys!
Silky Shagsalot
Well-Known Member
that was iron eye's cody!
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