Large CFL's vs. Small ones???

S

Smokenpassout

Well-Known Member
I opted to get some larger 105 watt Cfl's instead of a bunch of smaller ones. Is anyone else going this route? My problem has been keeping them in close proximity to the plants. It's constant adjustment, but that how it goes with Cfl's anyway right? The large size of the 105 watt bulbs makes it harder positioning them in my space. They put out some heat too, so I have to make sure my plants dont touch them. On the upside they are super bright! Is anyone else going with larger wattage Cfl's instead of an army of smaller wattage CFl's. And of so what is your experience? I guess my biggest concern is they put out so much heat in my small area I can only get 3 bulbs in my space for 1800 lumens total or 315 actual cfl watts. If I squeeze in another bulb it will bump my temps up from 80 to 90!
 
wait.. are you saying your 105 W cfls are only putting out 600 lumens a peice?

My 23w CFLs put out 500 lumens... my 60's put out 2200 a peice
 
i have tried the 105w CFL's and they have thier place but to be honest i would rathjer have 4x 23w than the 105w they ar bulky, hot and fragile.
 
CFL growth is usually mroe size limited. I consider 1 plant 3 square feet if it's controlled and trained correctly. so with a required 2,000 lumens per square foot that is 9 square feet reasonably, which would be 3 well trained plants.

If you want more for precision here consider the LUX from the lumens. CFLs have low penetration meaning they need to be alot clsoer to achieve the same lux on the leaves surface as HID. So you're actually going to be just barely under the recommended 2k lumens per sqft if you aren't getting them close enough.

LED spotlights have pretty good penetration, if u can get a 2000 lumen 30 or 40 w 6500K LED spotlight (they sell those at hardware stores here for like 40 bucks) and use that as your toplight you could probably use the rest for side lighting or directional lighting and have a pretty good yield.

Also remember that the lumens on a light bulb are total radial lumens i beleive. Without a deflector you're not even going to get half of them as usable, even if they are close enough.

That being said, I'm using about the same lumens / plant as you are proposing, I want a bush though, not a tree.
 
orhyja.jpg
 
I run all 105 watters in my SCROG. My results are good for what I do. 14 days flower.
Works for me:eyesmoke:
 

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Doggonewild said:
325 wattz of cfl on bottom for flower 200 for vegg
Click to expand...

That's the same 5 light flex outlet I use Doggon. Used to be a floor lamp, 19.99 at Target until I had a vision.

Typically better lumens per watt the lower the wattage, my fav closet veg setup is 4 42w at 6500k and a 65w for 2700k in the middle. Those high dollar 100+w cfls are bulky, hot and expensive if you break one. Less expensive to invest in more light plugs imo. You can buy medium base jacks that plug right into 120v outlet for about .89 cents at any hw store.

Reflectors for cfl's are over rated/priced imo as long as you have good reflective wall covering.
 
Shit works good dont it i use it to put cfls right on top of my budsites so they get real fat all over instead of small shitty buds on bottom
 
Libertas said:
That's the same 5 light flex outlet I use Doggon. Used to be a floor lamp, 19.99 at Target until I had a vision.

Typically better lumens per watt the lower the wattage, my fav closet veg setup is 4 42w at 6500k and a 65w for 2700k in the middle. Those high dollar 100+w cfls are bulky, hot and expensive if you break one. Less expensive to invest in more light plugs imo. You can buy medium base jacks that plug right into 120v outlet for about .89 cents at any hw store.

Reflectors for cfl's are over rated/priced imo as long as you have good reflective wall covering.
Click to expand...

Actually the big 105 watt cfl's are not expensive. I got two 105 watt 6500k (400 watt equivalent each) CFL's for 20.00 shipped via Amazon. However the 105 watt 2700K were 20.00 each or twice as much :-( As for heat the big 105 6500k put out no more heat than the smaller 23 watt (100 watt equivalent) bulbs. My plants grew right up into them overnight and no burns when I noticed it early morning. The 105 watt 2700k are the opposite, they do get hotter and will burn your plants if they touch.
 
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