Lumens dont effect plant growth true or false???

Joe Buddens

Well-Known Member
....Aaaaaaaand I'm trying to prove you right, right now;

I'm running 860W CDM lamps head to head vs HPS thouies, same everything. Also head to head in separate rooms, coming up.

Initial lumens on the Plantmax thousand watt HPS; 140,000

Initial lumens on Philips CDM 860W lamps; 82,000

I'll get back to you guys in about 3 months with some answers, lol

Why haven't i heard of these Philips CDM 860W lamps until now? From the past 20 minutes of research i have done, I have only found people with nothing bud good things to say.

My Questions:
  1. Can the Philips CDM 860W plug into a Digital 1000 watt ballast?
  2. Why do they only advertise them as warehouse lights?
 

Jbone77

Well-Known Member
Why haven't i heard of these Philips CDM 860W lamps until now? From the past 20 minutes of research i have done, I have only found people with nothing bud good things to say.

My Questions:
  1. Can the Philips CDM 860W plug into a Digital 1000 watt ballast?
  2. Why do they only advertise them as warehouse lights?
They are made for magnetics and arent a universal mount bulb. Its good they are warehouse lights, makes em cheaper. Some ceramics need to be run in enclosed fixtures because of the uv they put out so do your research. Great lights
 

ttystikk

Well-Known Member
we both know what one will win. Those 860s are amazing and mag 1000s are cheap and built like tanks
I'm stoked and I'm rooting for them, but I'm a stickler for proving things, no matter how promising they might appear- or how popular they might currently be with the 'in' crowd.

That's how I investigated and rejected such obsolete technologies as light rotators, horizontal ScrOG, high dollar light fixtures, coco and other disposable substrates, sealed and vented equipment- especially lighting fixtures, air conditioning, 18/6 or 24/7 veg lighting and many, many more.

Nothing would please me more than adding HPS lighting to that scrap heap, but the new kid on the block has to prove it can handle the job first.
 

ttystikk

Well-Known Member
Why haven't i heard of these Philips CDM 860W lamps until now? From the past 20 minutes of research i have done, I have only found people with nothing bud good things to say.

My Questions:
  1. Can the Philips CDM 860W plug into a Digital 1000 watt ballast?
  2. Why do they only advertise them as warehouse lights?
Answers:

1. NOOOOOO! Magnetic low frequency ballast friendly only, high freq blows the pit up in just a few days or weeks. Voids the warranty, expensive, no fun. The good news is that magnetic thousand watt ballasts are as cheap as they come.

2. Good question, but hey- how closer can Philips really come to saying, 'hey all you INDOOR POT GROWERS, we've developed your dream bulb!' than saying it's an excellent upgrade for warehouse lighting?

You know, with a color rendering index of 92, anything in that 'warehouse' will be very naturally lit!
 

ttystikk

Well-Known Member
They are made for magnetics and arent a universal mount bulb. Its good they are warehouse lights, makes em cheaper. Some ceramics need to be run in enclosed fixtures because of the uv they put out so do your research. Great lights
True, forgot to mention they are vertical only. The bulb is protected, hence the rating to run bare.

Fuckin' made to order for my vertical Super Silo setup!
 

Joe Buddens

Well-Known Member
Answers:

1. NOOOOOO! Magnetic low frequency ballast friendly only, high freq blows the pit up in just a few days or weeks. Voids the warranty, expensive, no fun. The good news is that magnetic thousand watt ballasts are as cheap as they come.

2. Good question, but hey- how closer can Philips really come to saying, 'hey all you INDOOR POT GROWERS, we've developed your dream bulb!' than saying it's an excellent upgrade for warehouse lighting?

You know, with a color rendering index of 92, anything in that 'warehouse' will be very naturally lit!

1. OK, cool, thanks for that info :)

2. Hahaha, good answer. That was about the only thing i could relate to lol.

"Hey guys check out these new super advanced warehouse and street lights!"

I just sold two like new magnetic ballasts that someone had given me... damnit! I want to give these bulbs a try.
 

ttystikk

Well-Known Member
1. OK, cool, thanks for that info :)

2. Hahaha, good answer. That was about the only thing i could relate to lol.

"Hey guys check out these new super advanced warehouse and street lights!"

I just sold two like new magnetic ballasts that someone had given me... damnit! I want to give these bulbs a try.
New switchable, convertible ones from Hydrofarm are just $140 and of course you can get bare kits for half that.
 

racerboy71

bud bootlegger
New switchable, convertible ones from Hydrofarm are just $140 and of course you can get bare kits for half that.
hey tty, did i read you right, did you say you need a magnetic ballast to fire the cmh bulbs or where you talking about something else? i got a bit confused ... ty kindly.. :D
 

racerboy71

bud bootlegger
Those 860's are quite larger bulbs than 1000 mh's aren't they? I was looking into them a while back.

Any info or experience on the red spectrum MH's? http://www.sunmastergrowlamps.com/SunmasterRedSunrise3200K.htm
i've been using the 3k sunpulse mh's.. i used the 6k for veg, and the 3k for flowering.. i also have a 10k you're supposed to use for like the last two weeks or so..
i'm on the fence about the sunpulses atm, idk how i feel yet, i'lll let you know in about 2 or so weeks when i harvest.. i know they're not the same as the ones you linked, just the same 3k spectrum, so thought i'd say something..
 

Jbone77

Well-Known Member
Those 860's are quite larger bulbs than 1000 mh's aren't they? I was looking into them a while back.

Any info or experience on the red spectrum MH's? http://www.sunmastergrowlamps.com/SunmasterRedSunrise3200K.htm
I think they are smaller actually but then again I havent held a 1000 mh in a while. I forgot about those sunmaster reds, I heard they were supposed to be nice before they released them but never looked into them after they came out. Il have to check them out one of these days out of curiosity
 

ttystikk

Well-Known Member
hey tty, did i read you right, did you say you need a magnetic ballast to fire the cmh bulbs or where you talking about something else? i got a bit confused ... ty kindly.. :D
That's correct; you need a thousand watt magnetic ballast that fires MH bulbs. The Philips CDM 860W lamps will run at 860W without further assistance. They must be magnetic ballasts. Digital ballasts run at high frequencies which destroy the pit. Must be set to MH, as the igniter on HPS circuits will prematurely age the bulb. The ones I got must be vertical. I thought you could get horizontal versions at this wattage but now I'm unsure.

More info here;

http://advancedtechlighting.com/cdmea860.htm
 

Uncle Ben

Well-Known Member
I was reading other forums about best lumen to plant for high yields and came across a few people saying its nothing to do with lumens its just spectrum and the quality of it.. is this true.. thanks??
No. I grew my avatar from start to finish with HPS. It has blues. The "spectrum and quality of it" is a marketing push to sell lamps.....plant doesn't care.
 

Jbone77

Well-Known Member
No. I grew my avatar from start to finish with HPS. It has blues. The "spectrum and quality of it" is a marketing push to sell lamps.....plant doesn't care.
so Digilux makes the best bulbs? full spectrum and highest lumens iv seen so it has to be the best right? If its not the spectrum/par watts then how is a lights efficiency determined? My MH has reds in it so it would produce the same as a hps with blues?
 

ttystikk

Well-Known Member
The fact that you CAN deliver phonebooks in a Volkswagen Beetle doesn't mean that it's the best choice for the job.

In the case of HPS, it's more a situation of only wanting a small fraction of the spectrum it delivers- but you get to deal with the rest anyway, in the form of heat.

I'm running a direct head to head, HPS thouies vs. 860W CDM, and we will see who's right. The plants have all the answers, we just need to listen... to THEM, not the crowd.
 

ttystikk

Well-Known Member
so... basically you all have different opinions.. if it really is just human eye then... it really means jack shit to the plant
Right. The above definition is for lumens, or how much the light excites the human eye- and as you said, that has precious little to do with the needs of plants.

The human eye sees green and yellow hues best. Small wonder HPS lamps have amazing lumen numbers; look at where all the spectrum is! This makes them great for lighting freeways, but since there isn't much spectrum where the plants need it, results per watt spent are likely to disappoint.

That wasted spectrum does not magically vanish; you paid real money and spent real watts making it, now you get to spend real watts getting rid of it- as heat. Gotta love that double pay thing... not! That's why I've been on a quest for more efficiency in indoor gardening wherever I find it.

Boy, did I ever find it!
 
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