Skip the CFL's: The $20 150w complete HPS with ballast and bulb Link

OregonMeds

OregonMeds

Well-Known Member
I don't see how you are making due with what you have. 10sf is a lot of space actually, and 500w of CFL's is going to put off a lot of heat. How is it staying cool to begin with. Is that really 500w of CFL's or is that equivalent rating?

It doesn't sound to me like you have enough light for the area you're talking about either way.

Two of these would be 30,000 lumens. What do you have now if you add up all those cfl's?
 
smppro

smppro

Well-Known Member
starlightfury said:
I'm currently vegging 13 plants (2 white widow, 3 purple kush, 2 hindu skunk, and 6 shiva skunk) and 4 cuttings I just took today under about 500W of cfls. About 80% of the lights are 5000-6500k, the rest are 2700k until flowering where I already have the bulbs to increase the wattage to about 625W. I've been vegging these for two weeks now as they were purchased as clones from a dispensery (i'm a mmj patient). I'm using mostly 2 gal pots and a few 3 gals with b'cuzz coco fiber and fox farm grow and bloom. This is my first grow and I made the noob mistake of choosing an all-cfl grow from what I gather the more I research and hear about cfls producing light airy buds.

Right now my plants (the PKs are noticably more bushy and squat being heavy indicas) are all around the 10-13 inch range.

My question is two-fold:

Firstly, would it be a wise choice to buy one or two of these HPS lights with the intention of producing more dense resin-laden buds? Would just one of these lights make a difference in a grow area of about 10sqft? If I did this I would also keep some or most of the cfls. The wiring and such is not an issue for me.

Secondly, because I am growing in a closet (its a small walk-in closet with its own door in my bedroom) and am a tenant of a landlord that absolutely dissapproves of marijuana for all uses, any sort of ventilation modifications to the closet, window, room, etc are not a possibility (long story short, someone already tried growing at my place a few years ago and the landlord found out from a neighbor noticing ventilation coming from the window and fucked them real bad). I've got odor covered for now. That being said, how much additional cooling would these particular lights require without any ventilation beyond oscillating and table fans? Right now I just have one oscillating fan and it keeps the temps fine. Would it even be possible to have maybe 3-400W of cfls running with one or two of these lights and still keep the temps reasonable with just regular fans?

Any input would be greatly appreciated. Ive already shelled out a decent amount of money for this grow, but if those out there with greater experience than myself think it would be a worthy investment, I'm willing to spend extra on these lights. Thank you in advance.
Click to expand...

The only reason buds should come out airy under cfls is if the grower doesnt know what he is doing.
Heres 100gram dry weight off 4 42cfl(this one might be perfect for your situation)
International Cannagraphic Magazine Forums - My Box Set Up
and try this one
International Cannagraphic Magazine Forums - ***DrBud Takes CFL SOG to the Next Level***

i have 12-42watt cfls that stay at 78 in my closet.
I love my CFLS but that an awesome deal on those HPS
 
S

starlightfury

Active Member
Well, right now my setup is staying cool because im leaving the door to the closet open at pretty much at all times and have the fan on 24/7. With the door closed for even a couple hours, the temperature skyrockets.

I have 500 REAL watts of cfls running for veg right now. It is spread out amongst the plants and outputting about a total of 30000 lumens. For flowering the lights I have will output about 41000 lumens. If I added this HPS it would increase the flowering lumens to about 56000 lumens, which fits right into the semi-standard rule of 5000 lumens/sqft.

From my observation, my plants are doing just fine. Its almost remarkable the difference in growth im able to notice from just one day to the next. Im just wondering if you guys think, with additional small/table/oscillating fans, if I could add an HPS in the interest of producing better buds and still keep temps normal? How much heat do these guys produce? Also, its a matter of whether or not an HPS is even necessary for the result desired.
 
OregonMeds

OregonMeds

Well-Known Member
Oh ok. Well with these you'd burn less electricity and put out more lumens. (under 400w for 30k lumens) Heat would be about the same if not less comparing these to the total heat of what you're running now.


I would buy two of them if I were in your shoes, and if it turns out you can't run one or two in addition to what you have (if you can't manage the heat) then you can run them in place of what you have and at least cut your electric usage by 100w or more to get the same lumens but even better growth.

You will notice an improvement in growth with these over cfl's. I tried 5x 42w cfl's as in Drbud method and I was not satisfied with the growth from cfl. I went to a 250w halide and boom, growth took off.

Don't get me wrong I know cfl's can grow good buds. But I don't think you'll find anyone who'll say they actually work BETTER than HPS's.
 
J

jayrollinhippy

Active Member
Ok Heres A couple of pics of some plants that were veged for three weeks under a 150 wt hps spotlight from e-conolight, this is the $43 model but the $20 vapor tight hps has the same ballast and bulb. Imho the $20 model is a great light for the dyi project. Cannabalize the unit remote the ballast and use A home made cool tube and you are up and running for a song.
 

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OregonMeds

OregonMeds

Well-Known Member
What size space are you growing those in and how many days old are they?

Just curious what lumens/sf you're at. They are sure healthy looking.
 
J

jayrollinhippy

Active Member
Well this was an old grow in a 2x2 ft space the plants at the time were just about four weeks old or thirty days they were approximately 16 inches tall at this point and had just been transpanted into 3 gallon pots to finish. heres a pic of one as it finished 6 weeks later
 

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allout

allout

Active Member
hell yea i jus got that 150 hps for 20 bucks..would this light be ideal for veg and flower??
 
M

mrbeefs17

Active Member
wait so if i got one i could rig it with just a computer wire... would i have to buy a $50 ballast kit too or can i get away with wut it has?

I read all the posts and the first one doesn't say nothing about getting a ballast so does it come with one?

If someone could clear this up for me i might be a bit slow haha a little stoned...
 
3

346ss

Active Member
it COMES WITH A BALLAST, all u need is a $10 precut extension cord, wire nuts and some electrical tape. and match colors. easy
 
la9

la9

Well-Known Member
Here are some pics so everyone can stop posting that for $20 you only get a bulb.....



 
la9

la9

Well-Known Member
jayrollinhippy said:
Ok Heres A couple of pics of some plants that were veged for three weeks under a 150 wt hps spotlight from e-conolight, this is the $43 model but the $20 vapor tight hps has the same ballast and bulb. Imho the $20 model is a great light for the dyi project. Cannabalize the unit remote the ballast and use A home made cool tube and you are up and running for a song.
Click to expand...

Just wondering how you thought the SPOTLIGHT did and what you thought of it because usually you want to go with the FLOODLIGHT because it lets the light spread out better. You might be on to something new.
 
OregonMeds

OregonMeds

Well-Known Member
I don't think those are wired safe either, but the part I'm noticing is you aren't using wire nuts either. Electrical tape is used in combination with wire nuts, not on it's own. Where you've just wrapped the wire will eventually become resistive and heat up in use resulting in a fire.

I don't know if it makes a difference without ground other than say electrocuting yourself trying to put the fire out.
 
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