tommy gibbs
Well-Known Member
how do you know when to replace your bulb? i have a 250 watt hps, and ive used it for about 3 months. when does it lose its strength if any one knows
when to replace a bulb. +rep for answer
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wildfire97936
Well-Known Member
it says 12 months in the grow faq or a MH bulb so i would guess somewhere around there
"250w (mh) lamps u cool deluxe 5400k 12 months"
here is the link i got that off of https://www.rollitup.org/view.php?pg=faq&cmd=article&id=55
edit: i actually read a little bit more and saw this- Replace all hps after 24 months, with the exception of the son agro and super agro, replace after 15 months.
"250w (mh) lamps u cool deluxe 5400k 12 months"
here is the link i got that off of https://www.rollitup.org/view.php?pg=faq&cmd=article&id=55
edit: i actually read a little bit more and saw this- Replace all hps after 24 months, with the exception of the son agro and super agro, replace after 15 months.
tommy gibbs
Well-Known Member
are there any signs of degradation? its the first bulb i ever had that was an hps, and it isnt quite as hot as i thought it would be. the reflector gets hot, but the light doesnt really exude much heat into the closet
wildfire97936
Well-Known Member
with my closet sealed off and the 400W i have going it only gets too a 100 if i let it other than that it stays around 87-75, im on my second grow and the light seems to be just as bright.
vaporking
Well-Known Member
use a light meter. heat really is not a factor with lumens..
wildfire97936
Well-Known Member
do you know how much those light meters usually are? and a good garden store online to get one from?
420Blunt's
Well-Known Member
6 months to a year
GlassFreak
Well-Known Member
dude thats exactly my case, itll get damn near 100 if i let it maybe more in sumer, but i can only get it down to like 86 with the lights on. how far do you keep your lights from your plants?
wildfire97936
Well-Known Member
about 14-18in away from the top it depends on how hot it is really. do you have an inline fan with ducting?
vaporking
Well-Known Member
try using a ventilated hood moving that heat away will bring those temps way down..
as far as price on light meters i bought mine from a friend so i cant really say check e-bay..
8 inches from my hood it gets 82 degrees max really helps get that light down on the plants
any further than 8 inches my temperatures stay 78-75..
i use a euro hood from htg supply with a 600watt grwlux, vented with a suncourt 8 inch inline booster fan from home depot
tusseltussel
Well-Known Member
i change my hps once a year. mh bulbs dnt last as long as hps but i dnt use mine much. my mothers and most of my veg cycle go under cfl and some times i will use th mh for a week or 2 b4 flowering
Landragon
Well-Known Member
Good light meters cost $50-$70. Great ones in the hundreds.
Hid lights depreciate noticeably after 6 months particularly MH. I replace mine every two crops. At least I did years ago. This is my second crop after not growing for 10+ years. The cost of changing the bulbs was less than the value of the returned weight.
Hid lights depreciate noticeably after 6 months particularly MH. I replace mine every two crops. At least I did years ago. This is my second crop after not growing for 10+ years. The cost of changing the bulbs was less than the value of the returned weight.
SmokeMedprop215
Well-Known Member
to let you all know... the main factor is what type of ballast that you are running is it digital or coppercore? the digital ballasts are tight yes but the problem with them is they flash the bulb at more that 2X the rate of a coppercore ballast. Therefore your bulb is going to burrn out 2X faster in your digital ballast so your digital ballast bulb should last about 6 months before you should replace and your coppercore 12months ..... just some food for thought 
-Smoke-
-Smoke-