Is this a good light?

[skeeter]

I think I may have lucked into a top notch grow light. Installed in the house we bought is a grow light. Th eprevious owner was an orchid growing MD. Here's the info on the light:

P.L. Light Systems of Canada.

Some numbers: LR48877
June 1993 (date of manufacture?)
PL90N (Model #?)
400 Watt High Pressure Sodium

The bulb is a Son Agro 430 Watt.

I looked online for other PL brand lights, and they all seemed to have the ballast as a separate module from the light bulb holder and reflector. My setup has the ballast and the light bulb socket as one unit, made from aluminum.

I tried the light, it works! It lights up when I plug it in, but after 2 or 3 minutes, it gets REALLY bright, kind of a warm orange or yellow color light. The reflector slides onto a rail that the light hangs from.

Is this perhaps an industrial light, or just an older hobby light? What's it worth?

Lastly, if I plan to grow stuff with this, should I buy a backup bulb in case this one burns out?

Thanks for helping a neophyte!

Skeeter

p.s. I can include a photo if it would help anyone ID this light!

[vatoloco]

Wow you really lucked out...PL lights are what Dutch growers use and are the best quality out there IMO. Only thing is you don't know how old the bulb is and how many hours it has left.

[bud stuffer]

yeah that is a hell of a thing to be left behind. that is definatly a bit of luck there.

[Stylez1877]

nice, you already got some good growin karma

[skeeter]

Great!

Thanks for the reassurance. It is great to know that this light is a good one for growing!

Does anyone else have an older light like this? Maybe someone knows more about it?

Just curious!

Thanks!
Skeeter