I have read many posts here on lighting and I still have many questions. First off, why do people NOT talk about halogen lights? Is it a spectrum thing, or a heat thing. Sodium is the best, as far as I can see, but the fixtures are extremely expensive, while the halogen is almost given away at some hardware stores. Some halogen run off of a ton of wattage, while a sodium is only about 400wats (depending). Is it a cost per watt thing? NOW, everyone seems to have overlooked the Mercury vapor lights, which place between the other two in price, yet are comparable to the sodium or even the halide. I have tried neon, yet I think that it sucks. Power use is small, but they are a pain in the butt to keep adjusting them all the time. I also tried regular lights, which contrary to popular belief, turned out to be pretty good. Many problems arose though, such as heat, cost per bulb, and the inability to produce buds. Chemicals did help in the flowering, but I knew even when I was doing it, that there were better ways. At the time, that's all I could afford, plus I wanted to see for myself just what the results would be. Now that I want to upgrade a little (I just grow it for a puff for myself) the Mercury question keeps wacking away at my brain while the halogen question wacks away at my wallet. The wallet is winning. What's the thought.??
OK...here we go..... Halogen ...Improper spectrum(far red end),intensity for plant growth,heat is major problem,operating cost is major expensive.Short life.low lumen per watt Mercury vapor...Improper spectrum(appears blueish)(violet,blue...yellow,orange),operating cost is high.average lumen per watt Incandescent(regular bulbs)...Improper spectrum(far red end),operating cost is major.Short life,low lumen per watt Metal Halide...Wide spectrum(appears white),high intensity,operating cost effective,long life. Ideal overall horticulture light source.high lumen per watt High Pressure Sodium...spectrum in the yellow,orange,red end,(think of the harvest...fall...sun)(appears orangeish) increasing yield,highest intensity,,long life,best in operating cost effective.highest lumen per watt Neon...looks cool in a window Are you growing "bag seed" or quality seed strain? Anything else I can help you with..........
u might want to have a look at www.fastlight.co.uk a 400w hps low bay should set you back £75 to your door if you are in the uk, spare lamps £10 hope l have been of some help good luck
Ok, so I did it. I broke down and shelled out. They must have seen me commin' too because 270 was not at all what i was ready to pay. What's done is done though, right. I decided on the metal instead of the sodium, because I liked the specs. My poor little babies are lookin' mighty yellow right now..hehehe...but that should change soon enough. Before I try and fail, could you tell me how far the fixture should be from the tips? I have a 250W (I know it's a little small, but I thought that part over seriously too, I can't afford to get busted with more, career wise, if a bad luck happens) and it's about 3 or 4 ft off the tops as it is. I put a thermometer in the pot and the temp seems to be ok, but I would hate to toast the tips at this stage of the game. Should I raise them, or lower them? By the way, i did get the crack about "neon". Ok, I screwed up, it's the other one...hahaha...the one I CAN'T spell...you caught me.
oops, watch the math. 1cm/W = 250cm , for 250w That's way too far away. Did you forget a zero?...Huummmm.. All fooling aside, I figure about a foot or so, and your "calculations" almost told me that. 25 cm is about 10 in, or a foot, if you round it off I have set them at that and they seem to be ok with it so far. I understand now the difference with the heat though. It's the transformer that heats, not so much the bulb. aaa-haaaa... Poppa? What's a Reb like you doing using metric anyways ...hahah ... not easy huh? They tried to force it on us here, but I never got on that bus. A foot is still a foot in my book.
LOL..........Did you mean...xenon maybe...well that looks good in a strobe light...lol As far as distance ..put it roughly 18" or so....but....put your hand at the top of plants palm down ,,,hold it there..hmmmhmmm..hmmmmhmmmm..hmmmmmmhmmmmmm....hmmmmm.....now... if it was to hot on the back of your hand...raise the lamp a couple inches at a time until it is not to hot on the back of your hand......remember that distance........now go smoke a dubee....come back to room........talk to your plants......ask them how they like the new light source.......if you see the leaf tips reaching up.......go smoke another dubee....with a smile.....
What I meant to type was 1cm per 10 watts plus add a little distance to that. Extra ventilation helps to disperse the heat build-up As far as the metric system goes, its my curse as a Reb mad scientist to realize that there new fandangled metric system is easlier to cypher with than them old foots and inches and stuff. Now when I'm at the house at pretending to be a carpenter, I can flow right back into 1/8, 1/2, and 1/4 inches with no problem.
More intense light can bring more intense buds......far be it from me to deprive those girls of their precious light.....as always...the more light the merrier.....lol
For the reccord, I have set them to a nice round 12 inches and they seem to love me. You see, I tried the hand thing, but my skin must be like old leather because it was not hot almost up to 3 inches from the bulb. From what I could gather from the other posts, 10 to 18 inches is best. These lights are awsome for that, I REALLY see the differance now. By the way, it's not xeon, but florescent (did I get it right this time?) that I have trouble spellin'. And the ph DID need correcting, but that's not why they were yellow. You would be yellow too if you had no sun...lol.
LOL...3" that is cool if without a tempered glass separator,and fan..I'm used to 400w and up........yea 8" to 12"for the 250w.
Are the 400W, 220V ? Or is it just another, probably bigger, transformer? I understand that some models could be different, and the currents in other countries are not the same as North America, but in general...... Also, how many plants is a 400 good for? I figure the 250 for about 2 or 3.
Most ballasts are multi tap,,allowing different voltages to be used,,including 220/240 ,,yes it is larger ballast,and more heat..It can be used with 16 to 32 sq. ft. with good results..depending on area.Such as 4 ft. x 8 ft.
Not real sure where he came from actually, I guess I ripped him from some site somewhere. Not me who made it, that's for sure. He's kinda cool though. Makes me think of a real active gardener. Round and round in the bright white room... Sounds familiar...
Ok Bud, then tell me if you can.. Can I hook a second 250 to the one balast? It has two extra capped wires that I don't use. Or even, could I run the 2 (if ever) in parallel? I ask you since you seem to be the resident electrician around here..hahaha I guess I could have asked when I scored it, but I was in a hurry that day.