While going through some stuff today I stumbled across a Osram Powerstar 250w MH bulb along with its ballast and reflector. We got this back in the day from outside a video club, ripped it apart so it cost nothing. Definitely not proud of it today but if my girls would like it I'm thinking to give it to them as a present. Anybody with any experience on these bulbs? Any input would be awesome! **SCROLL DOWN**
i mayyyy be wrong, buuut im pretty sure any MH bulb would grow weed .. a metal halide is a metal halide im sure there are some that are BETTER for growing it than a regular bulb, but you should be good.
Yea 250MH will work for sure. 400W is more effective (higher lumen/watt) and 600W is the most efficient (highest lumen/watt ratio), but 250 will be perfect for 1 or 2 plants.
Does that go for flowering too? I know it's optimal to use an HPS light for flowering but how about this supplemented with some fluoros? (I'm currently using just cfl)
It wont harm you if your only using cfls right now. It's not completely ideal but it'll get the job done. 2 things Do you know for sure if it is switchable or not (between HPS and MH)? Look into ceramic MH. Apparently these bulbs can rival HPS for flowering.
Thanks for the input dude, your grow looks awesome btw Apparently it's not, I opened it up to clean it and from the info on the ballast I can see it can only be used for MH 250W. Does the ceramic MH work with the normal MH ballast?
So after some reading I'm thinking to go for the Phillips MasterColor at 250w. For anyone who is interested here is a useful link: Ceramic Metal Halide (CMH) - International Cannagraphic Magazine Forums Now I know it will not work with digital ballasts and since I have a 250w MH ballast I was wondering if I can use that with it. I would go as far as buying the actual bulb, can't afford a ballast as well right now.
Hey closetgrower: Saw what you had said about CMH... I thought I'd let ya know I decided to roll with one myself... I posted up the info in your thread http://forum.grasscity.com/advanced...t-best-bulb-bring-sun-inside-post6996616.html and gave Amoril a friendly poke for his input. Yours too if you think of anything I missed... Soulclinic: I agree with closetgrower andf iCultivate about the MH and CMH bulbs their advice is right on. Many people pick HPS over MH for flowering because of the higher lumen output, but when you look at how lumens are calculated you'll notice that there are some discrepancies there... As for the CMH bulbs, I'd say look at your ballast and see what the code on it says. You need to make sure the electrical characteristics of the ballast match the requirements of the bulb. Watts for watts doesn't cut it... Look for something called the "ANSI code." I'm not too famiuliar with these, but I understand this to be the key piece of information you use to determine if a ballast/bulb setup is matched correctly. Anyway- look at the ANSI code, it probably says "M138 or M153". The way I understand it, that means you can run a CMH or MH bulb in that fixture as long as they are the same 250watts, and the bulb you buy says M138 or M153 somewhere on the package... See this example from 1000bulbs.com, one of my favorite online retailers of these beasts... See the bulbs and ballasts ballasts here: Since they all say "M138 or M153" they will only accept a bulb coded with one of those numbers, which the bulbs on that page also are... Unfortunately, none of them are Ceramic Metal Halide, at least not that I can tell. That's not to say that they don't make such a bulb, but this site mixes the CMH and MH together on the listings, so it would've been there. The popular brand-trademark that comes to mind is "philips mastercolor cmh (4000k not 3000k)" I noticed a couple things about the CMH lights from what I read before I bought Mine: 1) their spectral output is fantastic for HID lighting... "Bluer" than MH for VEG, "redder" than HPS for flower WIN-WIN 2) I'm pretty sure they run cooler then both HPS or MH (I'm open to correction on this). If I'm wrong, I'm pretty sure they're at least still cooler than MH of the same wattages... WIN 3) They last longer then HPS or MH (I think)- WIN 4) they are mostly used only in a narrow few applications: 1) Projectors 2) Reef growers/saltwater aquarium use 3) retail (LOTS of retail use because of the way the natural looking light flatters merchandise well) 5) because their primary uses are mostly associated with costly activities, the bulbs and ballasts tend to cost more An Example of how some of this comes together: Retail. They know stores will pay lots of money for anything a contractor has to do that is designed for aesthetics to help sell product- so they charge more. Then, to boot, it can be tough because the lights themselves can be different from what you'd expect. Example: track lighting for retail stores usually uses those funny bulbs that look like spotlights, called "PAR-38" or "PAR-20" etc... These numbers denote the shape of the reflector, but that doesn't matter because their wattages are low and unsuited for growing. You see what I mean? There's a market for the bulbs but the market dictates the product itself. Other examples are: aquarium lighting and projector lighting, which can both often use tiny bulbs with funny pin patterns and extermely specialized enclosures not well suited to growing... What does all this mean? It's not impossible to find a decent CMH bulb that will work with your ballast, but it could be difficult. I recommend the philips constantcolor 4000Kelvim CMH, like Amoril recomends in Closetgrowers thread I linked above. Check it out Even if you don't spend a penny on any new gear at all, there's lots of great info there. And to answer your actual question at last lol, yes, I believe your MH light will still do a good job as is, just so long as you don't try to light up a space that's too big for a 250W light or something. I think up to maybe 3by3 feet would be good? -Weasel PS- sorry for all the typos man- I tried to fix some buy my netbook kinda sux, and I'm too friggin high bub sorry
Great and RICH advice as always weasel soulclinic, this i your guy for lighting I too was considering buying a CMH but had neglected doing some decent research on it...ill check out your new post and get back to you soon (its finals week).
Hello again. I've been looking into it some more and cannot figure out what kind of bulbs my ballast will work with, there is a code on it but no ANSI code. I would like to be able to use it for flowering somehow, either with a conversion bulb or CMH. I have attached a picture of the ballast for anyone who can offer some help. Will +rep as well. Many thanks.
Looking around it seems to be much easier to find a conversion bulb from hps to mh than the opposite. And why are conversion bulbs so freaking expensive?
Lol man, I now see why u do, I tried to change the title since it's no longer very relevant but it shows up the same, maybe I should start a new thread about it.