Being an automotive technician, I see this all day and in just about every application it is more useful than straight control. Let me explain first what it is.. for example 12/12 normally is off as long as it is on, so a sample of PWM of it would be off for 1 second and on for 1 second. So instead of your lights being on for 12 hours then off, it would just flicker. as long as it is on as long is its of, like a 50/50 ratio the PWM rate would be the same. so you could do 10 seconds on 10 seconds off too and it would be the same. Could this produce thicker and faster flowering? Has anyone tried to see if this induces flowering differently? or is it the long periods without light that cause the plant to start flowering?
You obviously don't know anything about how and why the MJ plant flowers. It needs long, uninterrupted dark to trigger the hormonal reaction. It isn't a matter of ratios to be divided up however you want.
don't be condescending about it.. I actually asked this as part of my post. I'm a beginner as every one on this forum was at one time. I'll try to take it as you suggesting rather than what it seems like though. Someone locally said to me something about giving only a few hours of light and mostly dark to make fast yeilds but low potency which is what I'm assuming is not what you want so I wondered what ways you could mess with your light to effect flowering or if anyone has tried this. btw ofcourse I know nothing about it.. which is why I come here?
I can't see any benefit to the plant or the grower with this idea, most of us use a ballast in out system somewhere, continual on/off only blows out the ballast, even wears it out, and cost more to run...blah! blah!, sorry bud, toasties right, you need total darkness and quality light, when it's on....lol you want 'Yield" get a good strain and practice baby practice....lol peace "V"
I wasn't condescending, I was pointing out the obvious (which actually is what I said). If you are a total beginner then perhaps you should start in the total beginner section, not here in the advanced techniques section. In the beginner section are lots of tutorials that would have let you know the info I shared, without having to ask it at all. All newbies are encouraged to read the sticky threads and grow guides, because most newbie questions are the same questions and they already are answered for you there. That is designed to save those who do know the basic info from having to answer the same basic questions over and over and over... All good growers are self-educated, the resources are here for ya.
how the hell are you going to get HID lighting to "flicker" it takes minutes to turn on anyways and when you turn it off you have to wait 5 min before you turn it back on again anyways if you do get it to flicker consider that most ballasts are rated for about 20,000 cycles of on/off so this would be gone in no time using that method the only thing I can see this producing is a seizure
You would have to have a special ballast to make your lamps instantly start if you are using HID. Even using cfl, if you notice, they take a few minutes too warm up and get to their optimal brightness. If you are a noob I am not sure why you would even go there before you learn to grow your strains. There is soooo much info, I would suggest the beginner section first, finish a grow or two and you will more than likely understand whats up.
PWM is fine for motors, they are so slow to react to changes in current that they simply treat the modulated pulse as a steady stream of current. HID is a different beast entirely, that said I do believe digital ballasts use some form of pulse modulation but only as a method of dimming the lamp.
if u wanna try light pulses techniques get a uvb and use that ive been learning bout uvbs and the plants reactions to it, no one has really experimented wit uvb light that ive read on gc let alone a pulsing uvb light, id like to try myself but dont have the equipment money, time wat u blades think
Two things 1st it is my understanding that turning a MH on and off in a short time compromises the bulb also my bulb has to cool down fro 5-10 min before it will even strike.
I wonder if anyone has a good specific procedure to do it.. I would maybe try it down the road.. especially if I have to move and don't feel like moving a mother plant, just toss her in with the other plants during flower and harvest it.
1 second on and 1 second off wouldn't work for a plant that is in flowering because it needs 12 hours of uninterrupted darkness. A light that turned on and off would actually work for the on period however because plants don't actually need the light to be on continuously, I'm not sure the exact on and off time but a plant that is under a light that is only on for a fraction of a second then off, will have the same rate of photosynthesis as one under continuous light. If there wasn't any detrimental effects of turning the light on and off again, then this could actually save on power consumption costs in the long run.