Lighting - Is 430 watt HSP bulb equivelant...

[Baywatch242000]

to running, say, 4-5 regular 100 watt bulbs?

Is having the HPS better?

[Baywatch242000]

An example of the type of bulbs I am referring to as a alternative to the HPS would be found here: http://cgi.ebay.com/4-PACK-120-WATT-...QQcmdZViewItem

You can see each bulb is 120 watts and comes in a four pack. I'm just thinking they would probably run less hot and more energy efficient in a smaller space. Am I wrong?

Would there be a difference as far as one lighting system being better than another? Does HPS lights offer something that the bulbs above would lack in?

[ISO2BWELL]

Baywatch,

The HPS is always better, hands down, when it comes to flower spectrum light. CFL's just won't penetrate deep enough compared to the HPS, so buds lower than a few inches from the lamps really don't mature as they should. You can add extra CFL's to supplement the lower branched buds, but it still won't equal the HPS.

The lamps you showed on eBay are the right kelvin temp for flowering, at 2700k, but they won't come close to the lumens per ft. that the 400W HPS will do.

Got for the 400W HPS...you will be far happier.

ISO

[ClosetDWC]

that was a good answer iso ! that is exactly what i would say to if you can deal with the heat ... remember summer is almost here then hps is always the way to go

[The HSIC]

When you pay your electric bill, you pay for watts used.
400 watts of HPS light will put out about 55k lumens.

400 watts of CFL's, will put out about half that amount of lumens.
It is all about the lumens, when it comes to growing, so you can see how the HPS has the advantage.

The hidden cost of owning the HPS light, is you'll need to spend a couple of bucks on a good exhaust/ventilation system to keep the room cool, and the plants happy.
Peace

[scott06]

according to the post "120 WATT REPLACEMENT BULBS
LIGHT OUTPUT 1300 LUMENS ENERGY USE 23 WATTS"

your bulb is only 23 watts, it puts out 1300 lumens per bulb (a measure of light intensity) and is meant to replace a 120 incandecent or old fashioned light bulb.

HPS and MH lights turn the most watts into lumens 100-150 per wat

CFL can do a good job 55-80 lumens per watt (bigger cfl's are more efficient)

Flourescent tubes can't really to the job as well

and incandecent lights can't do the job at all

so to match that 435w HPS - it gives you 125 x 435 about 54375 lumens

you would need 54375/1300 = 42 of those bulbs!

HID lights like HPS and MH are great but you can grow with CFL's esp with the correct ones...
they make CFL that come in 100 - 250w and they can be either red for flower or blue for veg or a mixture

true they are not as efficient in turning watts into lumens but they do have some advantages and alow plenty of folks on GP to grow with success (see the CFL club).

some of the advantages I see
less heat per bulb (but more heat per watt over all)
no hum from the transformer
multiple lights spread out to fit the space
blending red and blue to the desired level with multiple lights
bulbs last longer
bulbs are cheaper
no heavy hot unit to deal with

so HID are ideal for a big grower and fine for the small grower, but I believe CFL have a place for the small home grower and more than just supplemental lighting...I think they may be better for a new grower with a small space (less than 4x 4)....I think ISO gives great advice, the 400 beats your current plan.and you would be happy..but just so you know CFL is a real alternative for some us and I may have a reduced yeild but my buds are coming along fine, not just in the top canopy, but down into the plants...I hang most bulbs horizontal over the plants and one or two vertical in between the plants...

hope that helps...I have used HID in the past and the advantages ISO mentioned are absolutely correct..but that is not the whole story hence my defence of the lowly cfl (cflers have a tendency to become somewhat defensive as you can see)

[scott06]

08-08-2007, 08:27 PM #8 THE Roseman
Teaching to grow
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Location: I am trapped in this physical body
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I think if we polled a group of 100 experts on Grow Lights for Pot, we would see the majority of them agree that the HID lights are better than CFLs, or out-perform CFLS, or yield bigger and better plants, and definitely bigger and better buds, than CFLs. I really think there would be little doubt to that IF WE POLLED THE EXPERTS.

But if we went back and polled them AGAIN, asking if CLFs are ever better than HID lights in ANY situation, the majority would agree that for newbies, first timers, STEALTH growers, CLOSET Growers, SMALL crop growers, SMALL SPACE GROWERS, and growers on a low budget, CFLs are better.

I've seen three 105 watt CFLS produce 10,000 lumens per square foot of grow space or 20,000 lumens per two sq feet of grow space. That is what the sun produces. 7,000 lumens per sq foot is what is really needed, but half that will grow or VEG plants. Half that will NOT produce tight compressed buds. BUT if I used them for 10 sq feet of grow space, they'd be weak and perform poorly.
Factors like HEAT and Cost are varibles to consider.

I have done grows with only two 85 watt CFL bulbs, and I was very happy.
When I added ten more bulbs, I was happier.

[The HSIC]

Scott, we are going to have to put you in charge of the CFL club, or make you the CFL king, or something. Good work indeed. My only small nit-picking disagreement is when you said the bulbs were cheaper, but than I think you were including the cost of the ballast? Because I just bought some hps bulbs for like 7 bucks a piece.

My only other point was heat, I believe it is watts that produce heat. So from what I've read cfl's produce a fair amount of heat, where they have the edge, is that the heat is spread over a much larger area than with hid lighting.
Peace

[scott06]

Correct Vid I think we were making genrally the same point (though I wasn't clear obviously)

watts if I remember my physics is a measure of how much energy is used in a given amount of time.... with a light bulb that energy can be used to make both light and heat..I think (don't know for sure) that part of the reason HIDs are more efficient in producing more lights per watt is because they are producing less heat per watt - and why CFL are replacing incandecent lights which give alot of heat for very little light per watt
so a 400w HID is giving you more light per watt and less heat per watt
compared with an equal number of CFL watts , but like we say that heat is spread out more.

I an not entirely sure about this but it makes sense in terms of basic physics

$7 for a good HID bulb - you are the bargain hunter