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Air cooled reflector testing with Digital footcandle meter
- Thread starter pico
- Start date
I read the whole thing lol
That is the dumbest thing I have ever read. 49 square feet and only 1000 watts??? That is only 20 watts per square foot. You need a minimum of 50 for decent bud, more like 70-100. You must grow pure popcorn.
I root clones with a 400 at 3 feet. I've grown plants 12" from a 1000 watter. It is NOT the light that is screwing over your plants, unless you are special from every grower that I or anyone on these boards have ever know.
Perhaps your reflector is focusing the light into a tiny footprint (bad reflector). Maybe you are using a commercial reflector made to be kept 10 feet above lettuce plants or something.
Whatever the problem, I can guarantee your yield is popcorn garbage.
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I just remembered the digital ballast I have is 240v only, and my power meter is 120v only. So I can't test the power input and the light output between digital and coil until I get a 120v digital. I guess I can still test the light output, I may give that a shot sometime soon.
Dr Watt
Who What
I've seen great great bud from 25w/ft (1400w sun circle - 270 Mylar in winter) - best aspect of this intensity is you don't need much fan cfm.
37.5watt/ft is equal to optimum sun (50,000 lumen/m2) - although the sun does get to 100,000 lumen (75w+/ft) plants may not use this energy as efficiently due to solarisation > see https://www.greenmanspage.com/guides/lighting.html.
100w/ft (~140,000 lux) is available outside earth's atmosphere
37.5watt/ft is equal to optimum sun (50,000 lumen/m2) - although the sun does get to 100,000 lumen (75w+/ft) plants may not use this energy as efficiently due to solarisation > see https://www.greenmanspage.com/guides/lighting.html.
100w/ft (~140,000 lux) is available outside earth's atmosphere
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B
badugi
I wonder what type of reflectors are most efficient for slow-moving light movers? Will it still be the SS2, or instead a larger reflector (Radiant, SilverStar, Cool Sun XL, etc)?
I'm running 1kw's on SS2's mounted on a Light Rail 5. It's a pretty slow mover (wish it had a 6 or 10rpm motor like the LR3.5, instead of the 4rpm), and so far seems to work well with the SS2 but always wondering if I wouldn't be better off with a different hood.
I'm running 1kw's on SS2's mounted on a Light Rail 5. It's a pretty slow mover (wish it had a 6 or 10rpm motor like the LR3.5, instead of the 4rpm), and so far seems to work well with the SS2 but always wondering if I wouldn't be better off with a different hood.
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Blind Date- I have the kill a watt meter that you plug stuff in to and it will give you a lot of info. It calculates power used over time, as well as current amp draw.....http://www.p3international.com/products/special/P4400/P4400-CE.html
So I could run a digi for an hour and then a coil for an hour and see what kind of difference there is.
So I could run a digi for an hour and then a coil for an hour and see what kind of difference there is.
NICE WORK !!
Very usable and practical information.
Has anyone ever done testing on the various lamps available. I'd really like to know if there is a difference in a regular off the shelf HPS Lamp verse a so called High Output HPS lamp. In other words, Is an EYE HORTILUX any better than a budget bulb?
What type of bulbs are being used for these Hood Tests?
Keep up the good work guys.
Pirate
Very usable and practical information.
Has anyone ever done testing on the various lamps available. I'd really like to know if there is a difference in a regular off the shelf HPS Lamp verse a so called High Output HPS lamp. In other words, Is an EYE HORTILUX any better than a budget bulb?
What type of bulbs are being used for these Hood Tests?
Keep up the good work guys.
Pirate
Pirate...That type of test would not mean anything. A lower output bulb may in fact put out a more favorable spectrum (PAR). This is why I am waiting for a serious grower to do a side by side with a CMH bulb. Problem is, until they make a CMH in a 600 watt no serious grower is going to bother.
B
badugi
CMH in a 1000w... now we're talking business. Anyone know if there are even near-future plans for CMH in >= 600w?
BlindDate said:
Thanks for the response.
This may not be the place to ask it and I appologize in advance...........but let me re-phrase my question.
Can anyone confirm.........from experience, that a high dollar EYE Hortilux lamp (lets say 600 watt HPS) is any better than a Cheapo budget 600 watt lamp?
I need to buy 12 lamps and surely don't want to spend $1000.00 if I can get away with spending 500.
Pirate
B
badugi
Could have been attributed to different things during my 400w grow days, but I'm pretty sold on the Hortilux Super HPS vs. a generic $20 HPS.Pirate said:
Another nice thing about these "name brand" bulbs, in my experience, is that they're easy to sell used (after 2 cycles). A 1000w Hortilux Super HPS bulb runs me $62, and I can sell 'em for $30 after 2 cycles.
Because of this thread I picked up a Super Sun 2 reflector for my new Galaxy 600w. Looks like a solid reflector. Thanks to all for their efforts on this thread.
To the above poster, there is absolutely no doubt in my mind that the more expensive horticulture bulbs (Hortilux, SolarMax, etc) are worth the extra cost. Ive seen the results on 600w digis and the difference is clear. Don't skimp on bulbs! The only cheaper bulb ($35) Im considering trying is the HidHut brand Super HPS. Ive heard good things about it and the spectrum seems very close to Hortilux but with a few more lumens.
To the above poster, there is absolutely no doubt in my mind that the more expensive horticulture bulbs (Hortilux, SolarMax, etc) are worth the extra cost. Ive seen the results on 600w digis and the difference is clear. Don't skimp on bulbs! The only cheaper bulb ($35) Im considering trying is the HidHut brand Super HPS. Ive heard good things about it and the spectrum seems very close to Hortilux but with a few more lumens.
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B
badugi
I got this thing as a loaner, just to play with. I don't think I like it with light movers... kinda redundant and in ways defeats the purpose?
The piece:
Before & after:
Pay attention to the wall:
Nothing scientific, or remotely close... I don't have a light meter or anything. Just messing with it for a day to get a feel for what it's about...
The piece:
Before & after:
Pay attention to the wall:
Nothing scientific, or remotely close... I don't have a light meter or anything. Just messing with it for a day to get a feel for what it's about...
ItsGrowTime said:
Hey Grow Time. Thanks for the response to that question. I am going to get me a few Hortilux and do a side by side test myself. (but I do believe you already) That way I'll be 100% satisfied............and be able to pass on the experience 1st hand. Gonna have to check into the HIDHut as well.
Thanks again,
Pirate
theres much nice work involved in this thread
still it would be cool to see a comparison between an ac hood and a open hood in standard design like Euro wing, dutch barn etc
which is best for pure lumen and for spreading the light?
still it would be cool to see a comparison between an ac hood and a open hood in standard design like Euro wing, dutch barn etc
which is best for pure lumen and for spreading the light?
it would be really good if this thread and the equipment used could also be used for testing like the open reflector and maybe also test various popular bulbs?
A couple open reflectors were tested. I don't think they did very well. Take a look in the first few pages.
Bulb tests won't tell us too much with just a light meter. Intensity isn't really what plants see. You want intense light, but it has to be the right spectrum. So the most intense bulb isn't necessarily the best bulb. You need better equipment than I have access to for that kind of stuff.
Bulb tests won't tell us too much with just a light meter. Intensity isn't really what plants see. You want intense light, but it has to be the right spectrum. So the most intense bulb isn't necessarily the best bulb. You need better equipment than I have access to for that kind of stuff.
