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Daylight (4100K) CFL's ?

Hi!

Does anyone have experience of using the 4100K CFL bulbs? The issue is that all of a sudden regular 6500K bulbs of small power (20 to 30 W) have disappeared from retail. It is nearly impossible to find them since Fall 2014 and there are no well trusted brands. I managed to find some "noname" bulbs, though I do not trust them much. Is it OK for the plants to veg under the 4100K? Does anyone have seen the pictures with spectrum specifications of those "daylight" bulbs? What CFL lamps would you use to veg your micro-garden if 6500K's aren't available?

Regards,
S.V.
 
Hi! Does anyone have experience of using the 4100K CFL bulbs? The issue is that all of a sudden regular 6500K bulbs of small power (20 to 30 W) have disappeared from retail. It is nearly impossible to find them since Fall 2014 and there are no well trusted brands. I managed to find some "noname" bulbs, though I do not trust them much. Is it OK for the plants to veg under the 4100K? Does anyone have seen the pictures with spectrum specifications of those "daylight" bulbs? What CFL lamps would you use to veg your micro-garden if 6500K's aren't available? Regards, S.V.
Hi! I hate to see a good question go unanswered so I will try.
If I could not get the 6700K bulbs locally, I would www.1000bulbs.com or home despot dot com. I like 6700K for veg and 2700K or 3000K for bloom.
I have not used 4100K bulbs, but I have used 6700K, 6500K, 3000K, and 2700K. I would definitely use the 4100K bulb until I got something I liked better. The temperature is "the equivalent temperature of a blackbody radiator with a simliar spectrum", a high temperature will provide a little more blue, and a low temperature will provide a little more red. It is really pretty trivial.
You can look at the spectrums for most any fluorescent bulbs to get an idea. Unless you are getting a blub designed for horticulture, the spectrums will be similar.
In my research and experience I decided that spectrum is not nearly so important as intensity. Even if you had sufficient high or low temperature bulbs, adding the 4100K bulb to the mix would be a good thing.

Good luck! :)
 

vostok

Active member
Veteran
533px-PlanckianLocus.png

I like 4100 "K" (kelvin) the color of the light, in fact its a great compromise of warm white and the cool white, me being tight in the butt, like to save cash for my annual holidays this is one way I do it ...its put ya color right in between the two, red for creating the stem structure and cool white for that leaf development, but best seen as correct internodel growth...with these, as to much red spreads the internodes whilst cool white reduces them and gives you that typical scrog look of a squat shorty type plant.
479px-Lord_Kelvin_photograph.jpg

note: I do only use the 4100k(daylight) for 2-3 weeks of post germination before they hit the spring sunlight ...good luck


ps.. Be warned, news out, is some in the industry are wanting to re-write the rules on Kelvin, but don't hold your breather: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Proposed_redefinition_of_SI_base_units
 
Hello OldGuyInOregon and vostok!
Thank you for answering! You are kinda optimistic about those daylight CFL’s. I didn’t really expect.
Here’s a spectrum for a 4200K cfl.
img6.jpg

It seems to be a bit of energy waste with that massive output in 500-600nm wavelength. Though, it’s closer to the sunlight. The more I dig into it the less I understand. And I’m thinking about making a diy LED light…

I decided to use noname 6500K bulbs and it’s been a month of their operation. They are 25W and smaller than 23W brand lamps and produce more heat, though no fails yet. I still have a 4200K bulb but it is now a spare part.

OldGuyInOregon so you say I better have 200W of 4100 (4200K) light rather than 100W of 6500 for veg or 2700 for bloom? Heh, I run a humble stealth microgrow and 100W is about the max I can operate with. And I’d wish to keep it that way. In this case would you advise to bother and find 6500K bulbs for vegetation or it doesn’t really matter?

Vostok – your English is way better than mine (I hate to say that) and sometimes I’m not sure I understand your messages. Have been lurking around for quite a while – you contribute a lot here!
 

DemonTrich

Active member
Veteran
I use GE's daylight deluxe 6500k flouros and love them. I use them in every fixture inside my veg tent and for my shop lights.
 

amishwarlord

New member
I think the daylight has a better spectrum than the warm white even for flowering, but not as good as the warm white deluxe.

until I seen these graphs I did not realize how poor the spectrum is with tri-phosphor lamps, pretty much useless save the SPX27, even then a huge amount of wasted green yellow.

planing a micro rubbermaid and trying to figure out what combo of lights I should go for. might go for a 4 bulb mix, not sure yet
 

PetFlora

Well-known member
ICMag Donor
Veteran
If you are using hot5s you can find a lot of choices from the aquarium industry.

Before sidelining my 432w HOT5 and going LED, I mixed ZooMed FloroSuns with other aquarium bulbs, but really one could use FSs throughout

I switched because I felt one year was about max useful life, and @ $~ 25 for quality spectrum bulbs, hot5s get expensive
 
OldGuyInOregon so you say I better have 200W of 4100 (4200K) light rather than 100W of 6500 for veg or 2700 for bloom? Heh, I run a humble stealth microgrow and 100W is about the max I can operate with. And I’d wish to keep it that way. In this case would you advise to bother and find 6500K bulbs for vegetation or it doesn’t really matter?
Howdy SV!

The Zen of Growing...

1. Everything matters.
2. Everything matters less than most pot growers think.

I believe that if the 6500K bulbs you want will do what you want, then so would the 4100K bulbs, just maybe a small bit less effective.

100 watts for a micro cab is just fine. You should be able to light up 0.5m2 or so depending on your use of light. Good luck!
 
If you are using hot5s you can find a lot of choices from the aquarium industry. Before sidelining my 432w HOT5 and going LED, I mixed ZooMed FloroSuns with other aquarium bulbs, but really one could use FSs throughout I switched because I felt one year was about max useful life, and @ $~ 25 for quality spectrum bulbs, hot5s get expensive

Howdy Pet! More Zen of Growing

The quality of bulb you require is proportional to the logarithm of your number of posts. :)
 
OldGuy, howdy!
Howdy SV!
The Zen of Growing...
1. Everything matters.
2. Everything matters less than most pot growers think.
I believe that if the 6500K bulbs you want will do what you want, then so would the 4100K bulbs, just maybe a small bit less effective.
100 watts for a micro cab is just fine. You should be able to light up 0.5m2 or so depending on your use of light. Good luck!
Got it, thank you!
I’ve got two Dulux L PLL’s 18w@840. Planning to have another two @827 and build a new growbox in a pc-case with 4 pll’s (72w total). Will see how weed grows under such light.

The quality of bulb you require is proportional to the logarithm of your number of posts. :)
Ahahah, you made my day!
 
For what it is worth... I went to the local Home Despot today. I buy their EcoSmart brand bulbs. HD now has no 6500K in that brand at all in my store (and no label on the shelf for the empty place), and very few 4000ish bulbs either, in any wattage. Tons of warm white 3000K.


My guess is the brand and the market are going to 3000K bulbs because most people do not care about the color temperature of the bulbs. They only care about price and watts equivalent.
 

MilkMoney

New member
Do you have a local that sells Photography studio bulbs?
They'll probably will get phased out by Leds but here we get 45w-175w Cfls as studio bulbs mainly in the 5000-5500 range but 6500k are available cheap too.
CRI 98-100? High Ra rating?
I don't know the technical ratings part but i find combined with some 2700k even if they're low wattage 2700k it does the trick
 
They'll probably will get phased out by Leds
Yes, that is what I see at Home Despot. You will virtually never see an LED bulb on the same four foot shelf with a fluorescent bulb. So count the shelves allocated to one or the other and watch what happens over time. Shelf space allocated to fluorescent bulbs is going down and shelf space allocated to LED bulbs is going up.
 
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