150w HPS Club and Resource Guide......

[Bulénath]

Catman,
I have two 150's:

1-medium based socket/bulb in air-cooled aluminum reflecter with glass sheild.



1-mogul based socket/bulb bare with aluminum reflector.




I would definately opt toward going with a bare bulb if possible, and just cool it with a super-strong desk fan that blows between & on the cola's tips and bulb, twenty-four-seven.
The only reason I use a glass shield for this flower chamber is because it's only 17-1/2" tall, from floor to glass sheild. I need every inch I can get.
With a 60cfm, 5" computer fan pulling on the light 24/7, the outer couple of inches of glass surrounding the bulb stays cool to the touch during the middle of the plant's "day". But right under the bulb, the glass gets pretty hot. Not enough to immediately burn your finger like a bare-bulb would, but pretty hot none the less. Anyway, I can get my plants 2" from the glass sheild, that is 3" from the bulb before the plants start to light bleach...
Not "burning" from heat, but actual light bleaching from too intense, yet not hot light.

As for the temperatures, they remain much, much cooler than my other cabinet with a bare bulb. So much cooler that my plants tend to purple up. But then again, there are other important variables that might cause a significant temperature drop in the glass-shielded cabinet. For instance, it has an Air-cooled remote-wired ballast, and the intake is about 25% larger than my other cabinet (both using the exact same Panasonic whisper fans for exhaust w/carbon)....
Also, the glass sheild reflector's cabinet has an air-flow design where ALL the air running through the cabinet must first pass around every inch of the reflector itself, before either getting sucked into the remote-ballast's fan, or the main exhaust: Panasonic Whisper w/carbon.
For this reason the all wooden lip's facing the intake are sanded smooth for aero dynamics.
This leaves the only other option for air-flow travel is through the inside of the air-cooled reflector itself, which like said earlier, also has a fan hooked up to it aswell...

On that same note, all three of my Panasonic Whisper Fans have been running perfectly around the clock for years and years now with no increase in sound, motor noise, etc...

 

[growDaddy]

Not "burning" from heat, but actual light bleaching from too intense, yet not hot light.

Yo, lets talk about this.

Do you know what/how much is too much light? When is it too intense?

I have a 150 HPS and a few 55w/250w CFLs. I have the CFLs about 2" from the buds. They are blowing up like crazy but the light seems very intense even thou the light is from CFLs. Some of the fan leaves touch the CFLs and turn brown.

I'm just worried about light bleaching from too intense light.

 

[catman]

Thanks for the post Bulénath!

Do you use a carbon filter at all? I see most people push through the filters where their Panasonic whispers, but I wonder if it would be better to pull for less noise and increased air flow. Then again maybe the pushing muffles the air flow, anyone tried it both ways?

I ran some tests today to see what kind of contender the 150 would be with heat. I used some duct tape with pieces of card board to seal the back of my cab up and placed the fan on the upper left with the bulb positioned vertically in the center about 4 inches from the top of the cab.

Inside dimensions: 30Wx17Dx28H for about 8.25 cubic feet.

With room temperature of 70F

(1) 120mm 100 CFM: temperature 86F at the floor of the cab and 95 about 5 inches from the bulb.

(2) 120mm 100 CFM with the second one next to the bulb aimed at the other 120mm: 77F at the floor and 82 near the bulb.

So, 100 CFM seems to be enough for the exhaust, but I was planing on going with the CAN 705 39 CFM and I had hope of it working because tngreen was having success with it cooling 168w of CFL, but they obviously produce less heat. I'm going to have to spring up to the 2600 and pair it with a 110CFM Panasonic whisper line. This pretty much puts me at my budget limit and I'm going to have to use PVC elbows for air intakes instead of dark room louvers, but I think with 3.5 sq feet I can spare a little room for them.

 

[Bulénath]

Definately DO NOT PUSH AIR THROUGH a scrubber when using a Panasonic whisper fan. That will only lead to the destruction and wear of the fan for many logical reasons.

First of all, if you pull air through a large surface area of carbon, that is best.
With the Panasonic Whsiper fans, it is impossible to push air through a larger surface area, because the fan only blows one way. That is, the large square is the intake, and the 4" or 6" hole is the exhaust, period.
So then people think "okay I will improvise" by putting a can-filter over the exhaust! But now...
1) You are no longer pulling air, you are pushing air through a scrubber which is logically inefficient, and...
2) You are Pushing air through a WAY smaller surface area than the fan's intake.
Thats like a double whammy to the fan, and it will definately cause it too wear out quickly like some have reported.
Also, when you have the carbon over the intake, and not the exhaust, your fan will last waaaaay longer becasue...
3) The carbon is filtering the dust and dirt particles BEFORE it enteres the fan, thus keeping the motor and internal componenets much cleaner, way longer....(There is NO dust inside of my Panasonics, except for the fan gutted so it can't possibly have a carbon filter, that one is dirty!)
Many of these things expressed are facts that should be self- apparent through logic alone, but then again, we are also heavy weed smokers..so....

 

[Bulénath]

Yo, lets talk about this.

Do you know what/how much is too much light? When is it too intense?

I have a 150 HPS and a few 55w/250w CFLs. I have the CFLs about 2" from the buds. They are blowing up like crazy but the light seems very intense even thou the light is from CFLs. Some of the fan leaves touch the CFLs and turn brown.

I'm just worried about light bleaching from too intense light.

I have never experienced bleaching from CFL's, BUT, the largest watt CFL I have ever used is only 19w bulbs totalling 57 watts per square foot. Never any more. I have seen leaves touch the bulb of these 19 watters for a few hours without any symptoms of stress, and I have seen leaves that are totally destroyed if they touch the 19 watters for days at hand.

Bleaching will create a much whiter color over a very defined area on the affected leaves, opposed to ones that slowly die from heat-exposure, which usually accompany symptoms such as brown-spots over the leaves at first, then the leaves get a little twisted and slowly turn brown and die. You might see this happen to the leaves at the very tip of of your colas.
When bleaching occours at the tip of the colas it is distinct. The buds will usually remain in tact and in perfect form, yet completely white, dead, and crispy. But bleaching seems to afffect the plant much quicker than heat-stress. So usually buds no not die of heat stress, because we are quick to notice the affects on the tips of the cola's extended leaves first.

 

[zappa66]

Definately DO NOT PUSH AIR THROUGH a scrubber when using a Panasonic whisper fan. That will only lead to the destruction and wear of the fan for many logical reasons.

quoted for truth.

I'm guilty of this
:

what I have going on:










best wishes to the 150w Club!

 

[Quazi]

Nice work on the cool tube Quazi!

Many people have been saying that a cool tube with the 150w isn't worth it unless you need the vertical height and need to control the temperatures. I see you can get your plants much closer, but how did it effect your temperature?

People speak of the 10% or so light loss from the glass, but I wonder what happens to that 10% with the inverse square law because you are closer, less light is diminished.

Thanks! Glad the guide was helpful for ya.

As far as temps go, my flowering side is around 1-2 degrees within ambient. I haven't tried it w/out the cool tube so I couldn't tell you how much it has helped.

As far as the inverse square law: I believe if I can get my plants closer, they'll absorb more light than the glass would diminish. However, I haven't tested w/out the lamp so I couldn't tell you for sure.

I do know that it is nice to not have to worry about my plants growing into the lamp and scorching themselves or causing a fire-hazard.

-Q

 

[Rob547]

Well this is my first run with a hps, 150w at that. HPS is an econo-light, thanks to quazi for the help. Growing pretty similarly to Dr.Bud method. Last pic above looked really similar to mine so figured i'd post. peace

 

[catman]

I did some research of mine own as well as reread everything Bulénath has posted.

There are different models of the Panasonic Whisper line and they all move different amounts of air at different static pressures, as well as produce different noise levels.

The FV-08VKS1 is said to produce 80CFM at any static pressure at 0.3 sones or less. This is because it has a variable DC motor. The speeds are adjustable from 80,70,60,50, and 40 CFM.

I went through every thread I could find over various forums and most people get the FV-11VQ3 model which is 110CFM and is priced similar to the FV-08VKS1. The difference is it use a condenser motor and will preform 94 CFM at .25 static pressure. The specifications list it a 0.8 sones, but it doesn't say at which static pressure this is at.

Normal talking is said to be about 1-4 sones and quiet room is considered 0.15-0.4 sones.

The later model actually moves more and can be found cheaper (~$110 vs ~$125), but with increased noise.

Just thought I'd share.

 

[Bulénath]

I did some research of mine own as well as reread everything Bulénath has posted.

There are different models of the Panasonic Whisper line and they all move different amounts of air at different static pressures, as well as produce different noise levels.

The FV-08VKS1 is said to produce 80CFM at any static pressure at 0.3 sones or less. This is because it has a variable DC motor. The speeds are adjustable from 80,70,60,50, and 40 CFM.

I went through every thread I could find over various forums and most people get the FV-11VQ3 model which is 110CFM and is priced similar to the FV-08VKS1. The difference is it use a condenser motor and will preform 94 CFM at .25 static pressure. The specifications list it a 0.8 sones, but it doesn't say at which static pressure this is at.

Normal talking is said to be about 1-4 sones and quiet room is considered 0.15-0.4 sones.

The later model actually moves more and can be found cheaper (~$110 vs ~$125), but with increased noise.

Just thought I'd share.

Very good information about the Panasonic Whisper Fans & different types of motors. Thank you for digging that up for us, it was something I wasn't fully aware of.
What happened to be very noticeble is the "variable DC motor" fuction. When I first bought the fan, I noticed that when the exhaust was obstructed the fan's motor speeds up and increases the airflow to compensate for the static pressure. It is really interesting to feel for your self with your own hands. It seems like the fan has its own mind. A very intelligent mind.

Soon I will be purchasing the 340cfm inline models. I need four of them!
Also, I will buy two Solar & Palau TD-150 models to pull on 1200w of HPS each.

Yeah, I have enough faith in Panasonic Whisper Line fans to go all out with them....that is, venting 2400w (-Bulb watttage on a two ballast relay) HPS worth of flower space.

You know my little white cabinet? I am building two more of them. One exception. The floor print is 3.5' x 7' each.
But I'll never get rid of my 150W HPS flower cabinets. They are too convienient. Even when I step up my game, the 150's will provide me with good personal variety; Strains that I can't afford to fuck with when it comes to the real cream.

 

[Cozy Amnesia]

Bulénath, that sounds amazing! Is that 4 x 600w? You're going to have three flower chamber?! Thirty-five square foot each getting harvests one every month!?!

Hey all you 150-watters!

For those of you out there that are, for some odd reason, still doubting the effectiveness of a cool tube for the 150W, I bring you some test results. I update my cabinet thread every week so I decided to see just how well my cool tube worked for 7 days.

I have my cool tube hooked up to one side of a Dayton-style blower.

I rotated my plant so that a bud was positioned within 1/4 of an inch, if not touching the tube, for an entire week:

I am here to tell you, with confidence, that a proper cool tube on the 150W has allowed the bud to stay there for an entire week without any "adverse affects":

Cool tube + 150W = Happy Dance

Just a little bit of reinforcement for the cool tube.

-Q

I agree and I have several buds nearly touching my cool-tube's glass. I just harvested one plant and those buds are soooooooo thick with very few leaves, only false seed pods stacked one on top of the other. The buds on the other side of the box though, that are a good foot away from any light source, are much less dense.

I don't let any buds or leaves actually touch the glass or they'll burn up. This may be because I have a "hurricane" style lamp which cools less in the middle of the tube which has caused many a leaf to crisp up.

 

[hoosierdaddy]

They will crisp up touching any tube, hurricane or otherwise. Only way they won't is if there is some airflow in the immediate area.
Heat is a funny thing though...one leaf may be touching and never see a change of color, while further away a leaf gets the spot. I see it happen all the time.

Btw...I have found life to me much better not stressing ones self over such puny issues as a burnt leaf or two. It is nothing at all to obsess about.

 

[Bulénath]

Btw...I have found life to me much better not stressing ones self over such puny issues as a burnt leaf or two. It is nothing at all to obsess about.

Yep. Life have an amazing ability to thrive. Plants dsiplay one of the best examples of a life force's will to live.


Hey Cozy Amnesia,
I will have two flower chambers, each with two x 600HPS Hortilux bulbs in Cool Sun 6" A/C reflectors. But I will only have 2 ballasts between four bulbs and run the ballasts 24/7, and relay the 12 hours of day light 12/12 between the two chambers, aka Flip Flop relay...
My goal is 2-3 LB a month.

There are many good reasons for doing this.
First of all since the ballast is always on:
1) It no longer has to take 15 minutes to warm up, so your bulbs run at full power right after turning on. This alone will increase productivity.
2) It elliminates power-spikes that register on your power meter, power spikes that cause growers to get caught. If you run 1200W around the clock, it is a single smooth power draw, and won't raise suspicion when the company checks your meters.
3) Incrases life of the ballast becasue it is not turning on, wamrning up, turning off, cooling down, every 12 hours. It just stays on and that is that.

Sugabear first taught me this concept, and it has proven invaluable to my livelyhood.

 

[d4twamp]

LOve the work yalll r doin w/ these 150's... has anyone used these vertically or tried dropping them down into parts of bigger grow rooms to supplement overhead hps....any thoughts would be greatly appriciated....can't wait to place my order with econolights....do they come any bigger...

D

 

[TraneRek]

Hey all, I was wondering how big to make my cab for a 150W HPS, and what better people to ask than you all?? I was thinking around 36"H x 20"w x 18"D. That's 7.5 cu.ft. Is that okay?

I plan on building the box soon, and hopefully starting my grow some time early December. There's just so many things that need taken into consideration! Any tips for a beginner would be greatly appreciated.

-Rek

 

[d4twamp]

Hey all, I was wondering how big to make my cab for a 150W HPS, and what better people to ask than you all?? I was thinking around 36"H x 20"w x 18"D. That's 7.5 cu.ft. Is that okay?

I plan on building the box soon, and hopefully starting my grow some time early December. There's just so many things that need taken into consideration! Any tips for a beginner would be greatly appreciated.

-Rek

What ever you do I couldn't stress enough how important ventilation is...it's one thing that is easy to overlook...but definitely not easily forgiven...

D

 

[Bulénath]

Shoot for 50 watts per square foot for flower, and 35 watts per square foot for Veg. You don't need to go much over, or much less than that.

5 air exchanges per minute is what you need. So if a box was 20 cubic feet you need a 100 cfm fan. Since we are doing micro-grows that are usually in bedrooms or supposed to be stealth operations, there is not much need to over kill those numbers. So keep it within that range...
Also, try to have a very strong, quiet desk or computer fan blowing across the bulb.

As for height, 36" tall with reflector and bulb is just about perfect in my opinion. I have seen 42" tall 150 cabinets, but it really depends on the strain. I think 36" is right on the money for any strain. Even if you were to grow Pipedream's large Jamaican stativas in that space, they would still adapt with alittle help. Try to keep your pots under 12" and you should be okay.

 

[growDaddy]

What ever you do I couldn't stress enough how important ventilation is...it's one thing that is easy to overlook...but definitely not easily forgiven...

D

YES! ventilation is key

 

[Cozy Amnesia]

harvest pics!

harvest pics!

Well I know how much you guys like to see what 150w HPS bulbs can do to marijuana plants, so here are my harvest pics! Of my two Masterkush plants, I harvested one a few days sooner to experiment a little. One is still hanging and the other is now in a cardboard box because I didn't let it dry long enough. I learned my lesson - no matter how dry they seem on the outside, wait for the stem to snap! Once I started trying to cure them, they got real wet again. These buds are really dense and crystallized, but they're not huge. So far I think this is a great smoke, but it's not a good strain for commercial growing, not that that matters to me because I ain't selling any of this shit!

We'll start with Alpha:






One of the buds I had to pull down:


And here's Beta:






Root pr0n!



I'll report the dry weight once they're dry!

 

[growDaddy]

Cozy,

Those are some sweet looking buds, but they have that weird looking bird behind them, again.

This weekend I plan to harvest my grow, got to love those 150w HPS. I can just hope to get some bud off my 3 plants. One plant takes up 80% of the space and the other two are just there. I'll post pics next week.

happy tokin!