400 watt vs 600 watt

[fireburner23]

I tried looking through the forums, but I couldn't find an answer for this.

What is the difference in the amount of heat produced and yeild between a 600 watt system and a 400 watt system?

 

[cheesey]

more yeild and harder buds with a 600w and i find around 2c more heat , with my sunsytem super sun hood still got it 9" from the tops tho

 

[Nicoli]

2 degrees celcius? so like a 5F increase? thats not bad.

 

[cheesey]

2 degrees celcius? so like a 5F increase? thats not bad.

yep i was shocked as well . the way forward is aircooled hoods i feel .

im upgrading from a 600w too a 1000w in my hiddenroom in the next cpl of weeks lets see what temps i get then . atm its 24c light on 9" from the tops . im hoping the 1000w will be around 25c 26c and 12" from tops

 

[Puddin'tane]

cheesey, what is your ambient room temp with those 600's only 9" away?

nvrmind, I see you answered before I asked!

 

[fireburner23]

Hmm...I guess with proper ventilation it doesn't sound like a bad trade off.

 

[Batboy]

Thanks for asking the question FB23 as I have been contemplating a change from 400 to 600 and wondering the same thing.

Can anyone else comment on Cheesy's estimate that it only results in 5F of increased heat? I'm running a 400w cab and with a cooltube, a fan on high and no A/C, I am 8F over ambient. I think I could live with 13F over ambient, but not much more.

 

[greentrich]

FWIW...I just switched from a 400w for veg, to my 600w for flower. Usually I flower with a 400, but this is my first turn with a 6. My daytime temps were around 75*F with the 400, and now with the 600 it is 80*F, but have seen it dip down to 79 if that helps.

This is all with a SS2 cooled hood, NextGen ballast, Agrosun 400w MH, and a Digilux 600w HPS. Keep in mind with higher temps, my RH has also dropped from 50% down to about 45%. It's not much, but I thought worth noting.

Hmm...I guess with proper ventilation it doesn't sound like a bad trade off.

You nailed it. Proper ventilation is essential when upping to a 600. I can't imagine my temps if I didn't have the cooled hood.

Hope this helps!

GT

FB23...just for you: "We are the all singing, all dancing crap of the world"

 

[itzgrowtime]

Very helpfull info

 

[zor]

It all depends on your room setup/dimensions and ambient temps. For instance, during the cooler weather, i see no difference in temps between a 400 and 600 in my 5x5x6 closet using an aircooled hood with a dedicated fan just for the hood.

During the summer when ambient temps are higher, the 600 causes more heat to 'build up' resulting in about a 2 degree difference in temps.

Without the air cooled hood, the 600 would increase the closet temps more i believe.

Think of it this way. If you had a 100x100 room with a 400 and upped it to a 600. The effect would not be noticable. But in a closed space, there is less volume of air to act as a buffer for the heat.

 

[whodair]

my environment yielded better with old 430w so i stuck the 600 on the shelf... i run my bulbs bare and naked !!!

 

[250wscrogger]

Just aircool the hood with a 6'' vortex exhausting into a can 50 (outside of the grow room) works perfectly for 1-2 600w's.

Leave one of the 6'' flanges on the hood open so the hot air gets sucked out of the room/scrubbed...this works well for people growing in tents or closets.

For a 600w you should be happy with anything over 12oz...took me quite a few tries to hit that 1lb per 600w light. I started hitting 14-18oz per light regularly after expanding my footprint to 4x4 and pruning more aggressively than before. 16 10l pots vegged 2 weeks is perfect for a 600w IME.
Some people can hit 20oz+ per 600w but thats usually with a true sog (4 plants per sqft) and a high yielding strain.

 

[cheesey]

Just aircool the hood with a 6'' vortex exhausting into a can 50 (outside of the grow room) works perfectly for 1-2 600w's.

Leave one of the 6'' flanges on the hood open so the hot air gets sucked out of the room/scrubbed...this works well for people growing in tents or closets.

For a 600w you should be happy with anything over 12oz...took me quite a few tries to hit that 1lb per 600w light. I started hitting 14-18oz per light regularly after expanding my footprint to 4x4 and pruning more aggressively than before. 16 10l pots vegged 2 weeks is perfect for a 600w IME.
Some people can hit 20oz+ per 600w but thats usually with a true sog (4 plants per sqft) and a high yielding strain.

i hit 14 to 18 in 1 meter sq tent with 2 or 4 plants with a 400w .

 

[ForbiddenFruit]

My first light was a 600, and I'm happy I started with a 600.

You will be happy to start with a 600, & If i had to point someone at a light id say 600.

The 600's are slightly more versatile and are a bit more "complete" then compared to a 400. A 400 is a fine start, but more than likely you will be upgrading in a year or two.

In some ways a 400 keeps you limited to a one light design, because it wouldn't be practical to hang multiple 400's, but series of 600's or 1000's makes sense, simply because while growing you want to produce as much light as reasonably possible.

But yes in the end it depends on your situation, with 400's you can get away with a little more than with the higher watt systems. Like bare bulbs, limited cooling & fans etc that is harder to do with higher watts.

I like 600's though

 

[250wscrogger]

I believe it, I've pulled 10-12oz a bunch of times off 2 plants scrogged (5 gal pots) under a 400w back in my 1.5x3 cab days...So I know 14-18oz could surely be done in a square meter with a 400w and 2-4 plants. I'm sure you've seen NBG's 400w 1 plant scrog which yielded 1lb out of a 5 sqft closet. (serious seeds chronic)
Most people just don't have the lst/pruning/leaf cleanup skills to pull 4oz plants with the limited penetration of 400w lights...A lot of people also don't know how to anticipate stretch and usually over-veg when doing bush grows. If you don't prune the right shoots at the right time and train properly, you'll get tons of popcorn and larf. I'm just suggesting the 600w's because most people should be able to get atleast 12oz under a 600 reguardless of what strain...but it takes a pretty good grower and a high yielding strain to do this with a 400w.

 

[fireburner23]

I believe it, I've pulled 10-12oz a bunch of times off 2 plants scrogged (5 gal pots) under a 400w back in my 1.5x3 cab days...So I know 14-18oz could surely be done in a square meter with a 400w and 2-4 plants. I'm sure you've seen NBG's 400w 1 plant scrog which yielded 1lb out of a 5 sqft closet. (serious seeds chronic)
Most people just don't have the lst/pruning/leaf cleanup skills to pull 4oz plants with the limited penetration of 400w lights...A lot of people also don't know how to anticipate stretch and usually over-veg when doing bush grows. If you don't prune the right shoots at the right time and train properly, you'll get tons of popcorn and larf. I'm just suggesting the 600w's because most people should be able to get atleast 12oz under a 600 reguardless of what strain...but it takes a pretty good grower and a high yielding strain to do this with a 400w.

With my current run, I have realized that I overcompensated the stretch with my SCROG, i.e. I am not going to have as many large colas as I wanted. I have to say there is a lot that goes into this 'hobby'. I haven't been doing any pruning, but maybe I should start doing that to reduce the amount of leaves under the screen.

I am just glad there has been some good feedback on the differences between a 400 and a 600. My last run was right around 6 ozs for two plants, but this run I am doing 4 plants this time around, but the two extra plants came into the scene late. I can only hope that I get similar yields even though I won't have as many large colas. Who knows...I'll find out soon enough. I was hoping that eventually I might upgrade to a 600 to get more yields out of my small little area, but may only run it in the winter if I cannot get the temps down while it is on.

 

[The Sensi Rebel]

I have a 4x4x7 cab. How many inches do you think it adds heat-wise?

i have a 100 cfm fan for my space and its more than enough for my 400, even in hot temps.

I use a 400w bare bulb and can get within 3-4 inches to the canopy.

my question is, if I wanted to upgrade to a 600, would it mean a new fan?
or just more oscillating fans in the room

 

[Ohmless]

If you are amenable to upgrading the fan, just upgrade to a 1Kw. At the worst you have to have the door open to cool the garden. Also batwing or lumawing fixtures are dirt cheap and will nearly double your available light even if you stick with the 400w.

 

[señorsloth]

they say 600w is the most efficient, heat to light output, more efficient than 400w's or 1000w's...

i shoot for around 8 inches from my bulb in my setup, running a 430w hps, and while this strain i max out at about 12 ounces per harvest(in reality its 4-6 zips on a 28 day, 2 cycle perpetual), it's not impossible to get a gram per watt or better with a tight sog and a high yielding strain grown to perfection...but it is NOT easy! consistently getting a gram per watt can take years of growing experience and and very good luck with genetics, some people catch on much quicker but i think a lot of people get turned off because they expect to get a gram per watt every harvest from the get go...

 

[eyes]

400 def puts out less heat. but then again your talking a 50 percent brighter light with a 600. both can be run close to the tops with air cooling. a 400 will cover 2 to 2.5 squared. a 600 will do 36 to 39 inches squared. both bulbs work well when paired up together to cover more area. a 600 will put out more bud overall. the bulb is brighter. both will put out excellent quality herb and a 400 hps in a wing works well for scrog. if u had a choice of a 400 or 600 or 1000 for a single bulb one lamp grow, get the 1000 to cover a true 4x4 and fit 16 plants under it yielding 56 grams each and your good to go.