'Boogieman'
Well-known member
Im convinced I want a 630 in my 4x4, just don't know if I want 2 bulbs or a double ended, with two bulbs I can get the Philips bulb everyone likes. Looking for opinions. Thanks for the help everyone.
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Hammerhead prefers double ended, but I like running dual bulbs, because I can run mixed spectrum. That's what Im doing right now.
Two Philips 315w 930 agro bulbs are by far the highest producing bulbs in any style at 630w. Of course, the GC DE 945w and the Nanolux 1kw will produce more light, but at a significant cost as DE bulbs last only a third as long (10k vs 30k) and are very expensive.
It's my understanding that there is currently no such thing as LFSW ballasts other than 315w or multiples of them. Larger CMH bulbs are just 315w in series. Being that no one ceramic arc tube is exactly like any other, the weakest one in series is overstressed and fails before the others. Growers Choice website has more information and life expectancy ratings.
p0opstlnksal0t
Active member
What is the best canopy foot print to utilize the dual 630w cheap eBay fixtures? 3x3, 4x4, 3x4?
I think it depends on which reflector you have as there are several different eBay cheapos available. I would do a little testing to see.
Hang your fixture 18" above an empty floor and measure the rectangle it creates, as that seems to be the closest you'll want to have these above your canopy... If that makes sense. I'm certain I could have worded this better if I weren't so stoned.
Insert Jeff Spicoli Vans gif here.
Oh? Please, by all means, post some links. I'd like to see them.
SnakePlissken
Member
I'm having this exact problem deciding between a vivosun 630w with philips bulbs for $370, or a controllable / daisy chainable solis tek 630w for $350 on sale. Both offer low frequency square wave ballasts, 98% reflective hoods, and three year warranty. Best bang for the buck I've found, period.
The only legit test I've ever seen comparing ballasts was back to back par graphs of 1000w ballasts by growers house and solis tek beat the next best by 4% par. Now, the cmh solis tek bulb produces 10% less par than philips, but 6% more uv. I can provide all graphs if you'd like to see them. The question is, does solis tek ballast out drive the vivosun enough to warrant similar performance with its weaker bulbs?
If I had to guess, the solis tek probably puts off close to 10% more par, all bulbs being identical. The vivosun has hardly any solid testing to see online, and is budget so id guess falls in the lower echelon of performance? If so it'd be worth the solis tek, since when the time to change bulbs comes, it'd be all philips out shining vivosun philips. Thoughts?
I'm having this exact problem deciding between a vivosun 630w with philips bulbs for $370, or a controllable / daisy chainable solis tek 630w for $350 on sale. Both offer low frequency square wave ballasts, 98% reflective hoods, and three year warranty. Best bang for the buck I've found, period.
The only legit test I've ever seen comparing ballasts was back to back par graphs of 1000w ballasts by growers house and solis tek beat the next best by 4% par. Now, the cmh solis tek bulb produces 10% less par than philips, but 6% more uv. I can provide all graphs if you'd like to see them. The question is, does solis tek ballast out drive the vivosun enough to warrant similar performance with its weaker bulbs?
If I had to guess, the solis tek probably puts off close to 10% more par, all bulbs being identical. The vivosun has hardly any solid testing to see online, and is budget so id guess falls in the lower echelon of performance? If so it'd be worth the solis tek, since when the time to change bulbs comes, it'd be all philips out shining vivosun philips. Thoughts?
quisqueyano
New member
GE makes a similar (but worse, IIRC) bulb.
St. Phatty
Active member
I have a 400 watt and a 1000 watt metal halide. Reflector bulb ballast etc.
Can you use an old MH ballast to power a new CMH bulb ? that is, once you modify your light fixture so it has the right socket for CMH.
Can you use an old MH ballast to power a new CMH bulb ? that is, once you modify your light fixture so it has the right socket for CMH.
Does anyone have experiences with 500w CMH? I picked up one of the growers choice 500W CMH (single bulb) fixtures from my local grow shop, but I can't find any information or grow journals, or even dicussions online about this type of fixture/bulb.
So far it has performed great with no AC in a 4x4 tent, but I'm wondering if I should have just opted for a 630W DE fixture instead for more wavelength variety.
So far it has performed great with no AC in a 4x4 tent, but I'm wondering if I should have just opted for a 630W DE fixture instead for more wavelength variety.
'Boogieman'
Well-known member
I'm planning on buying a 630w cmh soon. Any recommendations on which brands are the best? I'm looking at growers choice, nanolux, and solis tek 630 cmh on Amazon. I will be getting the Philips 3100 and 4200 bulbs.
E
ESTERCHASER
can you guys explain the air cooled cmh 630 set ups....locally they wanna charge me 530.00 for a 630 with bulbs out the door, its not an air cooled model though and id prefer air cooled as i have several thousand hours with kooltubes before my mag tech got replaced
Miraculous Meds
Well-known member
Hammerhead has ran those, check out his posts.
Ive ran a few, your probably fine with any of them, pick the one that fits your canopy plan best for penetration and even spread based on reflector. Ive personally seen great results with, nano, gc, and sun system.
I ran some ac 630s . They did great, I wouldn't recommend ac for more than 2 hoods on a duct line, restricts air flow too much to be effective imo. But for ac one or 2 hoods per line, it works well. I ran sun system 630s and they had the ac ported thru the ballast area, and not thru the light, so that was better so it didn't cool the bulb directly.
