CFL's whats your take

[al666]

honestly i do not understand the reason why we have to speak again about lights efficiency...
hps is the top. same vattage as cfl but better results. anyway as already told even cfl lights are good for growing, but pull off from your mind the idea that they can compete with hps bulbs power

 

[someotherguy]

they are rated at 400watt and use 105 watt of engry can get CFL's even at 600 watt per bulb, let me know if you want the company's name. heat issue depends on how many used. 6500 -daylight (veg) 2700- soft/warm (flower) is their light spectrum

just so you know, if the bulb is 'rated' at one wattage and uses another wattage then the first number is an 'equivolent wattage' while the OTHER number is the ACTUAL wattage so, ...what you have there isn't a 400watt bulb, ...no, it's a 105watt bulb and the 400 number is bullshit, ...a marketing gimmic to inflate the power of the bulb to the consumer.

...just so you KNOW.

SOG

 

[DirtyCarpet]

I've ran buds to maturity with CFLs and had decent results, but WISH that I could have run HID. Now I just use them to start, then move OD. (Ran 400w HPS when i still could; FAR better, no comparison!) Best of luck in any case; stay high. Peace.

 

[airplane]

Confussed, help me understand it better, my mind doesn't work as good as use to, Thanks Sorry guys for repeating myself, I'll watch it !

 

[someotherguy]

Confussed, help me understand it better, my mind doesn't work as good as use to, Thanks Sorry guys for repeating myself, I'll watch it !

what part is it that is confusing you?

SOG

 

[Anti]

Confussed, help me understand it better, my mind doesn't work as good as use to, Thanks Sorry guys for repeating myself, I'll watch it !

Ok. When you buy a CFL you are typically buying it to "replace" a traditional bulb.

The marketing strategy with CFL is to convince people you can get the same "light" from fewer watts.

So on the package it'll say "40w replacement / 13 watt" and what that means is that it actually USES 13 watts but it is meant to replace a standard 40w bulb.

So the ones that I have that are 40w (actual wattage) are meant to replace 100w incandescent bulbs.

So.... when you say you have 400w CFL but they only use 105w, what you have are 105w CFL.

If you can keep your CFL within 1ft or less of your plants you will see much better results with CFL. This means that it's basically useless to try to grow a 4 ft. tall plant under CFL. Grow as many 1 ft. tall plants as you can cram into your space and keep the lights spread evenly above them and you'll get a much better result.

 

[Toes.]

my veg cab is 16" x 16" x 3'... in there I use one 85w 5000k cfl @ 5700 lumens and 2 26w cfl's, 1 6500k and one 2700k, @ approx. 1600 lumens each. a total of 8900 lumens @ 137 watts or 65 lumens per watt.

your average 100 watt hid mh puts out 9000 lumens or 90 lumens per watt.

damn, i need to rethink my setup.

 

[Wicked Budz]

Ive ran cfls all the way through with good results,the quality of the buds was great,just didnt produce as much as i needed,now i veg with cfls and led's,and flower with a 250w hps,with good results,kind of a down grade going from the 600w mh/hps,to a 250watter,but the hey what can you do when you have to switch to a small place...You'll do fine with cfls...start with those for your first grow,save up then upgrade later down the road....