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Gavita DE vs. CMH 630w systems: pros and cons of both?

CMH

Member
I put a 630 in a gavita turned down to 600, kept cutting off so i went to the product description n it says they dont work in gavitas, just a heads up for other doofusses who dont read before buying. Now i need a good fixture for it, whats best and/or cheapest to run these 63pw double ended bulbs?

SunPlix has 630W DE CMH ballast. The Facebook link is https://www.facebook.com/SunPlix/
 
Looks like the cheapest fixture/ballast is the prism 1000 DE from gh..that being said, suspect rather supposedly specializes in low frequency square wave fixtures for practically all sizes of cmh bulbs
 

dimebag_

Active member
FUCK GAVITA!! and FUCK MONSANTO!! buy something that doesnt support destroying our food source and our planet. :tiphat:
 

CMH

Member
630W DE CMH, 860W SE CMH, 1000W DE/SE HPS/MH

630W DE CMH, 860W SE CMH, 1000W DE/SE HPS/MH

Did anyone use this ballast?
It is low frequency, square wave, can run 630W DE CMH, 860W SE CMH, 1000W DE/SE HPS/MH bulbs.
 

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dbkick

Member
Did anyone use this ballast?
It is low frequency, square wave, can run 630W DE CMH, 860W SE CMH, 1000W DE/SE HPS/MH bulbs.
Depending on what you want to run would decide whether that is the ballast for you. Of the lamps you listed above I've had experience with everything but the what seems useless and must be fragile 630w de cmh. I returned all my sunplix 315 ballasts because sonny insisted that I would have to run their "special" mogul adapter , this is the excuse he used when one I had been using burnt out. I didn't believe it had anything to do with the mogul adapter and he gave me the choice of returning all ballasts or buying his adapters or reflectors.
There's an unbranded (sonny would call them "illegal" or
"fake sunplix" but they appear identical other than one doesn't have a sunplix logo. Now back to all the lamps you mentioned above (excluding the almost useless 630w DE cmh) a hortilux platinum will run all those other lamps and it will especially run the allstart 860 well , for the price of a sunplix you can get a hortilux platinum (if you can find one) , sure it doesn't have any dimming features but unless you're wanting to run the almost useless 630w DE cmh well.....
The really great thing is it's your choice to decide.
On a side note uhf digitals are getting to a point where they won't destroy a lamp (such as the allstart 860) . I was behind sonny when he was with welthink and still have some of his old led hanging around, anymore I'm not that much of a fan of sonny/welthink/sunplix.
 

dimebag_

Active member
Depending on what you want to run would decide whether that is the ballast for you. Of the lamps you listed above I've had experience with everything but the what seems useless and must be fragile 630w de cmh. I returned all my sunplix 315 ballasts because sonny insisted that I would have to run their "special" mogul adapter , this is the excuse he used when one I had been using burnt out. I didn't believe it had anything to do with the mogul adapter and he gave me the choice of returning all ballasts or buying his adapters or reflectors.
There's an unbranded (sonny would call them "illegal" or
"fake sunplix" but they appear identical other than one doesn't have a sunplix logo. Now back to all the lamps you mentioned above (excluding the almost useless 630w DE cmh) a hortilux platinum will run all those other lamps and it will especially run the allstart 860 well , for the price of a sunplix you can get a hortilux platinum (if you can find one) , sure it doesn't have any dimming features but unless you're wanting to run the almost useless 630w DE cmh well.....
The really great thing is it's your choice to decide.
On a side note uhf digitals are getting to a point where they won't destroy a lamp (such as the allstart 860) . I was behind sonny when he was with welthink and still have some of his old led hanging around, anymore I'm not that much of a fan of sonny/welthink/sunplix.
dbkick

I dont run cmh personally, but have been researching them a bunch. I hear nothing but great things about them. My friend who manages a grow store sees and hears about pretty much everything out there. He recently told me that a friend of his just finished a run in a sealed room using one 630W on a light mover over a 4x8 tray. Dude harvested 4.5 pounds of I think green crack or something.

So I'm not too sure how "useless" they are if thats how well they perform. They do not have the intensity of DE's but they have the best spectrum on the market, and the bulbs are supposed to last longer as well, using less power and creating less heat.

Maybe next time, try and comment on something that you actually know about before giving misleading information on a forum. cheers :dance013:
 

onavelzy

Well-known member
Veteran
Depending on what you want to run would decide whether that is the ballast for you. Of the lamps you listed above I've had experience with everything but the what seems useless and must be fragile 630w de cmh. ...

Now back to all the lamps you mentioned above (excluding the almost useless 630w DE cmh)...

, sure it doesn't have any dimming features but unless you're wanting to run the almost useless 630w DE cmh well.....

Other than that, how do you feel about the DE CMH's? LOL.

Opinions have a place. I find those who support their opinions with knowledge, experience and facts to be the more helpful.

I'll take growing and lighting advice from a multi cup winner like Hammerhead any day, all day. I'd pay for it.

Rives' bona fides in these lighting and safety forums need no defense. He/she's probably the single most helpful and responsive person on this entire site.

Thanks to both of them for helping me consider the CME approach over the more common/standard choices.

Knowledge is good, teaching is great.
 

Muleskinner

Active member
Veteran
I returned all my sunplix 315 ballasts because sonny insisted that I would have to run their "special" mogul adapter , this is the excuse he used when one I had been using burnt out. I didn't believe it had anything to do with the mogul adapter and he gave me the choice of returning all ballasts or buying his adapters or reflectors.

I had several CMH bulbs burn out as well when I tried it - the power flicked on & off in a storm and the bulbs blew out, while HPS chugged along like nothing happened. The CMH police come pretty quickly when you post stuff like this, there seem to be a ton of them on this website. It seems like unstable technology to me. Obviously the bulbs are very expensive and I was sorry to see them go
 
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positivity

Member
Veteran
I'm no cmh expert but so far I haven't had any problems with my setup. Have run around four different bulbs for a short time, ran out of spec at dimmed wattage for extended periods of time, still no problems.
I was expecting my China ballast to give me problems but so far its run well. If something did go wrong, I'd blame myself since I'm not running the recommended Phillips ballast and lamp combo.
 

thccbdhealth

New member
illuminating a 4x4 tent

illuminating a 4x4 tent

I'm looking to illuminate a 4x4 tent

From what I've been reading I'm given the idea a 315 is adequately lighting a 3x3

and a 630 illuminating a 5x5 - 6x6

I have also read elsewhere that a duel 315 housed (630w) hood would create to much light and heat for a 4x4

This Is going to complete my first system once I acquire proper lighting.

I'm looking for suggestions from those with first hand knowledge, to ease my confusion.
 

JJ Lowe

Active member
im finding the 315 work best with about a 2.5 x 2.5 footprint using multiple lights. I would do 2 in a 4x4 tent ftw....
 

srich250

Member
I did a single DE CMH 630 3200K in flower over 4 medium sized plants and compare to the other 22 they were as good or better in yield but they finished with 10% of trichomes amber 4-7 days before the others. All about 9 week plants.

Now I have 3 in hoods with glass and one w/o glass. They also run much much cooler than the DE 1000 that is also in this grow test. The yield was basically the same. The 1000 might have beat it but since a lot of the terpenes were evaporated from all the top colas of the plants under the 1000 from heat, me and my testers were happier with the 630 results vs the 1000.

I will have a better perspective in 6 weeks after this next round finishes in coco with Canna full line:)
 

srich250

Member
Oh I forgot to add that my 16 site RDWC will have some vertical CMH 630 mixed with 600hps overhead and maybe one 1000 DE AS WELL. almost done putting together.

Just slammed with time so I rarely get to play on this BADASS forum where most everyone im grateful for :)!!!!!!

Rock and roll!!!!!
 

Jhhnn

Active member
Veteran
I'm looking to illuminate a 4x4 tent

From what I've been reading I'm given the idea a 315 is adequately lighting a 3x3

and a 630 illuminating a 5x5 - 6x6

I have also read elsewhere that a duel 315 housed (630w) hood would create to much light and heat for a 4x4

This Is going to complete my first system once I acquire proper lighting.

I'm looking for suggestions from those with first hand knowledge, to ease my confusion.

I use twin 315's in a 17 sq/ft space w/ excellent results. You'll need fairly strong air exchange but it's a lot less than w/ my previous 1000w system. These are 8 weeks from seed, 3 weeks of 12/12 w/ blumats in organic soil. The plant in the back left is 46" tall from the top of the soil & the others shorter, set atop buckets of different heights-

https://www.icmag.com/ic/picture.php?albumid=52773&pictureid=1723153

More pics in my albums. The Cantaloupe Skunk was the last batch grown under the 1000w. Six plants are optimal occupancy & yield 3-4 oz each of trimmed bud, depending. I don't always get 6 females starting 12 from seed, that being our Denver max plant count.
 

Jhhnn

Active member
Veteran
I did a single DE CMH 630 3200K in flower over 4 medium sized plants and compare to the other 22 they were as good or better in yield but they finished with 10% of trichomes amber 4-7 days before the others. All about 9 week plants.

Now I have 3 in hoods with glass and one w/o glass. They also run much much cooler than the DE 1000 that is also in this grow test. The yield was basically the same. The 1000 might have beat it but since a lot of the terpenes were evaporated from all the top colas of the plants under the 1000 from heat, me and my testers were happier with the 630 results vs the 1000.

I will have a better perspective in 6 weeks after this next round finishes in coco with Canna full line:)

I also think that CDM's hasten maturity if not by much, as you say. They seem to bring out the color in senescence, as well.
 
To anyone looking to get into a DE cmh fixture cheaper than the growers house one, search
bmcarter42 on ebay.It seems he's a distributor for ebm lighting in china. I picked one up for 330usd shipping included for the fixture, remote,hangers, and extra bulb.Received it in 3days from Hong Kong to the east coast.
I think this is the same one hammerhead described earlier in this thread.

Anyone know if it's safe to run these bulbs open with the proper fixture? Or should I wait for the bulb shield from gh to show up?
 

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