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Philips 315w CDM Elite (CMH)

R

Ready4

Active member
Veteran
Thanks Rives for taking the time to start this thread and all your input & DIY info. Good karma to you.
I was thinking about a Sun Systems 315w LEC. Had some questions for anybody who feels like answering. Does this ready-to-go system have a glass cover option or would that be a DIY for me ?
Is there an advantage to having the reflector with a vertical bulb ?
I look forward to seeing some results from these lights. They sound promising.
 
G

Gloomshade

Member
Ready4 said:
Thanks Rives for taking the time to start this thread and all your input & DIY info. Good karma to you.
I was thinking about a Sun Systems 315w LEC. Had some questions for anybody who feels like answering. Does this ready-to-go system have a glass cover option or would that be a DIY for me ?
Is there an advantage to having the reflector with a vertical bulb ?
I look forward to seeing some results from these lights. They sound promising.
Click to expand...

What would be the reason for putting a glass cover on it? Just wondering...I'm waiting for the mailman to deliver mine at the moment.
 
L

LargePrime

Member
Fishywater said:
By the way, for you guys here with experience growing with these lights, my plants are 17 days old, 3 nodes pushin 4.
When is it safe to put these under the 315?
View Image
Click to expand...
i know you already got an answer, but i find some plants take a day or two to get used to the new spectrum and intensity. After they adjust the love it, but it takes a moment. and they can look sad in the mean time.
 
rives

rives

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J

Jhhnn

Active member
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Ready4 said:
Thanks Rives for taking the time to start this thread and all your input & DIY info. Good karma to you.
I was thinking about a Sun Systems 315w LEC. Had some questions for anybody who feels like answering. Does this ready-to-go system have a glass cover option or would that be a DIY for me ?
Is there an advantage to having the reflector with a vertical bulb ?
I look forward to seeing some results from these lights. They sound promising.
Click to expand...

Dunno that glass would make much difference. It's still the same amount of heat in the enclosure.

At retail, the 315 stuff is too rich for me. I'd want 630w total, and I really want it in a vented fixture that nobody makes.

It's the math. I'd save $20/mo on the electric bill compared to the current 1000w, so it'd take 3 years to break even on a $750 setup that really isn't what I want. I don't sell anything, never will, so my considerations are different than for a lot of people.

I've scheduled a shutdown for July, August & September because the effective electric rate for running the lamp jumps up by 50% & we don't want the heat in the house at all. If I can scrounge together all the parts for $500 or so, I'll find a way to get two pgz18 315's nose to nose in this super sun 2, sell off my existing hardware. I should be able to turn the ventilation way down, make it cheaper to run & quieter than it already is, still get good results.

Meh. I don't feel comfy spending money until the wife figures the taxes (she insists) & she's apparently in no hurry.

Love is the damnedest thing- we wouldn't be able to put up with each other without it.
 
rives

rives

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Ready4 said:
Is there an advantage to having the reflector with a vertical bulb ?
Click to expand...

The vast majority of industrial fixtures use a vertical lamp. Since most of the large players in that business have R&D budgets that probably exceed the total revenue of the companies building reflectors for our industry, there is undoubtedly a significant advantage to using a vertical lamp. It does take more headroom, and probably a better-designed reflector to properly shape the footprint.


Jhhnn said:
Dunno that glass would make much difference. It's still the same amount of heat in the enclosure
Click to expand...

It should make for an interesting comparison. I would think that it would help out quite a lot by eliminating the heat being "cast" by the lamp. The overall heat from the enclosure should be roughly equivalent to a 300+ watt LED - the efficacy of this lamp is pretty comparable to most LEDs.
 
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G

Gloomshade

Member
I'm excited. My Sun Systems 315w LEC has arrived. I'll be using it in place of a Mars II 900(450actual watts).

First impression, compared to the mars II, this thing weighs nothing.
Second impression, seems nice and bright, but then so do the mars II's, though the sun system is less disco lol.

I had actually thought I would need to cut the cord and replace the end with an Australian plug, but as it turns out its the same as the Mars II, with a cord like a computer or monitor, so no cutting, just plug in an aussie ended cord and im gold.

I flower 4 plants at a time, each has a 3x3 area and each has its own light, I'm hoping that the plant with the 315 above it grows bigger/better than the plants with mars II 900's above them. Its a bit hard for me to do a real comparison though, coz at the moment my veg times are all over the shop...And im in the process of reverting from coco back to dwc...due to lots of yellow in my veg tent....not knowing whats going on in the root zone of coco... I've already done DWC, and RDWC, but I haven't done perpetual RDWC, the challenges posed by perpetual RDWC made me look to coco and blumats...

Buuut... I have some stainless steel immersion chillers ordered. I have some float valves ordered, and I have a chiller that will chill 200L of PH'd water, which the immersion chillers will also sit in and the float valves will top up the res's and stop any over ferting caused by loss of water.

Fingers crossed this 315 beats the Mars II 900, So I can buy 3 more of them, or maybe one for veg too, lawl.
 
L

LargePrime

Member
G

Gloomshade

Member
Its probably pretty likely to be a placebo effect...but I feel like a few hours after lights on...the plant under the LEC already looks more vigorous... Or maybe its just because its green instead of purple. Heat seems no different. If I lay my hand on the outside of the reflector its actually cooler than laying my hand on the housing of the Mars II. Hung at about 40-50cm seems to give decent coverage over 1m2 and doesnt heat my hand up at canopy level.
 
J

Jhhnn

Active member
Veteran
LargePrime said:
Philips says the bulb is ~2% more efficient in vertical

There are some vertical hoods that are OG knock offs that would work.

Also, with glass, you can run t9's
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Thunder-Ver...s-Grow-Light-Vertical-Hoods-6-8-/230964305396

If you run mogul bulbs

If you want cheap run wings like i do
Click to expand...

I covet every vertical inch in the growspace. Even using a narrow super sun 2 tucked up between the floor joists, It's only 75". I also discovered that two stage cooling works really well. Air used to cool the light doesn't need to be carbon filtered, with low restriction easing fan noise & saving money on filters.
 
rives

rives

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xekki said:
that's the price for "1 pair of 1/8th ratchet rope h.."
the 6'in hood is 119
Click to expand...

Good catch, that is a pretty deceptive page - I never even noticed the "select" pull-down the first time around. Ebay.........
 
D

drakore

New member
So I ordered 5 942 bulbs and they sent me T9 bulbs instead of T12 bulbs. I was planning on using the air wing reflectors. What's the risk of using the T9 bulbs in an open fixture? Is there a higher chance of causing a fire because there isn't the second layer of protective glass and/or they are more fragile and easier to break if you knocked them?
 
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