UPS fedex dudes know every grower on their route i imagine. My 43" CF came partially unwrapped a few years ago. Wonder what this is for....
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Philips 315w CDM Elite (CMH)
- Thread starter rives
- Start date
UPS fedex dudes know every grower on their route i imagine. My 43" CF came partially unwrapped a few years ago. Wonder what this is for....
HorseBadoritiz
Active member
Actually, I think this is a big deal. I don't see this date on the ballasts I got from Advanced in 2015. I'm running 15' of 12g from all 3, and haven't seen any problems, and I'm assuming they were made after 2013.
When I was running 400W CMH, I was blowing the standard 2 1/2' mag ballast igniters, until I upgraded to 12g from the 16g standard mogul cords... never had a problem after that.
So, is this just Philips covering their legal asses, or something we really need to be concerned about?
oti$
Active member
I found this out a couple days ago when my phantom was delivered. I noticed it as he asked me to sign for it... paranoia began rushing over me. I'm not in compliance with any laws and cherish anonymity and freedom.
So far, I like this fixture better than my sun system as far as the remote ballast and open (no glass) hood. It was also $150+- cheaper.
The payoff is in efficiency. That's particularly valuable if electric rates are high and/or temp control is difficult.
Getting a real dollars & cents perspective isn't necessarily easy because of the way charges are enumerated on the bill & because of tiered seasonal rates in some places. Here in Denver, we pay $0.10/KWH for the first 500 KWH/Month & $0.15/KWH for everything above that in the summer months.
If you're starting a grow or expanding CDM is a better buy up front than if you're switching from working equipment because the premium price differential is more rapidly offset by lower usage.
Needs some input.........
Using the 630 in my 5x5 is just to much for the plants to handle. I can't keep the plants from not showing heat stress. . My veg room is not great in regards to heat or cold..This room is exposed to the outside temps. The room is metal so when its hot its like an oven out there. Cooling the veg room is just not possible there is a 2" gap that goes all around the roof. If I remove a drop ceiling tile I can see outside.
My plan is to remove the 630 put in the Phantom 315. Will this be enough light for a 5x5?. or put back in the 600MH... Take the E-PAP 1k out of the flower room. Put the 630 in its place.. This will lower my 3kw to 2630kw...It will lower my sparky usage and lower the temps in my flower room with I can control. Left side 1k Gavita, Middle would be 630CMH, Right side 1k Gavita..
The E-PAP is out , 630 in....changed the bulbs to 930's.. I just need to find out what to use in the 5x5 tent that won't go over 90f in summer.
Using the 630 in my 5x5 is just to much for the plants to handle. I can't keep the plants from not showing heat stress. . My veg room is not great in regards to heat or cold..This room is exposed to the outside temps. The room is metal so when its hot its like an oven out there. Cooling the veg room is just not possible there is a 2" gap that goes all around the roof. If I remove a drop ceiling tile I can see outside.
My plan is to remove the 630 put in the Phantom 315. Will this be enough light for a 5x5?. or put back in the 600MH... Take the E-PAP 1k out of the flower room. Put the 630 in its place.. This will lower my 3kw to 2630kw...It will lower my sparky usage and lower the temps in my flower room with I can control. Left side 1k Gavita, Middle would be 630CMH, Right side 1k Gavita..
The E-PAP is out , 630 in....changed the bulbs to 930's.. I just need to find out what to use in the 5x5 tent that won't go over 90f in summer.
bandit60001
Member
420w cool tube
420w cool tube
After speaking w the engineers at venture lighting, i decided to spring for a couple of their 210w retrofit kits with mag ballasts. The cost for two of these with bulbs included was considerably less than parts for another 315. The bad- only the 4200k t9s were available with the kit.
They are suprisingly brighter and put off way more heat. 735 watts of cdm elites in this room put off more heat than two 400w hps did in the same room. I seem to be the first to try these on a mag ballast, but so far so good. Its all covered under warranty by venture too!
Pictures in my next post
420w cool tube
After speaking w the engineers at venture lighting, i decided to spring for a couple of their 210w retrofit kits with mag ballasts. The cost for two of these with bulbs included was considerably less than parts for another 315. The bad- only the 4200k t9s were available with the kit.
They are suprisingly brighter and put off way more heat. 735 watts of cdm elites in this room put off more heat than two 400w hps did in the same room. I seem to be the first to try these on a mag ballast, but so far so good. Its all covered under warranty by venture too!
Pictures in my next post
HorseBadoritiz
Active member
Thanks for that. Of course, mine are all from very late 2013, lol!
bandit60001
Member
I already have 2 400 watt CMH that I've been using for the last couple of years. I'm just curious why people would pay so much more for these 315s over what it costs for the 400w cmh. I thought maybe there was some new tech or something that would justify it.
I use the 930 315s.
Compared to the 400, they have: a MUCH higher average light output (34,700 lumens vs 28,000) and lumen maintenance over time (90% at 10k hours, 80% at 20k hours, mean lumens = 92% of initial vs 70%); longer life (30,000 hours vs 20,000); better color rendering index (90+ vs 65); universal mounting ability; run cooler; use less power; have lower ballast losses; an arguably better flowering spectrum.
Sounds like pretty good justification to me. YMMV.
Thanks rives, that's the info I was looking for. I made the mistake of trying to replace a 1000w hps with 2 of the 400w cmh and it just didn't work out. While I love the cmh for veg, it just didn't cut it in flower. These new 315w may be just what I'm looking for to use for veg.
highroller614
Active member
Well I just finished up a run with 5 315's and 2 galaxy 1100w HPS.....All I can say is potency for the win!......The buzz I caught is night and day different than before with 2 1100w HPS. Honestly I grow to get high first. Im blown away from how much better and more potent the flowers are. Im going to get rid of the 1100's. Im going to replace them with 7 more 315's. All I can say is these are the lights you use if buzz is a priority......
Boss Cocky
Active member
G'Day high roller,
Which bulbs are you using? Standard 930, green power/agro 930, 942 or a combo? I've heard many growers say that MH is better than HPS for pure sativa (which is my interest). I've also heard that some tropicals never come close to the potency they exhibit in their natural environment when grown indoors or even outdoors in more temperate climates. Perhaps CMH is the ticket.
Since removing the 630 and replacing with a 315 in the tent all plants have recovered... The only conclusion I can come up with is there was too much heat directed down to the plants even with a canopy temp of 82f they didn't like it.. I will put the 630 in the flower room to replace the E-PAP.. I need to unhook the step down so I can use it on 220v.
highroller614
Active member
Good Evening Boss Cocky.....
I used the Green Power/Agro 930. Yes the potency knocked my socks off. I been sitting here in Stupidville thinking why didn't I ever try the CMH before?.....Well I can't wait for the next run because things are only getting better from here.
I used the Green Power/Agro 930. Yes the potency knocked my socks off. I been sitting here in Stupidville thinking why didn't I ever try the CMH before?.....Well I can't wait for the next run because things are only getting better from here.
I was also intrigued by the 210w retro kits. I doubt they have quite the efficiency or output of the same lamp w/ Philips square wave ballast but they're way less expensive & run on 120v. They may be a sweet spot for truly small growers.
There's a lot of misunderstanding about the term "heat". All of the power consumed by a light circuit becomes heat, increased brownian motion in one way or another. Some of it is dissipated as radiant energy, light, and some is expressed as convective/conductive heat, inefficiency. Some of the light is in the range where we can't see it & plants can't use it, either. For our purposes, watts = heat. A 315w system creates less total heat than a 400w system simply by definition. Our perceptions may differ from the truth when a lot more of the energy is dissipated in the visual range. That may actually raise temps in the enclosure using forced air cooling of enclosed reflectors because more heat is being dissipated as light & less as convection from the lamp/ballast.
