My custom PLL reflector.
1) Have PLLs been "overtaken" by LED or some other tech?
- Simple answer: No
2) Would a Workhorse ballast run different wattage bulbs simultaneously ? like, both a 36 and a 55 wired to same ballast
- NO. The 36w bulb will receive 55w and almost certainly blow. Extreme fire hazard.
3) AH sells 24watt power compacts. I cant find the post right now, but i think i remember reading that 24w or lower wattages aren't the 2g11... Is that the case ?
- You'd save money by just buying the ballast/bulbs separately and making your own reflector. Following a circuit diagram and bending some aluminium is easy work, don't pay a 3rd party to do it for you!
-McNerd
Alright mofos let's get this thing back up and running. i'm a n00b to this forum and PLLs, but not to growing. I'd give a deeper weed-bio but that'll have to wait as i have something like 10 mins... got a bus to catch. I just wanted to throw this in here as sort of a minipost/bump. Had been digging for ideal lighting for my new grow (full diy) cabinet, and thankfully i found it. I'll go into that later but DAMN is this shit perfect for every aspect of my situation.
(i've read the whole thread fwiw... good shit!)
Anyhoo i'll drop a few questions in here for y'all to chew on:
1) Have PLLs been "overtaken" by LED or some other tech, be it cost, efficiency, or otherwise ? I ask because this thread seems to have slowed down, not much talk elsewhere, etc.
2) Would a Workhorse ballast run different wattage bulbs simultaneously ? like, both a 36 and a 55 wired to same ballast
3) AH sells 24watt power compacts. I cant find the post right now, but i think i remember reading that 24w or lower wattages aren't the 2g11... Is that the case ? (I'm hoping to (eventually) run a 55w and 2*24w as part of my setup. (more on that l8r...)) Gonna call AH come time and see if i can get a 2*24 kit - i read someone bought exactly that from them somewhere near page 20 lol.
ok i gotta split thanks in advance !!! PLL FTW.
-McNerd
No, I wouldn't. Using a higher technology solution when a more effective, cheaper solution exists doesn't make sense to me - I am trying to optimize the spectrum for the plants, not simply use led's for the sake of using leds.
Just a quick look shows that mid-bin warm-white XP-G's mounted on MCPCB run @ $5 each in the quantities needed to replace those 4 PL-L's. It would take around 35 of the XP-G's running at 600ma (almost 2 watts) to generate the same light as one PL-L, and the XP-Gs (mid-level bin) are still only putting out about 83% of the lumens per watt that the PL-L's do. So....approximately $1500 for (4) led bars by the time you get drivers, sinks, fans, and misc. parts, only to pull more power than $175 for the PL-L's. Additionally, I don't know how well the 115 degree lensing of the XP-G's would work with the 170 degree lenses on the GD+'s.
It would take a hell of a long time for the longer life of the led's to make up for almost 9x the initial cost and higher power consumption! I think this all makes sense - I'm still groggy from no sleep last night.
Assumptions - 55w PL-L's make @ 4200 mean lumens. Mid-bin XP-G's make @ 87 lumens per watt @ 350ma, and about 121 at 600ma. 600ma x 3.2v = 1.92 watts. 4200 lumens/121=35 leds to replace (1) PL-L lamp.
I love my Pl-l lamps but measuring them to led lumen for lumen is a completely inaccurate way of measurement. Leds have power in PAR output, not just blazing lumens. So if you get the right light, it will blow away pl-l in PAR watt for watt.
2) Would a Workhorse ballast run different wattage bulbs simultaneously ? like, both a 36 and a 55 wired to same ballast
You'd better define "blow away". I've used a variety of LEDs, from a Lumigrow ES330 to my DIY efforts, and yes, they have outperformed the PL-L's. Running the same strain, I picked up about 30% yield with pretty equivalent wattage LEDs, but considering that the first time I ran the strain was with the PL-L fixture, in a new setup and running a scrog for the first time, it isn't really a fair comparison. I'll have to re-run it one of these days just to see how it really stacks up. However, any of the LED fixtures were an easy $1000 more than the PL-L fixture that I built.
Actually, Cabinet Ninja is working off of older knowledge, probably thinking of older magnetic ballasts that were designed for certain bulb sizes/wattages. A Workhorse ballast will run mixed bulbs, I do it now. I can hook up a wattage meter to my Workhorse 8, add or subtract a bulb that is 24w or 36w or 40w when two 55w bulbs are still running and the wattage will change accordingly. With the two 55w bulbs, wattage reads ~111-112w, add a 36w and it runs ~147-148w. It would be better to keep them all the same wattage, but the technology is already built in to detect the difference.
I'm going to guess that once i figure out what lights i can fit into the space i have, someone here could point me out what supply i need to power it all?
i found a vendor that can sell me all i need in one go, but i am unsurre about the ballast id need