irocu88
Well-Known Member
I have been told to replace my HPS at 6-9 months, but the rated life is 32,000 hours. Why replace so soon?
Bulb life question
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They diminish in output. After about a year the growth is obviously declining, while you’re still paying for the same power usage.
“The expected life span of a HPS is around 20,000 hours but it is recommended that the lamps be changed after around 3000-5000 hours, as they will have lost significant lumen output.
“The expected life span of a HPS is around 20,000 hours but it is recommended that the lamps be changed after around 3000-5000 hours, as they will have lost significant lumen output.
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irocu88
Well-Known Member
Was just curious....Thank you.
OldMedUser
Formerly Known as LabRat
That's a bit much. I only use HPS and the output doesn't drop as fast as most people believe.
Should be able to pull 4 or 5 grows before noticing any drop and it's hard to notice.
The quality of the bulb is the important part. I love my Hortilux and have them in various sizes. The one that gets the highest measured output rating is a honking big 940W conversion Hortilux that runs off a 1000W magnetic MH ballast.
Not cheap tho at almost $300Can retail but got mine a few years ago for $170 and so far have only done a grow and a half with it. Got a deal on 3 - 600W digitals with Hort bulbs and shades and have been using those if a 400 isn't big enough.
If you got lots of money and keeping things at 100% all the time is important to you then change as often as you need to I guess.
Those PlantMax are crap IMO.
Should be able to pull 4 or 5 grows before noticing any drop and it's hard to notice.
The quality of the bulb is the important part. I love my Hortilux and have them in various sizes. The one that gets the highest measured output rating is a honking big 940W conversion Hortilux that runs off a 1000W magnetic MH ballast.
Not cheap tho at almost $300Can retail but got mine a few years ago for $170 and so far have only done a grow and a half with it. Got a deal on 3 - 600W digitals with Hort bulbs and shades and have been using those if a 400 isn't big enough.
If you got lots of money and keeping things at 100% all the time is important to you then change as often as you need to I guess.
Those PlantMax are crap IMO.
What is OldMed? 5,000 hours is almost 420 days of flowering. And isn’t that about the same as ‘4 or 5 grows’? Every time I leave my bulbs much longer than that they’re dimmer and the grow under them declines. I’ve even had my journal subscribers comment on it when it got to that point. I use Hortilux too.
OldMedUser
Formerly Known as LabRat
Quite honestly I don't pay it all that much attention. I've been losing my enthusiasm for it the whole the last few years. bought a bunch of gear for a grow room expansion 5 and 4 years ago. Big carbon filter, Light Rail 4.0, new 8" inline, CO2 controller etc etc and it's just sitting around. Now that pots legal here I might just flog it kijiji or something and just keep my basic gear to keep me and the wife in medicine.
Recently started micro-dosing 'shrooms to see if I can fix my attitude. The blower in my gas stove packed it in and the wife and I spent 4 hours today getting it out for a long overdue cleaning and lube job. Put it back in and it's working better but the bushings are shot and it's pretty noisy. Ordered a nice ball bearing one on amazon today and some time after Jan 1 it should show up. The stove is stuck in the corner so have to drape myself over it and do everything upside down. $120 so not too bad a hit. Getting someone else to install it would cost more than that. My dugout aerator died 2 weeks ago and the water is getting grey so have to replace that ASAP but hard to find and 3 - $400 for a small one like we have. Those big red ones are over a f'n grand!
Everything around here is getting old and falling apart including myself!
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irocu88
Well-Known Member
I am just at about the end of my 3rd grow with this bulb (Optilume 1000w)...and I can tell that it does not seem as "orange" as it used to......or maybe its me...i'm old too.lol It just seemed strange to me that the box says 32,000 hours and we change at 5k.....if wavelength drops off that quick...what do they consider "Rated Life"
Usually they say something closer to 20,000 hours. Till they’re completely dead. MH bulbs degrade a lot faster then HPS. Maybe that lifetime rating works out better when they’re used in warehouses and streetlights. But for someone already going to all the trouble of growing dope indoors, bulbs are usually low on the expense list, and provide the one single most important factor in the grow. Liight.
Most people are usually not going to keep on using a bulb for an extra year or two after it’s lost 20% or 30, 40, 50% of its efficiency. To lose that much of your harvest, while paying the full power bill, just to think you might save money on bulbs, it doesn’t compute.
Some people, especially commercial grows (people with more money on the line) change bulbs every six months. To me that sounds like more often than I can afford.
from the Hortilux website
“Many growers have been told DE lamps will last for two years. This is not true. DE lamps can operate for many, many years but their effective growing window is 12 months when using a 12-on, 12-off flowering light cycle.
Growers using light meters to measure Photosynthetic Active Radiation (PAR) in micro moles (µmol) will only see a 5% loss in intensity after one year of use. Since the light meter is only measuring PAR (click here to learn about PAR) between 400 and 700 nanometers, it does not tell you the lamp has lost over 10% of the total amount of light energy produced by the DE lamp. The spectral quality of the light at this point has dropped below its initial ability to produce high yields...
Most people are usually not going to keep on using a bulb for an extra year or two after it’s lost 20% or 30, 40, 50% of its efficiency. To lose that much of your harvest, while paying the full power bill, just to think you might save money on bulbs, it doesn’t compute.
Some people, especially commercial grows (people with more money on the line) change bulbs every six months. To me that sounds like more often than I can afford.
from the Hortilux website
“Many growers have been told DE lamps will last for two years. This is not true. DE lamps can operate for many, many years but their effective growing window is 12 months when using a 12-on, 12-off flowering light cycle.
Growers using light meters to measure Photosynthetic Active Radiation (PAR) in micro moles (µmol) will only see a 5% loss in intensity after one year of use. Since the light meter is only measuring PAR (click here to learn about PAR) between 400 and 700 nanometers, it does not tell you the lamp has lost over 10% of the total amount of light energy produced by the DE lamp. The spectral quality of the light at this point has dropped below its initial ability to produce high yields...
I have to admit that I can live with a 10% loss for quite a while. Why would Hortilux encourage you to keep buying new ones I wonder 
Once it gets to 15% then hmmm..
A 20% loss is too steep for me.
Once it gets to 15% then hmmm..
A 20% loss is too steep for me.
10% loss... Easily more than the cost of a new bulb, isn't it?
If the alternative is paying for your weed, then yes definitely. If you’re just growing for yourself and filling your own needs ok, and you’re broke, then it might make sense to limp along a while longer. The 10% power wastage won’t amount to the price of a new bulb. But yeah- the light is such an important part of the operation, and cheap at the price, I guess.
HigherTheHigh
Well-Known Member
When I ran hos lights I'd change them every 6 months of permanent 12/12 which only works out to be around 2200 hours but bulbs are cheap these days.
With shipping etc the last bulbs I bought totaled $275 Canadian. For two 600w Hortilux HPS. So -not exactly peanuts
OldMedUser
Formerly Known as LabRat
Depends on how much pot you grow I guess. I give away a lot more than 10% and always have a couple of elbows to play with so I don't worry about it. You'd have to be very precise in your data collection and all sorts of other factors to even know how much difference it makes and that's too much like work for me so fug it! lol
With a loss of only 10% in a certain period of time, wouldn't it be more cost effective to lower the light a bit to make up for the diminished output. Unless the bulb is changing spectrum, not likely with a HPS I think one could get a lot more out of a bulb then the mfg recommend. Money saved in bulbs could be put to a good PAR meter
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irocu88
Well-Known Member
If I can tell the difference in the color of the light after 3 grows, the spectrum must be changing......?
HigherTheHigh
Well-Known Member
Wow that's mega money!
Having said that I was only using the Phillips and lumitek full spectrum bulbs for like £35-40/$50 lol.
HigherTheHigh
Well-Known Member
If you run the bulb for 12 months that means you're roughly getting 5 10 week Flower periods and in that time it will use 4300 light hours which is nothing for a hps bulb so I'd I were you I'd go for a top of the range bulb every 12 month.
