CFL Light Tutorial

[TheMilkMan]

My mate And I were discussing this and I was saying how lower wattages get better output per watt.

He countered with "why all that hassle, just put 2 135's in and youre on!"

Sure It seems a lot less work (not sure cost wise at 60 bucks per bulb for the 135 watters) just getting two lights and two shades.

Im estimating 2 x shades @ 60 each = 120

2 x bulbs @ 60 each =120

total 240 bucks, plug it in and your away.

And you'd only need one of them to vege before you turn the other one on which would result in power savings too.

Or I could go with 4.60 a bulb for a 24 watt cfl

50 bucks for the bulbs plus the wiring and the socket parts etc, then your time setting up the hanging etc.

It's be a lot cheaper i'd say, but I'm not convinced its easier and more productive as a whole.

SO!!! picking hairs here, would be be an average increase in yield as to using say 11 x 24 watters over 2 x 135 watters?

It would be pretty close at weigh up time would'nt it?

 

[Roseman]

My mate And I were discussing this and I was saying how lower wattages get better output per watt.

He countered with "why all that hassle, just put 2 135's in and youre on!"

Sure It seems a lot less work (not sure cost wise at 60 bucks per bulb for the 135 watters) just getting two lights and two shades.

Im estimating 2 x shades @ 60 each = 120

2 x bulbs @ 60 each =120

total 240 bucks, plug it in and your away.

And you'd only need one of them to vege before you turn the other one on which would result in power savings too.

Or I could go with 4.60 a bulb for a 24 watt cfl

50 bucks for the bulbs plus the wiring and the socket parts etc, then your time setting up the hanging etc.

It's be a lot cheaper i'd say, but I'm not convinced its easier and more productive as a whole.

SO!!! picking hairs here, would be be an average increase in yield as to using say 11 x 24 watters over 2 x 135 watters?

It would be pretty close at weigh up time would'nt it?

In the article from Ed Rosenthal posted on either page one or two here, he likes the many smaller bulbs, and suggests a bunch of 42 watters is best.

 

[Roseman]

Yep they are the big 150w tube lamp cfl's one is 5000k the other is 6500k the only other thing I was wondering is do you think adding in 2 2700k 23w bulbs to either side would promote denser growth?
this is what I have btw x2

2 65s, or 2 85s, or 4 to 8 42s, would, but those 23 and 27 watters just don't put out any significant lumens.

 

[Roseman]

You should get 2 of these one with a 150w 6500k bulb and one with a 2700k bulb and you should be able to get 3oz

They also come in a 3 bulb design that holds a 250w 6500k in the center and a 125w 2700k bulb on either side that would definetly get you 3 oz I think,

bulbs less than 105 watts put out little to no heat. Those 105s get hot some and anything over 105 really gets hot. I bought two 200 watt CFLS and gave them away because of their heat.

 

[TheMilkMan]

2 65s, or 2 85s, or 4 to 8 42s, would, but those 23 and 27 watters just don't put out any significant lumens.

I'm gunna check this out one day when im out of this share housing situation.

That's one, significant piece of info there.

+reps to you roseman

LOL I learnt something else quite significant too yesterday.....how to burn my clones!!!

i put a long desk 11 watt flouro over my clones cause ive been workign too much and i needed to water them but the lights were off in my room and their roots have finally come thru the grow wool blocks. YES!

I decided to put that light an inch off the tops of my clones "for their benefit". NO!

Before bed I have a look at my babies and I've pretty much burnt the crap out of one leaf....NO!

So I've decided 2" is as close as I'm putting CFL lights to me plants.

I've got my 135 watter with a fan blowing on it 2.5" off the top of my flowering one and that's pumping along nicely.

Fan's = Awesome heat movers, no doubt! YES!

Lucky I think the clones are recovering now they are far from the light.

Soz roseman, apparently I rep you too much it said I cant and I only did it once about 3 days ago.

Whole rep things new to me lol, gunna be a rep night tonight for some more of you lot!!

 

[Roseman]

Good Luck mrcoz, I appreciate sharing the REP very much.

 

[Purple Goose]

bulbs less than 105 watts put out little to no heat. Those 105s get hot some and anything over 105 really gets hot. I bought two 200 watt CFLS and gave them away because of their heat.

I actually attach $6 clip on fans to the end of each reflector and my clone/veg closet stays around 80 degrees but there are actually 2 150watters in the reflector I posted earlier and below them are 4 42w t12 tubes to keep my mothers under I run the lights 24/7 for mothers cloning and veg and the good side is the fans that cool the reflectors also end up creating enough circulation to move the plants gently to strengthen the stems. the closet is 5w x 2d x 7h and has vented doors as I dont turn out the lights I dont have to worry about leaks so it works out fine.

 

[TheMilkMan]

I went to a home depot store today and got 2 x 48 watters and they are quite a big bigger than my 24's lol hope i can get another 6 grams out of it to pay for these lol 29 bucks each.

 

[CharlieMopps]

I was browsing cfl stuff on the net yesterday and now i'm really feelin the 105 watt ones for $30 apiece. I was also lookin at those weatherproof dual bulb swivel spotlight fixtures for above driveways. They say its good up to 600 watts so you could run y spliters with it and 4 bulbs.
$150 would get you 440 watts and 26K lumens.

 

[TheMilkMan]

From what I've read from Roseman, I'm gunna roll with small bushy plants, and 4-6 48 watters.

30 each where I am, 30, 60, 90, 110, 140, 170 bucks for 6 of them.

I'm running 2 48's 1 x 135 now.

Seems to be ok.

231 watts of light, over a 600mm w x 600mm L space 500mm deep in bush max.

Whadaya say Roseman?

btw ive got zero warm whites going now......

 

[CharlieMopps]

What about having 800 watts (equivlant) per square foot that I can place within an inch or two of growth. Isn't that where the light would be the most powerful?

You always want to use real power usage when calculating stuff, not incandescent equivalents. That said, i was thinking about how much light you need to grow "big buds". I came to the conclusion that you need over 600 watts. It doesn't matter what kinda light you use, hps, mh, cfl, t5, whatever but you need more than 600 watts of it to grow big buds. With 42 watt cfls you'd need to find a way to put up like 15 of em. I swear if i ever get a chance to grow again, i'm gonna buy like 6-8 of those 105 watt cfls.

 

[Roseman]

I was browsing cfl stuff on the net yesterday and now i'm really feelin the 105 watt ones for $30 apiece. I was also lookin at those weatherproof dual bulb swivel spotlight fixtures for above driveways. They say its good up to 600 watts so you could run y spliters with it and 4 bulbs.
$150 would get you 440 watts and 26K lumens.

Thats a lot of wattage and lumens for the money. GREAT post!

 

[Roseman]

From what I've read from Roseman, I'm gunna roll with small bushy plants, and 4-6 48 watters.

30 each where I am, 30, 60, 90, 110, 140, 170 bucks for 6 of them.

I'm running 2 48's 1 x 135 now.

Seems to be ok.

231 watts of light, over a 600mm w x 600mm L space 500mm deep in bush max.

Whadaya say Roseman?

btw ive got zero warm whites going now......

Sounds great, except you need a DUAL Spectrum of light. You need BOTH warm white and cool white at all times, but more of one than the other depending on what cycle you are in.

BUT, I have seen grows with only one bulb and one spectrum. Small pitiful grows, but they grew.

 

[TheMilkMan]

Yeah, I totally wanted some warm whites but "we dont stock them"......

Kicking myself a bit now, spent 60 bucks on these bulbs lol I guess experience and learning costs.

I'm gunna order a 135 watt 2700k CFL today in the 2700 spectrum. Nearly 100 bucks a bulb......

eye popping stuff! but then.....Ive got 3 weeks to go, worth it? lol who knows.

 

[MostlyCrazy]

Might want to check with SH and get 2 65's instead. Those 135 will be hot, hot, hot!

SH Hydroponics, Inc. > Dual Spectrum 65 High Output Fluorescent Bulbs

Remember the discount code - Deep Water Culture

 

[TheMilkMan]

I'm not where you think I live regardless of the location I give...

SH is out of the map I thinks....

I could shop about for a couple of electric shops and see what I can do.

 

[TheMilkMan]

I've got a $70 2700k 130 watter on the way, I'll use the 2 x 48's to supplement it in flowering.

 

[dc534]

How long will CFL's really last under continious use conditions and when you have the added stress of putting them close together in a DIY chandelier type reflector setup? I have heard switch your lighting after every grow, but that is a lot of money to go replacing all the bulbs in a setup. I guess my question is how many grows can you get out of CFL's? I mean, has anyone tested when they start to lose their Luminosity (how many hours? Days?)? It says they last up to 10000 hours but those are under ideal conditions, not under Grow conditions. As someone with not a lot of money to spare I want to make the most out of the bulbs and it seems a little wasteful to throw them out after just 1 grow. But if that is what it takes I dont want to deprive the plants light by having inefficient bulbs.

So if anyone has any info on how long CFL's should last, much would be appreciated.

 

[dc534]

From what I am hearing is that CFL's start losing their Luminosity at just over a couple of thousand hours, that means even though its life is rate for 10k hours, and it might look bright still, that just a couple thousand hours in the bulbs are actually much less luminous and that means that the bulb probably will need to be changed much more often, because although you dont notice the difference, your plants will. I figure each grow your using anywhere from 720-1500 hours on a 18/6 cycle Veg stage, and if you have to change the bulbs after 2000 hours, that means your bulbs should last, What?, 2 Veg cycles with 1 set of bulbs.

I should let you know I was planning on using 2 sets of bulbs, 2.7k K for Flowering and 6.5k K for Veg.

 

[hogs]

Thats a real good Question on " How Long do CFLS Last "

Someone said that if ya use Covers for lack of a better word from this Mind now to drill holes in them to let heat escape and that allows the bulb to stay cooler, But who knows for sure on that????

YEah they can get expensive if you have alot of them and have to change them ever year after a few grows....

I would like to Know more on this as well, I think Roseman used a Meter on them and discovered they lose the output after a short time, If thats the case I don`t want to have to buy New bulbs ever year,IF like I say one has alot to replace..Interesting....