150w HPS Club and Resource Guide......

[AdamH420]

Well, I fired it up right side up, it made a bit less noise.
It's wierd... kindof a howling / whistling on top of the buzz.
Do 150 bulbs need to be positioned any special way in the mogul?

Either way I'm not going to remote it now, I'll finish out this run and figure it out after that.

 

[growDaddy]

I made a dual 150W in a bake-around cooltube from 2 security lights I got at a yard sale ($2 each). Total cost was about $20. I can get the tube within about 4" of the top of the canopy.

That's a cool idea with the 2 150s in the cooltube, BUT you will lose 15-20% of you lumen with the glass!

 

[growDaddy]

Thanks guys for the information. Reading this thread is giving me the ideal that I could grow a small crop here during the wintertime. After the end of April it's just too hot to grow in a cabinet in the garage..

We get plenty hot down here. What I do is have my lights on at night and off during day. This is the only way I can grow in the summer.

good luck and stay safe.

 

[DiscoBiscuit]

Do 150 bulbs need to be positioned any special way in the mogul?

when buying spares, bulb data will specify vert vs horiz position. some work either way. no specification probably indicates universal position? if the bulb you're using came with the fixture, I'd go horizontal.

 

[Cozy Amnesia]

My young'ns are loving the 150w! Growth has exploded...

 

[Ancient One]

Grow Daddy,
Thanks for the ideal about running the lights at night. I've got no way to cool this cabinet I made. I believe we are in the same neck of the woods, I've always felt more secure growing in outdoors but after reading this thread, it came to me that there was not reason not to try a winter grow under lights. I appreciate the response and if you have a favorite outdoor strain that can stand the summers temps and humidity I would really appreciate the name. The only strains that can take the heat are Mexicans and Africans, they take a long time and are too heavy a yield grown in a stealth grow. I hear you about about staying safe!

 

[TraneRek]

I finally got my box completed (for the most part). My fan is so loud! At least.. louder than I expected. It's my fault really though; it's in a pretty enclosed closet, and I think my carbon scrubber hole is too small causing the fan to work harder. How bad is that for the fan?

Also, I want to veg 4-5 plants from seed w/ 104 watts CFL. However I broke a bulb, so until I replace it, is 78W enough to veg the 4 plants?

-Rek

 

[Divine Cosmos]

I finally got my box completed (for the most part). My fan is so loud! At least.. louder than I expected. It's my fault really though; it's in a pretty enclosed closet, and I think my carbon scrubber hole is too small causing the fan to work harder. How bad is that for the fan?

Also, I want to veg 4-5 plants from seed w/ 104 watts CFL. However I broke a bulb, so until I replace it, is 78W enough to veg the 4 plants?

-Rek

Get them under the hps, and the 78 watts of cfl.

 

[bongeyser]

That's a cool idea with the 2 150s in the cooltube, BUT you will lose 15-20% of you lumen with the glass!

Is this true seems a little high?

 

[djbenzo]

My young'ns are loving the 150w! Growth has exploded...

i know hps arent the right spectrum for small plants but
does the fact that hps puts off way more lumens than cfl kinda make this less
true?
ive been tryin to decide what to use for my clones/sprouts..
sidelighting of my 150w or convert my flowering box into a vegbox like this..

 

[djbenzo]

oh and for all those in question of how far to put the light in addition with feeling the right spot out with your hand feeling..i found this helpful..i duno if anyone else has posted it yet

 

[TraneRek]

Get them under the hps, and the 78 watts of cfl.

Heh, guess I could do that.. However, the timer I bought doesn't have a 3-prong outlet, only a two. So until I get another timer I can't use the HPS

 

[Pipedream]

A couple of years back we ran some tests with a 150HPS mounted in a fixed position within a black enclosure. We used a high-end light meter with a Color Head attached to take the readings. We wanted to verify things like drop-off vs. distance and the reflectivity of a couple of material choices. At the same time we tested light loss thru several common cool-tube materials. We did Bake-Rounds, Hurricane Glass, Window Pane, and replacement globes for Coleman type lanterns. While some were better than others, as I recall, the average loss was about 10%.

I know the results were either posted way back in this thread or in a another related one. I'll try to dig up the original test data and repost it when I get a chance.

EDIT: This is from an earlier post. I'm still looking for my original test data.

"We did a bit of testing a while back with regards to light-loss thru a cool-tube.

We used my light meter which is a Minolta IIIF meter with the color head attached.

The same 150 was put thru a Bake-A-Round, a hurricane chimney, and a globe from a Coleman-type lantern. Those are the 3 most used pieces of glass when making a cool-tube.

Suprisingly, all three had about the same light loss. They came in between 7% and 8.5% measured at 1.5 foot. The lantern globe had the lowest loss but only by a very small margin. The majority of the loss, in all cases, was at the higher color temps towards the UV side of the spectrum.

Keep in mind that light falls off using the rule of inverse squares. So a small amount of distance makes a big change in the available light. With this in mind, the loss can easily be made up if the cool-tube allows you to close the distance between the light source and the plants."

 

[Cozy Amnesia]

That's good to know Pipedream, I'm interestead to see if your data matches the one in the chart. Three hundred and some-odd number of pages is a lot to sort through...

i know hps arent the right spectrum for small plants but
does the fact that hps puts off way more lumens than cfl kinda make this less
true?
ive been tryin to decide what to use for my clones/sprouts..
sidelighting of my 150w or convert my flowering box into a vegbox like this..

I put them under the 150w because, yeah, way more lumans, but then again I was only using 92w of cfl. So the more light, the more growth. People like blue spectrum for veg because a red spectrum causes young plants to stretch, and because blue light increases the odds for getting a female. Thats why I added a 6500k cfl in there for now.

oh and for all those in question of how far to put the light in addition with feeling the right spot out with your hand feeling..i found this helpful..i duno if anyone else has posted it yet

What that chart is telling me is that any buds more than a foot away from the bulb will be too far away.

 

[hoosierdaddy]

Very interesting stuff, pd.
I feel that the make-up of the glass itself also effects how the light ends up at the plant.
High lead content glass, like the cheap mexican stuff that is used for hurricane lamps and such, tends to refract light much better than boron-silicate glass.

And your findings confirms my thoughts on the loss of lumens due to the glass. I think it is apparent that due to the rule of i.s., putting plants closer to glass protected lights trumps the gains of no glass at a safe distance.
Although it is a bit much, and will eventually burn the leaf a bit...I can have one laying right on the glass in front of a 150whps. W/fan blowing on it, it won't burn at all.
fwiw...with a 400cmh they can get within about 2-3 inches of the glass and be happy. They get nice and fat there too.

 

[djbenzo]

What that chart is telling me is that any buds more than a foot away from the bulb will be too far away.

well for a 150w anything over 12" isnt "optimal"
but i didnt make the chart but i hope it helps!

 

[hoosierdaddy]

The 150 being so small is why it works very well for a Scrog set-up. All the important buds can be kept relatively the same distance from the light.

Do a search for some of the old 150hps scrog grows.

 

[Ancient One]

djbenzo,
Thanks buddy, I appreciate the chart, will gradually lower the distance between the tops until I find the optimal distance the plants can tolerate.

 

[Cozy Amnesia]

fwiw...with a 400cmh they can get within about 2-3 inches of the glass and be happy. They get nice and fat there too.

How do you like CMH? I've read nothing but good things about CHM and cannabis growing...but I'd like to hear some testimonials. Does it make the buds any more or less leafy?

 

[jalajaslet]

My young'ns are loving the 150w! Growth has exploded...

Hey Cozy,

How did you set up that 150Watter? I just got a great deal on 19 150w bulbs from Circuit City when they were closing here and I got them for a dollar a piece. At first I was going to try to sell them, but no-one seemed interested in them, So I figured I would just find a way to use them myself. They have medium bases and i was thinking about just going and buying an outside security light to use them in in the flowering room cause right now I have one 8 week old, 5 six week olds, 12 3 week olds and 8 sprouts in the flowering room. My 3 week olds and sprouts are all growing in a 12/12 from seed to harvest and my 8 and 6 week olds all got one month of vegging first. I have a 400W MH and 9 23w CFL's in the flowering room and think they could all use the addition of some 150w HPS. Had I sold some of them I would have used the proceeds to purchase a HPS light fixture, but since that didn't see to work I am now looking for the easiest most cost effective way to utilize them. Any suggestions?