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Ceramic Metal Halide (CMH)

gardenlover

gardenlover

Member
Julien- you will also not have to worry about this as much if you get a good reflector. The sun system 2 is debatably the best out and there is not a real bad hot spot especially if you raise it up as I assume you would do with orchids. I have done some test with my light meeter.
 
J

Julien

New member
The type of orchid plants I grow are tiny but take fairly bright light with higher levels being ideal in the winter while requiring somewhat lower levels during the summer months. A range of 2000 to 3600 foot-candles is considered ideal according to the most reliable sources I can find. I am clueless about foot-candles but the term seems wildly outdated to me. :rolleyes: Currently my plants are thriving under banks of six 45.75" T5 HO lamps. The tops are about 9 to 12 inches below the tubes, but the average plant is only about 5 inches wide and 3 or 4 inches high at most. This first 400 Watt CMH setup will be an experiment for me to see how well the plants respond. If they respond favorably, I will buy more HPS fixtures with CMH bulbs to replace the other T5 HO fixtures still in use.

I wonder what distance below a 400 Watt CMH lamp will produce the light levels my plants require.

Oops sorry :hide: if my non-canna talk is boring anyone. :tumbleweed: Hopefully the answers I get to my questions here will still be of use for those who grow other crops. :smokeit: I've been tempted for quite some time by LED setups, but overall it seems to me that nature knows best. I have no need to hide my heat signature or level of electrical use, and I think a full spectrum of light like that which is put out by CMH will produce the most desireable results in growth habit, color of leaf and flower and fragrance.
 
SweetIndica2

SweetIndica2

Member
Back when i was a smaller grower, i wanted to use one of these and i still do but now that i am growing on a bigger scale, but they are kind of unpractical for me. I wish they made a 1000w version. I guess i could add a 400W CMH to supplement my 1000W, but i'm not sure my 6" inline will be able to cool both lights, and the scrubber will reduce the power of the fan somewhat too. Would supplementing my 1000W with a 400W CMH be that beneficial compared to just my 1000W w/ MH and HPS Bulbs?
 
messn'n'gommin'

messn'n'gommin'

ember
Veteran
SweetIndica2 said:
Back when i was a smaller grower, i wanted to use one of these and i still do but now that i am growing on a bigger scale, but they are kind of unpractical for me. I wish they made a 1000w version. I guess i could add a 400W CMH to supplement my 1000W, but i'm not sure my 6" inline will be able to cool both lights, and the scrubber will reduce the power of the fan somewhat too. Would supplementing my 1000W with a 400W CMH be that beneficial compared to just my 1000W w/ MH and HPS Bulbs?
Click to expand...

Search this thread for posts by Bobby Stainless. I believe he has been doing something like that.

Namaste, mess
 
D

ddd

Active member
Julien-
I'm noticing a deep purple color on some lettuce that's exposed to the light. The leaves in the shade are green. It also can turn some green peppers black in color (very dark pigmentation). I've seen a cactus get a sunburn too.
SO-I'd say hang the CHM ~4 feet from the orchids and SLOWLY lower the light. Maybe keep a few flouros for side lighting while the CHM is far away. These produce a lot of uv, even with a lens on the reflector.



Get a 400w P.L. HPS system with a deep reflector and you won't be disapointed.
 
SweetIndica2

SweetIndica2

Member
Messn'n'gommin - Thanks,.

Bobby Stainless- could you give me an idea of how your 400w CMH is hung/placed near your 1000w? I'm just trying to think of how i would hang it close enough to the plants, without getting in the way of my 1000W. Do you have the light sideways next to the plants or just have an open bulb hung to the plants or something? BTW your Mirre looked amazing, very frosty. I actually got a pack the other day after seeing yours and Karma's plants. Thanks.
 
R

ROOTZ

Member
Any more room on this bus for a new recruit? Just ordered my 250w and 400w CMH bulbs from advanced.

Actually I'm glad I decided to read through a majority of this thread because the focus of designing my flowering tent revolved around full spectrum lighting. I originally had my HTG 175w MH and 250w HPS slated to run in there, but I'm totally geeked about seeing how CMH lighting will work out. I also want to play around with different lighting combos now that I have a 400w HPS to toy around with. Maybe 400w HPS/250w CMH or vice verse.

Here's a pic of my GL80 tent with the 175w MH/250w HPS running. Don't mind the ebb&flo buckets, as I'm leaning more toward running a 1 plant SCROG.

Thanks all

sog_tent_001.jpg
 
hoosierdaddy

hoosierdaddy

Active member
ICMag Donor
Veteran
I would for sure use the 400 for the CMH. 400CMH/150HPS works out great for me.
Although I am running HPS in both a couple of runs for some comparison.
Halfway through my second full HPS cycle in the cab, and it will be CMH/HPS from now on in there I do believe.

Nice tent, btw...I wish I had me a shiny new tent.
 
R

ROOTZ

Member
hoosierdaddy said:
Nice tent, btw...I wish I had me a shiny new tent.
Click to expand...

I know, I hate being the "mechanic" with shiny new tools.


hoosierdaddy said:
I would for sure use the 400 for the CMH. 400CMH/150HPS works out great for me.
Although I am running HPS in both a couple of runs for some comparison.
Halfway through my second full HPS cycle in the cab, and it will be CMH/HPS from now on in there I do believe.
Click to expand...

Good deal...Would love to read your results.
 
Hawk

Hawk

Member
hoosierdaddy said:
I would for sure use the 400 for the CMH. 400CMH/150HPS works out great for me.
Although I am running HPS in both a couple of runs for some comparison.
Halfway through my second full HPS cycle in the cab, and it will be CMH/HPS from now on in there I do believe.

Nice tent, btw...I wish I had me a shiny new tent.
Click to expand...

Could you tell us more about your 400CMH/150HPS vs. 400HPS/150HPS observations?

I'm trying a 250cmh/250hps combo but I could be using hps/hps.
 
VerdantGreen

VerdantGreen

Genetics Facilitator
Boutique Breeder
Mentor
ICMag Donor
Veteran
this is the first plant ive flowered under CMH - Jack the Ripper
250 watts -organic modular scrog - i get 4 of these square foot screens/plants in my cab.
quite pleased with the results - pics at 8 weeks just before harvest
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V.
 
M

Maggie

New member
Q for Simba ... or anyone with tech background

Q for Simba ... or anyone with tech background

Hi all,

It has been a while since I visited this thread. I had an unusual experience yesterday and would like some input.

I am running a Hydrofarm 400W HPS system which powers a Phillips CMH bulb. Between the Intermatic (clock) timer and the ballast I have a C.A.P. 15 minute delay timer which helps me avoid hot restarts in the event of a power interruption. The setup looks like this: 120V/60Hz ac power -> clock timer -> C.A.P. delay timer -> ballast -> bulb

I'm in the U.S. Pacific Northwest - on the coast. The weather has been a bit nasty over the past few days. Yesterday we experienced occasional dimming of the lights but no complete loss of power.
During one of the dimmings, I heard the C.A.P. unit click as it normally does when the voltage falls below a certain level. This signifies the start of the 15 minute delay period. I looked into the growroom and confirmed that the light had been extinguished. I wasn't quite ready for hum coming from the ballast, however. The ballast should have been off line as well. It was humming away, feeding juice to the CMH bulb which wasn't showing any signs of life - not even an occasional flicker. Apparently the voltage drop was enough to extinguish the bulb without triggering the delay timer. I checked around the house and found that the voltage drop had cause the pellet stove's electronics to reset, but wasn't enough to cause the clocks on either the kitchen stove or the microwave to reset. This is the first time that I've ever seen anything like this. When I realized what had happened, I disconnected the delay timer from the Intermatic (clock) timer which shut down the ballast. I quickly plugged the delay timer back into the clock timer. The delay timer resumed its normal function and I waited 15 minutes to see what might happen. After 15 minutes the ballast was energized & fired the bulb as normally as it does every morning at 6 AM.

My questions are these:
1. If I had not been at home when the event occured and hadn't been able to disconnect the power to the ballast, what would have happened to either the ballast or the bulb? Have either the ballast or bulb been damaged as a result of my waiting 3 or 4 minutes to disconnect power to the ballast? Don't ask why; I don't have a good answer.
2. Was there any risk of fire?
3. Would the bulb have re-fired normally at some point?

Appreciate any input y'all have.

Maggie
 
hoosierdaddy

hoosierdaddy

Active member
ICMag Donor
Veteran
I had that happen once...or similar.
The light was out for a few hours until I got to it and got it fired up.
I have had power go out numorous times and it never has done that, just refires in a few.
Now, I do have a 150 directly below the 400cmh and once after an interruption the 150 fired right away, making it stay too hot to fire the cmh (my theory anywho). I don't know how long it would have went without firing, but after about 15 mins I shut them off, let them cool, and refired.
 
J

Julien

New member
Hey Maggie I'm glad you asked that question. I was wondering the same thing myself regarding what would happen if the power went out and came back on while I wasn't home. :dunno: I don't have a C.A.P. delay timer. Maybe I should look into having one. :whee:
 
mr noodles

mr noodles

Member
any online dealer in canada ?

walked to an hydro store and the retarded guy had no fucking clues about it and looked at me like i was the retard ...
 
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