Grow light???

[FC89]

Hello ICMAG,

I'm going to be starting my first grow soon, in my own mini-fridge. With some nice autoflower strains (RRF and Onyx). I have everything all setup, but the lighting... I'm a noob at lighting so I'm not sure what to use. The only lighting I have found so far is this 150w HPS from HTGsupply. I've also read that the bulbs from HTGsupply aren't that great, and I looked on the site and they have no other 150w bulbs. I've read that with autoflower strains its best to use a CMH lighting, would I be able to buy a new bulb and put it into that kit from HTGsupply? With using a mini-fridge I'm somewhat restricted with my area, the total area I have is about 36"x20"x20". I plan on trying to stuff 4 2gal air pots into the fridge. Could anyone help me by guiding me to a good light for my grow? I appreciate all the help from everyone.

 

[MeanBean]

Yo, I can tell ya right now that 150 hps is going to be WAY to hot for your mini Fridge. Even more than 2 CFL's will bake that little space out.

In my opinion your only hope is LED if you want that thing to be stealthy. I have had great success with the 126 watt unit called the Penetrator from HydroGrowLed.com

If you have a limited budget I would get their 63 Watt unit...

 

[DiscoBiscuit]

Let's see, 20x20 is just over 2.75 sq feet. I only have 2.5 sq feet and my 150 works fine. 95 cfm hydrofarm blower, turned to the lowest setting with a speed controller. 2x passive exhaust. It even exhausts the additional veg chamber with 70 watts cfl. This cab runs on average 6*f above ambient. I've only got 24" headroom in flower. Notice how everything growing is within inches of the bulb. A 150w HPS won't penetrate much more than 12" and I won't get anything near that with this SCROG. I'll still get a good 6" (maybe more) and SOG grows get even better penetration. A 150 is good for 5 ounces if you get it dialed in. I've approached 4.5 and hope to do better with this.



There's a mini fridge thread in here somewhere and 150hps is common.

The htg remote lamp is one of the best choices IMO. I bought a used security light for $35 and would gladly have paid $70 for a nice remote and fixture. It's hard to beat that deal.

A 150w CMH bulb requires a pulse-start metal halide ballast. They're a little more expensive than hps ballasts. e-conolight has a security light for $75 plus shipping. You'd have to convert it to remote ballast but that's not a chore. Besides, you can't put an hps bulb in it. You'd have to have both ballasts to have the conversion capability with a 150 size.

A 250w hps ballast will run both. That would give you just over 90 watts per sq foot and heat might be a problem. I've seen it done but you'll have to move lots of air through it and stealth would be destroyed, IMO.

You can substitute bulbs with the same rating and socket size. There are two common socket sizes, medium and mogul. I buy security light bulbs from e-conolight.com for $5.25 each. They're good for a year or two in the garden and another 3 or 4 in the security lighting around the house.


here's the mini-fridge thread. kolorblind has one of the best and disfunktional's model is coming along nicely. Those two fellas could give a tip of three I'm sure.
http://www.icmag.com/ic/showthread.php?t=145950

 

[FC89]

Man o man, thanks for the help so far guys.. I think I'll be grabbing the HTGsupply 150w HPS kit, and just run with the HPS. I've heard that it has great results regardless, but I'll start them under some nice CFL's, then put them under the HPS. I'll have 2 passive exhausts and I'll be using this fan. Should be around 100 CFM, I'm hoping to put a carbon filter at the end of the fan so it can kind of muffle the sound, as it needs to be stealth. But 5 ounces!?!?! That would be great! This is my first run so I would probably try for a seed run, then just go for a SOG. Your cab looks awesome! nice and neat man, probably shows what a 150w is capable of. The only thing I'm worried about is that on HTG it says that their ballast can only use thier bulb, but they don't supply the 150w bulb haha. They don't give any information as if its mogul or medium. I found a picture of the setup but I cant tell if its medium or mogul (here). Can any of you guys tell?

 

[DiscoBiscuit]

Didn't know about proprietary bulbs. They can probably tell you the size on the phone. Medium is typical household size. Mogul is a little bigger.

 

[FC89]

Didn't know about proprietary bulbs. They can probably tell you the size on the phone. Medium is typical household size. Mogul is a little bigger.

Word, I'll give them a ring tomorrow. thanks for the help so far man

 

[FC89]

Hey guys, I have a complete noob question. I cant just unplug the ballast according to the light times right? Do I have to buy one of those timers they sell?

 

[TxMatt]

http://highpressuresodium.net/high-pressure-sodium-grow-lights-150w-hps-grow-lights-c-34_62_63.html i just bought one from here, they shipped it pretty fast and came with free shipping.

 

[FC89]

Nice matt, that looks like a real good setup, did you buy the enclosed one or the other one with the ballast? I've heard the enclosed can get really really hot, but that other one looks real good because of the MH/HPS conversion.

 

[Zardoz]

I have been looking at getting a 150W HPS as well and I'm undecided on the unit FC89 posted and this one.
http://www.htgsupply.com/viewproduct.asp?productID=49255
Are there any pro's vs cons between these two units beside the difference with the ballast? Will the enclosed ballast really make a really noticable heat difference?

 

[FC89]

I have been looking at getting a 150W HPS as well and I'm undecided on the unit FC89 posted and this one.
http://www.htgsupply.com/viewproduct.asp?productID=49255
Are there any pro's vs cons between these two units beside the difference with the ballast? Will the enclosed ballast really make a really noticable heat difference?

Ive heard the heat difference is really big, especially in enclosed spaces. Like me I'm growing in a mini-fridge and I've been told that it would be WAY to hot to run it in there. Maybe in a closet if you had a fan on it wouldnt be to bad, but I'd get others opinions on it because I myself havent owned it.

 

[TxMatt]

Nice matt, that looks like a real good setup, did you buy the enclosed one or the other one with the ballast? I've heard the enclosed can get really really hot, but that other one looks real good because of the MH/HPS conversion.

I ended up getting the sun syetem 150, i liked it cause the ballast was built into it. I haven't really noticed a temperature difference in my cloest. it seems to stay pretty coool infact.

 

[FC89]

Yeah I would assume that it would run nice in open spaces, but I was thinking of getting that same one, but the heat was the only thing that turned me off

 

[Zardoz]

I thought the same thing.

After reading the 150 watt club thread I noticed a lot of people have both and they both seem to do a great job.

If there is enough ventilation it appears that it won't be much of a difference. I just thought I'd ask and see if this was true.

 

[FC89]

I'll be ordering from them soon, I'll probably use the bulb they gave me for a little bit and if there is any problems I'll order another one. I've only heard a couple issues, but if anyone has had problem with HTG bulbs please post what happened... I'll let you guys know how the bulb is when I get it

 

[dub 6]

i got the 400w hps from htg and the bulb blew... they sent me a whole new unit, ballast, bulb and all. i was suppose to return the original one but uhh... i kinda forgot.. that was like 2 years ago.

 

[FC89]

wow red it seems that alot of the responses on that forum say that alot of their digital systems arent that great. Im getting their 150w HPS system, it says it has a magnetic ballast so I'm hoping that its good. I'll probably order a bulb when I find out what kind it is, just incase it blows. dub it sounds like you got a good deal on your part haha. Anyone else have experience with HTG, or even their 150w HPS system? I'm curious on how it is.