Replacing HPS Bulbs

[gtotoys1]

I run hortilux as well and change out every 10 months. No exceptions

 

[sweetestsin420]

1

 

[MassSuperSkunk]

I change bulbs after every 2 crops. From reading my light meter there is more than a 15% loss after 5 months of 12/12.

 

[SeaMaiden]

im actually using a plusrite,next to a htgsupply "agromax" 400w hps,with supposedly 30% blue light,so a cheap standard bulb,next to an expensive growlight bulb.

i can visibly and noticeably see that the agromax bulb is brighter than the cheap bulb,significantly brighter,with a whiter and more natural light,than the dull-red orange of the cheap bulb.

also the agromax bulb starts off a crisp,white light,then gradually turns into the hps spectrum,

the cheap bulb starts off orange red and ends up the same spectrum,so from what i can see,the expensive horticulture bulb outperforms the cheap,standard hps bulb.im really excited to try the lumatek enhanced par bulbs.

Hey sweetest, are you noticing any differences between the plants themselves? I'm seriously cheap, was using Plantmax and last week went ahead and bought those Plusrites. I was going to keep the Plusrites for emergencies, because I discovered I'd already bought a pair of HPS bulbs last year or the year before.

The Lumateks start out that bluish-white color, then shift to HPS red-orange as they fire up. They weren't playing well with my Quantum digi ballast... or was it my mag coil ballast...? It's been too long to recall.

 

[Femora]

Are the dual arc hps-mh as good as they seem to be?
Sorry to pop a bit ot..

 

[Muleskinner]

I can't speak to cheap bulbs, but the professional horticulture ones are rated to run MUCH longer than 2-3 grows.

With Philips Greenpower HPS bulbs the specs tell you to re-lamp after 40% of rated life, at which time the HPS will still be operating at 93% of original lumens. The bulbs are rated at 24,000 of life, so on 12/12 cycle that means about 2 years and three months (27 months).

So that's 27 months and it's still running 93%. So you could easily stretch it to 2.5-3 years and get 90%.

I haven't checked lately but I believe the Hortilux HPS's have generally the same durability specs as Philips.

Now MH is a different story. Most bulbs are rated 10,000 hours. 40% of rated life at 18/6 is only around 7 months, and the bulb will not be doing 93% at that time, probably more like 70-80ish.

If you poke around the internet you can find the light curves for almost every manufacturer's bulbs. It puts things in perspective - are you sure you don't want to pay a little more for Philips or Hortilux, when you know it'll last 3 years????

 

[Greenheart]

My 1k eye horti is almost 2 years. I forget exactly how old but I am noticing a bit more foxtails in the final weeks. I keep getting this nagging feeling that growth will improve once I replace it.

 

[Biosynthesis]

Every 2 runs

 

[greekgardner]

every 6 months,with eye hortilux...........