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Ceramic Metal Halide (CMH)

honeyoil

Member
I am planning to set up a vertical grow with two CMH bulbs, one above the other with vertical cool tubes. I have the top bulb pointed down. Can these bulbs be used in either vertical orientation? Is there an advantage to mounting them in either A or B below? I assume A is better since it points the tip of the bottom bulb up toward the growing plants rather than down at the floor. Comments?

Vertical mounting method A

------- <--- ceiling

|----
| [] <--- mogul socket
| O <--- cmh vertical bulb with tip pointed down
|
|
|---- <--- heat tape joining cool tubes
|
|
| O <--- cmh vertical bulb with tip pointed up
| [] <--- mogul socket
|----

------- <--- floor

Vertical mounting method B

------- <--- ceiling

|----
| [] <--- mogul socket
| O <--- cmh vertical bulb with tip pointed down
|
|
|---- <--- heat tape joining cool tubes
| [] <--- mogul socket
| O <--- cmh vertical bulb with tip pointed down
|
|
|----

------- <--- floor

Did you ever do this? This is exactly what I am considering for my 4x4.5x8 flower room. I'd love to hear about the dual cool tubes with the 2 400W CMH.
 

Anti

Sorcerer's Apprentice
Veteran
Did you ever do this? This is exactly what I am considering for my 4x4.5x8 flower room. I'd love to hear about the dual cool tubes with the 2 400W CMH.

I'm considering doing something very similar, but without the cool tubes. I've seen several vert setups without them, even with hps. A fan directly beneath and good extraction ought to be able to do the trick.
 

honeyoil

Member
I would love to skip the cool tubes if possible. IT would be nice to not lose 8% of my light. I can exhaust my room quickly. I could put a fan under the 2 bulbs in the center. I was just worried about the heat in my small 4x4.5x9 room and the distance from the bulb to the plants. I guess I can try, and if the exhaust is on all the time, I will get the cool tubes.
 

thinkin

Member
4k or 3k which

4k or 3k which

Searched, read and read some more..

Plan:
running from cfls to middle of veg
then CMH from mid veg to flush.

I saw only one post mention 4k was perferrable to 3k.

knowing 3k has more lums and lower spectrum
knowing 4k more efficent and mid spectrum

which?
I am leaning towards the 3k. more red more lums.

fyi- 150w clear coat
 
i want this info also, all i see are the 250 bulbs in 4k, is it the 3k or the 4k that i want? i was under the impression the 3k were best, thx for any shared wisdom
 

messn'n'gommin'

ember
Veteran
I believe it's the 4K lamps we want. They offer a better overall spectrum than than the 3K. If you're going to use a 3K you may be just as well off going with a cheaper generic HPS lamp. Which kind of defeats the purpose of using the CMH.
 

StealthDragon

Recovering UO addict.
Veteran
afaik 4k is all we want ...not only for the spectrum(debatable of course) but the 4k bulbs are open fixture rated while the 3k bulbs are closed fixture rated. Open fixture = safer.
 
thats all i needed guys, thx for that, safety first, ill be running horizontal strickly with it also as the u.v light in a vertical circular is to toxic to fuck with for ones eyes imo.
 
A big NO to electronic ballasts with CMH bulbs

A big NO to electronic ballasts with CMH bulbs

Just thought I would chime in with a personal experience on trying to use an electronic ballast with a CMH bulb. Ive been using a 400 watt CMH with a magnetic ballast for the last 90 days as a finishing light in my flower room. Its been working great to frost up the colas in the last two weeks of flower (I use 1000 watt HPS for the rest of flower). I use a Galaxy electronic ballast to run my regular metal halide bulb in the veg room, and it puts out *way* more light than a magnetic HPS ballast (11-20% compared to two core'n'coils I tested it against). Thinking that perhaps it might have the same effect on my CMH bulb, I swapped them out to see what happened...

The bulb lit immediately and brightly, but a serious flicker started, too. This lasted for about 5 minutes until the bulb went out completely. Yikes! I shut off the ballast, allowed the bulb to cool for 15 minutes, then reconnected the magnetic ballast. It fired up as normal with no problems, so hopefully I didn't cause any long-term damage. Lesson learned - stick with old school ballasts when it comes to CMH technology. :yes:
 

bilgeweed

Member
It's time for me to replace my Philips CMH 150W bulb- Has anyone been able to compare the 3K and 4K bulbs. Is there a consensus as to which is better ?
 

StealthDragon

Recovering UO addict.
Veteran
afaik 4k is all we want ...not only for the spectrum(debatable of course) but the 4k bulbs are open fixture rated while the 3k bulbs are closed fixture rated. Open fixture = safer.

.....from 4 posts up.
 
Ushio conversion bulb

Ushio conversion bulb

Is anyone familiar with the Ushio UHI-S400DD Ultra-Arc bulb? It's not a CMH, but a HPS to MH conversion bulb that runs on a HPS ballast. Same price as a CMH, slightly less output, *but* it is rated at 5200 K. I'm not aware of a CMH bulb that runs that high and darn few metal halides (besides insanely priced Sun Pulse bulbs) that do, either.

http://www.ushio.com/Files/catalog/GLcatalog75-78.pdf

Since I'm only using my CMH in the last 2 weeks of flower to promote frostiness, this seems like a potentially better option than even a CMH. Thoughts?
 

onegreenday

Active member
Veteran
Philips Energy Advantage CDM lamps with AllStart™ Technology

Philips Energy Advantage CDM lamps with AllStart™ Technology

I don't see this in the a thread search.

The spec's seem a lot like the CMH lamp

only they operate in plain metal halide balast

and use only 330 watts w/ 100 lumens per watt (nice)

and long life w/ lumen maintenance.

maybe they need their own thread...........

==========

here's a link :http://advancedtechlighting.com/cdmallstart.htm

Philips Energy Advantage CDM AllStart
.
Direct retrofit with immediate energy savings!
..
Use on Metal Halide Ballast's


Philips Energy Advantage CDM lamps with AllStart™ Technology

A high-efficiency protected “O” rated CDM lighting solution that provides energy savings without compromising light quality.

UPDATED 1.5 Year Warranty

Direct retrofit lamp to both probe and pulse start magnetic ballasts

Utilizes 175, 250, 400 Watt Metal Halide Probe Or Pulse Start Ballasts

A true universal operation that does not affect lamp life

Long life ≥ 20,000 hrs rated average life

Energy savings up to 18%*

100 Lumen Per Watt

Color temp is 4100K

Excellent Color Stability, High CRI 85 - 90


80%+ Lumen Maintenance Stays brighter, longer.


No Shut Off Required


Ideal for 24-hour a day, 7-day a week operations
(Re-lamp fixtures at or before the end of rated life)


Patented Coil Design Offers Protection
for Open Fixture Rating


Ideal for indoor and outdoor applications
of industrial facilities and warehouses

* 330W CDM lamp with AllStart™Technology compared to 400W quartz Metal Halide lamp.

Note These Do not operate on HPS High Presure Sodium Ballasts.
See the HPS Retro-White CMH Page Link
 

messn'n'gommin'

ember
Veteran
My apologies for not being more specific, but I seem to remember a couple of posts where someone talked about them specifically. They seemed pretty stoked about them. I was setup with the CMH and more expense wasn't in the cards, so I made a mental note to look into them at a later time. The best I can tell you is that (at 30 posts/page) you might find it somewhere around page 50 to about 100. Sorry man, I wish I could have been more help.
 
Last edited:

onegreenday

Active member
Veteran
thanks messn'....I'll try them side by side with my CMH

and get back with some feedback. If they pan-out ; they worth a thread

cause the ballast (magnetic are cheap) the bulb is a few $$$ more

than CMH...on the bulb..but the electricity savings will pay-back..

My apologies for not being more specific, but I seem to remember a couple of posts where someone talked about them specifically. They seemed pretty stoked about them. I was setup with the CMH and more expense wasn't in the cards, so I made a mental note to look into them at a later time. The best I can tell you is that you might find it somewhere around posts 50 to about 100. Sorry man, I wish I could have been more help.
 

gardenbug

Member
Not sure if this has been posted yet, but HTGsupply has a cmh setup on their website now. Cut and paste to follow...

We are proud to introduce our CMH grow light system.



The CMH lamp has developed quite a following in the indoor grow industry. The lamp is the closest thing to a “true sun” spectrum than any other grow lamp available. Our CMH system provides the bright white spectrum of a typical MH lamp and combines it with the powerful red spectrum of the HPS lamp. The growers who have tried it rave about the results.



The lamp is made for us by GE.



Specs:

41,000 lumens
CRI = 80 (color rendering)
Universal Burn Position (horizontal or vertical)
20,000 hour lifetime
1 year warranty
 

onegreenday

Active member
Veteran
It's for enclosed fixture & HTG has it in an open reflector.
color temp is 3000K (Phillips CMH is over 4K) on GE pull sheet.
The spectrum chart does not look as good as the Phillips chart
but there's been discussion here on the meaning of the charts.

It does not have that wire wrap around for greater safety.

Not sure if this has been posted yet, but HTGsupply has a cmh setup on their website now. Cut and paste to follow...

We are proud to introduce our CMH grow light system.



The CMH lamp has developed quite a following in the indoor grow industry. The lamp is the closest thing to a “true sun” spectrum than any other grow lamp available. Our CMH system provides the bright white spectrum of a typical MH lamp and combines it with the powerful red spectrum of the HPS lamp. The growers who have tried it rave about the results.



The lamp is made for us by GE.



Specs:

41,000 lumens
CRI = 80 (color rendering)
Universal Burn Position (horizontal or vertical)
20,000 hour lifetime
1 year warranty
 
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