What's new
  • Please note members who been with us for more than 10 years have been upgraded to "Veteran" status and will receive exclusive benefits. If you wish to find out more about this or support IcMag and get same benefits, check this thread here.
  • Important notice: ICMag's T.O.U. has been updated. Please review it here. For your convenience, it is also available in the main forum menu, under 'Quick Links"!

Best 600w HPS Bulb?

Bob-Zilla

Member
Pay attention to Whazzup, the man backs up most everything he says with data.
1.Philips has the best output in bulbs on the market,for our purposes.
2.Hortilux seems to be the next best option.
 

OutlawBubbles

New member
Great Topic!

Great Topic!

I've used or seen the Digilux, Lumatek & Plantmax 600w in action! I'm currently using a 600 Lumatek HPS as 1 of my bulbs. I'm running 2 - 600w system. (1200w Total) The Lumatek is very Red! The only problem I have w/ it, is that it is a very HOT Light! I'm running it next to a bulb you didn't mention. A 600w HTG Supply Digital Plus HPS.
It says on the box that it has 30% more blue than other HPS & is 95,000 Lumes! It does have more Blue then any HPS (non-dual arc) I've ever seen! I am doing a test to see if the Lumatek is worth an extra $30-$35. But not withstanding, I'm only into the 1st month of this grow...
The HTG 600w Digital Plus is a High Quality HPS! And well worth the $40-$50 price tag.
But of the HPS you asked about, the Lumatek & Digilux are 2 great lights! Worth there $70 price tag.
But I swear, try the HTG Digital Plus! I'll just say 1 last thing about this bulb...
It is the coolest HPS I've ever seen! I used it (by itself) for the 1st 3 weeks of June, w/o any fan venting; the 600w ran at a perfect 75-80F! And I've seen my T5's in my Momma Room run at 90F in the summer!
(In June, July & August...My house gets HOT!!!)
peace & stayhigh,
Outlaw Bubbles
DWC ~ Bubbleponics
Medical Farmer
 

whazzup

Member
Veteran
But I swear, try the HTG Digital Plus! I'll just say 1 last thing about this bulb...
It is the coolest HPS I've ever seen! I used it (by itself) for the 1st 3 weeks of June, w/o any fan venting; the 600w ran at a perfect 75-80F! And I've seen my T5's in my Momma Room run at 90F in the summer!Medical Farmer
Any HPS outputs >60% of heat in the form of infrared. If a lamp is cool that might indicate that it does not come to full power on your ballast. You can check that by measuring the power of the ballast, it should be (at 100%) between 635 and 650 depending on the type of electronic ballast.Anything lower indicates a lamp/ballast combination that is not very suitable as the lamp does not come to 100% power in that combination.
 
I Loved the ushio when i was running it. i currently have the digilux and it's a nice bulb but it's slightly pink. the ushio burnt out on me after exactly 1 year and a month so if you change your bulbs every 9 months like you're suppose to... it's nothing to worry about. another thing that had me a bit worried... the metal support next to the arc tube bent and was touching the glass for about the last 4 months of the bulb's life. not sure if that was something to worry about or not.

i was interested in those lumatek's as well, i guess they are suppose to work well with the super lumens feature on their ballast so i am quite curious still. i run a phantom 600 so that feature doesn't apply to me but i was wondering about color, life of the bulb, etc.

reason i went with ushio originally was because the kelvin rating was the same as the trusted hortilux (2100K), but with higher output. the more i write about the thing... makes me want to order another one now.
 

whazzup

Member
Veteran
I Loved the ushio when i was running it. i currently have the digilux and it's a nice bulb but it's slightly pink. the ushio burnt out on me after exactly 1 year and a month so if you change your bulbs every 9 months like you're suppose to... it's nothing to worry about. another thing that had me a bit worried... the metal support next to the arc tube bent and was touching the glass for about the last 4 months of the bulb's life. not sure if that was something to worry about or not.
Yes indeed you should worry about that. Most 50/60 Hz lamps are not suitable for high frequency. When the wireframe bends because it can not withstand high frequency current and touches the glass it can break, I can show you pictures what this looks like:
attachment.php

attachment.php

We got to this point in a controlled way. If you do not stop when this occurs, next time you fire it can be its last. You also see that it pulls the arc tube out of focus of the reflector. That can cost you valuable light and uniformity.

Is that a lamp problem? No it is not if the lamp was specified just for magnetic ballasts, yes it is if this lamp was recommended for use with electronic ballasts. In the first case it is mis-use of the product, in the second it's product failure.
 

Attachments

  • P1100943.jpg
    P1100943.jpg
    29.3 KB · Views: 14
  • P1100946.jpg
    P1100946.jpg
    23.8 KB · Views: 16

sv4run

Member
Damn, that looks funny and dangerous.

Here you can see what happend to one of my bulbs a few days ago. Even saw flame at the end of broken tube. And color of tube was ocean blue. Fortunately this happend when light should turn on and i had backup bulb.
picture.php
 

NorCalZero

Member
I am using the Digilux with quantum ballast and have had zero problems so far. I also want to try the Ushio at some point. I have an older Hortilux as a back-up bulb and it is about half the size of the Digilux. I haven't noticed any pink colors yet, just a little orange when you turn ballast down.
 

whazzup

Member
Veteran
[YOUTUBEIF]i8OKKzwRn1A[/YOUTUBEIF]This is what you see when the arc tube starts leaking. The Mercury damps down at the cold side of the lamp. The leak is at the lamp holder side. I was lucky to detect this, when it starts leaking things evolve fast as you can see.
 

Shafto

Member
Due to difference in output from electronic ballasts, magnetic ballasts, and even variance bulb to bulb of the same type, it's nearly impossible for anyone to test the difference.

I've only been testing 7 600W bulbs at a time as I need them, all in the same ballast, output varies up to 15%, many different brands, none seem to be any better than another for consistency.

If you compared a "good" bulb of brand A to a "bad" one of brand B in one test, and then got a "bad" one of brand A and a "good" one of brand B for your next test, results would be confusing. You have to check with a light meter, but this isn't so simple either.. as an affordable light meter measures lumens, which is irrelevant to plants. Using a lumen meter to measure between the same brand of bulb is acceptable, but still fallible due to difference in spectrum from different ratios of metals in the arc tube. Between bulbs of a different brand it's utterly useless to tell you anything.

It all gets quite complex the further you go down the rabbit hole. Cheap bulbs do the trick. When they're not all on the same ballast being tested they vary up to 20% output from the ballast differences, but so do the expensive bulbs. It would be impossible to test anything with these kinds of variance between bulbs.
 

whazzup

Member
Veteran
how do you measure the output? You can not just hang a lumens meter under your reflector. Even the arc tube size will influence what you read. Whether the output is good or not, by measure the input of the ballast with all lamps you can determine which might be a match with the ballast.

Lamp manufacturers and light researchers us a high frequency power analyzer to measure what goes to the lamp.
 

jgrow

Member
Whazzup do the Phillips EL bulb work with lumatek ballasts? I see its only recommended for Gavitas.
 

whazzup

Member
Veteran
correct, they don't. They will probably fire but will not run stable. The EL lamps have been designed for a higher frequency, above 100 kHz. Philips designed these lamps together with their greenvision ballasts: It's the lamp and ballast combination that work in synergy. .
 
While I love to play who did what...

While I love to play who did what...

Several of you have complained, or at least one of you -- About failing Ballasts and Bulbs.

While Bulbs are typically without damage.. faulty, crappy electrical management, as well as pet dander / droppings/drippings , shed skin (yours+whatever else), dust - ETC. you get the point.. will hurt your lifespan of the bulb. You also have to wonder if you have a bad electrical outlet.. or too much in 1 spot.. making ware and tear even more prevalent.

The best place for a Grow; is CLEAN. free of unnecessary crap.
in places like that where bulbs are needed - indoors at a grow, it most assuredly needs to be safe.

(Ducted hoods are awesome)

Outdoors is great - when able

Dedicated rooms rock, Tents work pretty good too.

Air Air Air... and at least every other week.. clean your BULBS... just... get there before they turn on, open them all up (hoods) and clean them.. then close um back up and move on..

GG =) Sounds like a win.
 
i've started using the Ushio 600w Opti-Red.. over the Ultrasun 600w "el-Cheapo" lamp.

I Completely love the Ushio.. the difference was STARK.

used the Ultrasun 600w for about 2-3 weeks before i got the Ushio in the mail with some growth.. but when i put the ushio in, it went much better.

I recommend for Grow stage for sure..
Might get a second one for my flowering spot, its an HPS.. not a MH.. and its just the HPS bulb section..

I have also been considering taking the extra plunge and using a hortilux 600w enhanced.. (i was gonna go red, rather than the super blue)
 
Top