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"!

Bulb useful life

How long do you use you light bulbs before changing them?

I change my 600 watt HPS Hortilux bulbs about once a year, or every 3-4 grows. Is that often enough?
 

Phaeton

Speed of Dark
Veteran
I hate being honest, but...

The CMH get changed after five years whether they need it or not. The fluorescents used for UVB get changed every four or five years, some brands do better than others.
LEDs are used until a third of the diodes no longer emit.

I did the one year changes when I first began back in the 1990's but find no disadvantage to running longer. I have four spectrum meters and a quantum flux meter used to setup and check the lights.

The replacement schedule recommended is designed for sales of new lights by the manufacturers. I find them very wasteful of good lighting.
 

ProfessorPAR

New member
Most lamp manufacturers or fixture manufacturers will tell you what the lamp will do over time.
For example this 1000W DE Lamp, you will know that in 10,000 hours, the survival rate is about 85% and the photon flux maintenance is about 95%.

Of course not everybody specifies this.. They should though..

picture.php
 

MrBungle

Active member
I noticed a difference in yield after 6 months on my 1kw single ended HPS bulbs... can go a lil further with high end bulbs but I just plan on buying 2 a year....



Now I'm using a Double Ended HPS I plan on letting it go about a year to see how things go...
 

Latest posts

Latest posts

Top