The wrong lamp

[leafminer]

Huh . . . we all make mistakes. My cheap lamp arrived. An EYE 450W self-ballasted mercury vapour.
Actually the spectrum looks not bad - lots of yellow and red in there. Plus the high frequency blues from the mercury. But the EFFICIENCY!

It only puts out 10K lumens for 450W input! That is 2/3 of what a single 150W HPS puts out.

I think this lamp is going to be used for lighting the garage for occasional games of table tennis, not for growing.

 

[Alistair]

Apparently when you ordered you didn't know that it only put 10k lumens. That is not efficient at all. What a bummer!

 

[fleshstain]

sorry to hear about the mess up....

 

[leafminer]

It wasn't very expensive. Inspecting it carefully I can see what they mean by 'self ballasted'. The thing has a halogen lamp built into it - so basically it is a halogen lamp in series with a mercury vapour lamp. And as we know, halogen lamps are virtually useless, terrible efficiency. That must be why the lumen output is so poor.
Lesson: DON'T buy 'self ballasted' lamps!

 

[BBFan]

It wasn't very expensive. Inspecting it carefully I can see what they mean by 'self ballasted'. The thing has a halogen lamp built into it - so basically it is a halogen lamp in series with a mercury vapour lamp. And as we know, halogen lamps are virtually useless, terrible efficiency. That must be why the lumen output is so poor.
Lesson: DON'T buy 'self ballasted' lamps!

Hey Leafminer!

Ouch! Mercury Vapor, as far as plants go, is good for generating heat ,
but that's it.

However, I use a self-ballasted Mercury Vapor UVB light to add UVB to my grows- so not all of them are useless.

 

[leafminer]

Wouldn't it be a lot more efficient to use a UVB lamp that has a ballast?

 

[BBFan]

Wouldn't it be a lot more efficient to use a UVB lamp that has a ballast?

By using a self-ballasted bulb, you can you a standard fixture (preferably a ceramic base to handle heat issues). At this point I am still experimenting with UVB and in actuality, MV generates too much heat to be a long term solution.

It was effective for testing purposes though.

 

[leafminer]

Yeah I just picked up a ceramic mogul base yesterday in the flea market for a dollar. I'll have to get a couple of spade connectors for the terminals - I am not going to solder them with a lamp in there that uses 450W! No, I'll use that lamp just for illuminating the occasional table tennis match . . .

Actually if you REALLY want to experiment with UV, a broken HPS puts out dangerous amounts of it. I have always wondered about that, running a bare arc tube! Pretty dangerous!

 

[BBFan]

Actually if you REALLY want to experiment with UV, a broken HPS puts out dangerous amounts of it. I have always wondered about that, running a bare arc tube! Pretty dangerous!

Wouldn't a HPS put out IR? A MH does put out a very small amount of UV light- even when not broken.

But just the same I think I'll stick with "un-broken" lamps. Call me crazy!

 

[leafminer]

According to the safety information on the HPS lamps, if the outer envelope is broken then the lamp puts out physically dangerous amounts of UV - enough to cause skin burns. I have no idea what it would do to MJ. Besides which, running a bare, white-hot arc tube in free air, would be pretty damn dangerous. Would make an interesting experiment in controlled, safe, conditions (IE NOT in a grow room!)