Another Metal Halide Thread...

Redwood Ryan

Redwood Ryan

Masterpiece
Messages
4,555
Reaction score
2,584
Location
Virginia
USDA Zone
7A
Hi Nuts,


Over the past few days I've been really heavily considering giving Metal Halide lights a try. I even sent Jerry Meislik an email asking him to convince me as to why I should switch over to them. He promptly sent me back this in his response:

"T5 light/ 4 lamps of 2' = 8500 lumens, probably 15 square feet of growing area
400 Watt metal halide = 40,000 lumens, probably 20+ square feet of growing area
1000 Watt = 100,000 lumens
You have at least 5x the light energy for growing plants.
I think that says it all."

That's really gotten me to search the web all night to try and find out everything I can about Metal Halide lights. I use T5s right now, but my trees don't really seem to flourish through the winter, they just kind of sit there.

So what I've been considering is buying a 400 or 600 watt fixture. I feel that the 1000W would add far too much to the monthly electric bill. I know Jerry's got seven 1000W Metal Halides that he uses, I just never asked him how much he pays per month ;)

Anyone else grow under Metal Halides and would recommend me switching from T5s to MH? Anyone use 1000W MHs, and if so, how much of an increase did you see in your monthly bill? Any other comments are welcome as well.


Thanks!


P.S. I know Greg is a big Metal Halide guy (for his reefs, at least).
 
Of course you are going to have better results with metal halide than fluorescents. Pot growers have known this for a long time. Your electric bill will increase about $30 per month with 1000 watts x 12 hours per day x $.08 per kilowatt hour. A 600 watt would increase your bill about $20 per month. You can use the heat radiated to help heat your house in winter, offsetting the cost somewhat. Which one to use (400 or 600 or 1000 ) depends on how big an area you want to cover.
 
Ryan if you wait a couple months and you have the ability to do basic wiring I will be putting together an led setup and running some tests and it might be something you might want to do. BNut shared a link with me on a MH thread I posted a couple weeks ago. I too was about to buy MH but not anymore. I don't have the time to check for that thread but look for it and find that link he left me. Reef guys are making these lights for their tanks and they work with great success. I am researching multichip LEDs and trying to find local suppliers. Not something easy to do as most are all overseas and through eBay. So I had open an eBay and paypal account again set that all up since I couldn't remember my old password username.
And from what I can put together a light setup for my in closure (don't hold me to this) would cost about $300. This would supply me with way more light that's needed, cost almost nothing to operate, and the LEDs won't burn out for 22,000 hours.

Here is a YouTube link to a guy that builds these lights. He is from Sweden or something but speaks English.
Oh and listen to what he is saying about the amps these lights use. Lol is ridiculously low compared to any other light source.

Let me know what you think. I know I'm hooked!!!!
 
Ryan, I had a MH lamp some time ago to propagate seedlings with inside. Someone gave me the lamp, so I tried it for a while. My electric bill soared that year.... And actually the drug police look for that kind of spike, and also the heat and temp signature coming out of peoples windows to find growers of illegal substances. It wasn't worth it to me, so I'm using CFL's now. I can do more of them for less $$..including the purchase price. LED's are coming...
 
Good luck with the LED lights, you will need it. The technology isn't there yet. If it was, commercial growers would be using it. As it stands, LEDs are used only for supplemental lighting, not as a main light source. You can go to the grow store and see side by side comparisons of halide and LED growing the same plants. The guys running the store will tell you the same thing.

Also, a 400 watt halide lamp will not make your electric bill "soar". A 400 watt halide lamp costs about 50 cents a day to run. 400 watts of fluorescent costs exactly the same. The biggest indoor halide lamp made will only increase your electric bill $30 per month.

The Supreme Court has ruled that police cannot use heat signatures or electric usage to spy on people's houses. They actually need real relevant info for a search warrant. Read up on Operation Green Sweep if you want to see how badly the DEA screwed up using that technology.
 
davetree said:
As it stands, LEDs are used only for supplemental lighting, not as a main light source.
Click to expand...



Welllll, that's what we in the entertaining lighting field were saying to each other a few short years ago. Now it's what is becoming industry standard. And it's very very very bright. They've even worked out the "white" light kinks. Not to mention, they can do it as UV blacklights now!
So very expensive, but like I said, it's coming.
 
I don't disagree that LED is the future. It's just not there yet for growing plants.
 
Thanks for the replies everyone!

davetree- I believe we pay something like $0.12 per kilowatt hour here, so a 1000W may actually be a bit too costly at that price, and I'm sure would cost me more than $30 to run per month. A 600 may be worth it though.

Kevster and Judy- I think you forgot to post the Youtube link Kevster ;). I have read through that thread and I'm just not sure, as davetree said, that LEDs are really there yet. I've searched and searched online and haven't found too much information about people who have done side by side tests using LEDs and other lights. It'd be great if I could see how plants respond to them, but until then, I'm just not sure...
 
600 watts x $.12/kwh x 12 hours per day = about $25 per month. Also you can use the light as a heat source.
 
I agree, if you are looking for something now, LED's for growing systems are not ready. But I would say we should start seeing it in the next year to two years, if the speed of development that I've seen in my work is a good gauge.
 
Thank you both.

I went and took a look at the electric bill (my parents pay :rolleyes:) and couldn't find anything about cost of Kilowatts per hour, but I did find out that we pay a levelized bill, which probably doesn't matter :D

I keep reading about safety issues with halides though, people say they can be a fire hazard, and I'm a big worry wort when it comes to things like that. Any amount of water hits the bulb and boom, fire hazard.
 
Redwood Ryan said:
I keep reading about safety issues with halides though, people say they can be a fire hazard, and I'm a big worry wort when it comes to things like that. Any amount of water hits the bulb and boom, fire hazard.
Click to expand...

You definitely don't want to get water on one of those hot bulbs! But...I had a 400 watt fixture that I used years ago to grow orchids. The fixture had a piece of heavy glass that protected the bulb, so even if I sprayed water on the plants it couldn't reach the bulb. I'd imagine any fixture would have to have that protective glass. Other than that, I don't think there's really that much of a fire hazard, as long as you keep flammable objects away from the bulb and keep the ballast in a ventilated area (it gets hot as well)...and don't do anything "silly" with the electrical supply.

Chris
 
coh said:
You definitely don't want to get water on one of those hot bulbs! But...I had a 400 watt fixture that I used years ago to grow orchids. The fixture had a piece of heavy glass that protected the bulb, so even if I sprayed water on the plants it couldn't reach the bulb. I'd imagine any fixture would have to have that protective glass. Other than that, I don't think there's really that much of a fire hazard, as long as you keep flammable objects away from the bulb and keep the ballast in a ventilated area (it gets hot as well)...and don't do anything "silly" with the electrical supply.

Chris
Click to expand...


Ah okay, that makes me feel better, thanks Chris.

Another thing I'm wondering, is would it even be worth switching from a four foot, four bulb T5 to a 400W Metal Halide? Or would 400W not be enough to make a difference and I should strive for a 600W?
 
I have had water sprayed directly on hot halide bulbs and they
Have never broken. It's not something you want to make a practice of however.

I wouldn't buy the dimmable light. Why ? Get a standard halide fixture, either a 400 or a 600 will give better results than any fluorescent. Also cheaper than buying one with a gimmick ballast. The bulbs, which last a long time, are not that expensive to replace.
 
davetree said:
I have had water sprayed directly on hot halide bulbs and they
Have never broken. It's not something you want to make a practice of however.

I wouldn't buy the dimmable light. Why ? Get a standard halide fixture, either a 400 or a 600 will give better results than any fluorescent. Also cheaper than buying one with a gimmick ballast. The bulbs, which last a long time, are not that expensive to replace.
Click to expand...

Thanks Dave. I've been searching the web for decent 600W fixtures but really have been having trouble. You have any links to sites that sell them for a decent price?

Then again, if you say even a 400W fixture will do better than a fluorescent, I'd be fine going 400W as well.
 
Sorry for the missing YouTube link.
Check out this video on YouTube:<br/><br/>http://youtu.be/fSPnDY557AA

As Dave and Judy both said led is not here yet commercially. What they sell in stores will not be enough.

But these are not sold in stores. These are DIY lights. And they aren't the cheap 3-5 watt led strips they sell in grow shops. These are MULTICHIP LED. These guys are making 200+pure watt (not equile to) led lights for their reef tanks and doing awesome.

Dave as far as "commercial sales", someone has to invent it first. And all these reef tank people are doing it to cut out heat build up.

LED also come in all color spectrums so you can focus on the 420mn to push green growth.
 
Great video, thanks Kevster.

I think I'll just get a Metal Halide now and wait and see how LEDs improve over the next few years.

That brings up the question again of what kind of halide wattage should I be looking for. Would a 400W make enough of a difference between the fluorescents, or should I go for a 600W?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

BrianBay9
Another valley oak ROR
Replies
1
Views
99
misfit11
misfit11
WEI
another pot collection
2
Replies
31
Views
2K
WEI
WEI
S
Another twisty Shimpaku
Replies
4
Views
297
Shibui
S
pmalelis
Another Juniper ID thread
Replies
7
Views
395
pmalelis
pmalelis
Davidlpf
Another fig in the wall
Replies
5
Views
365
WNC Bonsai
WNC Bonsai
Back
Top Bottom