400 watt hps or over 2000 watt cfl?

hgkdehs said:

yea, i know it was a little vague but he did say "for the same cost" and if he was REALLY going to be running 2000w cfl, there is no way possible it would cost the same. 400w is 400w regardless of if it is cfl or hps

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No doubt. I was assuming that he was referring to the cost of purchasing the lights, and not the cost of the electric to run them. But yeah, I agree that it wqqould be totally stupid to run 2000 watts of cfl, when you could spend a little more and buy a couple more 400 watt HPS systems.LOL

darkdestruction420 said:

are you talking actual watts? you can get a 400w hps for under 125 lots of places online so i dont understand how you could get 2000w of cfl at that price........

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Plus $30-40 shipping.

jawbrodt said:

You could be right, but I was assuming that he found some CFL really cheap, and was talking about them being them same price to purchase, not operate. The OP wasn't very specific

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Lowes had either four or six packs of cfls, including 23w, for $.99. It'd take 15 six packs and cost about $20 to get 2070 actual watts. It's all the Y connectors, sockets, and wiring that would add up. But you'd still come in right around the $160 shipped it would cost to get a 400w hps from HTG.

It's completely possible if you know how to shop.

Add up the lumens and if the number is waaay over 50,000, and you plan to hang them on the plants like Christmas tree ornaments, then the answer is yes.


Sorry, couldn't resist.

Secret Jardin said:

2000w of cfl would take up a massive amount of space.

even if you used 65w bulbs you would need 30 of them and the heat would be
much more than a 400w HPS.

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he is is exactly right. yet my 65 CFLs give me 4200 lumes piece which would be ~130,000 lumens with 30 of them, while a 400w hps only emits 50,000 lumes.. the heat would be about equal.. i would much rather have two 400w hps

jawbrodt said:

Add up the lumens and if the number is waaay over 50,000, and you plan to hang them on the plants like Christmas tree ornaments, then the answer is yes.


Sorry, couldn't resist.

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(2000w / 23w) * 1600 lumens each = 139,130 total lumens. So, pretty much equal to a 1000w hps.

That would put out a crapload of heat, though.

Right folk sory not been at home for a few days, I was talking about the running cost, I can get 1 x 400 HPS or 17 x 22 watt CFL that are the equivalent to 120 watt each so thats the 2040 watt. the price of the running cost will be the same. Oh and i think there all warm white bulbs.

You have to go by the actual watts and not the equivalent watts. You would need 92.7 (93) 22w bulbs for 2040 actual watts.

adjusting 93 cfls everyday during The Stretch would be an interesting endeavor

Secret Jardin said:

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lol foool

Right ok was only an idea, oh and id have been placing all the lights on a board so it would have just been a mooving roof on lights and perhaps a few on the walls. might still stick a few around the room for the lower leaves.

Right im not sure what the lumenums are but i just think the cfls that add up to over 2000 watt could be more than the 400 watt HPS. Oh my ballast is not digi, does this make a big diff?

hhhhahahahaahaha people are backing this guy up but he dont even no wtf he is talking about. He said 400 watts of hps or 2000 watts OF EQUIVILNT cfls lololololololol. not actuall cfl watts hahahahaaha wow is all i can say, wtf has riu turned into.

Prick...........................

to be honest guys, lumens are a horrible way to judge our lights growing potential w/plants. its the par that we need to look at, and that shit is pretty complex though.....lumens are related to foot candles, which is the amount of light 1 candle would generate in one cubic ft, more than 1 candle will make that square foot brighter but only till the whole area has the max amount of brightness the candle has, you cant make it get any brighter after that point from my understanding.

bca21 said:

hhhhahahahaahaha people are backing this guy up but he dont even no wtf he is talking about. He said 400 watts of hps or 2000 watts OF EQUIVILNT cfls lololololololol. not actuall cfl watts hahahahaaha wow is all i can say, wtf has riu turned into.

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This guy is mad cuz he has a small penis. So much so, that driving the car isnt enough, he has to post pix of it everywhere to make him feel good about his "problem"

sorry. i had to do that. @sshole

TheConstantGardner said:

adjusting 93 cfls everyday during The Stretch would be an interesting endeavor

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Hahaha, no doubt. It'd probably be pretty hard to control the heat, too.

Green fing3rs said:

Right ok was only an idea, oh and id have been placing all the lights on a board so it would have just been a mooving roof on lights and perhaps a few on the walls. might still stick a few around the room for the lower leaves.

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Go with 300-400 actual watts of cfl, not equvilent. It won't be as good as an hps but you can still get good results.

darkdestruction420 said:

to be honest guys, lumens are a horrible way to judge our lights growing potential w/plants. its the par that we need to look at, and that shit is pretty complex though.....lumens are related to foot candles, which is the amount of light 1 candle would generate in one cubic ft, more than 1 candle will make that square foot brighter but only till the whole area has the max amount of brightness the candle has, you cant make it get any brighter after that point from my understanding.

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I agree with this to a point. Noon on a clear day is about 10k lumens per square foot. I believe that's why we use lumens as comparison. The problem is that distance lowers the lumen output of any light.

Beyond that, think about it like this. Light a candle and turn off the lights. Now light a second candle. Does the room get brighter or does it stay the same? If you were to read by candle light would you want the candle close to you or across the room? Now replace the candle for a light bulb and the book for a plant.

Wow mrblanco, nice to see someone can actually answer. Not dissin others that are helpful but fuk there are some tossers in here. anyway im going to stick with my 400 watt HPS and a few cfls just to light up a few under branches. really thinking about upgrading to 600 watt next time as been told ill get a lot more out of them that way.