Fake CFLs?

Anyone else have experience with fake CFLs?

I have two CFLs lamps, firstly a "125w" Pro-Star 6500k lamp which came bundled with some other stuff I bought a couple months back. Eventually I decided to use it for seedlings... I tested it at 85w on a watt meter. Thinking I might have faulty wiring somewhere I bought another lamp holder and tried it on another mains ring... same result.

I bought a 300w cfl (5400k Omega branded) to have as a "just incase" lamp laying around. Tested it at the wall... 175w! Doing some googling I've seen loads of people report the 300w lamps are often fakes and run under 200w.

So is this really that common? Or am I just that unlucky?

Lol, that's sucks. Never heard of that. Why not grab a 250 watt hps instead of a 300 watt CFL. It'll actually pull at least 255 watts and put out a lot more light than a 300 watt cfl. Heat should be similar.


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kmog33 said:

Lol, that's sucks. Never heard of that. Why not grab a 250 watt hps instead of a 300 watt CFL. It'll actually pull at least 255 watts and put out a lot more light than a 300 watt cfl. Heat should be similar.


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Well it was just supposed to be a spare lamp in case I have an emergency with my main lights or heat/ventilation. I just needed something simple I can plug in and not stress about Don't really want to be using fake lights (can I trust they're safe?).

loftygoals said:

Anyone else have experience with fake CFLs?
So is this really that common? Or am I just that unlucky?

Click to expand...

I am an oem manufacturer and can tell you this is quite common (WeedBulbs.com). This screwy practice is referred to as marked watts and actual watts. Our lamps are 24 to 26 watts depending upon slight variances of manufacturing... we mark them as 24 watts.

This is the biz these days thieves selling bent gear is typical,

but no different from the expectations of the above carpet bagger hoping to steal ur cash

stick to what you know best and skipping the sales tax is a must for early growers

good luck