35w hps or 70w hps or 150w hps or 250w hps?

Dabu

Dabu

Well-Known Member
*Feel free to skip this paragraph and go straight to the cost comparisons*

I'm currently vegging 3 plants (about 3 weeks old), and 2 more seedlings (1 week old). I'm going to try LST (low stress training) on one of them in a big 18 inch pot. I have 8+ 23w CFLs, and they put out a ton of light (more than enough for the baby plants thus far) but I know that in the upcoming weeks I will need side lights to reach their branches. I'm thinking about getting an HPS or two or three, but because of my relatively small grow, I am shying away from using a 400 watt hps (definitely not a 1000 watt).

Some main reasons for not wanting a super big hps:

- excess heat
- excess wasted electricity: 400 watts x 20 hrs / day = 8 kwHr / day (which will add an extra $20 or $30 to my bill each month
- possible close-range leaf-burn


Has anyone ever used a 35 or 70 or 150 or 250 watt hps? I've looked on 1000bulbs.com and they have ballasts for all sizes, including the smaller ones:

(excuse any redundancy in labeling below)

Cost comparison for ballasts:

35 watt HPS Ballast: $13.60 each
50 watt HPS Ballast: $14.40 each
70 watt HPS Ballast: $16.29 each
100 watt HPS Ballast: $17.06 each
150 watt HPS Ballast: $40.99 each
200 watt HPS Ballast: $45.97 each
250 watt HPS Ballast: $49.61 each
400 watt HPS Ballast: $60.14 each
600 watt HPS Ballast: $97.70 each
1000 watt HPS Ballast: $113.01 each

I know there are other complete kits, such as ones from ebay and htgsupply.com which are better for the 400/600/1000 watt hps systems, but 1000bulbs gave me a good idea of the price range of lower bulbs.

I am leaning towards a 70 or 150 or 250 watt HPS Ballast.

What do you think?
 
M

muyoso

Well-Known Member
You know, HTG sells 150w and 250w HPS systems as well. Its a lot simpler than trying to piece one together. And it will be cheaper too. Depending on size of grow area, you should go with about a 400w HPS to grow 5 plants. They get hot though, so venting is required.
 
Dabu

Dabu

Well-Known Member
muyoso said:
You know, HTG sells 150w and 250w HPS systems as well. Its a lot simpler than trying to piece one together. And it will be cheaper too. Depending on size of grow area, you should go with about a 400w HPS to grow 5 plants. They get hot though, so venting is required.
Click to expand...
Can you link me their 150w and 250w systems?

*Edit: I believe you, I just a newb at navigating some websites.
 
Dabu

Dabu

Well-Known Member
muyoso said:
High Tech Garden Supply

No matter which wattage you go for, they are all pretty much the same price.
Click to expand...
Which makes me want to get the 400 watt system for $95 (or the $115 better quality one).

>.< But I don't know if I necessarily need 400 watts of power for the amount I'm growing. Will 400 watts x 18 hrs a day make a significant jump in my energy usage? I mean, assuming 7.2 kwHr / day...
 
M

muyoso

Well-Known Member
Well you can figure out what is the best fairly easy. Take the wattage of the light, multiply it by the hours it will be on per day, divide by a thousand, then multiply that by what it costs per KWH for your energy. Also, take the lumens into consideration. I believe the 150 is 15k lumens, whereas the 400w is 55k lumens. The 150 w HPS is 100 lumens per watt, and the 400w HPS is 137.5 lumens per watt. So the 400w HPS is almost 40% more efficient at lumen output. Of course, you need to figure out how big your grow space is and how many plants you want to grow.
 
R

raeman1990

Well-Known Member
well if you figure that with the HPS you wont need as many cfl's and you can stop like 4 of them and save energy and heat
 
J

jstea

Member
I used a 35 W HPS in a PC grow. It's equal to 3 standard CFL bulbs. Its does generate a lot of heat.

Really it's 6 to 1, half dozen another. The real efficiency is when you hit 150 Watts because the lumen per watt ratio is almost as good as the higher wattage ones.

These days you can buy a sun systems ballast kit & bulb 150W hps for $ 75, why even bother building a ballast of that wattage.
 
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