born042079

Is this the answer to a closet grower's dreams?!?

There is a new product on the market from "Lights of America" the same company that makes circular flos for Walmart. It is a fluorescent Mogul base shop lamp. It uses only 65w and puts out 8255 lumens. Thats 127 lumens per watt, which is BETTER than the lumens per watt produced by a 1000w HPS, which puts out only 114 per http://www.hydroponics.net/learn/hid_lamp_op_cost.asp Best of all they're cheap! They only cost $24. Oh, and you want to top it off... they supposedly produce very little heat using "fluorex technology".

Anyway, three of these will put out 25000 lumens, cost you a third as much as an equivelent 250w HPS, and use 30% less energy. Check 'em out at Walmart, I just bought one for my "mother plant".

Peace,

Born420

harrad

Born0420,
Good Info! I am going to offer some minor corrections and additional suggestions if you bear with me.
The chart you quoted lists the mean (average) output of a 1KW HPS at 126K Lumens, however as presented the FluoreX output @ 8255 Lumens is for a new lamp. Actual output on a new 1KW HPS is 140K lumens. That puts BOTH lamps with ballast losses included at 127 Lumens/Watt new. Just got to make sure your comparing apples to apples!

I just got off the phone with LOA and they are sending a full info packet so I should have more info shortly. The LOA tech staff is a fun bunch, They have even made technical revisions in response to criticism I offered them on some of their early HID products. Maybe I should be on the payroll?

The FluoreX line of lamps/fixtures are electronically ballasted for superior life/output characteristics. The lamps are rated for a color temperature of 6500 kelvin and use a single phosphor design. Although no spectral output has been published on the lamps it appears that they are very rich in blue and green but red is almost totally absent.

The FluoreX line seem to be an excellent choice for vegatative growth but I would recommend balancing them watt for watt with HPS for flowering. The red end of the spectrum just isn't there. I asked about that and they said that there lamps were intended for outdoor security lights and not for indoor use so they have no plans to tweak the phosphors used.

More info as it becomes available!

Peace! Harrad.

Takshaka

$24

That's incredible! Even is it is only good for veging.

Has Lights of America got a European division?

elzz

hehe takshaka then they would be lights of europe?? friggin eh!! this light looks really amazing. im goin out on the weekend to get one!! i really really want one bad now!!
peace

harrad

Takshaka,
Last I checked LOA didn't have any safety cert's outside of North America. It's a lot tougher to get approval in Europe. Your best bet would be to find someone on this side of the big pond to send you one. Ebay Perhaps?

The units are rated for 120V 60Hz but because they are electronic, not magnetic, they should operate well on 110V 50Hz. There might be a slight drop in output at 110V but until I get one to play with I won't know for sure.

One interesting side note, most of the new electronically ballasted lamps will run on DC. The mfg's may not advertise it, but I have run several different brands on a 144 Volt (Nominal) lead acid battery stack with good results! Most electronic ballasts convert the AC input to DC right up front so the ballast electronics dont know the difference. This woll not work with standard magnetic ballasts.

Peace & Good Growing. Harrad.

born042079

Hey, I do respect you as an expert in this category but... Isn't the mean output for a flourescent equivelent to its new lamp output? In other words, don't floros hold their intensity throughout their life unlike HPS and MH? If so, then comparing means to means would still leave the floro ahead 127 to 114. If not, then yes, you're right. Either way though, I'd say that those fixtures are pretty damn effiecient.

Oh one other thing. I've always wondered, do you know how many lumens come off of a pair of car headlights? What about the HID ones?

Peace,

Born420

Rommel

just went to wal-mart and looked at the light...they had them in stock for $24.96...just about bought one then i thought...they have the twin 4 footers for $7.96 i could get three of them for the same price(well two and a half after cost of bulbs)...at 80 watts each that's about 18k+ lumms vs. 8k+....i guess these lights might be just the thing if space was super tight....the face is a little smaller than a sheet of paper...keep me posted if someone out there buys one

harrad

Born420,
There is a significant difference between the initial and mean lumen ratings.

Mean Lumens: The average light output of a lamp over its rated life. For flourescent and metal halide lamps, mean lumen ratings are measured 40% of rated lamp life. For HPS lamps, mean lumen ratings are at 50% of rated life.

Initial Lumens: The light output of a lamp taken after the lamp operation has stabilized. Typically this measurement is taken at 100 hours of use.

Those that sell lamps prefer to use the initial lumen ratings which are the most flattering for there purposes. Those who design lighting systems use the mean lumen ratings for calculating overall, long term results. Mean lumen figures are not very relavent to growers since most replace their lamps before the 50% mark. Rest assured, what you see printed on the box is initial (new) lumens.First lets dispell the myth that Standard HPS lamps suffer from a sharp drop in output with age. Following is the breakdown on lumen depreciation for various types of lamps, this is the point at which the Mean lumen rating is taken:

All standard HPS lamps (Except the 35W) down 10% @ 12,000 hours.
Son/Agro and other HPS agro lamps, down 18% at 6,400 hours.
Standard 400W Metal Halide lamps, down 33% at 6,000 hours.
Standard flourescent lamps are typically down 10% @ 8,000 hours.

As you can see, lumen depreciation is LOWEST for standard HPS lamps.

Another warning flag is LOA's claim that the Fluorex outputs up to 500W of light. A 500W Quartz Halogen outputs about 10,500 lumens so what are they comparing to? Less efficient 100W lightbulbs? Ladies and gentlemen, Welcome to marketing 101. In marketing 201 we will cover "how to spell check your boxes before printing" I wouldn't know what to do with a long life "Blub" if one bit me on the a**.
Standard H4 headlight lamp, aproximately 1600 lumens.
New HID headlamps, aproximately 2400 Lumens new, 1700 lumens mean.

Peace & Good Growing, Harrad.

elzz

hmm as long as you replace the bulb once or twice a year you shouldnt have to worry about the lumens dropping, and if they do its not that much, as you can see from harrads numbers in the post above.
peace

Takshaka

I think changing twice a year would be unneccessary, once a year makes sense, although for a regular HPS changing every 18 months to 2 years would be sufficient. It all depends on your cycles and whether the lamp is being used for veging or flowering or both.

If only used for flowering then 12 hours a day for a year is 4380 hours so a standard HPS would be good for almost 3 years before being down 10%.

Harrad - have you got depreciation figures for compact fluoros please? And, yet again thanks for the great info