Solar Powered Lamps Free Light from Dusk till Dawn

I was browsing through an Architectural mag and read an Ad for Solar-Powered Lights manufactured by Solatube Solatube Daylighting System and Tubular Daylighting Devices for residential or commercial daylighting and sunlighting needs are the smart alternative to traditional skylights and I am wondering if these work. If they do perform as far as lumens and spectrum then their relative high price may be well worth it (about $350 dollars.) If you haven't used these but want to review their data go to the Solatube website and clic their Technical Resources[/I][/I], choose Professional Residential [/I]and then pull down the Photometric IES menu where you can find some data from all their models performances, their 21 inch lamp with difuser beats all of them hands down.http://www.solatube.com/downloads/lumens.pdf

Additonally, also SunPowered, they have an outake ventilator exhaust fan and dimmer kit. Plus, their kits offer a model where additional lamps (to run with electric juice) may be used to supplement the light output. Also to consider are setups with lengthy tubing. They have options to run up to nine feet which is very convenient.

What are your experience or thoughts on this?

No reason it wouldn't work, although the installation would be kind of conspicuous. If the dimmer is controlled electronically, you could even put it on a timer to flower it. The amount of light would be seasonal though, so you might have to supplement it during certain seasons or for more plants.

it doesnt really put out enough lumens to be of much use in growing.

Thanks for your replies. I dont think that I am gonna get it. I want to set up my first indoor rig but I dont want to pay unreasonable electrical charges. The CFLs and T5 options you seem to recommend do not consume much electricity but costs do add up. I imagine that a Plasma lamp would consume as much as a High Intensity Discharge.

What would you purchase or construct if you were less concerned with the initial costs than you were about the electrical bills ?

would probably go with a hid for flowering and use flourecents or cfl for veg, hids can use alot of electricity but for the amount of light they produce they are very efficient and if you just run it for flowering 12 hours a day then it consumes much less than if you used it for veg also at 18-24 hours a day.
really depends on how large of a grow you want to setup if you just need one hid 600 watts or less its not going to make a large difference in you electric bill if you want 3000 watts of hid then it can get quite expensive on the electric bill.

Those are not 'solar-powered', which implies an electric light run off a photovoltaic panel.
They are good for what they are designed for- brightening your cave-like 1970s brown dingy tasteless kitchen.
They are NOT good for growing cannabis. You will still have to use a 'real' light, and they not only let sunlight IN, they also let HID light OUT... like a searchlight... pointing right to your grow!

Thanks for the expert advice. I have an hid but it's only 150 watts. I am tempted to buy a 400 watts upgrade but I imagine this wont be anytime soon. Maybe by the time I am ready to buy Sulphur / microwave lamps will be the way to go !

go to ebay and buy lights way cheaper:):thumbsup::stoned:

ahh..i have looked into these....i have even gone far as calling the manufacture....they tubes block out some of the needed light that plants would need to grow..i know this cuz that is what the sales rep said...some of the usable spectrum...also they make a 21 inch industrial one..shit that would work but the uv is blocked...you could use it with other lights...that would be a good idea

solar is expensive to install....we looked into it