automotive HID lights vs. cfl's

Garage sale car/boat battery charger for power supply.

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Originally Posted by Ocotillo

This here is some seriously advanced futuristic far out stuff man. Dude, can this be patented? You are sitting on dynamite here as this could make grow boxes smaller and quieter while growing MORE using less power! :eek:

Also the power supply would have to bring the amperage to the party. We ain't talkin' no PC supply, I don't think. Don't just assume "It's only 12V", Did you every short a car battery? Those sparks shoot all over the place and leave a burn through body panels. It's the amperage that's a big deal. :jumphappy:

Can this be patented? If you're not already, somebody else probably is! :woohoo:

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Actually using a computer power supply. you only need a 10 amp one to run two lights. the power supply only draws an extra 10 watts for a total of 80 watts!! i measured the current draw so this is real time power consumption. I'm not sure if this is patentable. To get one cost big$$. I want to build these in a turn key package with reflectors, bulbs, ballast, power supply and even adding a few large cfl's for veg stage and of course cooling fans.
I done a lot of research in reflector design and bulb type to get a perfect light pattern so that it is not too concentrated in one spot. and also bulb color makes a big difference. I just got my quantum light meter back from repair. This meter measures PAR light. It doesn't tell you what color spectrum whether it is blue or red but it tells you par light reading. With this meter, i measured the par output of these and found why they are working so well. My readings are at the top of the canopy and it is at a peak of 1800 uMol/s and average of 500uMol/S even down low!! the cfl's had a more even reading all over at 300 and much less as you move down. These readings are what you expect from a 1000 watt HPS! all be it a smaller area. The most amazing thing is that the readings from the HID are 18 inches away from the bulb wereas the reading from the cfl's were done at about 8 inches and faded rapidly as you moved further away so the reflector is doing an awsome job not only at ligt distribution but also heat is not an issue at this distance. Remember my cfl set up is 355 watts the hid's are 80!!

updates please?

hey everyone,
here is some photos. I fucked up. I noticed some bugs on my plants and bought some storebought bug killer. Well i used it and it did some serious damage andi had to harvest early on my hid grow. i do have two plants that i didn't spray and is about 3 weeks behind the plants in the pics i hope will verify my grow with HID however. They are looking awsome. Anyways this what i got. the 25000 and 2700K cfl actually looks real good after week 6 they really started to bulk up and surpass the HID but this was after i f- up. I'm going to do another grow comparing the result of the 25000K and just using 2700k bulbs. The HID ulthough early harvest, i think would have out performed the CFL grow easily. I grew three plants with the HID of only 80 watts!! the 25000K and 2700K combo was 355 watts and is about the same yeild as the 80 watt HID harvested early. In two weeks my other two plants should be ready under HID. I think these HID's really have some serious potential. Remember the key to using them is using them with a proper reflector. Keep in mind this is my very first grow ever!!

I'm not surprised by your results - you had better spectrum than HPS and you had conical reflectors for the HID which greatly improved the photon flux density compared to a traditional batwing or light enclosure. Had you installed those HIDs horizontaly and in a similar setup compared with the CFLs (no reflector except the top,) I'm almost positive the HIDs would have been weaker compared to the CFLs.

Awesome results, nonetheless! I've always preferred conical reflectors and vertical HIDs over horizontal ones with batwings or enclosures - mugh higher efficiency of light concentration, much better results every single time.

I know this thread is old, ancient old, but I've been considering trying to experiment with those 35w hids for at least a year now after reading this thread. Elsewhere on the net, other forums and such, all I can find is people asking if it's possible and other people saying that it's not possible and would be foolish to attempt. This is the ONLY place online I've found that someone actually experimented with this and the results, while disappointing, due to certain factors, prove that this experiment is not only possible, but probable in terms of success. It would be awesome if someone attempted this experiment and was successful because imo, it's the best alternative to cfls thus far.