Hi,
I'm starting this thread to compare a variety of lights for small closet grows. First i'm posting only light outputs of 250 watt 6400K vs. 250 watt 25000K vs. automotive HID lamps. I built three indenticle boxes 24' X 22" x 36". I'm measuring output at the bottom of the box. in the first photo the box on the bottom left is the 6400K 250 watt cfl, bottom right is the car HID and the top is the 250 watt 25000K. Average light output are as follows. 250/6400K 5000lux peak was 5410 lux, 250/25000K 1500 lux and peak was 1750 lux the car hid average was 19000lux and peak was 31000 Lux!!! I believe the peak for the car hid was so high because of the reflector design, never the less output was 4 times that of the 250/6400K and best of all this system only draws 70 watts! These car HID's are basically mini metal helide bulbs that run off of 12 volts DC. They also come in a wide range of colors from 3000K to 25000K but beware there are cheap halogens that claim to be HID's. you can tell the difference by the addition of a ballast for the true hid's. The only fault with these is they are only rated for 3000hrs. but that's in a car with high under hood temps and road vibration. I used a fog light housing and removed the glass and directed a fan at the bulbs. this made a huge difference, the housings were as cold as ambient air. I also directed the fan of the power supply to cool the ballast which again worked awesome bringing the ballast temp down to bairly warm. With these adjustments, i believe the life will be greatly improved.
I think these will work awesome for small closet grows using 8000K for veg and 3000K for bud. you wouldn't have an issue with poor light penatration. i'll be testing this theory in the comming weeks.
These pictures do no justice on how much brighter the mini hid is. I tried to post pictures of my lux readings but maxed out on allowable pictures on the post. Also it is possible to run these off a battery and a solar panel. if these work the way i think they will, i'll be putting packages together for internet sales. Stay tuned.
bubbas Reviewed by bubbas on . automotive HID lights vs. cfl's Hi, I'm starting this thread to compare a variety of lights for small closet grows. First i'm posting only light outputs of 250 watt 6400K vs. 250 watt 25000K vs. automotive HID lamps. I built three indenticle boxes 24' X 22" x 36". I'm measuring output at the bottom of the box. in the first photo the box on the bottom left is the 6400K 250 watt cfl, bottom right is the car HID and the top is the 250 watt 25000K. Average light output are as follows. 250/6400K 5000lux peak was 5410 lux, Rating: 5