Ceramic Metal Halide lighting anybody?

[Newguyhere]

I have been thinking about trading in my 1000Watt setup and run the some what new CMH lights that are350 or 400 watts..Anyone out there with experience with these?

PLEASE HELP!!!!

 

[JuanCarlos]

I have never run a CMH but I sweat that anyone who has ever owned one swears that it is god's gift to indoor growing.

 

[pete2]

never heard of it, would you explain please .

 

[verticalgrow]

@pete2: here u go pete,

this is a ceramic bulb and also it needs its own ballast and adaptor to screw in any reflector.

they cost approx. $500 with no reflector https://sunlightsupply.com/shop/bycategory/lec-lep-led/philips-mastercolor-lec-315-lamp

 

[pete2]

Thanks for posting to my question. Are they better than all the lighting systems that are around?

 

[verticalgrow]

here u go pete:

They might be the closest bulb to true sunlight from what I have read and I hope this link answers your question

https://www.cycloptics.com/sites/default/files/USU_spectral_analysis.pdf

 

[pete2]

Hay, Thanks for the link. Good Luck

 

[Icemud]

If you are growing plants taller than 3-4' I would probably stick with the 1000w hps because it has a better penetration (range of acceptable light) than 400w CMH would, however if you are doing sea of green or scrog CMH would be amazing. You could also consider adding 1 or 2 400w CMH to your existing 1000w hps and you would have an amazing spectrum.

I used to run a CMH and HPS combo before going LED and it produced some amazingly tasty buds. I know they have been discontinued but if you can find a supplier, the Phillips 4k Retro White ceramic metal halides were awesome. They run on a HPS magnetic ballast and have in my opinion one of the best spectrums of any bulb, other than maybe a hortilux eye blue mh.

 

[Icemud]

Here are the differences between 3 bulbs and their spectrums, phillips retro white, ushio optiblue MH, and ushio opti red HPS.


You will notice that the CMH has the fullest spectrum without many peaks and valleys in the spectral output, most like the sun.

Optiblue MH

Optired HPS

Phillips Retrowhite 4k

 

[JuanCarlos]

Icemud sharing that amazing lighting wisdom he has once again. Always an informative read man.

 

[whiteeagle]

Nice Icemud. From the research I'v done the ballast for the lec makes a big difference sun light systems are kinda cool. I have no connection with them at all. You tube has some great vid's

 

[whiteeagle]

sun systems lec 315 or 630 looks pretty good and save ya some money on elec

 

[Icemud]

sun systems lec 315 or 630 looks pretty good and save ya some money on elec

Yeah their spectrum is amazing!

 

[HeisenGrow24]

Icemud, I'm new here. I will be growing autoflowers in a 3.5x3.5 area. I'm looking at the advanced led ds xte 200. After looking at the data sheet, it seems to be equal to a 450watt hps. Is there any other companies you would reccomend for an led light? My budget is 600$. I appreciate the help.

 

[HeisenGrow24]

Didn't mean to respond in the ceramic metal halide lighting section. Sorry guys. Still learning the site.

 

[Canresearcher]

Very interesting results with the CMH lamp! I like the CD spectrometer you made. That is as clear as day to me which one was the winner!
Interesting to note the HPS with the large green peak. This is a classic Sodium spectral line.

Great pics...

Yes this is my first post here. I am not new to growing however!

 

[Icemud]

Very interesting results with the CMH lamp! I like the CD spectrometer you made. That is as clear as day to me which one was the winner!
Interesting to note the HPS with the large green peak. This is a classic Sodium spectral line.

Great pics...

Yes this is my first post here. I am not new to growing however!

Thanks Canresearcher! I made that CD spectrometer a long time ago when I first started growing, and I wanted to check the different HID bulbs spectrums and try to get a nice full spectrum by mixing HPS with CMH or MH and also to know what they were putting out. Pretty handy little thing I made for pretty much free.

Here is the original post I made to show how I did it...
DIY Spectrometer - Check what wavelengths your lights give out


Yea once I found out about Ceramic Metal Halides I was sold for HID lights, at the time they only had 1 manufacture I believe and they were rather unheard of as the common was HPS. I was actually frustrated when phillips discontinued their retrowhites as they were amazing, and it actually took a few years for the industry really to catch onto them and now you see quite a few options on the market (not saying I discovered them or anything, just how rare they were to see 3 years ago). Its a great thing to see them taking on popularity this last year or so because they are awesome, and work really well even combining with HPS.

I was quite impressed with how that little DIY spectrometer really was almost on key with the actual spectroradiometer readings. glad you enjoyed

 

[Canresearcher]

The ballasts for CMH can be made using off the shelf DC - DC ballasts from Car HID setups. The cheaper ones are DC. Running these at 15.3v delivers ~100Vdc. Paralleling ballasts together will increase the total working current. (55W ballasts = ~45W-45.7W output)

7 ballasts in Parallel (With 1 starter) will give an output of ~3.15A at 100V. Heat sinking is key to keep the ballasts cool.

I suggest depotting them and adding ram coolers to the MOSFETs.

So far I have been able to run a 150W MH via the paralleling method. 3x 55W $32.50 ballasts. I can run the entire system off a car battery.

 

[Dr Fish]

Check the new thread in my signature.... Running 2 SS 315 lec lights and a 360 retro white...

 

[mikeyspliff1]

I'm upgrading my 1000w hps one at a time for double ended cmh 630's . Just ordered 1 double ended hood and going to get the d/e cmh 630 bulb
I was told by a buddy who runs them that they are killing his 1000hps and they can run off same ballast turned down to 600w