I would be interested to know this. When you have it done. I would think you should be able to loosely verify your results with a light meter maybe huh?

Firstly 1952 we all grow in different ways and thats a good thing. I understand your reasoning for multi light set ups with cfl's. Cfl's, flouros and even led's all need to be as close as possible to allow for max light penatration and to use the light more efficiently.

Heres a few facts for ya: A single 400 watt hps bulb produces 50,000 lumens @ 450 watts/hr. That means at the point of light that is the output, a foot away you are at around 25,000 lumens at 2 ft away 12,000 and so on.

With cfl's it all happend in the first foot. Your 12, 65 watt bulbs produce a total of each roughly 3600 lumens per each bulb, so thats a total of 43,200 lumens, not bad, for cfl's. 43,200 lumens @ 780 watts/hr. Your lumens drop right off the map after about a foot. Thats just facts with all flouros.

You have not only increased you power bill on lighting but you now handcuffed yourself on how much you can produce under that said lighting, and all for what, heat, AC?

Really how much do you really think you are saving? My 12 little 42 watters push my closet to over 90 without venting. Its winter now, come the summer again and those 12 wont be so user friendly and that AC will probably have to come out, to some degree.

I have broken down pretty much all my costs and if you are not producing at least .65-.75g per watt it is costing you huge. Ya might as well go out and buy a bag. This is based on 11 cents a kilowatt. The most I pulled under a 400 was 420g but generally if I get more then .75g per watt Im happy

I applaud you on the numbers you are pullin off your girls but when I know you can 3-4 times that from less watts I have to ask again

Why?

Um, Sir.Ganja, no disrespect but you don't seem to understand the inverse law. It's not as simple as just divide the lumens by half for every foot away from the light source.
Also, if ya look at the pics again you'll see that not a single bulb is anywhere near a foot away from the plants. In fact most are within an inch!
This room hasn't gotten near 90F either.
Believe me, my1952HD is gonna be back shortly with TRUE SCIENTIFIC DATA on light and stuff for all to see.
But I'm nowhere near as smart as you guys are so I take my seat and will watch the discussion. It is a good one. Smart grower's hash'n it out for the advancement of covert cultivation. I love it!

Yawll are to smart for me..

First, for puffinmyown.

A light meter would not work for this comparison. The photons striking the plant are in many frequencies that the plant uses for different purposes. Some of these frequencies (on both sides of the visible spectrum) are not within our or the meters ability to observe. For further information, I refer to the book, Marijuana Horticulture, The Indoor/Outdoor Medical Grower’s Bible, Chapter Nine.

Second, “a few facts for” Sir.Ganga.

I have been thinking about your last post ever since I first read it. I thought I would not comment for awhile, rereading it several times in order to be sure of what you were implying, and hoping that someone with more knowledge on the subject would respond.

In my humble opinion, you have made one mistake, and one misstatement, and then gone on to make several more statements based on the mistake and misstatement.

The mistake is your interpretation of the Inverse Square Law pertaining to Light. The intensity of light changes in inverse proportion to the square of the distance. Your interpretation implies that for every foot traveled the intensity of light is halved.

The misstatement is ” With CFLs it all happens in the first foot… Your lumens drop right off the map after about a foot. That’s just facts with all flouros.” This seems to be an opinion with no basis in fact. All photons, regardless of source adhere to the Inverse Square Law. Intensity will decrease at the same rate for either source. I believe you are comparing the intensity of your 400 watt HPS to… perhaps a four foot t12 using only forty watts, on a cold day. If you happen to have a collection of “facts with all flouros”, please post so as to enlighten.

You seem to mock me in paragraphs four, five and six, but I believe this attitude or these opinions are founded in the misunderstanding of the properties of light.

However, I do agree with your first paragraph, and you do point out that my twelve sixty-five watt bulbs produce a total each of thirty-six hundred lumens per each bulb, so that’s a total of forty-three thousand two hundred lumens at seven-hundred eighty watts/hr. Those are very important lumens to me and I want to keep them as close as possible.

Please note, that while the recommended clearance between a four hundred watt HPS bulb to canopy is twelve to twenty-four inches, my CFLs are kept between one quarter of an inch to one inch away from the green on each plant with some bulbs between and some above the plants. The fifty thousand lumens (initial) from your 400 watt HPS, as measured one foot from the bulb, becomes twelve-thousand lumens at 2 feet, five-thousand five-hundred fifty-five lumens at 3 feet, Three thousand, one hundred.twenty-five lumens at 4 feet, and so on.

More facts:
Floor plan- (Where X = Light and O=Plant)

Flower=8 weeks Rinse=1 week
XOXOXOXOXIOX
XOXOXOXOXIOX
Located in a 6’wide X 2’deep closet.
Flower – 2 plants @2weeks in each tub=8wks. Rinse - 1wk. Dry - 1wk., Cure, 1+wks. Output is one plant a week, enough for myself and two friends with medical problems. I do not sell nor buy any illegal drugs. I do give marijuana away.

I enjoy a good discussion and hope not to offend. Thanks for following along with this thread and floger, for getting something posted before I could get back to finish this.

Oh, and again with the question “why?” Again the answer is why not, but see if you can tell me (based on data I’ve given you) why I’m trying this setup. What are my reasons?
Again, recommended reading refer to the book, Marijuana Horticulture, The Indoor/Outdoor Medical Grower’s Bible, Chapter Nine.

feels like i'm in a physics class.

ha ha ha

i never grew but am enjoying the posts.

-blue skies

Naw, If this were physics class, I would have to include
other variables such as the medium the light is moving thru (air mostly, glass, and in some cases, water.)

I believe that when sir Ganga at one point was stating that you will now be using more energy by using that many CFLs then if you were using a HID bulb/balast. I may be wrong as to what sir ganga was trying to get across. Having the bulb an inch away from a plant is a great benefit for CFls.

This is my favorite thread and your setup is something that I will be striving for in my next grows. Thank you for taking the time to describe your setup and design with us all.

One question, how do you prevent your Y'd lights from spinning and bumping your plants when your fan hits them?

You're talking about refraction. BTW 1952, I enjoy your posts immensely, keep them coming!

I can see where Floggy gets his smarts

With all that being said and no hard feelings to Flogger for his comments about inverse law I still no comprenda??

Sorry Flogger, I do know all about it, just didnt realize I had to give exact numbers when speaking generally, will know better next time.

Sadly you think Im mocking you and that is not the case.

Anyways spectrum, intensity and lumens are what I look for now that I know what to look for.

Ill put a 400 watt hps up against 1200 watts of floros or cfl's in any configuration and double the quantity every time, hands down.

Vaper