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| | | Home»An Introduction to the Grow Lights |
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| | | | An Introduction to the Grow Lights | | | | | |
| An Introduction to the Grow Lights.
Basically there are three types of grow lights used in horticulture. These are:
• High Intensity Discharge Lights (HID) - These come in two types, the High Pressure Sodium Grow Light (HPS) and the Metal Halide Grow Light (MH)
High Pressure Sodium Lights
The HPS grow light is used primarily for plants that are in their blooming or fruiting phase. Modern high pressure sodium lighting can, however, be bought, which is enhanced for blue spectrum (for vegetative growth) and for red spectrum (for flowering growth). This means that they can be used throughout the entire growing process for most types of plant.
Metal Halide
Metal halide lighting is the best HID choice for the plant’s growing phase. Metal halide bulbs are designed for plants during their growing cycle. That is, for non-fruiting or non-blooming plants
Dual light Systems
For optimal performance, switchable systems (1000 watt and 400 watt) and dual light systems (400 watt MH + 600 watt HPS giving 1000 watt output, 400 watt MH + 400 watt HPS giving 800 watt output 250 watt MH + 250 watt HPS giving 500 watt output) are available. This type of grow light system gives the best all round lighting choice.
• Mercury Vapour Lamps
Phosphorous coated to promote both blue and red spectrums these lamps are suitable for both the growing and blooming stages of plant growth. They give off more blue light than red and are a cheap way to get started. The lamps need to be replaced every nine months as it can become volatile. Mercury vapour lights cost more to run and maintain compared to HPS, MH or fluorescents.
• Fluorescent Grow Lights
These lights emit less light than high intensity discharge lights. The light produced tends to be softer and less damaging to tender young plants. For this reason, the fluorescent grow light is popular for seedlings and cuttings, an excellent way to establish young plants. Although they can be used throughout the plant cycle, their lack of brightness will produce small yields.
• Ballasts
All of the above types of lights use some kind of a ballast system. The most familiar ones are the fluorescent lights. These type of Lighting Fixtures have integrated ballasts.
Remote ballasts are usually used to run Metal Halide and HPS grow lights. These are external boxes containing the electronics to pre-heat and run the lamp. The ballast is connected to the lamp holder and to the mains power supply. It is necessary to have different ballasts available for different type of lamp since every ballast used is rated for the lamp wattage and type. Although HID lamps will continue to light beyond 18 months of use, they will have lost up to 30 percent or more of their lumen output while consuming the same amount of electricity. So it is advisable that HID bulbs should be replaced after 12 to 18 months of use.
Here is a word of warning about lighting
There are an awful lot of companies out there selling lights for the hydroponics enthusiast. Always look for equipment made by a reputable company and backed by an official testing scheme. As in all walks of life, there are good and bad suppliers and manufacturers of lighting equipment. (For example the C E mark in Europe means that the article is up to European standards of safety and quality; UL Listing mark in USA does the same thing).
Home made, Cheap, nasty, dangerous lights have dogged the hydroponics market for some years. There are these kinds of light and there are well built, professional grades, horticultural lights on today's market. The first are often death traps, being cobbled together from the cheapest, obsolete, end of the line components that maybe mismatched and wrongly configured.
The installation of these poor quality, dangerous, lights in your home, where your family lives and plays, is always a very grave risk. To think that these badly wired, poorly built, misconfigured lights are being fitted in damp, humid and sometimes even wet, grow rooms is a very scary thought indeed. All this in the name of a bargain!
So don’t risk your own life or the lives of those who live with you. Buy from a reputable source! Lighting is possibly the most important decision for indoor and soiless agriculture. For the sake of saving a relatively small amount of money, is it really worth it?
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