Actual useful lamp hrs 600w MH

Hello grow gurus once again — I have been using my IPower 600w MH bulb for the last 4 goin on 5 grows now. The “expected” lifespan is claimed at 12,000 hrs – I have rung up a total on mine at 3,780 hrs.

Even though a bulb radiates, over time would not that light quality diminish or remain constant till outage?

Thanking you all in advance

MotaMan

I remember reading somewhere replace every 5 or 6 grows but don’t remember where. Let me see if I can find it. That was basically what the article said even though bulb still worked, quality and quantity of light diminishes over time.

After that maybe use them for seedlings and young clones, got one extra when my flower bulb melted and I had to replace - safer than sorry.

Thanks for the help… have to get some side lites , just expanded the rm to 6 x 6 x 7 and 6 ladies are in residence… May even replace now – in a competition with my brother in law.

MotaMan

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The best bulbs should last between one and two years although you should probably replace them after 3-4 grows anyway because they will dim over time — even if your eyes aren’t able to perceive this dimming. Just found this in the Guides to the left side of the Forum in upper right corner. I knew that I had read it somewhere. Click on that and go to indoor grow, then to lighting’
Hope this helps :+1: :+1: :+1: :v:

Nebula haze at growweedeasy easy say to replace bulbs about every 3 grows. Mh bulbs are for vegg, hps best for flower

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Biggest problems with growing bulbs is not running hours. It’s the constant starting and stopping. Supposedly, the heating and cooling of the bulbs is more detrimental to output than running constantly. You also have to make sure there aren’t ever any immediate refires. Once bulb is lit it needs significant amount of time to cool if it goes out, before lighting again.

Phillip’s is suppose to have to longest lasting bulbs. Their son series hps bulbs report 85% output after 2000 hours of constant run time. You can assume less output the way we use them. The only grower I know with large grow using hps changes his bulbs every 6 months. The space is constantly flowering, but he estimates that at 2-3 flowering cycles.

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I have been using 2 sunburst cmh with Phillips bulb that have such a broad spectrum that I have been using to veg and flower. I have been running them for just over a year and have had 4 indoor harvests in the last 365 days. Winter plants vegging now and the lights are performing perfectly.

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Thank you one and all guru’s of ILGM – I have a replacement bulb and will switch it out tonite. I transplanted to my 7gal buckets 2 wks ago and the ladies have more than doubled but I still believe they could be a bit larger and attribute this to the age (grow wise) of my current bulb.

MotaMan

I run hps in flower and I swap out my bulbs after about 2/3 of there recommended life span…
I write the date I install the new bulb on the socket just so I never forget the age of the bulb…
And I keep a few old bulbs around just incase shtf … :+1::wink:
:v::sunglasses:

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