What can you DO with this Space?

Just white paint save your $$$ for something else. they are open no air cooling and they are touching(end to end)

GR33NL3AF said:

For those of us who enjoy designing rooms, here's one of mine, tell me what you would do with it:
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I would build 3 beds that are 4x12 with 3 lights over each on

DO IT said:

post the thread i will read it and remember bro you cant believe everything you read on the net. I would think if those lamps increased yeild like you(if you are using them) say or other people that are using them say why are they not being used by every1???

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@midwestdensies is correct about Gavita and ePapillon lighting being substantially more efficient that standard HPS, but it isn't the reflector. The Gavita/Philips EL lighting standard is what's different; these bulbs run at a line voltage of 400V to the bulb, where most bulbs conform to ANSI S52, a standard which specifies 250V to the bulbs. This higher voltage brings the benefits of higher umol/watt, better spectrum and much longer life. Available currently in mogul socket for 600W and DE socket for 1kW, these bulbs and ballasts WILL NOT WORK with ANSI S52 compliant gear.

So yes, sometimes a thousand watts isn't just a thousand watts- or are you still running magnetic ballasts on that theory, instead of digital ballasts?

I'm on record as saying that I won't buy ANSI S52 compliant digital ballasts anymore, my money is for the new standard- which IS gaining acceptance rapidly as greenhouses the world over are replacing their lighting and doing cost/benefit analyses of the available options.

Where is your cost/benefit analysis?

GR33NL3AF said:

For those of us who enjoy designing rooms, here's one of mine, tell me what you would do with it:
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So, back to the original question; it sounds like the condo scenario is limiting your choices about AC. A ChillKing 2 Ton chiller would fit in the window, look like any other AC (because it is) and will never smell. It will also cool 4 open and unvented bulbs, dehuey and chill RDWC water with no additional equipment to buy- and its the least expensive option in terms of operating cost.

What to cool?

This is a cylinder made of field fencing and hung from the ceiling. It's 4' tall and made of two half pipe sections 6'3" long, this makes the cylinder exactly 4' in diameter, or perfect distance from a vertical thouie hanging in the middle.

I'm running one 27 gallon tub site under each half of the cylinder, but to cut down on veg time you could easily run four, six or even 8 plants per cylinder.

Why? No matter how you slice that room up, unless you can levitate you will not get more than 140 ft² of actual growing space in there because of the need for aisles and access. The inner surface of each cylinder is pi x diameter x height = 3.14 x 4' x 4' = 50 ft²... and they fit great in a 6' x 6' footprint, for a total of 200 ft² of ACTUAL growing surface area- not bad for a room with less than that in total square footage.

This is a shot of two such cylinders, these plants were not vegged with the intended aim of going vertical, but they're adapting nicely!

This gives you four growing areas, all easily accessible from all sides while you stand and walk around like normal people.

Four open bulbs isn't as taxing on AC and the light bill, and from personal experience I can tell you that no fixture beats any other fixture out there, every time if you can take full advantage of 360 degree lighting- and of course this can.

I've had many people say I can get up to four pounds per cylinder- but I think the ultimate potential of cylinders like these is closer to twice that with learning time, dialing in and vegging plants so their shape takes full advantage of the vertical trellis. Soooo, that's between 16 - 32 pounds, depending on which numbers you like.

Leaving the vertical bulb inside the cylinder stationary will cost somewhat in ultimate yield, I'm working on a simple (read; easily DIY for my friends!) light mover to raise and lower the lamp inside 3-4'. Another lighting option that's a little further out there involves a Gavita remote ballast running a splitter and two Greenpower 600W EL bulbs. Since both ballast and bulbs are the same 400V standard, this plus the 1150W overboost should run them perfectly! This would make for the most efficient HPS lighting setup currently available, for about $600 with Internet pricing. My shop wanted another $100 and for the warranty/ replacement issue peace of mind, I'd spend it.