M
Mystre.Pharmer
- 158
- 18
I too was looking at the 'off brand' dual arc bulbs because the bulb cost is hard to justify, but I think you might just be better off mixing true MH/HPS bulbs in the room vs dual arcs.
the only issue we might be missing here is that the dual spectrum using a MH and a HPS separately, is that the light needs to overlap. With the dual spectrum lamps its, obviously, all in one. you would need to have your reflectors right next to one another. Kind of inconvenient. Also less overall lumens with the one light. When I have the room I WILL be trying these out. Just to see for myself. I run a 600 HPS and a 400 CMH in flower. They are inline on one another. There is little to no benefit I can see in this setup. When I was using the reflectors side by side I feel that was some of my best flowers I have grown.
Getting back on topic here - OP, I've got a couple of "generic" 600W dual arcs that I got off of Ebay - they fired up fine, but then my surge protector tripped (15 amps and I was trying to run 3 600s on it) and I (incorrectly) blamed it on them.
Honestly, I am and have always been of the opinion that a bulb is a bulb is a bulb (obviously if matching the major variables of wavelength, lumens, etc.) - there's not a whole lot of hidden electronics in there to differentiate different companies.
When I was doing some research, the wavelength, lumens, etc. are all identical between brands, leading me to believe they're from the same factory (or the Chinese sure did their homework before they knocked it off) - either way, doesn't make sense to me to spend that much cheddar on a bulb - buy cheapos and replace for every grow.
Anyways, I've been dragging my feet on taking clones but I'm gonna go in there and do it today (and also fire up the dual arcs to make sure they work), so if there's anything in particular you'd like (have "normal" HPS as well) like lux readings or anything, lemme know.
EDIT: somewhat off topic but somewhat related, I have never tried to hang MH vertically because I was under the impression that only HPS were rated to be hung either vert/horizontal - is that no longer the case?
I run four 600s stacked on top of each other, so I would love to be able to find 600MH bulbs that can be hung vertically - I searched for a while but couldn't find any - I'd love to hear if anyone knows if these even exist.
EDIT: somewhat off topic but somewhat related, I have never tried to hang MH vertically because I was under the impression that only HPS were rated to be hung either vert/horizontal - is that no longer the case?
I run four 600s stacked on top of each other, so I would love to be able to find 600MH bulbs that can be hung vertically - I searched for a while but couldn't find any - I'd love to hear if anyone knows if these even exist.
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