Lifespan Of Hps Arc Tubes

[brianneil]

I have used so many different brands of HPS over the years, mostly trying out new lamps by weighing up the pros and cons of spectrum vs lifespan vs dollars. Its all in the love of tweaking, you know what it's like. Im at the point now where I just dont believe half the rubbish about "longer lifespan" or spectral output graphs. I was wondering if anyone here is an expert on HPS manufacturing, and whether some brands actually have much longer lifespans? What is the actual science behind extended longevity in the manufacturing materials and sodium purity or is it all behind a veil of 'trade secrets'. Also the guy in my shop says that the spectrum changes over time, so even if you have a long life arc tube, you might have lost most of the blue and red wavelengths after 3 or 4 grows.

Cheers, Brian

 

[timmeh]

that is such super techy info you require. And the conundrum is unless you have insider knowledge you'r unfortunately just going to always be consumer mushroom - kept in the dark and fed horseshit :(

 

[greenfrond]

Is this more a voltage thing?

 

[sensicloud]

@timmeh is right, somebody that works for horti or lumatek or someone like @GR33NL3AF would be able to give truthful techy info, but all that the consumer will be given is advertising and biased crap

 

[sensicloud]

I mean.. I've worked in grow stores, a few of them, and even if im talking to a company rep from one of the light manufacturers I was getting the same graphs and biased sales pitch as everybody else. The guys making the lights know about their lights tho..all I can say is with lots of experience with diff brands of hps, I now go for the best buy and keep em fresh.. Now the De bulbs are where it's at, but I know a lot of the very experienced farmers like Texas kid, etc feel the same about Hps, go with best buy usually

 

[Joe Fresh]

im on 7 years now with these bulbs..plan to finally change them out later this year lol...still getting 1.5 per light with these old ass bulbs.....im a hortilux guy

 

[psilobuds]

If ur gettin 1.5 a light with old bulbs u must be doin somfin right mate. Magine what ya cud pull with new bulbs. Have u ever noticed much of a diffrence??

 

[psilobuds]

And from my understandin its like sodium is sodium, other than mercury im not aware of much else they can use to tweak the spectrum so everythin else will onlyfilter wavelenghts which means its absorbs and so turns to heat so then materials fuck out quicker. So more a materials thing? clarity / thinness of the glass etc?

 

[brianneil]

I mean.. I've worked in grow stores, a few of them, and even if im talking to a company rep from one of the light manufacturers I was getting the same graphs and biased sales pitch as everybody else. The guys making the lights know about their lights tho..all I can say is with lots of experience with diff brands of hps, I now go for the best buy and keep em fresh.. Now the De bulbs are where it's at, but I know a lot of the very experienced farmers like Texas kid, etc feel the same about Hps, go with best buy usually

Yeah totally. Thats the issue. All the reps say theirs is the best but no concrete evidence

 

[hogheaven]

I just stick to the brands with the best reputation

 

[Joe Fresh]

If ur gettin 1.5 a light with old bulbs u must be doin somfin right mate. Magine what ya cud pull with new bulbs. Have u ever noticed much of a diffrence??

no i have not to be honest....but i just changed out 3 bulbs the other day after you got me thinking...2 in one room, and one in the other...just to see if i can notice a difference with the plants...see if i yield a bit more than i usually do, who knows.....when i first bought these bulbs i had 20 lights going in my flower room, i now have since moved and only have 8 and i just changed out 3 bulbs of the 8 last week

 

[Captive]

Best brands could simply mean the best marketing and have zero to do with quality and performance

 

[Joe Fresh]

Best brands could simply mean the best marketing and have zero to do with quality and performance

hortilux is the best brand...it has been for years...there is a reason they charge more, because growers who know the difference are willing to pay the extra

 

[Cheiko]

the technology is more or less the same for hps. important factors are the quality of materials as well as their compatibility with the manufacturer's recommended power source.

 

[0tt0]

I agree its a materials issue. The problem is the limitations of the technology. Something truly superior would require a radical re-innovation. It's not that this is difficult to prototype if you have the capital - the arduous task is delivering an economically practical improvement/alternative. The sodium in the tube is super reactive and I believe most lamps use some form of semi translucent ceramic alumina which can handle both the heat and the highly reactive chemical processes - although the sodium does eventually produce artefacts which degrade the tube via a process called cycling (this is why you should never use old lamps)

One major inefficiency even in new tubes is the opacity of the arc tube . Because its refractive index is extremely low it doesn’t transmit light well, and what it absorbs turns to heat. This wastes both light and puts enormous stress on the materials. In theory you could replace this material with a something else, such as a sapphire composite, but then as a manufacturer you run into cost issues.

 

[gezza]

Another reason I like LEDs

**

 

[atwofour]

^ Why wouldn't the same questions apply to LED's? Someone knows for sure they don't change for the worse or degrade in some way over time too?