Simple Question: How Often Do You Change Your Hps?

[LVSkunkWorx]

Greetings. I was in bloom today and I realized that I had the same 600w HPS bulb in play for nearly a year. Since both ends of my cooling tube around it are sealed, I only want to rip into it when I need to or what it makes sense. So if you have a schedule for changing your lights, how often do you do it?

Just to protect my butt in case the HPS flakes out I also have a cheapie 120w LED shining in there too. That way if one fails the other covers the light needs (mostly) until I can get to it......

 

[shemshemet]

I've recently found out you shouldn't run HID bulbs to the death. They will eventually burn out, but they diminish quickly after the hours listed on the box. This also isn't good for your ballast!

If you know the brand, find out how many hours they are listed at. Try to figure out how many hours you've run your light (days x 12; if running 12/12).

If you're above or close to that limit, change your bulb!

 

[LVSkunkWorx]

I've recently found out you shouldn't run HID bulbs to the death. They will eventually burn out, but they diminish quickly after the hours listed on the box. This also isn't good for your ballast!

If you know the brand, find out how many hours they are listed at. Try to figure out how many hours you've run your light (days x 12; if running 12/12).

If you're above or close to that limit, change your bulb!

Would that I could estimate; I have had so many different light-schemes going etc that I lost track. Probably should pick some arbitrary date like Jan 1 or something, drop in a new one and *pay more attention this time*.....

Cheers for the reply...

 

[shemshemet]

Hm yeah if you have the funds, switch the light. It isn't going to hurt. Some people switch bulbs every cycle.

I'm not a fan of determining changing equipment by grow cycle though, so don't do that.

 

[LVSkunkWorx]

Hm yeah if you have the funds, switch the light. It isn't going to hurt. Some people switch bulbs every cycle.

I'm not a fan of determining changing equipment by grow cycle though, so don't do that.

Well, since I am in a continual harvest system anyways, that doesn't really help because I am either always or never at the end of the cycle for *something* in there, whereas the remaining 66% or so needs that light to stay right the F where its at if possible. So figured since there are no naturally-occurring "down" days in bloom, I think it just needs to be scheduled...

 

[ShroomKing]

I change mine every 3 months.
If I don't, my lower buds get reeeeal larfy.

Peace

 

[Zen Garden]

I run them until they die. Why spend more money if you don't have to?

 

[Papa Indica]

Well, as was stated above, running your bulbs until they die isn't good for your ballast. I go from 6-9 months on mine, trying to stay closer to 6. A year would definitely be time for a change out.

 

[Zen Garden]

Well, as was stated above, running your bulbs until they die isn't good for your ballast. I go from 6-9 months on mine, trying to stay closer to 6. A year would definitely be time for a change out.

Not sure how true that is. I've had the same ballast for 4 years. My bulbs typically die between the 3rd and 4th run.

 

[shemshemet]

http://synergylightingusa.com/how-to-tell-if-a-metal-halide-light-bulb-or-ballast-need-replaced/

I think it's more about running your equipment correctly, rather than get lucky your ballast is fine after running it incorrectly.

 

[rmoltis]

I personally would just go off the manufacturers ratings. These bulbs are both hortilux. One is the blue & the other is super hps.

The mh shows optimum growth being 6-8 months rated @ 24 hours a day burn time.

So I do some math. I start by averaging out the days in the 12 month year 365÷12=30.4166666667

So since mh is rated for 6-8 months.
30.4166666667×6=182.5 days
30.4166666667x8=243.3333333336 days.

24 hours times ea result.
24x182.5=4,380hrs min side of optimal growth rating
24x243.3333333336=5,840 hrs max side of optimal growth rating

Further refined since most people use 18/6 in veg you can further extend the days of useage while keeping the running time (hours low).
For example
4,380hrs÷18hrs a day=243 days min side of optimal growth rating.
5,840hrs÷18hrs a day= 324.44 days max side of optimal growth rating.

That right there shows you if using this mh 18hrs a day you could almost run it for a full year (40.5 days short) for optimal growth (if ran to the max side of optimal growth rating).


The hps is rated for 9-10 months rated at 12hr a day burn time. Which means since we already use 12/12 lighting for flower. There is no conversion it will last 9-10 months through its min-max optimal growth rating if burned daily.

 

[fishwhistle]

I used to change mine every other round,now i run DE and do it once a year.

 

[G gnome]

I change mine annually

 

[tommy2snips]

Sylvania/Philips 1K's on mag ballasts....3 crops on HPS, 2 on MH. (crop for me is 2wk 18hr veg and 8-9wk 12/12)...so 10-11wks = 1 round. An extra round on either bulb doesn't hurt much if coin is tight or you forget, don't stress about it :)

 

[MrBlah]

I know commercial facilities that change single ended bulbs every 6 months. DE HPS every 12 months.

I'm going to do a little bit of math right now for determining which is cheaper over the long term. A 1000W DE HPS replaced every 12 months or ~800W of a cheap LED, like the MARII 1600.

A 1000W DE HPS with ballast will draw about 1100W from the wall at most. A 1000W DE HPS fixture that costs $150 is about average. Ballast costs $240 on average. Bulb is~ $100 for each replacement. I will assume the ballast lasts 5 years and you decide to replace the reflector at the same time. So, over 5 years, you purchase 5 bulbs, 1 reflector, 1 ballast. Total = ~$900 in equipment. Total power usage over 5 years @ 12/12 = 21,900kWh. @$0.13/kWh = $2,847 in power costs over 5 years.

A somewhat comparable LED, the MARII 1600 which draws ~710W of power costs $600 and draws almost 400W less from the wall. Total power consumption over 5 years = 15,550 kWh. @$0.13/kWh = $2,020 over 5 years.

Lifecycle cost comparison:
DE HPS: ~$3,750
700W LED: ~$2,620

If you want to spend the same amount of money, you can have 1000W+ of LED instead of 1000W of HPS, and it will be less of a hassle, less maintenance.

I'll let you all duke it out as to which produces better product(quite frankly I don't care).

 

[mayonnaise]

Every February for me , I've never noticed a big drop off till after the year mark. A lot of people swear it drops off for them earlier but I've never observed that in my rooms. I picked a month a long time ago and stuck to it so I don't forget. I don't always read back in my grow diary and could see myself letting it slip