CFL Lumens/Watt Chart - Find Most Efficient Setup

my bad, on further reading I don't guess cfls are classified as HID. coulda swore I read that somewhere...

but my point still stands... In some cases, cfl would be the appropriate solution where added ventilation for heat control would be difficult, impossible, or unrecommended.

DoobsDay said:

what did you expect there flourescents.

buy a hps light or go outdoors

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Dont let this scare off the small timers. CFLs can produce very well in small cabinets. In my original setup I used (12) 27w cfl plus one 46w cfl in a 3'x3'x4' triangular cabinet and consistantly grew 3 bountiful plants at a time.

I agree though there is a point where you just have to commit to professional gear.

nongreenthumb said:

or get a mh and hps and have fantastic plants

either that or get a hps for flowering and a 6400k cfl 100 watt at least for veg

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yes of course everybody would love to have hps.. but the main point is "COST!" If people had the money for hps they would buy it.. but for those who don't cfl's are a cost effective alternative..

nongreenthumb said:

not that this is a pissing contest or my dads bigger than yours, but the cfl i have is 250w and produces a surprising amount of heat, it severly harmed 5 plants on its first day of use.

are you going to use a hps or anything else to flower with or just your 42w's

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That is why you shouldn't go with a 250w.. if you had several 43w cfl's or smaller you can have them very close to your plants because of low heat.. which in turn means that you get a much larger amount of lumens actually hitting your plants

I have been searching FOREVER for an answer to this question. AT what distence from a CFL is the lumen rating measured from?

FirstTimeGrow said:

I am preparing to make a large grow area and want to use CFLs. I was wondering what the most cost effective setup would be and thought others might be interested in the Lumens/Watt ratios for CFLs.

CFL Lumens/Watt

105w - 65.714
85w - 58.823 (49.412)
65w - 52.308
55w - 65.454
42w - 66.667
40w - 66.25
32w - 65.625
30w - 66.667
27w - 64.815


Based on my calculations it seems that the 30w-55w are the most efficient CFLs.

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I found some 23-27w bulbs which are 70-72 lm/w

interesting cfl analysis.
i run 3 x 105 watts during flower and 2 x 105 watts for veg. i'm happy with the results for my personal grow.

Grow on

important topic for us CFL people, got to get the most out our little bulbs
i ran across this at 1000bulbs.com, they weigh in at 74 lumens per watt, best i've seen for cfl's at a reasonable price
and they were cheap, less than $2 per bulb, here's specs

(4 Pack) 23 Watt CFL - 2700K Warm White 23 Watt - CFL - 100 W Equal - 2700K Warm White - 80 CRI - 74 Lumens per Watt

edit: forgot the brand name, they were EnergyMiser(i think)

i bought a 45w 4100k 200w equivalent with 3000Lm and a 150w equivalent with 2600Lm 4100k 35w or 40 w i think i also seen mixed spectrum cfls what had 2100k 3100k 4100k in the 150w equivalent size

but from the numbers i have with me the big one is 66.66666.... lm/w

I got the 3X 42w's going, they're doing sweet for micro, glad to see they're efficient