UVB Lighting - Replicate UV Index of 12?

mudballs

Well-Known Member
dammit that's another $240.00 to spend that i don't have...thanks old timer for putting in the leg work all these years.
 

nomofatum

Well-Known Member
Tis 5 X 5 so 25 sq ft
Thx, puts me at just over 200w. Honestly I got to page 6 before I gave up on that thread, especially since I couldn't see the pics. I already have the supplies to try 200w of the tanning bulbs. I may even get a $20 meter if I find anyone saying it's accurate. Were you running them the whole cycle or a few hours mid-day?
 

RM3

Well-Known Member
Thx, puts me at just over 200w. Honestly I got to page 6 before I gave up on that thread, especially since I couldn't see the pics. I already have the supplies to try 200w of the tanning bulbs. I may even get a $20 meter if I find anyone saying it's accurate. Were you running them the whole cycle or a few hours mid-day?
1st, the pics are worth signing up for :)
2nd, the meter Max had was $1600
3rd, yeppers they are on the whole light cycle
 

nomofatum

Well-Known Member
I'm a cheap bastard, so I really want to see if the tanning bulbs will work well. $40 for a ballast, $60 for 4 100w bulbs (2 spares), $5 4 bi-pole sockets, mounted to a 1x4 ($2) coated in mylar (leftovers.)

4 more bi-pole sockets and 4 of the ATI True Actinic will convert me as the same ballast will power either.

I could use some UVB by the end of winter anyway, so if all else fails I have a use.
 

THE KONASSURE

Well-Known Member
Not

that I have ever heard, but they have deep blue, which is also a very good thing
I added a 600w mh the other week as I wanted to get a bit more stretch my blue/red led set up means that I don`t get much stretch so I have to veg a lot more if I want a tall plant

I know normally people use them to reduce stretch but a 600w mh puts out a lot more far reds then my led set up does

I just figured I`d get some blue and uv for free

But I think the glass of the cool tube its in would soak up a lot of the uv ?

Someone that made induction light tubes once told me to get more uv you have to get a smaller light not a bigger one

as when the tubes get fatter and longer they have to use thicker glass to make the tube out of

And the thicker glass cuts the amount of uv that can escape the tube


Maybe that`s why the flora`s give more uv ? because their still made of a thin glass its still a thin tube its just longer ?

Induction lights should still be able to put out good levels of uv depending on the colour and size of the tube ?
 

nomofatum

Well-Known Member
Any modern bulb not made to intentionally output UVB light will have a coating on the glass that blocks UVB, UVC and likely UVA. Most UV lights still have a coating to block UVC as we don't want to kill ourselves and the plants. If you want UV from a conventional bulb, find old MH bulbs in someone's barn or something, you need old ones without the coating. We didn't know why at the time, but that is why MH used to beat HPS in potency. What tans us is what you are looking for, and why I picked tanning bulbs before I even started this thread.

Putting out UVB or UVC light on a bulb not intended for that use would get a manufacturer sued and out of business. Cancer, Blindness, Destruction of plastics, ... Back in the day they didn't know better and that resulted in better weed, lol.
 

THE KONASSURE

Well-Known Member
suddenly them really old sunmaster mh bulbs I saw on ebay just became worth the buy lol



or maybe these are the cfls to use for uv blasting buds ?
 
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nomofatum

Well-Known Member
Have I ? No, Could I ? Yes, You can feel it on your skin heat just like the sun , I also don't look at em much
I may double the UVB you have as an experiment. I want to find the point where I kill/almost kill the plants with the UVB lights on full cycle. I was expecting a continuous UV index of 12 to be enough for that on most strains, but based on my math you are way over 12 and your plants are happy. I want to find the perfect level, so I think I'm getting another ballast and will run up to 400w of tanning bulbs at a time. I want to be able to adjust and play with the results. With 400w I should surely be able to OD the plants on UVB, and I can also run as low as 200w on 15 of every hour and everything in between. I think that will allow me to dose them at any reasonable level and compare.
 

mudballs

Well-Known Member
Thx, puts me at just over 200w. Honestly I got to page 6 before I gave up on that thread, especially since I couldn't see the pics. I already have the supplies to try 200w of the tanning bulbs. I may even get a $20 meter if I find anyone saying it's accurate. Were you running them the whole cycle or a few hours mid-day?
so is my math right at 6.5w/sq. ft. of uvb? i'm guessing your space is 30-35sq. ft.?

edit:nomo i think i know why you got astronomical uvi numbers. they are actually rated on relative intensity so we are looking for the irradiance numbers...something like .04mW (microwatts) and i can't find the ATI numbers...that's marketing for ya. if we can find those ratings you could accurately calculate your uvi proper.
 
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RM3

Well-Known Member
I may double the UVB you have as an experiment. I want to find the point where I kill/almost kill the plants with the UVB lights on full cycle. I was expecting a continuous UV index of 12 to be enough for that on most strains, but based on my math you are way over 12 and your plants are happy. I want to find the perfect level, so I think I'm getting another ballast and will run up to 400w of tanning bulbs at a time. I want to be able to adjust and play with the results. With 400w I should surely be able to OD the plants on UVB, and I can also run as low as 200w on 15 of every hour and everything in between. I think that will allow me to dose them at any reasonable level and compare.
I like experiments
 

RM3

Well-Known Member
I don't pay attention to wattage per sq ft or grams per watt or any of the stuff folks seem to fiddle with, I just grow for me. The ATI bulbs are 54 watt HO's 4 foot there are 3 True Actinics and 5 Coral Plus's, 6 GE 4100K's and 4 Plantmax 6500K

I can tell you they work !!!! check out the trics and smoke reports in this thread
https://www.rollitup.org/t/are-they-done-yet-what-does-done-look-like.853978/

sorry it looks I just answered a ?from the 1st page ,,,,, again
 
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