RickWhite
Well-Known Member
I'm looking at the majority of fixtures out there and there is one thing that really bugs me.
Most fixtures today have a horizontal bulb and throw out light downward and to either side of the arc tube. However, they throw almost nothing at the poles of the bulb, so if given a square reflector, two sides throw all the light and two sides almost none. What you end up with is a fixture that instead of illuminating say a 5' by 5' square, is really designed to illuminate 5' X 3'.
It is my belief that the reason these reflectors are designed this way is because most growers need to direct light downward while using a shallow reflector for reasons of height. If one could use a standard high hat type deep parabola, light would be spread far more evenly. But suppose someone had enough ceiling clearance for the high hats. Say that person had a junk grow house and didn't mind cutting holes in the basement ceiling and putting the lights upstairs. IMO this would give much more even coverage in that it would eliminate hot spots and most plants would be more or less equal distance from the bulb.
Another less radical option is simply to use multiple smaller lights as opposed to fewer large ones.
Personally, I like the idea of high hat lighting upstairs. Not only would the coverage be even, but all that heat would already be outside the grow room. Of course nobody will live in the house.
What do you think?
Most fixtures today have a horizontal bulb and throw out light downward and to either side of the arc tube. However, they throw almost nothing at the poles of the bulb, so if given a square reflector, two sides throw all the light and two sides almost none. What you end up with is a fixture that instead of illuminating say a 5' by 5' square, is really designed to illuminate 5' X 3'.
It is my belief that the reason these reflectors are designed this way is because most growers need to direct light downward while using a shallow reflector for reasons of height. If one could use a standard high hat type deep parabola, light would be spread far more evenly. But suppose someone had enough ceiling clearance for the high hats. Say that person had a junk grow house and didn't mind cutting holes in the basement ceiling and putting the lights upstairs. IMO this would give much more even coverage in that it would eliminate hot spots and most plants would be more or less equal distance from the bulb.
Another less radical option is simply to use multiple smaller lights as opposed to fewer large ones.
Personally, I like the idea of high hat lighting upstairs. Not only would the coverage be even, but all that heat would already be outside the grow room. Of course nobody will live in the house.
What do you think?
