Distance for 150w 2700k induction lamp?

Sometime back in 2012 I bought a 150w lamp and ballast. I have not hooked it up other than seeing if it worked. Now I want to try it out in my flower tent. I can get my PLLs within 2" of my flowering plants, what would you recommend for the 150w induction lamp? Thanks!

Guess I'll have to find out for myself

I have 3-120 watt 5000k round induction lamps and keep them around 4 to 6 inches away,but it's mostly for coverage because they are only about 11 inches across.

Cool thanks...have you ever moved them closer and seen damage?

I'm sure they have grow up closer than that before I've moved them up and never had any heat damage.I do keep a eye on it tho,especially in summer because I don't have air conditioning.

I might have a failed experiment in day 1 of my switch. I had this 150w 2700k induction lamp lying around unused so I figured I'd try it. So I took out my homemade PLL fixture of ~144w and replaced it with this one. Better reflector and everything. My temps at the very tip of the canopy before was 82-84 F, with high 70s at middle. I put the new fixture in a few hours ago and the tent heated up to almost 90F with the top of the canopy at 95F! Odd, I looked at a 400w lamp at a grow shop a few weeks back, it did not seem to put off that much heat. I could even touch that one, but not mine...pretty hot. So I raised my fixture up as high as it would go and then my lights went out for dark cycle. I might have to stick my PLLs back in there.

brotherjericho said:

I might have a failed experiment in day 1 of my switch. I had this 150w 2700k induction lamp lying around unused so I figured I'd try it. So I took out my homemade PLL fixture of ~144w and replaced it with this one. Better reflector and everything. My temps at the very tip of the canopy before was 82-84 F, with high 70s at middle. I put the new fixture in a few hours ago and the tent heated up to almost 90F with the top of the canopy at 95F! Odd, I looked at a 400w lamp at a grow shop a few weeks back, it did not seem to put off that much heat. I could even touch that one, but not mine...pretty hot. So I raised my fixture up as high as it would go and then my lights went out for dark cycle. I might have to stick my PLLs back in there.

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You sure it's pulling 150w from the wall??? somethings up should be the same heat as the 144w pl-l...

PSUAGRO. said:

You sure it's pulling 150w from the wall??? somethings up should be the same heat as the 144w pl-l...

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Sadly, I don't have a reader. I do have a multimeter, I suppose I could somehow check the output from the ballast.

PSUAGRO. said:

You sure it's pulling 150w from the wall??? somethings up should be the same heat as the 144w pl-l...

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Another thing that affects this is overall size of the bulb. The PLLs are longer and narrower and there are 4 of them (2x55, 2x22), might dissipate heat better than the shorter, fatter bulb.

brotherjericho said:

Another thing that affects this is overall size of the bulb. The PLLs are longer and narrower and there are 4 of them (2x55, 2x22), might dissipate heat better than the shorter, fatter bulb.

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This is true as well, but the ambient temps should be exactly the same with a 6 watt increase. The induction might be pulling close to 200w with such a large diff

I hope I can straighten it out...while they are both roughly the same wattage, I can see light further into the canopy with the induction lamp over the PLLs.

I took my 24w PLL's out (thought they were 22w) and replaced them with 40w. If my PLLs have to go back in, they'll have 190w instead of 148w.

Right now, taking readings with my infrared thermo, I've got anywhere from 85-88F at the tops of some buds, with <84F just a few inches down. I'll check again after an hour or so, light has been on for 30 mins.

Well, cannot do the induction right now...the plants that were under it were 3" from the PLLs and as high as I could raise the fixture. When I put the induction in, same distance because I am at max height. Obviously 3" from the top of the plant is not good for the one single induction tube because temps were way too high. I put my PLLs back in the tent, with the new total wattage of 190w instead of the old 148w. Bud tops that were running as high as 90F with the induction are now 86F, and the middle temperature of the plant is 79-80F. So basically I am getting more lumens/ft^2 and less heat with the PLLs.

The only advantage at this point, for me, is that I can fit more watts into a smaller space with the induction. I've already got the ballast for 150w, I might try to pick up a 5000k or 6500k bulb (~$80) to replace the CMH I am using in my veg closet. I have some more PLLs that I was going to use, but the space has an odd shaped layout which makes lighting difficult unless I can use a single source light, like the induction or CMH.

Screw that (for now), going to put the 150w induction in my veg cab and replace the CMH, see how it does. If 2700k does not do the job, will switch up to 5000k or 6500k. I really don't like the CMH for vegging, even though it is 4000k, my plants always looked better under PLLs, though they were 6500k.