Sulphur plasma lighting

[FtW]

Been wanting to see what one of these units can do to mary jane. A friend has been using them to veg houseplants & vegetables for like a year & keeps going on about how great they work and he lent me one to see how they work for flowering.
I got it up & running today. 1000 watts with a little tiny bulb smaller than a golf ball that runs at 95% efficiency for about 5 years, the spectrum is closer to sunlight than any other light & it keeps intensity up for farther distance than HID (you can have plants farther away & still get all the benefits).
I'll see if it lives up to the hype over the next couple months...

[Green Supreme]

Wicked dude the people wanna know. Thanks again for sharing. Peace GS

[Bukket]

Wow sounds awesome man let us know how it works out.

[oaxacaspice]

Now that's awesome, can't wait to read about your results. Is the equipment expensive or comparable to what we all use now?

Paz y mas...

[EasyBakeIndica]

I've been reading about these for years. Those are the first pic I've seen of the bulb over some plants.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sulfur_lamp

Badass. Thanks, FTW.

[FtW]

The person who's wanted to know the most is me, my guy finally got tired of me asking him if he's flowered anything yet.

They're still pretty pricey, wholesale about $1000 now.

I've had a 1000w halide running in there keeping temps at 71-75 degrees with the ballast in another room. I just turned it back on to keep it warm enough in there, with the plasma light & ballast in the same room the temp was just at 67. Definitely runs cooler.

[EasyBakeIndica]

Awesome. Thanks for the info.

This is exciting. I just searched Google and couldn't find anyone else flowering bud under one of these bulbs.

[YukonBikerGuy]

Cooler and full spectrum are both good, that I like, pricetag is a bit steep tho. I'd like to know about energy consumption vs the more standard options ie 1000W HPS / 1000W MH. Keep the pictures comming. :)

[Visioncreator]

1000W of Sulphur =1000w of HPS/MH

It's the output that we are interested in.

[YukonBikerGuy]

OK, d'oh, I'm baked, lol. Of course they are both using the same 1000W hahaha.

Some things I've read online were suggesting that a 400W plasma emits as much light as a 1000W MH tho, so is a 1000W plasma emitting as many lumens as 2400W of MH? That would be super sweet....

The only drawback I can see is the size of the thing.... Mounted on the ceiling it looks to take up almost 3 feet of clearance :)

[FtW]

The widest area at the bottom of the reflector is 18" across, bottom of the reflector to the top of the bracket is 19". Plus a few inches of 2x4 to brace up for the 50 lbs the thing weighs.
Here's a link to what one 1kw plasma is supposed to do in veg compared to 6 x 400 watts of metal halide:
http://www.sulphurplasma.com/biotronic.htm

[Bubbleman]

yes but what you guys are forgetting to mention is the actual distant that light can emit its lumens. something like 16 feet you were saying ftw?
FILL US IN.

also thanks for posting this man, i gotta admit, i have yet to see one of these hanging over plants as well. Nice to have it here at fmb.com

Bubble man

[greenbdman]

Alright finally get to see if these things are worth the money! Thanks for sharing.

[Visioncreator]

I saw one at the PNW shop on Hastings about 9 yrs ago.You could not look into it, insanely bright.

Imagine a no shaded one in a vertical set up.

[2broke2smoke]

im pullin up a chair for this one, i am very interested in these lights.:cool1:

2b2s

[FtW]

They're vegging up a bit, don't think I'm going to get these much larger before flipping them though, not really sure how big the footprint is & want to make sure all the tops stay in the light till it's finished.
I think finishing them about 24" tall they should still be OK along the edges.
Weather warmed up a bit, so they were under the plasma + 1 MH for a day then just the plasma since then & to the end. A couple guys think they'll do better with a sodium in there as well for the autumn spectrum but I want to do at least 1 show with just the plasma alone.
I'll have to get myself a light meter one of these days to see just how far the intensity goes compared to the HID lights.

[Green Supreme]

Nice FtW. I'm glad you are gonna run her once with no supplemental lighting. Lets see what this thing can do. Thanks again for sharing, you da man. Peace GS

[hash*_*bean]

this for sure is one of the nicer threads i have seen for years finaly some one tires it out and the talk can stop
pulling up a chair to sit in lean back smoke the bong and enjoy the show
u sure have some nice grows going ftw

[2broke2smoke]

NASA is adding calcium bromide to get the autumnal spectrum.This should eliminate the need 4 supplemental hps. Here is a link.

http://www.techbriefs.com/content/view/2176/32/

2b2s

[FtW]

The first unit I got was the red spectrum, but I plugged it in & no light came out... It was replaced with the full spectrum running now.
Here they are after thier second day 12/12.

[trichomefarmer]

wooo space man far out,

hope it works.

[sog army]

thanks for posting this ftw.. so what do u plan to gain by this? Do u think u can use one plasma light to take the place of two normal hids?

[Batiba]

will follow this thread

[FtW]

sog army, don't know yet if there's much to gain for flowering yet, that's why I'm trying it.
I already knew they work great in veg, but want to see if it can replace 2 HPS, or even 1, or if it's just good for supplemental in flower. My guy I got it from thinks it'll make everything frostier but noone really knows yet just what it does with buds, & I want to find out. Someone has to...

[koalaphin]

I worked at a hydro shop that had old plasma lights from the 90's we never could sell. Also these long tube things that were supposed to disperse the light. What has changed to make it possible for these to be looked at again as a possible alternative to hps or halide? Sulfur lighting has always been just a few steps away from perfection all this time.

[oaxacaspice]

Good information on this lighting technology [check out the products tab].

CLICK ME >>> SULPHUR PLASMA LIGHTS (http://www.sulphurplasma.com/)

Paz y mas...

[hazedaze]

here is a quote from that site Oaxacaspice linked above.


Because the lamp is electrodeless, the addition of other chemicals in the bulb can be used to change or improve colour rendition. Sulphur lamp bulbs with calcium bromide added produce a similar spectrum but with the addition of a spike in red wavelengths at 625nm. Other additives such as selenium indium halide, lithium iodide and sodium iodide can and have been been used to modify the output spectra. (see SPD chart from Jena Uni (http://www.sulphurplasma.com/sulphur-plasma-light.htm#spd))

[FtW]

Here's a few pics at 10 days into flower. Took some shots of the other room at 2 weeks 12/12, have to compare in a few days & see if they're keeping up.

[FtW]

A few pics at 2 weeks in.

[FtW]

A comparison of the 2 rooms at 2 weeks, the plasma is a little less developed than the ones under the HPS. I wonder if the spectrum makes a difference in how fast they start to go, maybe the red speeds things along a bit? I've never tried flowering without red spectrum lights before...

[FtW]

Adding some co2, a new setup from Supernatural using the excellofizz pucks called the Excellowizard. Used the pucks before but was just dropping 1 in the water when I went into the room, so it was a quick blast of co2 without any regulation.
This new setup works by displacing water with an airpump, so on a timer it doesn't waste when the lights are off. The instuctions say it should fill a 10' x 10' room to approx. 1500ppm when run for 15 minutes, I'm trying out 15 minutes on every 2 hours. I'll have to grab the regulator & sniffer out of the other room to see how it does & get it dialed in.
Yes I noticed how dirty the old fan is, I'll have to clean it off tonight so I'm not blowing dust all over the girls...

Edit: Timer is set for 15 m every 2 hours not 1

[YukonBikerGuy]

Interesting, I cant find that system on thier site tho. :(

[FtW]

The excellowizard is brand new, might not have them in production yet.
Something I just clued into, this is a 730 watt light. There's another one out there that uses 1360 watts for a 1000 watt output,the one I'm using is 1000 watts for a 730 watt output.
These units use up a bit of power for the microwave ballast.

[Evil-Ash]

Cant wait to see how the show turns out.. hope everything turns out as lovely as all the other shows u put on...
good luck with the experiment..

[FtW]

3 weeks in, looking healthy but quite a bit behind the ones in the other room at 3 weeks.

[YukonBikerGuy]

Perhaps it is the lower output of 730W vs the HPS at 1000W output that is slowing the development? Do you have a plasma bulb with a 'red' additive to try? Even tho they are going slower, they certainly look green and healthy. What about boosting 1 or 2 plants up higher and seeing if proximity to the light does make a difference? Are the temps in the 2 rooms staying about the same? Many thanks to you for being the experimenter for all of us with the plasma light.

[FtW]

Well here's a couple pics at 3 days shy of 4 weeks. Looking at the same starin in my newest show thread, these are getting pretty far behind. The 730 watts does have less power, but is supposed to give the girls more of the light they need than a 1000. Guess I would have to try the red output one to see how much difference the red spectrum makes.
Temps are way different in the 2 rooms, in this room I had to put the exhaust fan on a thermostat to keep it from getting too cold, temps max at 73 degrees with the light on.
They also drink much less, last watered over a week ago & the pots are still heavy. The other room pots get soaked every second or third day.
Today I'm debating whether or not to put in a couple HPS till its done, otherwise it may take forever for a smallish yield.

[EasyBakeIndica]

I'm wondering if the light could be closer to the plants. (That ballast fixture looks heavy duty, btw.) That would be pretty far distance for a regular HID bulb.

[guineapig]

this is awesome!!!! keep up the comparison shots....

-gp

[FtW]

I've got 48 pots under that thing, bringing id down more would cut off light from the sides a bit too much. Plus it weighs like fifty pounds. Also one of the reasons I wanted to try it was the distance of light intensity, supposed to push light a LOT farther than HID.
Forgot the pics at 4 weeks, here they are at 31 days 12/12.

[FtW]

5 weeks now, they're looking like they may still finish up around the same amount of bloom time as the other room, just smaller from the slow start.

[Green Supreme]

Thanks for sharing man. This is info that can't even be bought right now. I am beginning to wonder if you can buy those bulbs in a different spectrum. Again I say thanks for doing what everyone else is just talking about. Peace GS

[linsen]

They do look damn tasty just very small buds, perhaps they will release more bulbs eventually

[FtW]

There are red spectrum plasma bulbs, I had one to start with but it didn't fire up. Hopefully some more come in so I can get one to try out.
Until then when I start the next one in here I'm going to add a couple HPS for the spectrum, or maybe some envirolights.

[FtW]

I finally pulled off a trichome shot, looking through the pics I took yesterday lucky # 13 is fairly clear in full size.

[FtW]

This one came down at 45 days, pretty small to start with & I had bud rot problems in the other room, soon as I saw sign of it in here I didn't take chances. Yield was a little over 6 oz. The buds are smaller but a bit harder than the same strain in the other room, looks like it might actually be a bit frostier but kinda hard to actually tell. second pic is a bud from each room, bigger one is the bigger room.
Next one I'll have some red spectrum in there with the plasma.

[Sinfuldreams]

I noticed the 31 day shots had NICE Trich formation, I'd agree the SPL is more frosty.
Interesting information, thank you very much!

Sin

[zaxxon]

How loud was the lamp?

[lefty]

Thanks for the test, very good read, I'll be looking forward to your future grows, peace

[mcbitsko]

[quote=Bubbleman;5480]yes but what you guys are forgetting to mention is the actual distant that light can emit its lumens. something like 16 feet you were saying ftw?
FILL US IN.



a 1000w MH at 120,000 lumins is strong enough light for growth up to 6 ft away.
how many lumins does this light produce please?

please more info!

[Shibbydonkey]

Zaxxon had a damn good question lol, does it sound like a spaceship taking off?

[FtW]

Old thread resurrection, I'll have to fire it up again one of these days for a light meter test. As far as sound, it's pretty quiet. The hum of a 1000w ballast is louder.