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StirCrazy
August 21st, 2002, 10:00 PM
Well now that I have a MH bulb I can do some comparisons between MH and PC lighting. I was quite surprised in what I found and I am sure some of you will be also...

First off the line up, I am running a 10000K, 96 watt PC (this is the one I am testing) and a 175 watt Ushio 10000K MH. For positioning I placed the PAR sensor 9" below the bulb (in the water) I would have gone 12" but the design of my sensor mounting prevented me from doing that. it also prevented me from getting directly under the MH bulb, so I suspect when I redo this test when I make a new mount the MH #'s will be a little higher.

So to get an idea of where the sensor was in relation to the lights...
1, 9 inches directly below the PC and
2, 9 inches below and 4 inches to the left from the MH.

With just the PC on I got a score of 192.75 PAR (150 PAR is considered the minimum for SPS)

with Just the MH on I got a score of 255.35 PAR(I suspect this will be between 300 and 350 when I retest)

with Both on I get a score of 447.18 PAR

a couple interesting (or maybe not) tidbits, the MH is 1.8 X the wattage of the MH, but the light is only 1.3 X more (even if we assume 325 for a new score on the second test it will be 1.68 X )
this shows that the PC is more efficient than a MH per rated watt.

Just thought I would throw this all out for anyone who is interested...

Steve

Canada_Dry
August 21st, 2002, 10:22 PM
Very interesting, from what your saying PC is not only more efficient but produces a lot less heat. Keep us informed on more of your tests sounds interesting.

reefburnaby
August 21st, 2002, 10:59 PM
Hi Steve,

Yupe...I have been saying that for a while. The extra power goes in to heat generation....

- Victor.