Bulb longevity: power compact, NO, VHO.

[Murminator]

Originally Posted by Bob_I

As an example the 96W lost half of its output in LUX in six months. Today I have tested some 65W 50/50 tubes by Coralife. The two I tested were about one year old. They were both down to 2000 LUX I also tested a GE 9325W tube, It tested at 4000Lux I also tested a 24" Helios T5 tube It came out at 1200LUX

So Bob what would the Lux ratings be when the are new
96w
65w
GE
T5

[Bob I]

That is a fair question , but can only partly be answered. For the 96W it is immaterial , it lost half of its original output in six months (I don't remember the numbers).

I have just measued an almost new 65W CSL Smartlamp. It measures a little under 5000 LUX.

Brand new 10000/6700K Sunpaq measures just over 5000 LUX

I have no new T5, or GE 9325 tubes, so I cannot measure them.

I did just add the old Actinic Coralife to the old 10000K, and only got 3000 LUX

I then added the old GE to the old Coralife, and got more than 4000 LUX

I can tell you that visually the other 65W tubes looked great when new, but are very dull after one year

[Bob I]

Originally Posted by StirCrazy

the problem with PC's is when they get older the draw more current, it has been reported than in some cases up to 5X more current.

Do you have the source for that? I have a serious problem with that. 5X the current would mean 5X the wattage, which would give off 5X the heat. That should give you some melted canopies. I have not seen any reports like that.

[StirCrazy]

well ya the power consumption goes it. I have read it on 2 or 3 sites that manufacture PC's and they say to change them frequently because of this. also there have been a couple posts on this problem and exactly like you said a couple melted canopies. this was all about a year or two back, I believe it was on RC, I'll see if I can find them again.

Steve