A watt is a watt?
- Thread starter steelwrap
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perfectdark
Active Member
T-5's are more intense than PC's. Without a meter to read lumens or par its difficult to tell how much more. T-5's produce more lumens per watt, and some manufacurers will post lumen out put on their bulbs but not all. I've read that from the sheer design of a PC lamp you lose 30% of its intensity from the get go. Alledgedly this isnt the case with t-5's so a best guess could be that a t-5 bulb is 30% more intense than a PC of the same wattage. Although MO Is a t-5 lamp isnt flawless either so that percentage in my opinion is about 20%.
farslayer
Active Member
Originally Posted by bs21
this is why watt/gallon doesn't work! because as you have pointed out same wattage between T-5 and PC the T-5 is obviously more intense. Lighting ahhhh
Absolutely correct. I've tried to explain this so many times, but there are too many people who will not get off that stupid watt/gallon nonsense.
A watt is a unit of measurement for energy; it is equal to one joule per second. Thus, a 100W bulb requires 100 joules per second to remain lit. When the bulb is lit, it is producing output in the form of lumens, which can then be translated into PAR based upon the number of usable photons (usable for photosynthesis). A T-5 has a much better conversion between watts and lumens than does a PC. I can't find the source, but I believe that MH are superior to T-5; either way, the MH has greater penetration.
The superior conversion is why T-5s run so much cooler. For a PC, the loss of conversion from watts to lumens is in the form of heat. Simply laws of physics state that we can't create/destroy energy or matter, we can only change its form. Thus, the 100W of input are converted to heat and light; PCs generate less light, thus more heat. T-5s produce more light, thus less heat.
this is why watt/gallon doesn't work! because as you have pointed out same wattage between T-5 and PC the T-5 is obviously more intense. Lighting ahhhh
Absolutely correct. I've tried to explain this so many times, but there are too many people who will not get off that stupid watt/gallon nonsense.
A watt is a unit of measurement for energy; it is equal to one joule per second. Thus, a 100W bulb requires 100 joules per second to remain lit. When the bulb is lit, it is producing output in the form of lumens, which can then be translated into PAR based upon the number of usable photons (usable for photosynthesis). A T-5 has a much better conversion between watts and lumens than does a PC. I can't find the source, but I believe that MH are superior to T-5; either way, the MH has greater penetration.
The superior conversion is why T-5s run so much cooler. For a PC, the loss of conversion from watts to lumens is in the form of heat. Simply laws of physics state that we can't create/destroy energy or matter, we can only change its form. Thus, the 100W of input are converted to heat and light; PCs generate less light, thus more heat. T-5s produce more light, thus less heat.