I really appreciate the gems you’ve dropped so far. I’ve been putting them into practice, time will show the benefits I’m sure 
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What’s the light spread on the 315 cmh? 3x3?
Its hood dependent. But for the most part 3x3.
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I do 4x 315 over a 4x12 area. Keepong canopy distance 2.5’ or under
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I replaced a 1000w se hps with 6 quantum boards. V2 288 from hlg.
I lasted two runs with them.
I’m not a super grower with all the crazy mixes and gizmos but I can tell you I was very bummed out by them. Super low yield. No penetration. Frost is cool and everything but if it’s on top of a whispy “nug” it’s not for me.
They are now a super expensive veg light. Whomp.
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I have no issues with my HLG 132s. They’re like the weakest ones and I pulled over a half pound from 1 plant in a 2x2 scrog. Not sure they would be practical for commercial grows. You’d have to do way too much management. But theyre baby boards are pretty great for tent grows. no heatskink required and they offer a better distribution of light, but they do lack in the penetration department. training is a must to ensure an even canopy.
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I’m on the same page, my experience is with tents and smaller areas in general.
Led seems ideal for those situations, anything bigger than that I don’t have any meaningful input.
I think each situation calls for its own lighting solution, and led’s absolutely have their place in growing.
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I used to run a 600 hps in a cool tube in a 3x5 space. I was able to almost have it touching my plants. They got light burn before heat burn. With a pair of yo yo’s I could easily move the light up and down. Definitely been thinking of trying out CMH, but don’t have a good space for it currently. My last run was quite micro in a 2x3 cabinet, 3 foot tall with an HLG 135 rspec. It was pretty much perfect for the space. I had it dialed down to 100 watts for starting a bunch of seedlings, then cranked it up to 150 watts for flowering with pretty great results on the four plants I grew for seed.
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A good samsung diode has excellent light spectrum except for UV. Why not LED strips for dispersed high effeciancy lighting with non LED UV supplimental lighting for higher terp and cannaboid production? Then you can work the room with the UV off for Humanoid protection and still get the benifits of UV for your Trichs. Is the CMH bringing anything else to the table besides heat that you usually have to pay to pump out of the room?
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Cmh
Uva/b
92 cri
2 style bulb types (t9-t12) for various applications.
Bulbs last longer than most other bulbs, but DONT be fooled by Philip’s 20k and 30k usage. That’s a blatant LIE!
Lower wattage
Less heat than 600mh/hps
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if you were going to run CMH in a 6x6 area, would you run 4 315’s for optimum coverage? How far would 3 of them get me if I shrunk the space down to 5x5 or 6x4?
Where do you get the custom glass for your hoods made?
Any glass shop.
I’d run 4 in a 6x6
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thanks man, now to find the best deals on 4 full kits 
It seems it’s going to cost around the same as replacing my HPS with LED strips. I might just pull the trigger on the CMH and call it a day. You’ve been very convincing with your results.
My main reason for wanting to go LED was the lower power consumption. The CMH is on par with that as I’ll only be running like 300 extra watts compared to if I went full LEDs in flower.
Right now I’m running 2 600w HPS and it barely covers my 6x5. If I swapped to 4 315’s, I would get way better coverage and only increase my power by 80w. Better yet if I can manage to dim to 75% then I’ll be running ~960w
Theres no reason to dim 315’s. Kinda weird if you have to.
Prism ballasts
Mogul socket adapters
Philips bulbs
Any hood you want
Growershouse has the hoods and adapters.
Lightbulbs.com. for bulbs
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I have 4 near new greenbeam reflectors and ballasts sitting unused for cheap if interested. You would need bulbs though.
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https://www.amazon.com/Prism-Lighting-Science-Conversion-Protection/dp/B06X1B9RQB
Are these conversion kits worth it for someone coming from hps?
Maybe not that ballast in particular, but is there any negatives to getting the socket converter and a new ballast if someone is already happy with the hood they have?
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Exactly how i swapped my hps for cmh.
Swap out hps for cmh ballast
Install mogul socket adapter
Screw in cmh bulb
Done
LOVE that lower power bill
Go to growershouse.com for the ballast and adapter.
Probably a bit cheaper, and i hate amazon
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Kinda what I figured, but wanted to confirm with someone. Always nice to be able to save cash fer sure.
@clouds, you might be able to save a little cash this way, instead of having to buy 4 new hoods as well.
And agree, the Amazon link was the first thing that popped up in my search though.
Funny enough, I keep getting spam from growers house advertising the exact same thing lately lol.
yeah i looked into that route too, but I’m only running 2 hoods and would need 2 new ones anyway. I’m running the shit hood that came with an ebay system and then a big giant 4x4 for my other light. It’s less than ideal and I feel that 4x4 hood is just overkill for the 600 HPS.
I’m going to grab those lights from @Strange and call it a day
I’m also considering just retiring the COB’s as a clone/seed starter light. It’s not doing what I need it to in veg… And then recycling one of the MH/HPS ballast I have running now for a veg light and toss in an old MH bulb. I loved the way veg ran with MH