Ceramic Metal Halide (CMH) – Future of Grow Lights

We are proud to bring you another first for South Africa – Ceramic Metal Halide CMH Grow Lights, the future of HID.

If you want to keep your edge you will need to stay up to date with the latest lighting technology. Out with the old and in with the new!

CMH metal halide grow lights are made with an arc tube constructed of a ceramic composite instead of quartz or PCA. This allows the tube to reach higher temperatures. To achieve the lower operating temperature in HID lamps made with quartz or PCA, a combination of gases must be used that don’t necessarily produce the optimal light spectrum for photosynthesis.

The higher operating temperature of the ceramic tube allows for an ideal mixture of gases. This creates a fuller spectrum of light that increases the growth, overall health and yield of your plants. A special ballast is needed for ceramic metal halide's. CMH lamps require a low frequency, which makes high-frequency digital ballasts incompatible. Which unfortunately means you wont be able to use your existing digital ballasts with any of the CMH lamps we supply. CMH Ballasts will need to be paired with CMH Lamps, just to be clear.

Most manufactures claim that you would only need to change out your lamps every two to three years

There are a few key benefits to CMH Lighting:

1. Money saved by switching to CMH
2. Some suppliers claim one 315W CMH is equivalent to one 1,000W HPS lamp in terms of yields. Others have reported that you need two 315W CMH lamps to produce the same yields as a 1,000W HPS. The varying reports probably have to do with other elements in the garden and the gardener’s skill level.
3. Ceramic Metal Halide grow lights also have a low heat output because of their low wattage. One watt from a grow light creates about 4 British Thermal Units (BTU’s) of heat that need to be cooled. Let’s say you have a small room with four 1,000W HPS grow lights. Your four lights alone create 16,000 BTU’s of heat that need cooling. If you trade those lights in for four 630W fixtures, which will match, if not exceed, your current yields, you will only create 10,000 BTU’s of heat. Your air conditioner would run less often, and you would see savings on your electricity bill. The low heat output of CMH make them the perfect choice for small grow spaces, such as closets and grow tents.
4. You won’t have to deal with the electromagnetic interference (EMI) issues many growers experience with digital ballasts. High levels of EMI from digital ballasts are known to interfere with cellphone service, radio, Wi-Fi
5. What Ceramic Metal Halide brings to the table is their superior light quality compared to other HID lamps, which is due to a few factors. First, they have a wider spectrum than other HID lamps - a result of the near-perfect, unique combination of salts, halide's and gases used in the arc tube. This mixture creates a spectrum close to that of the sun and emits a stunning, crisp, white light. In fact, the color rendering index (CRI) for ceramic lamps ranges from 90-92. To give you some perspective, the sun’s CRI is 100. HPS lamps range from 20-30, and Metal Halide's range from 60-65. The closer the CRI is to 100, the closer the spectrum is to that of the sun. Ceramics include ultraviolet and infrared rays in their spectrum, which plants love. The higher amounts of UV rays create stronger, woodier stalks. This means the growth and vigor of your plants will be unmatched
6. CMH ballasts use square-wave technology. When you look at the graph on the back of the box your bulb is packaged in, notice the high peaks and low dips. The peaks are an indicator of energy pushing out of the bulb. The low dips indicate light trying to travel to the next peak. You can see this with your own eyes when you take photos and videos of your grow room. With most HID lights, you’ll see bands of light on your photos.The bands of light are the peaks in the graph, and the spaces between them indicate the dips. With square-wave technology, there are fewer dips. A steadier beam of light is produced, which means your plants receive more light over their lives.

Not only do Ceramic Metal Halide lights provide plants with a wide lighting spectrum, they use fewer watts and produce less heat than other types of lighting.

If you want to keep up with your competition, you should considering making the switch to Ceramic Metal Halide grow lights today!

Browse our range of CMH Grow Lights HERE.

For more information on CMH: www.epicgardening.com/cmh-grow-lights/

Information sourced from Maximum Yield Magazine.