Got a kill-a-watt, but that's hooked up to the computer to monitor power usage. I can buy a couple more to monitor the
lights on each side.
I'll need to pick up a 100w
hps system. Keep everything as controlled and even as possible.
As to the
cfl question originally posted, I played around with some single-phosphor T5HO
bulbs a long time ago. The red had a dominant peak of approximately 620nm, the blue had a dominant peak around 470nm, with wide swaths out in either direction from the peak due to the nature of phosphors not being as monochromatically tunable as direct
led. The bulbs were expensive, on the order of 45 dollars a tube in bulk cases of 12 tubes. I had good results with them when used with small crops, but not good enough to justify the price. Great for experimentation, just not enough photon flux density to get the job done very well. I might have had better luck if I had used a different
ballast and pushed 80w through them instead of their typical 54w, but I was not about to buy an IceCap just for something I had no intention of recording, it was just for my own personal pleasure. However, if that kind of thing suits you, feel free to try it! Everything makes for a wonderful learning experience, and even failures are successes in terms of data gathered.