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Growing under Lights

incandescent to cfl - heat conversion

16 years ago

Hi all,

Is there a way to make a logical determination as to how bright a cfl can be substituted for an incandescent bulb?

My main concern is how much heat is created and whether the shade/reflector/wiring etc will stand it.

For example, I have an exo terra hood for a viv. It says max 26W incandescent. A "100W" CFL is 23W. Safe to use or no?

Clearly I've forgotten my basic physics, as this strikes me as a question that should be easily answered.

Right now I'm thinking of running the lights for 14 hrs but with 1 or 2 breaks during the day to prevent the air in the case from getting too hot. (This would also let the light fixture cool off a bit.)

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Comments (3)

object16
16 years ago
safe. The heat produced is the number of watts. The light produced is the Lumens/watt. Irrespective of the type of lighting, the eventual product is heat, as only a tiny amount of the light energy is actually captures as plant sugars. Paul Mozarowski.
komi
Original Author
16 years ago
So 23W is 23W. Simple. Thanks!
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shrubs_n_bulbs
16 years ago
So now that lamp that was barely bright enough at 26W (incadescent) is a real searchlight at 26W (CFL) :)

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