Light bulb watts

W

Weebo

Avid Member
I needed to increase from a 60 watt to a 75 Watt bulb. Just got back from Home Depot and realized the bulbs I bought are energy savers....75 watt bulbs that only use 53 watts. Does that mean this bulb is even cooler temperature than my current 60 watt??
 
I’ve got to admit the zoo med power sun bulb 100watt I was testing today was the more consistent than the 5.0 and 10.0 zoo meds and it even did better than the exoterra tropical 13 watt and 26 watt bulbs I’m super blown away by this. Consistent temps throughout the screen enclosure better than all of them even keeps the humidity at the needed ideal level and consistent through several mistings. It stayed 80 in the basting and was cooler in the cooler spot as it should...I’m impressed!
 
Yup it only puts out 53 watts of heat/light. The other gotcha is the how wide/narrow the beam is, if you are switching around models. A 100 watt wide will put out a much cooler basking area vs a 50 watt narrow.
 
Weebo said:
I needed to increase from a 60 watt to a 75 Watt bulb. Just got back from Home Depot and realized the bulbs I bought are energy savers....75 watt bulbs that only use 53 watts. Does that mean this bulb is even cooler temperature than my current 60 watt??
Click to expand...

@Weebo Did the energy saver work or did you end up taking them back? I'm going with an inkbird itc-306t temp controller so I can set day temps and night temps (built in 24 hr timer with day and night settings) and use a 100w ceramic heat emitter for basking.

greenchamelons said:
I’ve got to admit the zoo med power sun bulb 100watt I was testing today was the more consistent than the 5.0 and 10.0 zoo meds and it even did better than the exoterra tropical 13 watt and 26 watt bulbs I’m super blown away by this. Consistent temps throughout the screen enclosure better than all of them even keeps the humidity at the needed ideal level and consistent through several mistings. It stayed 80 in the basting and was cooler in the cooler spot as it should...I’m impressed!
Click to expand...

@greenchamelons Have they improved on the ballast in them? I tried these several years ago and was not impressed with the longevity of them. The one I had started having ballast issues around the second month and stopped turning on completely around the fourth month. Sadly I paid retail ($60) for it back then.
 
I heard the power sun had issues years ago, as do other mercury vapor bulbs. I’m sure those have improved, my concern is the actual amount of UVB they put out. I use an Exo Terra Sun Ray bulb. It’s a metal halide bulb (similar to mercury vapor), thus it provides like 20,000 hours of service. When I first turned it on, it was giving dangerous amounts of UVB. Even through a screen top with an 8 inch distance I was getting readings greater than 10 on my Solar Meter. I left my enclosure to mature for about 3 months, as I wanted plants to grown in, and during this time, the bulb lost intensity, and now after about 2 years, is perfect. It provides heat, although not much, and the readings are at about 5 near the top of the cage. We have to remember that these fixtures designed for basking are not always great for UVB, and are in fact dangerous at times.
 
The energy savers produce slightly less heat....in just going to get regular 75 watt when I get a chance. I was always told just stick with regular household bulbs rather than trying different types of heat lamps and such
 
dshuld said:
@Weebo Did the energy saver work or did you end up taking them back? I'm going with an inkbird itc-306t temp controller so I can set day temps and night temps (built in 24 hr timer with day and night settings) and use a 100w ceramic heat emitter for basking.

Yes they have it’s a huge difference and depending on where you are they are cheaper as well...I was pretty happy with the updates to them they finally got it right.

@greenchamelons Have they improved on the ballast in them? I tried these several years ago and was not impressed with the longevity of them. The one I had started having ballast issues around the second month and stopped turning on completely around the fourth month. Sadly I paid retail ($60) for it back then.
Click to expand...
 
Yes they have it’s a huge difference and depending on where you are they are cheaper as well...I was pretty happy with the updates to them they finally got it right. I monitored it for hours and tested it after a mist session it did well with not killing the basting temperature and all different levels of temperature stayed not much different high to lower temps on the different levels like top middle sub middle and low towards the bottom if recommend them now not so much back several years ago they were high priced and not a good product now they did the work to fix that problem good on them
 
I was having problems with the 5.0 zoo med bulbs losing it power after 1 month that’s why switched those bulbs aren’t cheap went through 5 still gave off UV light just dimenished...just wasn’t where the uv light needed to be at. They come with a 1 year guarantee now the power sun bulbs
 
Goose502 said:
I heard the power sun had issues years ago, as do other mercury vapor bulbs. I’m sure those have improved, my concern is the actual amount of UVB they put out. I use an Exo Terra Sun Ray bulb. It’s a metal halide bulb (similar to mercury vapor), thus it provides like 20,000 hours of service. When I first turned it on, it was giving dangerous amounts of UVB. Even through a screen top with an 8 inch distance I was getting readings greater than 10 on my Solar Meter. I left my enclosure to mature for about 3 months, as I wanted plants to grown in, and during this time, the bulb lost intensity, and now after about 2 years, is perfect. It provides heat, although not much, and the readings are at about 5 near the top of the cage. We have to remember that these fixtures designed for basking are not always great for UVB, and are in fact dangerous at times.
Click to expand...
Good to know I might try one of those bulbs on my plants then later use it for the chameleons
 
Interesting, what version of 5.0 were you using? Sorry, I'm working on my enclosure and replying here too lol.
 
Another thing is the grip of of my chameleon has drawmatically gotten stronger with this light power sun like vice grip x10
 
The bigger version 5.0 I think it’s a 26 watt it doesn’t say on the box...other people were having the same trouble I think it might have been a batch of defective bulbs maybe...when my second Jackson’s female gives birth I’m going to use the small 5.0 that I use for 3 months because it doesn’t get but 72-73 in the basting spot and consistently lower throughout the enclosure tested it for a 2 weeks straight...what do you guys think?
 
26w screw in, t8, length? I'm working on the enclosure for my first cham ever lol. A wonderful nosy be from @Matt Vanilla Gorilla. As far as my lighting I'm going to be using a 6 bulb t5ho 4 ft sun blaze (46) hydroponic fixture though.
 
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