Greenbeams 315W Ceramic Metal Halide Fixture, 240V, 3100K Agro Lamp

The 315W CMH 3100K Agro Head in a Bloom Room

This is the warmer of the two lamps Cycloptics shipped in the Greenbeams head. Philips call it the Elite Agro, and it is the one recommended when a single lamp has to carry the flower stage on its own. Rated life is 30,000 hours, which is half again what the cooler lamp manages. CRI comes in at 92 and initial output at 33,000 lumens. The lamp runs at 98 volts and 3.15 amps once it has struck. Everything else matches the other heads in the range: vertical lamp, 95 percent reflective aluminium, six foot cord, ballast and reflector in the box. The supply side wants 240 volts. In our own comparison of 315 watt lamps this Philips posted the highest total PAR of the group. It came in around eight percent above the next brand tested. That test measured lamps rather than whole heads.

What a 3100K Flowering Spectrum Actually Changes

Warm light weighted toward red is what the flowering spectrum argument rests on. It pushes stretch and bud development in a way cooler lamps do not. That is why the Agro lamp was the bloom recommendation rather than the veg one. Ceramic halide brings something HPS cannot, though. The output is broad instead of spiked, so colour rendering stays high and problems show up early on a leaf. That combination is the reason these heads held on against sodium for as long as they did. Running one through a whole cycle works, because the spectrum is broad enough to veg under as well. The honest limit is the same one every ceramic halide faces now. Efficiency per watt has moved on, and a current LED board beats it on that number alone. Replacement lamps take the PGZ18 base and are still stocked widely. This is the earlier Greenbeams generation, not the current model.

Key Features

• Lamp: Philips MasterColor CDM-T Elite Agro at 3100K, CRI 92
• Growth phase: Bloom and transitional, the single-lamp flower choice
• Lamp life: 30,000 hours rated, the longest in the 315 watt range
• Output: 33,000 initial lumens, running at 98 volts and 3.15 amps
• Supply: Built for a 240 volt circuit, not a standard outlet
• Complete head: Reflector, ballast and Philips lamp supplied together
• Reflector: 95 percent reflective aluminium with vertical lamp mounting
• Lamp base: PGZ18, so replacement lamps are easy to source

Technical Specifications