Sylvania - SHP-TS 250W Growlux

This 250 watt Sylvania SHP-TS Grolux gives 32,500 lumen at 2050 kelvin, with an E40 cap and a nominal life of 32,000 hours.

What Gro-Lux adds to an ordinary HPS

A standard high pressure sodium lamp is almost entirely yellow and orange. That serves flowering, since red is nearby, but the spectrum is narrow: little blue comes out and the deep red at the edge is limited. Plants manage on it, just not as well as they might.

The Grolux version alters the fill of the discharge tube to address that. Sylvania use their own ARC tube to broaden the spectrum, with more red and more blue than an ordinary sodium lamp gives. To the eye the light looks barely different, because the yellow peak stays dominant, but the edges of the spectrum sit further apart.

What that is worth depends on where you are coming from. If you flower on a standard HPS this is an improvement with nothing else in your setup changing: same cap, same ballast, same wattage. If you already run a full-spectrum LED there is little extra here for you.

This 250 watt version is also the longest lived of the three: nominally 32,000 hours against 26,000 for the 400 and the 600.

Technical Specifications:

• Model: a0121
• Power: 250 W
• Type: high pressure sodium with Gro-Lux spectrum
• Colour temperature: 2050 K
• Luminous flux: 32,500 lumen
• Cap: E40
• Life expectancy: nominally 32,000 hours
• Ballast: 250 W required, not included

Frequently asked questions

Is this a different lamp from an ordinary HPS?
The same principle with a different fill. The spectrum is broader, with more red and more blue.

Will it run on my existing HPS ballast?
Yes, provided it is a 250 watt one. Cap and connection are the same.

Can I see the difference by eye?
Barely. The yellow peak stays dominant; the difference is at the edges of the spectrum.

Why does this one last longer than the 400 and 600?
That is Sylvania's own rating: 32,000 hours against 26,000 for the two larger.