Air cooled

[six_seven_one]

Hey guys I'm just finishing my room and I got a couple questions?
First of all its a 4x4x8 room and I'll be using a 400 watt HPS.

Will I need to use a aircooled hood or will the airflow from the in/out fan and a circulating fan be enough?
Its in one of my rooms that has a window unit AC.

Thanx

 

[NYC_Diesel x Jack_Herer]

A 16 square foot area would do much better with a 600watt. Whether or not you will need to air cool the hood depends on how well you can keep the temps in your grow area down. I can't really say from the description above. Regardless, air cooling the hood should enable you to get the light closer to the plants and therefore get better results. If you have to go with the 400, you might want to consider cutting the area to 3x3 instead of 4x4. This would get you over 5,000 lumens per square foot. You can fit 10 plants under a 400 watt or 2, neither affects how mch yield you get, you are still using the same amount of light. But how close you can get your light will affect the quality and density of your nuggets.

 

[six_seven_one]

Yah my room will be a 4x4 but I may not use the whole thing.
I plan to put a big container for water and have maybe 5 plants at a time.
Just for personal.

I'll probably wait till I get the light then I'll turn it on without them(plants) in there to see what kinda temps I get.

Thanx

 

[NYC_Diesel x Jack_Herer]

if ya haven't got the light yet I would definitely get the 600. It will give you twice as much light for 1.5 times the amount of watts used (twice the light=twice the bud potential). And I find that as far as heat goes there is really not much difference between what a 600 and 400 create (my experience was with using both a 600 and 400 digital side by side).

In theory a 400 would give off more heat per watt when I think about it because it is less efficient. A light works by giving off light and heat that it uses through the power socket. A light takes a certain amount of watts, and produces a certain amount of light and releases the rest of those watts as heat. Since a 600 creates light more efficiently it gives off less heat per watt of light produced.

 

[pcduck]

IME a 600 watt gives off more heat than a 400watt, I would get the air cooled if you can afford it, this would allow you to expand your grow room options in the future.

 

[NYC_Diesel x Jack_Herer]

IME a 600 watt gives off my heat than a 400watt, I would get the air cooled if you can afford it, this would allow you to expand your grow room options in the future.

I was saying in theory a 600 should give off less heat per watt than a 400 since it uses electricity more efficiently to create light. Overall I find the ballasts of a 400 and a 600 to run about the same temp and give off the same amount of heat. However in my case I was using both digital ballasts but the 600 was a little newer so maybe it had a little better technology and didn't heat up as much.

I still say go for the 600. The entire time I was growing with a 400 I wished I had more light. I put it off thinking, well if I get a 600 I'm just going to want a 1,000, but this wasn't the case. For a little more coin on the light you will be able to double the potential of your garden.

 

[pcduck]

And I find that as far as heat goes there is really not much difference between what a 600 and 400

This was not what you were saying?:confused2:

 

[NYC_Diesel x Jack_Herer]

that is what i said but yea it doesn't really make sense when I read it. Basically I would always use 600's no matter what the setup as long as there was enough space. Since here we are talking about using an air cooled hood then the heat difference generated inside the tent between a 400 and a 600 would be negligible, especially if the ballast is located outside the tent and assuming the light is well air-cooled.
A 400 draws 400 watts and produces roughly 50,000 lumens
A 600 draws 600 watts and produces roughly 95,000 lumens
The 600 is producing 158.3 lumens per watt.
The 400 is producing 125 lumens per watt. Since it is producing less lumens per watt it is generating more heat per watt proportional to the efficiency lost. It has been explained to me that this is the reason 600 watt lights are more expensive than 400 watt lights, they are more efficient. Since 1,000 watt lights are (edit: less) efficient as 600 watt lights and a user gains no additional watt to lumen production, 1,000 watt setups are pretty much the same price as 600 watt setups. Since there is no more efficiency and since multiple light sources are always better than single point light sources, I will always use chains of 600's instead of 1000's. For example now I use two 600's even though my area would have enough lumens with just one 1,000.

 

[Hick]

I think the 600 is proven more 'efficient'.. more lumen per watt=less heat per lumen..
I think

 

[NYC_Diesel x Jack_Herer]

I think the 600 is proven more 'efficient'.. more lumen per watt=less heat per lumen..
I think

Yea the 600 is even more efficient than the 1,000 (which is another reason 1,000's and 600's are about the same price).
A 1,000 watt produces roughly 145,000 lumens which would equal 145 lumens produced per watt used, LESS efficient than a 600 at 158.3

 

[Hick]

..yup.....

 

[pcduck]

I understand the watt/ lumen thing, but the original question was about an air cooled reflector and all I know is when I switch from my 400 watt mh to my 600 watt hps my grow room gets warmer, thus if he was to upgrade, in the future ect, an air cooled reflector would be a more suitable option.

 

[NYC_Diesel x Jack_Herer]

He is right, the ability to expand your operation down the road by using air cooled hoods makes you better off in that sense alone. Say two years from now you move and end up with a bigger grow area to utilize or perhaps a year from now you really want to be able to add one more strain to your garden, it would be nice to be able to add more lights without having to convert the previous lights to an air-cooled chain.

 

[six_seven_one]

^^ Thanx Everyone. I already have a 400 on the way and with a 6'' aircooled hood but I really dont have the funds for a vent at te moment.

So I'll test it when it gets here and if its to hot then I'll let them veg until I get the hood and vent hooked up.

Thanx

 

[thedonofchronic]

congrats on getting the new light

hope you dont mind me asking here,
but exactly how are the lights air cooled?
im looking into replacing my 400w hps with
a 600w air cooled one. i just want to know exactly
how differently they are when it comes to installation

 

[six_seven_one]

Not to fimiliar with them myself but it looks like the hood has a hole that you use.
You'll need to attach dryer duct and a blower to force the hot air outside the growroom.

Later

 

[NYC_Diesel x Jack_Herer]

Really there are two designs. One is where you hang your light in the room with one end/flange open to the room. The other end has dryer or some other form of flexible ducting attached to it and run to an inline fan that pulls air into the light and through the ducting. The air travels through the fan and wherever you want to vent the air to or through a carbon scrubber.
The other way to air cool is to set it up like described above, but instead of having the one end open in the room drawing air into the light and through the tubing, you attavch another hose and draw fresh air through from outside the room. This allows you to use CO2 in the garden in you wish. If you do use CO2 you can not pull the air in your garden directly through the light.

 

[LEFTHAND]

so from what i have read right here im wasting my time money and power with a 400 watter. and should go out and get a 600...... would a 600watter beable to go into a box 10 sqft?? and IMO six is go with the air cooled hood from my experience is it will save you a headache and you'll be much happier with the temps and climate control. much easier to control.. on my personal experience.