Tent to light space

[MadButcher]

To clearify : this is about the space ABOVE the light

This one is for our Led people.
Everybody talks about min/max distance of light to plant and there's plenty to read. What I'm trying to verify with a few experienced led users is how much space the light requires above. My lights came with cheep little cable hangers and clips, the kind most come with. When I use those, the light hangs about 12" from the tent roof. And I get that there has to be some space for the air intake. But 12!!!! Inches???
To me it would make sense to have as much space as the air intake is wide or even slightly less.
This would give a grower extra inches of grow space.
Thoughts?

 

[iHearAll]

go to lowes or home depot and get some 5ft - 6 ft chain lengths. you can press the button to call someone over to cut it to your length etc. next to the chain should be some rock climbers type of spring loaded hooks. grab some of them too. theyre like 70 cents for the duty you need. chains liek 50 cents per foot.

or you can get adjustable pullies from a hydro store.

keep your LED 12-18 inches from the canopy unless the manufacturer says otherwise

 

[MadButcher]

go to lowes or home depot and get some 5ft - 6 ft chain lengths. you can press the button to call someone over to cut it to your length etc. next to the chain should be some rock climbers type of spring loaded hooks. grab some of them too. theyre like 70 cents for the duty you need. chains liek 50 cents per foot.

or you can get adjustable pullies from a hydro store.

keep your LED 12-18 inches from the canopy unless the manufacturer says otherwise

Thanks. I know how to hang them. I'm just curious where you get the 12-18" from. For proper air supply to cool the light, less should be fine. So 12-18" are based on what?

 

[iHearAll]

oh i thought you didnt know how to hang them closer to the plants lolololol yea there should be a fairly large gap between your roof and the top of the panel. i get the 12-18 inches from the manufacturers recommendations that came with the panel. it was a 360w panel running at 180 w actual power. ive always repeated this with that kind of power on other panels with no recommendations and if the panel runs pretty hot then i raise it towards to 18 inch distance from the canopy. iv had them at 24 inches before to cover alot of surface area for vegetable garden seedling with cannabis plants vegging too. worked fine. vegging is nothing serious to worry about.

 

[MadButcher]

oh i thought you didnt know how to hang them closer to the plants lolololol yea there should be a fairly large gap between your roof and the top of the panel. i get the 12-18 inches from the manufacturers recommendations that came with the panel. it was a 360w panel running at 180 w actual power. ive always repeated this with that kind of power on other panels with no recommendations and if the panel runs pretty hot then i raise it towards to 18 inch distance from the canopy. iv had them at 24 inches before to cover alot of surface area for vegetable garden seedling with cannabis plants vegging too. worked fine. vegging is nothing serious to worry about.

Fair enough. From a ventilation standpoint, 6" should be plenty. The only reason I can see why a supplier would say "at least 12" is their own suspension design. I do a lot of rigging and the way most lights are lets the manufacturer get away with the cheapest of cheap. Also, very little sideways stress on those brass eyelets.
I suppose I'll do a test with a heat trace gun after I installed my own hangers.

 

[Moflow]

I have hung the leds I have a couple of inches away from carbon filter at top of apex of roof no problem.
Veg room height is low so crappystar led light goes pretty tight to rafters too.

 

[MadButcher]

I have hung the leds I have a couple of inches away from carbon filter at top of apex of roof no problem.
Veg room height is low so crappystar led light goes pretty tight to rafters too.

Yea, I kinda figured that it shouldn't be a problem. I had higher hopes for this thread participation wise since this would give significantly more space.

 

[staygreener]

As long as you don't have a temperature issue, 1" would be fine. I used one of those infrared heat guns to make sure I didn't have any problems.

Edit: What I'm trying to say is, temperature is your limiting factor, rather than light distance from the top of the tent.

 

[MadButcher]

As long as you don't have a temperature issue, 1" would be fine. I used one of those infrared heat guns to make sure I didn't have any problems.

Edit: What I'm trying to say is, temperature is your limiting factor, rather than light distance from the top of the tent.

My tent does run a tad on the warm side but well within the operating a temps of the light. I got my heat trace gun already in there. Just gotta get my rope ratchets tomorrow and then I can put my hangers on the light. Once again, very excited!

 

[Kevin the Great]

I have built small LED panels that I would mount an inch from the top. I actually used copper plumbing couplers as stand offs to maintain an even distance. Just enough for airflow over the heatsinks. (This example is passive)

 

[MadButcher]

I have built small LED panels that I would mount an inch from the top. I actually used copper plumbing couplers as stand offs to maintain an even distance. Just enough for airflow over the heatsinks. (This example is passive)View attachment 3778862

Cool idea! I also like the way you mounted that fan.

 

[VenomGrower6990]

To clearify : this is about the space ABOVE the light

This one is for our Led people.
Everybody talks about min/max distance of light to plant and there's plenty to read. What I'm trying to verify with a few experienced led users is how much space the light requires above. My lights came with cheep little cable hangers and clips, the kind most come with. When I use those, the light hangs about 12" from the tent roof. And I get that there has to be some space for the air intake. But 12!!!! Inches???
To me it would make sense to have as much space as the air intake is wide or even slightly less.
This would give a grower extra inches of grow space.
Thoughts?

I agree with you that the cables come too long when you have a shorter grow space. I cut mine down to about 6in in length and used these to put a new loops on the ends.
Then reattach the loops to the fixture and use rachets to adjust height to your canopy.

 

[MadButcher]

I agree with you that the cables come too long when you have a shorter grow space. I cut mine down to about 6in in length and used these to put a new loops on the ends.
View attachment 3778890 Then reattach the loops to the fixture and use rachets to adjust height to your canopy.

I just removed my cables at not 1/4" ready rod with nuts through the eyelets. If my ratchets show up today I'll install it and see

 

[VenomGrower6990]

I just removed my cables at not 1/4" ready rod with nuts through the eyelets. If my ratchets show up today I'll install it and see

Nice that is a great idea.

 

[MadButcher]

Nice that is a great idea.

If it ends up working.