Hey Mature, I ended up building the cfl box that I sketched out and posted here a week or two ago. I'm hoping there are ways that I can get the airflow more efficient, so I'd appreciate any suggestions you may have.
before: 105w of cfl and plants are in 5˚F over room temp
after: 265w of cfl and 7˚F over room temp
This doesn't seem to be much of a feat, (I was hoping for lower the overall temp) but I'm not sure what experiences others have had with adding cfls and rising temps.
So, I had a metal box fabricated to minimize the volume and fit well in the space to keep the lumens concentrated (which I'm not sure is a good or bad thing as of now). There are two 90mm computer fans for the cfl box's intake and exhaust, that are stronger than my fans which exhaust the box, which are 120mm fans (57cfm) -
for the cabinet, there are passive intakes just underneath the light box that are bringing in cool air. There is 2mm clear acrylic plexiglass bolted on the bottom surface with a clear silicone bead, with silicone on the inside edges, so I'm pretty sure the box is airtight. The box is warm on the top and sides, but not as warm on the intake side, where the fan is over the tip of the light, not the ballast end. The exhaust is over a ballast. I'm going to get another thermometer to measure temp inside the light box.
Also, I couldn't run three 105w cfls at a time, but am able to run two 105w and one 55w. I'm not sure if the power strip I'm running from prevents this, or what.
Its about 77˚ in my room, and 84˚ in the box, and the plants seem to be loving it so far. I think that mounting cfls horizontally is the way to go.
I have some ideas, and thinking that maybe the cool air is getting sucked out too quickly, and I should simply reverse the two ends of the exhaust tube to have a suction, but not as strong of a suction. (but also concerned about having a positive pressure, which may not even be that great)
ok, i'll stop rambling... any ideas? (it seems like it should work better)