Can I make a Reflector/Hoodshade for my 250w HPS light with household items?

Al B. Fuct said:

thanks folks.

This can be scaled down to the size of a large CFL. I think FilthyFletch has a 12" CFL which is supposed to be equiv to 300W of incandescent. A little batwing like this made to that size, perhaps for a pair of those jumbo CFLs would be kinda cool.

Click to expand...

too cool

If I made one of these for a CFL, I'd probably keep the distance from the tube to the reflector fairly short. Wouldn't do much good to make a 6 foot wide reflector for a lamp with an effective range of about 6" at best, if you see what I mean.

For Fletch's big CFL, I'd make one out of a sheet of aluminum about 24" square. The double parabola bends will make it about cover 18" on the axis perpendicular to the tube.

For a 1000 HPS, it can be much wider, made from a sheet about 3' x 4.5'.

anyone that has done this b4 can you take pics and show me cause it looks kinda complicated.

What's confusing you?

Al B. Fuct said:

I've had another pass at the socket mounting bracket. It would work better with only a minimal increase in materials if made as shown:

Increase the length of the aluminum sheet from 12" x 3" to about 20" x 3". Form two tails and bend into a Y suiting the shape of the batwing. Pop rivet both tails to the reflector.

This will improve the stiffness of the socket mount, especially for 1000W HPS lamps, as well as stiffen the reflector itself a bit.

Click to expand...

This part right here where you pop rivet the socket into place. Where exactly would you put it, and where do you pop rivet it. It would be a lot more helpful for actual pics like real pics.

If u buy a sheet of aluminium make sure it is the polished variety and not the matt variety which will NOT reflect light.

I just bought a reflector and, really, they are not that expensive. By the time u buy a sheet of metal, pop rivets etc and fuck around bending it etc etc......

I just cant see growing somthin under somthin that would set card board on fire that easily. I got to recomend either getting a professional air cooled HID light/hood/reflector w/ exhaust and intake. or use fluorescent lighting. How many lumens you get out of the 250 watt inferno? Bet you coulf get as many lum's or more out of just 120 more watts of flouro light. And I Like White poster board to reflect flouro's.

https://www.rollitup.org/indoor-growing/14625-where-buy-warm-cfls.html

the 250w hps gives 25,000 lumens....

two 4 ft t12 cool shop lights and 4 55 watt warm cfl's will give you 26,400 lumens but is 130 more watts. although it will operate a whole lot cooler. I think the mix of spectrum's is cool. You could use the shop lights to lay out the basic area and to flower the tops. The cfl's would hang around the middle of the plants to light the lower parts. Probably no reflectors on the cfl's. but hanging down in between and under the reflectors. I would use white poster board to hang down from the edges of the reflectors and reflect light down toward the plant. Basically making the walls shrink and expand as the plant grows.

somthin like this.

CFLs do run nice and cool, but they're low-intensity light sources. There's some absolutely huge new CFLs out there, up to 300W, but they will not produce the bud weight and density of equal power HPS. It is the high-intensity discharge of light from HPS which makes the weight.

If you can't ventilate your best space well enough to keep temps down, CFLs may be the compromise which makes a grow possible, at the sacrifice of density and quantity. If you can properly vent the grow space, HPS is the best tool for the job.

your best bet is to hang the light strait down and place the plants around it, besides that the reflector is the most important part of your light setup, dont cheap out here with cookie sheets and other bull shit, buy a bat wing reflector they work good and are cheap as hell