colling down 400w/600w hps or new cfl's?

so im in a split in the road i have a multi ballast for hps bulbs with a cool tube ranging from 400watt up to 1000w but the bulb is only rated for a 600w. i tried to run it in a 2w x 4L x 5t and its just way to hot ive tried many suggestions but non work. i only have a booster fan cause im dumb (budget) and thought it would work but its clearly not even close to moving cool air. my problem here is should i just buy x2 250w(83$ for both) cfls which i ran one and had more than great results so i wouldn't mind going at it again with them but add another one. or should i buy an actual can fan starting at 50$+ and hope it will cool off the bulb im concerned even if i did it wouldn't cool it off. the tent is in a closet and the room is usually cool but the hot air would be pushed back into the room like ive done before so what would you suggest i cant really move the hot air out of the room so it will cycle around but the a/c is on more than likely so do u think this would work or should i just play it safe and buy cfl's to make another run cheers and thanks guys oh yea and if i was to cool down the hps what cfm should i go with i also have that booster fan to help it along the way

I have the exact same setup and had exact same problem what i did was bought an exaust fan that moves 440 cfm before i bought the exhaust fan i was in the 90s all the time now it keeps me at 74 and the plants love it the fan only costed me 80 bucks and was well worth it

There you go. Don't buy that can fan. Spend good money once and be done with it. Spend that 90 bucks on a decent fan and you can run whatever you want. 6 inch vortex is a good choice, if you can get the 8 inch.

set the hps driver to 400w

use a fan to blow the hot air from the bulb away from the plants, get the max distance you can between the plants and the lamp

vent out the top of the grow area

vent fresh air in at plant canape level

the canape of most strains can deal with as high as 40c no problem just try and keep the rootzone as cool as you can

cfl`s suck they work ok for side lights and small hobby crap, but led, hps, mh and induction are the best lights to learn how to work with

I agree about having a quality fan to cool the tube but its kind of pointless if all the hot air is going back into the same room since it just raises ambient temps slowly in the room each time it goes through the cooltube. Without actually taking the heat out of the room its a waste of time.
Using 2x 250w cfls wont be much better but at least you can turn one off.
Can you not rig up a window box to extract the heat through?? Chimney? Roof space?
What about the ac in point? can you duct that into the tent, not into the cool tube but as intake to the tent?

THE KONASSURE said:

set the hps driver to 400w

use a fan to blow the hot air from the bulb away from the plants, get the max distance you can between the plants and the lamp

vent out the top of the grow area

vent fresh air in at plant canape level

the canape of most strains can deal with as high as 40c no problem just try and keep the rootzone as cool as you can

cfl`s suck they work ok for side lights and small hobby crap, but led, hps, mh and induction are the best lights to learn how to work with

Click to expand...

good suggestion im going to setup here soon and try these ideas out..and hey now cfl's are great im like a budget kind of guy and started with a 250watt and i loved it but i wanted to step up a little and try out the hps but no hate they are good for beginners and pretty cheap id use it again but i had to panic take down my tent a few times and half of the bulb is not working it got tossed around pretty hard

coreywebster said:

I agree about having a quality fan to cool the tube but its kind of pointless if all the hot air is going back into the same room since it just raises ambient temps slowly in the room each time it goes through the cooltube. Without actually taking the heat out of the room its a waste of time.
Using 2x 250w cfls wont be much better but at least you can turn one off.
Can you not rig up a window box to extract the heat through?? Chimney? Roof space?
What about the ac in point? can you duct that into the tent, not into the cool tube but as intake to the tent?

Click to expand...

thanks for the suggestion we shall see here soon what i can do i have an a/c near by and i could probably snake a tube out the side and towards outdoors we shall see setting up now

miketaco said:

good suggestion im going to setup here soon and try these ideas out..and hey now cfl's are great im like a budget kind of guy and started with a 250watt and i loved it but i wanted to step up a little and try out the hps but no hate they are good for beginners and pretty cheap id use it again but i had to panic take down my tent a few times and half of the bulb is not working it got tossed around pretty hard

Click to expand...

I`ve build a 100w cob led light for pretty much nothing

you can build a true 600w cob led unit for under £100

you can buy 40w to 300w induction lamps as cheap as £20 to £30 on ebay

I know because I have

be cheap shop around find what lights you like and if you ever need to pay top dolla for them atleast you know how to use them and that they are worth you paying out for them

THE KONASSURE said:

I`ve build a 100w cob led light for pretty much nothing

you can build a true 600w cob led unit for under £100

you can buy 40w to 300w induction lamps as cheap as £20 to £30 on ebay

I know because I have

be cheap shop around find what lights you like and if you ever need to pay top dolla for them atleast you know how to use them and that they are worth you paying out for them

Click to expand...

You have a keen eye for a bargain, that's some low cost cobbing!

coreywebster said:

You have a keen eye for a bargain, that's some low cost cobbing!

Click to expand...

I`ve been so tempted by "ac direct" cobs but 30w or 40w is the max I can find

something about just wiring 1000w to 3000w of led right up to a plug that I`d just really enjoy I think

as soon as they step them up to 100w per chip and start doing them in 3000k then maybe I`ll pay the cunts in germany £14 per chip

still gotta find a heatsink guess I`d have to earth it with 220v mains going right to the cobs, lol

THE KONASSURE said:

I`ve been so tempted by "ac direct" cobs but 30w or 40w is the max I can find

something about just wiring 1000w to 3000w of led right up to a plug that I`d just really enjoy I think

as soon as they step them up to 100w per chip and start doing them in 3000k then maybe I`ll pay the cunts in germany £14 per chip

still gotta find a heatsink guess I`d have to earth it with 220v mains going right to the cobs, lol

Click to expand...

Haha your a braver man than I!
If your interested in some cheap citizen 1212s, the 046 not the model which is older than the 048 , they can be bought for £2.50 from a dude in Estonia. I got 30 a few weeks back. I think he has about 300 left.

THE KONASSURE said:

I`ve build a 100w cob led light for pretty much nothing

you can build a true 600w cob led unit for under £100

you can buy 40w to 300w induction lamps as cheap as £20 to £30 on ebay

I know because I have

be cheap shop around find what lights you like and if you ever need to pay top dolla for them atleast you know how to use them and that they are worth you paying out for them

Click to expand...

so after rigging up the booster fan's and cool tube looks like i got it down to 79F degrees (26c) and keep in mind this is at the temp meter at the bottom of the tent and today was a cool day so i think ill will be able to manage this pretty well thanks for all the info ill keep yall posted and monitor the tent a little bit more and see what i think of its dialed at 400w atm and at the worst i kept another temp gauge really close to the light and it was steady at 90F degrees (32c) so over all this info helped me and i hope it helps anyone else who is having trouble cooling off there tents

coreywebster said:

Haha your a braver man than I!
If your interested in some cheap citizen 1212s, the 046 not the model which is older than the 048 , they can be bought for £2.50 from a dude in Estonia. I got 30 a few weeks back. I think he has about 300 left.

Click to expand...

do they take over 200w per chip ?

I can be fucked to build a cob anymore unless the chips are over 200w each, even 50 or 100w chips you have to deal with 10 or 20 sets of wires before you have a good amount of light

Been looking at getting some 1000w to 1500w chips they use SMD`s the red and the 3000k`s are looking good just waiting on the price, should be under 90 usd per chip

with screw terminals so just need drivers and a heatsink

Then I`m thinking why bother where the hell would I put it atm, I mean once I`ve tested the 600/700w 3 chip unit I just made my bloom area will be maxed out

but yeah I`m liking the idea of 2 to 6 of these 1000w chips set up in a 2 to 4m square area

should find the space before I build the lights

saying that people always seem to buy up any spare lights I have at far more than I pay for them.......

miketaco said:

so after rigging up the booster fan's and cool tube looks like i got it down to 79F degrees (26c) and keep in mind this is at the temp meter at the bottom of the tent and today was a cool day so i think ill will be able to manage this pretty well thanks for all the info ill keep yall posted and monitor the tent a little bit more and see what i think of its dialed at 400w atm and at the worst i kept another temp gauge really close to the light and it was steady at 90F degrees (32c) so over all this info helped me and i hope it helps anyone else who is having trouble cooling off there tents

Click to expand...

32c at canape level is spot on some people like to be closer to 25c some people will push to mid 30`s

long as your root zone aint getting much over 22c and gets to cool down at night to under 20c but above 10c they should do fine

@THE KONASSURE no I'm afraid they only go up to 100w I believe.

@miketaco glad your seeing a bit better temps. I wouldn't worry too much about the temp close to the light, most thermostats heat up that close and throw off all kinds of readings due to the radiant heat but the air temp should be a fair bit lower in reality. Plants can take a chunk of radiant heat.

THE KONASSURE said:

32c at canape level is spot on some people like to be closer to 25c some people will push to mid 30`s

long as your root zone aint getting much over 22c and gets to cool down at night to under 20c but above 10c they should do fine

Click to expand...

32c is just fine by me i dont mind it around there give or take ive done worst and still came out great so yea i just feel dumb i had this gear sitting around for awhile now and finally able to make things work

coreywebster said:

@THE KONASSURE no I'm afraid they only go up to 100w I believe.

@miketaco glad your seeing a bit better temps. I wouldn't worry too much about the temp close to the light, most thermostats heat up that close and throw off all kinds of readings due to the radiant heat but the air temp should be a fair bit lower in reality. Plants can take a chunk of radiant heat.

Click to expand...

yea like i just mention i have done worst with temps when i was first starting out and would punish my plants compare to how hard im working to keep them in the right zone so thanks again i should of chimed in long ago i guess and figured this out but ill post about it once i get to put it to actual use peace!