Hiding your OUT-TAKE heat sig?

Cannabisworks said:

this is how much of the bulbs they can see. i know the guys here and they rented a FLIR gun and they are now available to the general public. so we can fully see the outline of the bulb right through a 6 inch brick wall. the later pic is with the reflective coating to block it. and its the only one that does. all other failed the test.


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Jogro said:

You are correct, though I didn't make myself clear.

If you're running 2400 watts of bulbs in a grow area, each 600 watt bulb is going to give off quite a bit of heat. Unless you're continuously cooling these lights directly (as many do), the heat from each lights will rise/radiate upwards and heat the ceiling/roof right above the lights in the grow area. The same thing could happen to a wall next to a light. Either way, depending on how close the lights are to adjacent surfaces, and what's behind/beyond them, the heat from the lights might create "hot spots" that are potentially detectable as abnormal IR signatures from outside. This could be true even if the room as a whole were vented to an average air temperature of 75F.

The point is that having a normal-temperature grow room is helpful in avoiding IR detection, but its not by itself sufficient. You also have to make sure that your setup isn't also generating "hot spots" that could appear suspicious to IR surveillance.

Now in practice, you may have insulated walls and/or an attic, and if there is insulation between the outside surfaces and the heat sources, you probably won't create any hot spots like I described above. But this may not be a given depending on where you're growing and how.

Those hot-spots, by the way, include externally vented heat. You may think that venting hot air through a chimney, drier vent, or air-conditioner would "fool" law enforcement, but they're not complete idiots. Any cop smart enough to operate an IR camera is probably also smart enough to wonder why you're running your furnace in July, your A/C in January, or why you're doing laundry at 3am. If they're scanning you as part of a random scan of say an entire neighborhood, this might slide. But if they're scanning you specifically because they have a tip off or other reason to look for a grow op, they they will be more attuned to specific heat leaks.

As a relevant side issue, like everything else, IR imaging technology has gotten much cheaper over the last few years. You can purchase a high quality handheld IR thermal imager for under $2000 nowadays. That's a lot of money, though in perspective it may not be very much as a one-time business expense for a serious grow operation. Its certainly less than the cost of a bust!

More important, you can often RENT these, and I think that may make a lot more sense. I saw a price quoted of 300 pounds for a week's rental in England:

http://www.bis.fm/thermalimaging/index.asp

You can rent them in the USA for $500 - 600 per week.

With one of these you could potentially do your own examination of the outside of your grow area, see if or where you are creating detectable IR signatures, and then make whatever changes are necessary.

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DrFever said:

first of all its ilegal for police to use FLIR unless they have a search warrant and if they got a search warrant you think there going to sit there staring at your house with a device when they can enter it lawfully ???
you guys are getting out of hand with this FLIR )

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Carthoris said:

In the winter, when it is too cold to run your AC then it is cold enough to be running your heat and using air from outside to cool your grow. You would want to pipe your heat into the house and use it to keep your house warm.

In the summer, no one is going to question your AC kicking all summer long to cool your grow. Also, if it is 90 degrees outside, and you have an attic it is likely going to be 100+ degrees. If you are aircooling your lights and exhausting into the attic the exhaust shouldn't be that hot so you are not adding heat to your attic and the FLIR would not detect it at all. Electric bill isn't going to be a question with 3000w's running unless you have the electronically monitored type of electric box and you are having spikes all night long and someone cares. Remember that many of your common appliances use as much energy as a 1000W light, they just don't use it continuously. Try not to run 10-15 extra appliances all night long with your grow.(TV, fish tanks, xbox, projectors)

I agree that the police fly over with flir illegally. Sometimes in the guise of looking for underground powerline leaks and the like. They can not see a light through the wall, and if your light is hot enough to heat the wall up I think you probably have more likely hood of burning your house down than getting caught still, what numbnut would stick a HPS up against a wall? A HPS light against a wall will look no different than a refrigerator or a TV against a wall. IE: a small warm spot. The thing you want to avoid is a 30 foot tall plume of 120 degree exhaust into the air above your house that makes it look like you are calling batman when someone looks at your house with a FLIR.

The goal is to not make the cops suspicious of your house. Even if they see suspicious things on FLIR while scanning illegally they would have to find some evidence of your activities before they can get a warrant and search your house.

In furtherance of not getting caught here are Carthoris's helpful hints for not getting busted(apply to US but most is universal)

1) Don't tell anyone who doesn't have to know.(Kids, BFF's, family. Wife might be the exception)

2) Don't do stupid shit (Domestic violence, cheat on your wife, have drunken parties, get drunk and shoot guns in the backyard, steal the neighbors goat, or anything else that will get the cops there)

3) If you sell, don't do it at home, and don't sell dime bags at a time. Traffic will draw attention sooner than any FLIR will. You don't want to be the quick e mart of weed. Everyone talks about the good weed they just scored. I can often tell if weed is locally grown and how far from the grower the weed has come down the chain. Is it crushed, is it in jars, is it dry, is it properly cured, ect ect. There are lots of clues. Does the seller know what it is called and do they seem confident about it?

4) Don't make your house smell like a grow room and don't smoke in your living room. You never know when the neighbors kid might run away or the cops are looking for someone who committed a crime and they beat on your door to see if you have seen anything. You are stoned and the house reeks. This is bad.

5) Always have an air freshener in common areas of house even if you don't smell weed there.

6) Don't let the cops in your house and don't talk to them through the door way - go outside if you are going to talk to them. Or just ignore them, if they had a warrant they would already be beating your ass. If you aren't fucked up/drunk/stoned you might walk around back and come out from the side of the house to talk to them and tell them you were in the backyard or something. DON'T LET THEM IN YOUR HOUSE.

7) Don't look like a drug dealer. No 22" rims. No Mr T jewelry. Get a job. Don't get tattoos all down your arms. No shirts that show drying weed and say "Hanging with my buds"

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Cannabisworks said:

i was involved in that test and it was through the wall of the shop. im not trying to sell anything as im not with them or the ones that tested it anymore. just something to chew on with all the concern of heat out a chimney or vented out/. how do you think they see it from up in the sky in a heli?. think what you want.

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Cannabisworks said:

i agree with alot you say. but look at how easy it is to see the people walking there. granted no wall. but the bulbs get a tiny bit warmer than we radiate. and the pic is no vent or anything, was just for that test purpose and maybe was played so it did get hotter than an average every day room set up with venting., i wasnt aware of any faking or whatever, nothing i saw anyways. and no i wont say thats how easy it is to see from the sky. and was wall of wharehouse so is a cinder block. not a full solid brick. i dont know if it was filled when was built or not

i think more my concern is to warn people those are available to the public for rent and guys here are getting robbed quite a bit. i wasnt trying to push the product itslef im not a salesman or have anything to do with them. i do use the stuff in my rooms but is about all i care about.
peace

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420johnny said:

More effective cooling with dedicated lamp cooling would greatly reduce the heat signature if more air is being expelled.

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sicks stuff said:

vent it out of your bathroom vent

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