Air cooled reflector testing with Digital footcandle meter

[darthvapor]

ctown its a 4X4 grid with measurements taken every 12 inches. Which reflector do you like so far?

blue you plan on air cooling? inline or plenum? This determines if you want a inline cooled hood or indirectly vented hood. I would get a light mover too. It would thicken up your canopy and even it out, as you can see from the charts the hotspots. Also are you gonna run a sealed room, you gonna use co2? Some hoods seal better than others.

 

[bluenorth]

Hi, the room is 6'x10' and is connected to my garage that is 10'x20', which will be a "lung" room. I was hoping to run the lights in series and exhaust into the garage, then suck back into the grow room. I have a 400cfm for exhaust and a 300cfm for the intake.I was going to have my filter, then the air cooled lights, then the fan sucking the air and blowing it into the garage. I'm not sure if that could be considered a sealed room, I hope not because I don't want to run co2. I was going to use the 600's thinking that would cut down on hot spots. Do you think I'm on the right track? thanks.

 

[darthvapor]

all lights have hot spots thats why all the plants grow to that one spot, but if you can move the hot spot aroung and make sure everybody gets some you get more overall canopy instead of just the plants in the middle being the biggest. you could also move the plants around but its a bitch when you got more that a few.

 

[Strawberrycough]

can you run your exhaust out of your garage completely?

 

[bluenorth]

no, unfortunately, I wish I could. I'm going to run a dehumidifier so I should be able to have a decent environment. the garage has air leaks so there will be some fresh air, I may look at co2 once everything else is up to snuff. this is turning into a complex hobby. you really have to give some guys alot of credit, there is so many things to overcome. I stopped before because powdery mildew and spider mites took over, and I had prided myself on what a clean setup I had. I'm trying to design it this time so failure can't happen. Right now I'm focusing on the lighting, I've read that 600's are good for a 3'x3' area and I'm trying to find the air cooled deflector that suits this foot print. I can get the silverstars at a good price and was wondering if they were the best design for my application.

 

[darthvapor]

silverstar 8 and super sun 2 is next. Just picked them up today.

 

[darthvapor]

silverstar 8 with glass

18 inches

760
1440
1920
1730
770
1040
2380
3830
2840
1190
3520
9610
15380
10640
2600
1680
4060
6180
4110
1420
1140
2000
2380
2150
910
average:3427

24 inches

910
1730
1840
1750
1090
1540
2880
3590
2870
1530
4220
7920
10780
8180
3620
2090
3950
5100
3770
1820
1270
2200
2250
2060
1300
average:3210

36 inches

790
1040
1110
1070
780
1940
2680
2910
2630
2030
3370
4770
5030
4580
3360
2300
3030
3070
2890
2000
1170
1380
1420
1380
970
average:2308

pics posted shortly and next is super sun 2

 

[darthvapor]

super sun 2 with glass

18 inches

800
1550
2020
1630
780
1840
5320
7730
5070
1760
2070
7150
11160
6700
1820
2330
6040
8540
5740
1810
1040
1790
2300
1990
1010
average:3600

24 inches

940
1530
1970
1550
890
2220
4500
4780
4420
2140
2140
4890
6530
4600
1890
2330
4510
5830
4280
1920
1460
2530
3320
2640
1630
average:3018

36 inches

1460
2150
2420
2180
1540
1780
2800
3170
2680
1720
1670
2490
2930
2400
1550
1800
2770
3230
2730
1710
1730
2490
2820
2510
1770
average:2260

the super sun has a hinged glass cover and gasket material all around. Its not a perfect seal.

 

[Strawberrycough]

DarthVapor.. I got a pix for you


Quick Recap...
SuperSun2@18"

SuperSun2@24"

Silverstar8@18"

Silverstar8@24"

Silverstar6@18"

Silverstar6@24"

Radiant8@18"

Radiant8@24"

Radiant@24"

Radiant@20"

Radiant@18"

Daystar6@18"

Daystar6@24"


Holla Back Holla Front........... Go JabbawakeeeZZZZZZ!!

 

[Uncle Remus]

I have a quick question

I was going to order a SuperSun2...I know this comes with the socket and cord pre-wired, but is this a standard 120V male plug or one of the Sunlight Supply type plugs??? Cant seem to find any info on the Sunlight website, but from the looks of their ballasts I'd say its the Goofy Sunlight plug

If its the Sunlight type, is there some kind of adapter I can pick up to make it plug into a standard 120V 3 prong female plug that I have in my DIY remote ballast...Didnt see anything like that on their website either

If not than can I retrofit, lets say a Hydrofarm socket and wire with the 120V plug...Really like the results you guys posted of the SS2...Its a shame these manufactorers don;t simply put the basic 120V plug on these

Anyone mod a SS2 hood for this reason?

Thanks all and + rep to the testers

 

[pico]

Remus, you could easily just cut off the sun systems plug and wire in a 120 plug. I have done this before with DIY ballasts. You could also make your own adapter with the female sun systems plug they sell wired to a 120 plug. That way you don't have to cut your cord if you ever decided to sell it or whatever.

 

[Uncle Remus]

Hmm

Must have overlooked it

Thanks pico...AWESOME grows BTW

 

[Youareborg]

Man, the 8" Silverstar is pretty disappointing. Particularly at 24 inches the 8" Radiant stomps all over it.

 

[darthvapor]

nice pix strawberry. You guys should be models. Up next is the vertizontal. Anybody interested in seeing the super sun 6 and 8?? I could also test a hydrofarm mondo? Not cooltubes or bell reflectors unless somebody wants to let me borrow them for a few days.

 

[PurplePotion]

Now that darthvapor has posted his results of the SuperSun2, it is possible to compare pico and darthvapor's results collectively. I made this excel worksheet to show the conversion factor.

In order to compare darthvapor's results to pico's, multiply darthvapor's results by 0.723621807. This is the conversion factor computed mathematically and as accurately as possible using the data given from both user's results of the SuperSun2.

I'll get to work on a complete excel sheet that compares every result given by both users.

Note: This factor should be use to compare averages, and not particular points. Unfortunately, darthvapor's plots are exactly in between where pico's would be in the same area. We could extrapolate values, and be close, though

 

[darthvapor]

i got excel and I tried to make some graphs but I guess I suck. I couldnt figure it out. I guess Ill stick to plants and classic rock guitar. At least Im ok at that!! I might be getting a bell hood soon too!!

 

[Brain]

DarthVapor.. I got a pix for you


Quick Recap...
SuperSun2@18"

SuperSun2@24"

Silverstar8@18"

Silverstar8@24"

Silverstar6@18"

Silverstar6@24"

Radiant8@18"

Radiant8@24"

Radiant@24"

Radiant@20"

Radiant@18"

Daystar6@18"

Daystar6@24"


Holla Back Holla Front........... Go JabbawakeeeZZZZZZ!!

Nice work but they are a little misleading because the colors and scale keep changing. Super Sun 2 still looks the best but it's hard to compare.

 

[bluenorth]

It looks to me that the silverstar6 is better than the supersun2 especially at 24". the silverstar8 looks to have a much different footprint than the 6, weird in that I thought they were the same only more airflow on the 8's.

 

[Youareborg]

I'd love to see all charts done with the scales (and colors) standardized. That would make the charts much more enlightening.

 

[darthvapor]

Id love to figure out how to do it. I got excel but not that savy on how it works yet.

I got data for the vertizontal and xtrasun 6 ac with glass. Will post shortly.