[00420]

Originally Posted by clowntown

I've heard similar (actually 4k BTU), but for non-air-cooled lights.

I realize the BTU's put out by air-cooled lights can vary widely depending on how it's ducted, how fast the air is flowing, whether the ducting is insulated, how well the reflector is designed, and so on... but anyone have a ballpark figure / rough guesstimate on how it compares to non-air-cooled? Or perhaps a "BTU rule of thumb" for air-cooled lights?

i say 50% but i allways have had stright shot of duct work in & out and have never played with more then 2 aircooled and a 8" canfanHO 750 cfm my room is small but has a sunfacing wall.... if my math/numbers are wrong for air cooled hoods and someone can prove it i will be glad to change the top post to there experience i am getting ready to change my 2 8k grow rooms to coolhood's and drop the size of my a/c from 25,000 btu window units to 18,000btu mini splits im all so buying a 12,000 btu mini for my livingroom and 9kbtu for my bedrooms so i will be able to play with sizes

[G33k Speak]

Originally Posted by 00420

i used to do the same.... but it is simply wrong

and all show you why twice

i run 3 flowering rooms....... 2 are 8 k each

8 x 5000btu = 40,000 btu

in my 2 growroom i use 1 25,000 btu a/c's each witch is 50,000 btu

...

I think there's a typo in that last line of the equation, but I take a SWAG and go ith you have 50,000 BTU's in an 8000W room.

I'd have to agree with you, that if you have 8-1000W ballasts inside your room, you probably need more then the base 5K.

But if you'd move the ballasts(AKA heaters:smile out of the room like a normal person() , switch to 18 hour cycles to save some energy, and put a big res in that room, you'd be fine.

(hope your sarcasm meter is on too)

[DIGITALHIPPY]

Originally Posted by G33k Speak

I think there's a typo in that last line of the equation, but I take a SWAG and go ith you have 50,000 BTU's in an 8000W room.

I'd have to agree with you, that if you have 8-1000W ballasts inside your room, you probably need more then the base 5K.

But if you'd move the ballasts(AKA heaters:smile out of the room like a normal person() , switch to 18 hour cycles to save some energy, and put a big res in that room, you'd be fine.

(hope your sarcasm meter is on too)

hes saying he needs less then 5K not more.. what are you reading??
8x5000 =40,000 but hes getting by with ONLY 25,000 BTU?? sure the room is a bit warm, but cool enough.

now why would you degrade the ballasts by letting them get hot? that also makes them use more energy because there less efficiant. .5amps of 240 x 8 is alot of extra elec. thats almost enough wasted amps to run an extra 1K....

what the fuck is an 18 hour day? how do you flower with that shit.
do you even grow? what planet are you getting your info from?

16K btu for hoods/lights another 12k BTU for ballasts, and i can see why his room is a tad warm.

40K btu....

[00420]

Originally Posted by G33k Speak

I think there's a typo in that last line of the equation, but I take a SWAG and go ith you have 50,000 BTU's in an 8000W room.

I'd have to agree with you, that if you have 8-1000W ballasts inside your room, you probably need more then the base 5K.

But if you'd move the ballasts(AKA heaters:smile out of the room like a normal person() , switch to 18 hour cycles to save some energy, and put a big res in that room, you'd be fine.

(hope your sarcasm meter is on too)

yes there was a typo..... sry it was late and after working a 12 hr day + tending to my grow room's on top of sum grape ape.... i fixed the typo's in my post sry about this guy's

the reason i dont put my ballasts out of the room ( btw i run 8 ballast on flip flop's 4 in each room) is theres no other place to put them i have a huge room with 4 rooms built in that.... any place i put them there in a growroom...

the reason i get away with under 5000 in the 2 rooms is i have a unit that runs the building it self to a 78 deg start point witch is like someone who starts a room in a empty bedroom and has central air in there house it's called ambient temp and it plays a role in picking a a/c as well but i have not came up with a good "base" to go by for this so its not posted but will be soon

18/6 is only good for my mom/veg rooms if you look back at my post is says the a/c's run 24/7 when lights are ON...... witch is what you want or you will run into hummity prob's..... if you run a 40,000 btu the thing will kick on/off so much not only will you have spikes and lights trying to relight when you run power like me but you will have white powder mold to start growing on your bud's from the high hum....

.............................. ........

my sarcasm meter is allways on..... i dont take shit but if im wrong im the first to man up..... 5000btu is wrong on all levels of growing from 2k to 8k even with 1k in a 3x3 room 5kbtu would not cool with out air cooled hoods or intake/outake

[00420]

Originally Posted by DIGITALHIPPY

now why would you degrade the ballasts by letting them get hot? that also makes them use more energy because there less efficiant. .5amps of 240 x 8 is alot of extra elec. thats almost enough wasted amps to run an extra 1K....

big up's on this bro......

i have seen 100's of ballast returned & or need a new cap my first ? to them everytime is was this in a room that was cooled answer: NO

i have ran the same USED ballast for 5 yr's now it was used atlest 3 yr's befor me and i have yet to change a cap o ya did i say i run them 24/7 i might pay a lil more to cool it but save on not having to change caps or buy new transformers..

[slipperysamus]

28,000btu frigidair cools 9 digital 600s and a burner just fine. Same goes for 24,000btu kenmore on 12 600s w/burner

great thread

some questions

do elec ballasts count the same as standard ballasts

what is the assumption regarding air cooled hoods? .. how many cfm/watts of light cooling are you assuming to be the standard here?

ty in advance

[clowntown]

Not many people are mentioning whether:

1) Light is air-cooled or not
2) Insulation of any type is used (ducting, walls, room, etc)
3) Whether ballasts sit in or outside the room
4) EER of the A/C unit
5) Ambient temperature

Seems to me like they're very important variables, and a change to any one of them could produce a much different result than the next setup.

[00420]

Originally Posted by clowntown

Not many people are mentioning whether:

1) Light is air-cooled or not
2) Insulation of any type is used (ducting, walls, room, etc)
3) Whether ballasts sit in or outside the room
4) EER of the A/C unit
5) Ambient temperature

Seems to me like they're very important variables, and a change to any one of them could produce a much different result than the next setup.

and this is why i made this thread...............

im not saying my 1st post is how it has to be... just giving a good guide line & pointing out 4 or 5 btu per 1k is not really a "base" that should be used with the variables that there are.... i have got away with 2-3kbtu but have used as much as 7-8kbtu per 1k

do elec ballasts count the same as standard ballasts

i would say yes.....as they use the same amount of power (ie 1000,600,400).....
the reason they run "cooler" is they have a fan built in
but im not sure 100% mine are standard

what is the assumption regarding air cooled hoods? .. how many cfm/watts of light cooling are you assuming to be the standard here?

again im no guru on this but 375cfm per 1000 work wonders on mine i run a straight duct line so this could be why, with 750cfm on 2k proper ducting 50% btu on a/c is used for me

[G33k Speak]

Originally Posted by DIGITALHIPPY

hes saying he needs less then 5K not more.. what are you reading??
8x5000 =40,000 but hes getting by with ONLY 25,000 BTU?? sure the room is a bit warm, but cool enough.

now why would you degrade the ballasts by letting them get hot? that also makes them use more energy because there less efficiant. .5amps of 240 x 8 is alot of extra elec. thats almost enough wasted amps to run an extra 1K....

what the fuck is an 18 hour day? how do you flower with that shit.
do you even grow? what planet are you getting your info from?

16K btu for hoods/lights another 12k BTU for ballasts, and i can see why his room is a tad warm.

40K btu....

oops- I misread his original post.. I read it as his lights were running on a 24 hour on cycle.

My bad.

But we seem to agree that the ballasts should go utside the room.

Ambient temp makes a HUUUGE difference... in winter, If the house got to around 65Fish , the (10K BTU portable) would do just fine, but that same set up with the house in the 80's and the AC would struggle.
I'd rather have too much AC, then not enough. But I guess it makes a difference wether you live in minnesota, or in arizona.

An undersized AC unit is teh suxxor.