I am just curious if there is any way to hide the heat signature given off by my lights? I currently have 6 plants growing in a 3 foot by 2 foot wardrobe, using 1 x 125w red spectrum CFL and 1 x 125w blue spectrum CFL, should I be worried about the signature? FB
Nope, thanks for the reply, I was just checking, as this could be the only way I get caught, or by chance, as no one knows I am growing and theres no smell, yet!! Cheers FB
heat sig is not something the closet grower should worry about. if you were using like 10 1k w hps, then thats a different story. if you wrap the inside of the wardrobe with mylar (which you should do anyway for light reflection) the insulation from that will be enough to basically dissipate any readable heat signature. one should be more worried about a large (suspicious) increase in power consumption. but the increase must be big enough for the power co to report it to the police, and that has to be a pretty huge increase because it really means more money for them... growing for personal use by someone who doesnt have police interactions is generally safe with a few proper precautions... dont get me wrong, its good to worry because that helps keep you from getting caught, but i would worry more about smell control, and making sure your devices are wired properly to avoid housefires
Growing in a closet or grow tent without venting to outside of the house will have no heat signature. FLIR cameras can see how hot your walls and windows are, on the exterior. A 1000 watt light in a closet, vented inside somewhere, in an AC controlled environment will not produce any detectable heat that FLIR cameras would be able to pick up.
Just for those of us who are curios, lets say you did have 10 x 1000w lights. Then what would you need to do?
Then you would definitely need to worry. That is OBVIOUSLY not for personal consumption, and that's when things become a dangerous game, with hefty penalties if you get caught. There are alot of website you can google about this kinda thing... but some of the tips I've seen/read/heard (because I too was kinda curious about those kinda grows). They often do them in basements, with as much grow space under ground as possible. They vent into attics and underneath houses (to dissipate heat) I've seen them run the hot air through an air cooling process that I don't quite remember. Definitely stay as much on the interior of the house as possible, away from external walls, and especially windows. I saw a semi large grow that tapped in the chimney flue and exhaust that way so it just appeared a fire was burning in the fire place. There are literally all sorts of different ways growers have found.
Thanks for that, I wish I could use 10 1kw hps, do my supply for a year!!! lol Great stuff, i shall get some this weekend as i'v just painted the inside white! Iv thought about this and worked out the consumption for the whole grow, using the CFL's, 2 x vent fans and 2 x fans, it will cost no more than £90.00, this is for 42 days veg and 70 days flowering, I haven't worked out what it would be using the HPS for flowering but at the current cost's it'll cost approx another £30.00. Using the CFL's it works out about 60 pence per day, I currently use just over £1.00 per day, but we are in winter so hopefully when the days get longer etc. this should somewhat offset the hike, hopefully! Yep thats me, i'd prefer to cover all angles than get sloppy and get stupidly caught!! Well I have 1 x prima klima k1600 that is rated at 160m3h and 1 x vents tt100 187m3h for the exhaust, I also have a tt100 for the inlet, both are running through speed controls. The wiring is spot on, just running it all through a properly rated extension with cut out facilities if anything goes wrong, gets too hot etc. FB
Thanks for the reply. I vent inside, how ever, I don't have AC, but I am only using 250w worth of CFLs at the mo anyway, so this should be OK, I hope!! FB
good stuff on heat. I've been tentatively planning a grow but I want to make sure that I cover my bases. I've been reading on FLIR all night and I'm a little paranoid. I'm thinking they can see mice running across the road and will obviously see a 15 degree spike from a 400w HPS.
if your growing that big you should be pullin enough profit to by some ir blockers they can see under the house as well so growing with that much in a basement wont throw off anything without ir blockers
camouflage netting used by the military uses silver links in the netting to reflect radar and IR sensors from spyplanes and such... could be something to that. just 1/4" silver rings spaced about 1" apart. alot of them. the only thing about that is it MAY (i'm not exactly sure) not work through a wall but only in windows because the FLIR could pick up resonant heat ON the wall. but a 400w is really nbd. they want to be ABSOLUTELY SURE youre growing before they go knocking on your door. that really requires alot of heat. people can have 400w lights for legitimate purposes, 10K w is another story, unless you grow one hell of an indoor garden not to mention, when trying to locate a heat source (that is being cooled by fans too) through an insulated wall (and usually through multiple walls if in a closet) then the typical 1K w hps isnt even going to leave a trace unless its right up against the outside wall, and even still it would be faint. i guarantee my space heater in my room would put out a bigger signal than if i had 2k watts of light going 24 hrs in my closet. and people doing huge grows usually dont need IR reflectors or jammers because they can take the extra time and money to create a growspace that is cooled well, with exhausted heat running though a series of expanders and condensers to eliminate a large heat trace. fairly simple to design and build just somewhat bulky and costs a little extra for the ductwork. and spending money on double walled growroom insulated and wrapped inside with mylar, running large (kinda noisy, but can be wrapped to help reduce noise) squirrel cage fans through large double layer active carbon filters on both intake and exhaust. its not stealthy if anyone enters the room, but with a setup like that, nobody should have a reason to. excluding power consumption. and with proper funding and planning this dilemma can also be averted.
You won't get a 15 degree spike from 400 watts. Cover your area with IR blocking insulation. It is like a foil covered bubble wrap and easy to use. Stir things up with a fan or two and the whole room only goes up a few degrees.
I'm not sure if it was posted here (i didn't wanna read any more ) but the security blankets for car emergency's cover heat sigs very well. If your woryed put some up behind your mylar.
Since this is a "security' forum, feel free to worry about anything you want. Believe me, there is plenty to be concerned about. But in your particular situation, you needn't worry a bit about the heat signature.
I use a BlockBuster 6" air cooled reflector with an insulated reflector cover and 600 w HPS. I grow in a tent inside a bedroom. I vent my flower tent through a Phresh filter into my attic. The attic has 3 roof vents, as well as a vent at the end of the house--so there should be plenty of air circulation/ventilation in the attic. Do you think this presents any danger of a noticible heat signiture coming either from the attic vents, or the roof itself? Bud
^NO! as has been said, any single light is NO ISSUE. hell 5000watts is probably nothing to worry about. its not like cops roll through neighborhoods with FLIR cams pointing at houses looking for grows... you would sell to an undercover cop before getting caught by a FLIR. and if you dont sell, and only grow for yourself, then you dont have enough heat to create an issue.