I was planning on getting a 400 watt hps from htg supply but then i started wondering if i should just get the digital 600watt from them. which would you choose? my box is 3.5' x 3.5' x 7.5' I have a 435cfm valueline inline fan, i wont be using an air cooled reflector, will 600 be too hot? right now with no light or ventilation or anything the box is 70f-73f. 400 watt-High Tech Garden Supply 600 watt-High Tech Garden Supply
I have the digital 600 watt from HTG right now and my temps are right at 80 and I havent even turned my exhaust fan on yet because its been below zero here the last couple of weeks. I have been leaving the door open to the room though but its just way to cold to open up my vents that go outside. I have a 5 X 5ft area, but I am going to add another 400 HPS this week so I will have a total of 1000 watts in my room. The temp difference is not much considering you almost double your lumen output.
does anyone know how much hotter a 600 watt digital will be then a 400 watt magnetic both without air cooled reflectors?
There is not much difference in heat because what difference there is will be made up for in the temp of the digital ballast. The digital ballast is very cool to the touch but the magnetic ballast of the 400 watt is hot. I have one of each now but I have not ran them seperate to see what the temp difference is but just guessing I bet there isnt much. The 400 is 55,000 lumens and the 600 is 95,000 lumens which is almost double the lumen output.
I'd go with the 600. Your space is 12 sq. ft. and, with a 400, you'd get about 4800 lumens per sq. ft. which is slightly below the 5000 lumens/sq. ft. that is recommended for a 'satisfactory' yield. A 600, at about 88000 lumens would give you about 7000 lumens/sq. ft. which is darn near perfect. Plus, a 600 is the most efficient of the bulb sizes so you get a lot more light for not much more heat. GL!