Hi Guys, I've got another thread up with my grow but I thought I'd chuck up a throw-away thread to see if anyone can help out with a temperature problem. I have a 2ftx3ft "fridge" that is 5ft tall. I'm currently running a ~400cfm AXIAL fan with fairly poor ability for negative pressure and a 600w HPS from a magnetic ballast (cheap shit!) The ambient temps are currently sitting around 15-20C at night when I run it and the cabinet gets up to 27-32 with lights on. As I see it there are a few options that COULD lower temps 1) buy another $40 axial fan and either mount it on-top of the cabinet with the other one, or place it in the base to force air into the cabinet instead. (two out, or one in one out) 2) spend ~$120-150 on a 6inch 440cfm centrifugal fan, possible using the old axial as intake... or make it passive. 3) DIY/BUY a cool-tube ~$70 and install muffin fans for air intake to the cabinet, with the axial fan drawing the cool-tube 4) Buy a 400w dimmable digi ballast and bulb for ~$180 Apparently someone elsewhere on the net ran a 600w magnetic @ 32C 600w digital did... @ 50% 22c @ 75% =450w 24c @ 100% 600watt 26c @ super lum 6 = 28c Has anyone noticed similar things with digital ballasts? if that IS true it seems like the best route... I hope someone can chip in. Thanks in advance to anyone who stops to chat here.
I love my dimmable 600w digi ballast. I run it at 50% when I put new clones in to get them acclimated. Also, on really hot days, I can turn it down to 75% and have no heat problems. Running at 75% power with an air cooled hood and 440cfm exhaust fan my temps are 4-5 degrees (F) above ambient temperature. At 100% my temps are 6-7 degrees (F) above ambient temperature. In your situation, I would first make sure that your passive intake is large enough. Then I would go for the cool tube. I think that even with a dimmable ballast you are going to have heat problems. Get more passive intake and get a cool tube before you buy a brand new ballast only to still have temp problems. HTH
Well, ambient temps are down a LITTLE... But I added PC fan to recirculate some of the air. temps down from a dangerous 32C to ~ 20C well fuck.