Air cooled reflector testing with Digital footcandle meter

[NorCal]

i dont know if its been mentioned, but wouldnt the loss of light be because of the air cooling feature? if you have an 8 inch or 6 inch duct on that thing then the lights gonna escape through the ducts, am i right? AFAIK theres no way to get around this but i dont see why it wouldnt make sense......

 

[NorCal]

you guys use the turkey basters to take out all that runoff? just a suggestion if you dont already,hth

 

[pico]

Yes the larger the aircooling holes the more area that is not covered by reflective material. This is not the only thing that makes a difference. Like I said in an earlier post, they could make the CoolSun XL 8" more efficient if they wrapped the sides with reflective aluminum.

turkey basters? I hope that is a joke. That would take me a week. The water runs off the trays in to 5 gallon buckets that are emptied.

The in window air conditioners don't exchange the air from inside/outside. They work well. I really like the mini split ac units. They have a condenser unit outside and coolant lines run to another unit inside that cools the room. More expensive but they work really well. portable AC units suck because they exchange air from inside/outside.


Sorry if I half assed my responses. I am in a hurry. Let me know if you have any other questions.

 

[Guest]

as always, can't wait to see more of your tests here pico.
and as always , thanx for yer work man. ya gotta luv numbers!

 

[NorCal]

LOL, nope no joke, I failed to realize how much more runoff youd have as opposed to my closet grow, realistically even w/ me it takes about 15 minutes of sitting there to get it all emptied out.....

 

[doubleds]

does your in window ac unit run in the winter as well ??

 

[pico]

yes it does, but it isn't in a window that goes outside. It goes in to a lung room of sorts that gets exausted. The AC helps heat parts of the house in the winter.

 

[doubleds]

nice bro.... well 2000.00 worth of co2 gear... hope the ac helps. what do you suggest for temp and humidity ?? Do you really see the difference using co2 and soiless mix ???
Always thought i needed hydroponics to make a difference !!!

 

[BlindDate]

Pico....You are a man after my own heart. The scientific method is what this technology needed. I've brought this up in other threads that it's a shame the light manufacturers aren't doing this.

Is it possible to do one more test using only a bare bulb? This would be good info for all the vertical growers and give an indication as to the extent of the effect a reflector has on dispersion. While the amount of reflected light is certainly a concern. I feel that good even dispersion is far more important. You have clearly shown that all reflectors are pretty poor in this area what with hot spots, edge roll off, etc. This test says something for light movers.

It would also be nice to know how much effect a close reflective wall has on the edges.

THCV made an excelent point by recommending a larger footprint also.

 

[mpro]

Pico excellent job with this thread man. Great service to the community at large.


Hey I was just wondering, how thick is the glass on these hoods? I'm guessing their all a standard size, but I only have worked with cooltubes and barebulb, so I don't know what that size would be.

 

[pineappaloupe]

I made a more intuitive graph for two reflectors. It shows the light distribution at 21 inches. If you want more I am glad to make them.




as you can see, the sunpersun2 is much more consistent.

PS: I am a science nerd

 

[pico]

Nice, that is what I was picturing I just didn't know how to do it. Please post them all if you have the time. Good work.

I can't wait to see the results from the hot spot diffuser now. See what those graph out like.

High five,
pico

 

[MTF-Sandman]

Nice work pineappaloupe! Keep em coming

 

[Merman]

Just got my Sun Systems Equalizer Diffuser in the mail for my 400W. Can't wait to see the numbers for these.

Its made of aluminum with the actual 'diffuser' piece punched out of pebbled reflector material.

Sure hope it works as advertised!

 

[pineappaloupe]

OK, just finished the rest of the graphs. I thought it would be pointless to do all 3 distances, and 21" seems reasonable, pushing the limits of the reflector.

So here they are. Notice the CoolSun XL 8, it drops below 1000 (hence the different scale), but is very uniform.





****** both of these are at 21 inches.


I really want to see some data on larger foot prints for 600W, 3x4 mostly. I cant wait to see the light diffuser in action. Maybe next time do alot more points, if it isnt a pain in the ass. If you need me to do any other graphs, stats, etc, drop me a pm.

peace

 

[Guest]

Great thread pico. Nice to see people put out the effort and expense for everyone else's good. Way to go pineappaloupe...good presentation of picos information.

 

[Guest]

Thanks for the graphs pineappaloupe! You and pico kickass =]

 

[pico]

BlindDate- Are we talking bare bulb hung vertical or horizontil?

Mpro- I think the glass is 1/8 of an inch, but I will have to check on that.



Thanks everyone for the kind words. I have been slacking on this project but am nowhere done with it. There are a ton of different tests that everyone will want to see but I don't have time for everything. I will try to do a larger area next time with more test points. The more test points the better those graphs that pineappaloupe made will look. I will be testing with 1000w lights. The diffuser will also be tested. Might be a few weeks or more because the 1000w lights are being used in the flowering room.

For now you can check out the Super Sun 2 reflectors in action. http://www.icmag.com/ic/showthread.php?p=967006

 

[BudZad7]

Hi All ! Nice Info !!! Here's a dark pic of inside the Silverstar hood,the
air flow thru the light bracket is small and thinner than the bracket on the Super
Sun 2 hood...here's a pic....

greater air flow with Silverstar hood

Smaller and thinner bracket in opening.......Peace!!

 

[clowntown]

Flash?