Air cooled reflector testing with Digital footcandle meter

[St3ve]

Interesting Bob, thanks for posting the info

 

[onegreenday]

Bob, the average of the top bulb is 3560.

 

[Bob Smith]

Bob, the average of the top bulb is 3560.

You're confusing "Location #1" with the top bulb.

However, averaging out the FC's per "side" (location) is a good idea on your part, and I've done the other three sides as well.

L1 - 3560
L2 - 3515
L3 - 3497.5
L4 - 3375

If nothing else, this test shows the advantage of vertical in eliminating canopy hotspots and delivering consistent light to all plants (although the top bulb is obviously lagging).

Gonna take some readings at 24", the start messing with the bulb array order and take some more readings.

 

[Quitters]

IMHO

IMHO

Magnums - 1000 watt use only but can do huge footprints from the 6 inchers 5' x 5' up to Ocho's 6' x 9' of medium high output light, penetration is good for such a big footprint but lacks compared to SS2's and Blockbusters. Probablt the best choice for commercial applications.

SS2 - best and highest output reflector with the deepest penetration period for running everything from 250-600 & 1000 watts up to a sq meter area, tho not the best choice with 1000w applications of over a square meter aka 3.25' x 3.25'.

Blockbusters - best reflector period for a 4' x 4', has super high output like SS2 but in a bigger more square footprint. If i was building a professional grow room these would be my 1st choice Period !



GL

 

[onegreenday]

Does the Blockbuster without vents
put out more light than vented models?
thanks

Magnums - 1000 watt use only but can do huge footprints from the 6 inchers 5' x 5' up to Ocho's 6' x 9' of medium high output light, penetration is good for such a big footprint but lacks compared to SS2's and Blockbusters. Probablt the best choice for commercial applications.

SS2 - best and highest output reflector with the deepest penetration period for running everything from 250-600 & 1000 watts up to a sq meter area, tho not the best choice with 1000w applications of over a square meter aka 3.25' x 3.25'.

Blockbusters - best reflector period for a 4' x 4', has super high output like SS2 but in a bigger more square footprint. If i was building a professional grow room these would be my 1st choice Period !



GL

 

[Shike]

Does the Blockbuster without vents
put out more light than vented models?
thanks

Great question... very much want to know this answer as I might make a purchase tomorrow.

 

[milehighmedical]

.

 

[Shike]

A un-vented reflector will always throw more light down than its vented counter parts. That's just an absolute given. That's why you don't use a larger ducting diameter than you need. 8" ducting loses significantly more light than 6" ducting. Tests in this thread can easily lead you to that conclusion. I always buy 6" reflectors for that reason, if I don't have to vent them, I can still cap them off though. Rather than buying a bunch of unvented, then needing to vent them, and having to sell all my hoods and buy new ones. But only you know exactly what you need, just try to look ahead and imagine how those needs might change.

Thanks for the reply Mhm. I grow in an old well room in a basement in the frozen north so temps are very hard to raise 8 months of the year. Knowing that an unvented not only yields better light but could help me get temps into the 70's is great.

 

[onegreenday]

do you have a source for the
blockbuster with no vents?

thanks

Thanks for the reply Mhm. I grow in an old well room in a basement in the frozen north so temps are very hard to raise 8 months of the year. Knowing that an unvented not only yields better light but could help me get temps into the 70's is great.

 

[stylah]

would you say 4x600 ss2's in a 1.4mtr x 2.0mtr grow space be the most effecient for 8x3-4ft bushes..unfortuanlty i havent the space for 4 xxxl's

thanks

 

[milehighmedical]

would you say 4x600 ss2's in a 1.4mtr x 2.0mtr grow space be the most effecient for 8x3-4ft bushes..unfortuanlty i havent the space for 4 xxxl's

thanks

Dude, 4x600's in a space that's 4.5'x6'? That's pretty nuts.

Maybe 2x 600's... that puts you at just about 50 watts per square foot. Plenty. You could even rock that space with a single 1000 in a magnum.

 

[stylah]

my room at the moment but i wanna turn tree stylee on some trays and im thinking about the above aera with a ft around the parameter ..if that makes sense...i know i cant use adjusta shades or vertizontals...but i was thinking i could use the SS2's purely becasue of the size and by what ive read would be ideal?? no...still too much

thanks for your input

 

[milehighmedical]

.

 

[epicseeds]

Hey guys, has anyone tested the adjust-a-wings? Do you think these would out perform the Sun System 2's?

I will be running 6 1000w hps and cant decide to go with air cooled SS2 or adjust-a-wings + high powered AC..... suggestions?

 

[knna]

Hey guys, has anyone tested the adjust-a-wings? Do you think these would out perform the Sun System 2's?

I will be running 6 1000w hps and cant decide to go with air cooled SS2 or adjust-a-wings + high powered AC..... suggestions?

For sure that testing an adjust a wings would be interesting. But judging results compared with the other is difficult. The AAW is designed to distribute more the light, along a wider footprint. In order to have a good picture it would be required the measurements with the other hood had been performed on a larger grid.

But still without being able to do a somewhat accurate comparison, it would be very interesting to see how the AAW actually distributes the light on the grid.

 

[grow nerd]

I'm pretty sure I said this already but maybe not in this thread.

I got some Magnum XXXL's (6") a while back and wanted so much to like/love it after reading about all the hype here, but ended up hating it. I replaced them with BlockBuster's (6") and much happier. Although they don't look very different, they performed quite differently IME, not to mention the maintenance factor (mainly cleaning glass, as well as handling leaks for sealed rooms) and build/design quality.



In the above setup I used rigid sheet metal duct (wrapped with Reflectix) to connect the hoods. Had to crimp both ends of the duct to make it fit snug on the flanges, otherwise it would "float loose" too much and difficult to center w/o gaps (you'll know what I mean if you try it).

On the AAW's

Because of the uncapped ends (being a simple batwing style reflector), I think it would not perform as well on paper. I think a large part of why some people have had good results is due to the simple fact that there is no extra plate of glass separating the bulb from the plants. There IS a noticeable difference, whether in PAR or lumens/lux I don't know, but I've always had better results with non-glassed reflectors.

 

[ogkushmaster]

Hey Guys.

This is most likely in the thread somewhere, but how did the coolsun xl 8" reflector come out, as far as "footprint" ??

I have a coolsun xl 8" AND a ultracool 8" which is a canadian sealed reflector which is smaller than the coolsun xl and has a pebble reflector inside...

I want to compare them. I need a good solid 3.5' by 5', whish is a strange footpring...

:kush:

 

[Doradoguy]

4 hour thread

4 hour thread

Takes about 4 hours to read the complete thread. Stopped to take notes and research a couple items. Good read. Just make sure you have a bowl of popcorn and a cocktail. And of course smoke something up lifting. Thanks again to all that contributed.

 

[BigGuns90]

So whats the best reflector? Im thinking of Magnum xxxl's...

Grow nerd how bad are magnums? very expensive :O

 

[Ghost Face]

for a 8x10 room what would you suggest? I was going either SS2 or Blockbuster. Using 2x 600w atm with basic batwings but might add a third 600w. Thanks for the answer! Does upgrading for a basic batwing really help yieldwise?