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Air cooled reflector testing with Digital footcandle meter

pico

Active member
Veteran
ah yes, parabolic hoods.

I will try to borrow one of those from the store as well. This test was originally just for air cooled hoods, but I guess we have come this far......
 

masterlow37

Active member
Veteran
Hydrofarm's ~ Daystar 6" & Radiant 8" AC Reflectors

Hydrofarm's ~ Daystar 6" & Radiant 8" AC Reflectors

:wave:would love to see these tested, i figure their available pretty much everywhere:joint:
 

fuzygrowth

Active member
me too, would love to see these tested, just got 6 installed, foot print *looks* good, but those lil charts tell the truth.
 
PICO Rocks !!! would love to see the PL reflectors.. got multiples.. there supposed to be the best at reflection... I would believe it from how close the reflector sits on the bulb.. just like the super sun2.. so close that the extra housing I dont think stays as cool as it should. Because the air cooling isn't as good. Anyone else have comments on the PL

Definetly would love to see the cool tubes or something similar.. more people have those than anything.. and having definetive proof that one should spend the extra ching on a real reflector would be crucial. Especially when its tough to not buy a cooltube with how .. well cool they run comparatively to the $300-400 P.L. dutch reflectors and costing 90 bucks helps to I guess.

Thanks Pico Everyone here appreciates the time your putting in to this.. and just think how much your effort will directly turn into Buddah for everyone

cause more even light = more flowers.. given a proper enviro !!! woo hooo
 

BlindDate

Active member
Veteran
Once again pico....you da man!!

I'll offer a single suggestion. If you put your numbers in an excel spreadsheet and display them as a 3-D graphic it is much easier to grasp. This is the reflector measured in your 1st page post. See the difference? We will also see how crappy most reflectors are when it comes to an even footprint.


 
N

Neptune

Daystar AC! :)

I think it will be close to the Supersun2, it is a compact reflector... but I wonder If it can be used well with 1000w bulbs...IE good spread? or super big hotspots in the middle? I run 600s in the Daystar AC currently.
 

petfish

Member
im running a couple daystar a/c's they are really great.. great spread, and i have 1000w in there. they are on the side of the room that i shut down until after the summer. but i just heard there is a new improved daystar a/c on the market, the socket is built in and flows air better, and the glass is air tight, and i believe un removable. i could be wrong about the unremovable part. but a guy who i trust said the new version makes em the best reflector on the market now.
id love to get one of these and test em, andbody have any info on em??

great thread bro :lurk:
 
N

Neptune

if the glass doesn't come off, i don't want it. it has to come off for cleaning.. they get grimey. I have 5 daystar AC hoods, the old model. It's the only hood I use, and Im just curious how it stacks up to the Coolsun, and the Supersun2.

The new Daystar AC has a top exiting lamp cord, which is very awesome. The model I have, you have to pull the lamp cord through the ducting, creating holes and leaks... and ughhh... headache.
 

clowntown

Active member
Veteran
pineappaloupe said:
blind date: try the 3d surface plot.
Yeah, that would be better. IIRC, Jorge Cervantes has a similar 3D surface plot for some reflectors in his book.

Neptune said:
if the glass doesn't come off, i don't want it. it has to come off for cleaning.. they get grimey.
I wonder if the new Daystar AC's glass design is similar/same as the new (?) Radiant AC's, where the glass is mounted on a metal frame with hinges attached on one side, and two thumbscrews on the other side which allows you to open/close the "glass lens door" w/o having to physically remove the glass from the reflector? Does that make sense?
 

BlindDate

Active member
Veteran
You know,,,I tried the surface plot but it did not look as good. Maybe not enough data points? Just was not very smooth. The edge to center lumen strength at 18" is so wide apart that the surface plot looks like a mountain.
 

pico

Active member
Veteran
Yeah it is really hard to get the full picture with one type of graph. Each type of graph has its strong points. No doubt that the surface plot would look better with more data points.

I don't know if I can get Daystars around here. I will keep looking around. I am not going to buy one, but I get loaners from some stores for my testing purposes.
 

BlindDate

Active member
Veteran
Just another suggestion, but you might find that putting reflective sides up on your grow may turn a crappy light into an excellent one. And since the numbers pretty much agree they are all crappy, we may find that the brand of reflector does not even matter.
 

BudZad7

Active member
Hi All ! :wave: Very Good Info ! plenum= An enclosure in which air is at a pressure greater than that outside the enclosure ??? Let say that the can filter
blows air thru a duct to the hood, then duct to another hood, and so on...then
the air gets hotter as it passes thru all the hoods, not a good idea.....So, if maybe you attach a Y duct on the can fan exhaust, then connect 2 air ducts
and attach each one to each hood,and cool air to each and no sharing of HOT AIR!!!.... Is there any ideas that would be better please share.....The Silverstar 6" is a GREAT HOOD! Very Bright!!! :yoinks: Peace! :wave:
 

pico

Active member
Veteran
It is always better to pull than push air.

I have my ducting T'ed off in to two lines with 4 reflectors on each line. It is better than if all 8 were in line. Trick is getting good airflow too. I just upgraded from an 8" elicent inline to a 10" Can Max inline for my air cooling. Beast of a fan.


Blinddate- All the refletors may be 'crappy', however some are a lot worse than others. Side walls would help but you can't reflect light off the wall if it never is reflected off the reflector in the first place. I would like to do a test with reflective walls to see the difference.
 
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