BEST OVERALL AIR COOLED REFLECTOR ?

[Neptune]

I own 5 Daystar ACs.

They are very compact reflectors, great for 600w systems. The aircoolability is fantstic, low drag... nice flow.. My BIGGEST problem with the Daystar AC and other Hydrofarm hoods, is that the fucking cord come out of the BACK of the unit. making it very fucking difficult to duct air from them... you have to basically cut a hole in your ducting, and thread the cord through that hole.. then hope that that hole doesn't start a tear, and tape it up real good. in CO2 enriched rooms, (like mine) this is a nightmare, lots of leaks from the hole you have to cut to aircool them.

A good AC reflector will have a port for the cord within the unit, not outside of it.

catch my drift?

 

[irie-i]

i got silver stars and cool tubes. 600w lights. the silverstars leak air and dont throw much light forward and back. the tubes throw light forward and back okay, but theyre too short for the 600w's.
they both do just fine keeping cool. the silverstars are easy to clean in side, the tubes not so.

sorry, thats the best photo with the lights i have. theres a row of silverstars, then a row of cooltubes, then a row of silverstars again

 

[irie-i]

hows about a poll?

 

[clowntown]

What do you mean by "forward and back"?

 

[jcsmooth]

I'm guessing he means the ends (where the ducts are)?

My ballast should be coming today or tomorrow so I can't wait to put a nice new bulb in my silverstar and plug her in.

JC

 

[irie-i]

i mean the direction the ends where the ducting is

 

[Strawberrycough]

Hydrofarm just updated their Radiant 8" with better sealing and now comes attacted with cord. Hands down this is the best hood on the market.

 

[clowntown]

Hydrofarm just updated their Radiant 8" with better sealing and now comes attacted with cord. Hands down this is the best hood on the market.

How so?

It was a very close decision for me on the Silver Star vs Radiant AC, but in the end I chose the Silver Star. I wasn't sure how each reflector would perform as far as light coverage / reflection performance, but overall I felt that the Silver Star would do a better job and had a better design.

Although I feel both reflectors are a hair on the large side for my current setup, I'd like one where I can possibly fit a 1k comfortably, something to expand to my needs down the road, so I chose to skip the smaller reflectors such as the Daystar.

 

[Neptune]

Daystar AC actually has a great light footprint for both 600w and 1000w. But, I would say they are ideal for 600w bulbs. I know people who run 1000w bulbs in them with great results.

/-\

 

[mysticls]

whats an ideal hood for a 250w lumatek? cab is 30 inch wide 32 inch tall and 28 inch deep

 

[clowntown]

A simple bat-wing reflector with good ventilation, or a Cool Tube type would be fine.

 

[mysticls]

i dont want a bat wing type and i would rather not go with a cooltube.. reason being is this is a cab grow and my 8 inch intake vent is located directly below the reflector.. i want the reflector to suck air from underneath the light as opposed to one side of the cool tube...also the cool tubes dont reflect light as well as reflectors...

 

[demonicaardvark]

just put the cool tube in a vertical position and it will suck air from underneath it. also if you cover your walls with mylar that would probably reflect better than a reflector anyway.

 

[ft100]

i use the daystar ac with a 400 watter and have never had a problem. i am in a small space and looking to go to a 600 or a 1000. if i do go to the 6 it sounds like my current reflector would be fine. if i go to the 1000 i want a bigger footprint. i will pick one of the two 8 inch exhausted units talked about in this thread. just dont know which one yet. thanks for the info guys.

 

[Guest]

I run a sun system 800 watt combo alongside a 1K MH daystar for veg and there is no question in my mind which is best,sun system blows daystar away by a long margin,I can veg many more girls under my sun system then my hydrofarm despite the 200 watt difference

 

[clowntown]

With a 250w bulb, and such a small space, I doubt it would make that much of a difference, mysticls. But if you're out to spend some money, I hear Hydrofarm Daystar's are nice reflectors for that type of situation.

 

[mysticls]

yeah i want to go with a daystar.. i have 26 inchs of depth in my cab, it says they are 22 1/2 inchs long, do you think it would fit ?

 

[clowntown]

Depends on how you want to duct it.

 

[mysticls]

i am not going to purchase the glass..

i will have duct work attached to one of the vents and it will be sucking up from the bottom and gooing through my fan

 

[clowntown]

The adjustable (90 - 180 degrees) 6" duct piece I have measures at ~8.5" wide, at 90 degrees.