What's your favorite reflector?

[clowntown]

The reason why you might not be able to find many with a hole at the very top might be due to airflow reasons. Having a hole at the very top would typically mean a hole at the bottom (where the glass is) to have the most efficient air flow around the bulb to cool it.

Also, a hole at the top would also usually have to mean a lack of reflective material where it's needed most. (Unless using a design similar to the original Super Sun, which would create blocked / inefficient airflow.)

 

[tex1969]

clowntown, thanks for the help, my setup I am running now is a 33x22x 5ft cab it has a 400 watt cooltube with a 6" to 4" reducer. The fan is mounted to the inside of the cab sucking hot air out of the cab through the cooltube. I have passive intake with 6ea 4inch darkroom louvers, 3 on each side. The problem I have run into is the cooltube, because of the reducer and fan mounted on the inside runs out of room very quickly. I lose about a foot of light raising space, and uneven light distribution because of the reducer. My goal is to reclaim the unused space and increase my light footprint.

 

[clowntown]

Do you have the standard 19" x 6" CoolTube? Also, what type of fan and how is your fan mounted to the CoolTube? I'm not quite sure what you mean by losing vertical space... unless the CoolTube is hung vertically.

Do you have any pictures or maybe a drawing to illustrate?

In any given case, I think the Bell Lighting reflectors will not be a good fit for your environment. That CoolTube might be your best bet for an air-cooled reflector for that size cabinet.

 

[DIGITALHIPPY]

im a huge fan of the silverstar's, but i own daystar A/C's i think there great, but if i had to buy again id get silverstars' probably the 8" cooled ones. maybe a cooltube, not too big on thoes right now. id have to get the external reflector.

 

[clowntown]

The SilverStar is a well-built reflector, and compared to all other reflectors I've owned or come into contact with so far, it's by far the lightest as well due to its all-aluminum construction (most other reflectors use aluminum only for the reflective insert). But for 600w, I think it's slightly too large and would prefer using it for a 1000w, especially in a single-light configuration where the dimensions of the room might make it awkward or more difficult to fit the reflector, ducting and canopy fan comfortably w/o blocking each other. (I would not want to consider it for a 400w.)

 

[CovertCultivatr]

I'm in the market for a new reflector/light set up. is the Silver star ok for a 4x4 (9-16 plants) growroom, single light, 600 or 1000 watt system?

 

[Old Yeller]

THC - Is that the SuperSun1 ? I like the adjustable socket/bulb feature & was wondering if you used it at all to adjust between different bulbs. Don't see that feature on many hoods & I was under the impression that being able to center your bulb in the reflector made a lot of difference on the reflected light pattern.

 

[clowntown]

The adjustable socket is actually Hydrofarm's (optional) "All System Cord Set" which you can get for $20 - $30 which incl. a 25' lamp cord and a Mogul socket. I use one on my DayStar AC's to center a 600w bulb.

 

[EddieShoestring]

good thread CT

negative headroom with a cooltube

 

[EddieShoestring]

my browsers fucked-so i'll have to surmise info intended for this p[ost:these are top mounted ducts for aircooled reflectors but thet are shit-don't buy them
eddie

 

[Stoner4Life]

my browsers fucked-so i'll have to surmise info intended for this p[ost:these are top mounted ducts for aircooled reflectors but thet are shit-don't buy them
eddie

You NEVER by an all in one setup for the simple reason is it ALL don't work together, that setup there steals your cabin height; otherwise you'd just run some 6"ducting off the hood to the fan mounted elswhere....... that'd save you a ton of space in a tight grow chamber.

PLUS! That fan running right above the bulb isn't good for the bulb or ballast, these bulbs HPS/MH run a certain frequencies, they actually vibrate or hum while they operate, now if you set a fan on top and it sets up some sort of harmonic balance movement, or fluctuation it'll have the potential to shorten the life of the bulb, then if the bulb runs shitty the ballast starts to fry, etc.......

I agree with Eddie here.......

 

[BlindDate]

All this speculation and no one mentioned PICOs thread?

 

[mr freez]

hey guys check out pico's thread on reflectors. he tested 3 kinds and the sun2 was best.

 

[Rosy Cheeks]

Pico's thread is great, but it deals with air-cooled reflectors, and this thread asks about "favorite" reflectors.

The Cool Tubes are obviously going to be more efficient at moving air (less turbulence); but every variation that I've seen to date is lacking in design of the reflective device.

The internal reflector designs aren't able to put out an even footprint over a reasonable area, and are known for hot spots. It also doesn't incorporate a "V" in the center, due to space limitations in typical 6" diameter tubes (the "V" helps in deflecting light to the sides so that less reflected light goes straight down through the bulb). The external reflector designs suffer from what I call the "triple-glass effect"

As you say, cooltubes aren't particularly efficient in reflecting/spreading the light. They seduce growers for their flexibility in small growrooms, and for their capacity to keep temps down.

I was running air-cooled (or rather, air-vented) hoods on RKV extractors and was doing fine I suppose, except for constant heat and noise issues.

Then I threw out the vented hoods, the whole ventilation system and went sealed. I replaced the hoods with Adjust-A-Wing bat reflectors, installed a/c and replaced the magnetic ballasts with digital ones.

I'll never look back. Mind you, everyone finds his own perfect solution for growing indoors, and that was mine. No more heat problems - not even in the hottest summer months, no more noise problem, smell problem significally easier to deal with.

You should all check out Jorge Cervantes' reflector-test in his new "Marijuana Horticulture". He did some extensive testing of reflecting/light spreading capacity of different reflectors, and reached the conclusion that the cooltube was crap, creating hotspots. He was also less enthusiastic about parabolic and cone reflectors, especially the ones with vertical mount. Jorge liked the air-cooled Hydrofarm hoods and the Ecotechnics Diamond reflector. He praised the Gavita horticole bulbs with built in reflectors as the most efficient he had seen (check them out, they're awesome: http://www.rambridge.com/products/garden/light/gavita1.html). Guess what Jorge's favorite reflector was (with the best reflective capacity)?

The Adjust-A-Wing!

 

[Old Yeller]

$170.00 + $18.00 for the socket/cord!!! Kinda pricey to me -

 

[Uncle FREEDOM]

favorite reflector... none

hang it NAKED surround it with plants vertical style... no waisted light.

maybe i am just a closet nudist though..

lol

 

[ithruxix]

daystar ac's packed in a tent w/ standard bulbs plus lumateks= recipe for success.

 

[Guayaki]

I just picked up 3 of these silver star 6'' reflectors but they are the new style with the cool tube that runs through them and no flat glass on the bottom. I figure I can cool them alot easier with the cool tube style than the regular style. Just picked them up and hanging them up tonight. We'll see how it goes.
Only downfall I can think of is for cleaning the glass between crops is that you have to take off the 6'' ducting to get inside the cool tube rather than opening the latch on the older style, sliding out the glass, cleaning and having it back together within a minute.

 

[acidnI_livE]

i own one of those green "mojave" ac hoods and they are absolutly no good if you plan on c02 enrichment, becasue you have to tape off all of those louvered side slots with duct tape. i got mine at local shop for 40 bucks with no glass. i ran it for a while (after getting the glass) and i didnt like it to much, it would create shadows under the footprint for some reason, the only goo thing about them grren hoods is the way the socket can be adjusted.

then i switched to the cap lumenaire 6" ran for a cycle and took it back to the local shop and got 7 buck credit torards a real reflector which was the "super sun 2" by sunlight supply. best ive used and very very well built and the super brand new ones have a hinged hood and a rubber gasket that goes around the perimeter of the glass so you dont have to slide out the glass to clean/change bulbs etc just undo a retaining pin on either side and the glass hinges open . great design.

 

[Green Inc.]

Do you want a air cooled reflector that doesn't suck out your co2, or worry about smell leaks. Brown clown needs a reflector that can center a bulb without tools or going to home depot. How does 3 inches of adjustment sound??.Lets push filtered air through our reflectors to keep the dust out. now we are blowing hot air into the grow room. Or maybe pull air, now were sucking co2 out and that smell.The fix take your ass to home depot and buy some foil tape and seal it up real good. Dont use standard duct tape it wont last. Wait a couple of months and notice how dirty that glass is getting (thinking id clean it but that tape is on there pretty good). I will just take off the duct and reach in. Thats how i always change my bulbs anyways. All those years with sun systems reflectors at 180.00 each thinking somebody is making money. Maybe that german aluminum cost alot.

Maverick sun reflectors are new and not popular yet.
They do have three models (magnilume pro 6" & superwide 6" or 8" with the following features.
The glass is sealed into a hinged opening door. You can open in a few seconds. Change your bulb clean the glass and close simple.two spring loaded latches hold the the glass door shut with a air tight seal.
The socket has 3 inches of adjustment held in place by two wing nuts.Loosen the nuts move the socket, tighten and your bulb is centered. Also the socket is a slim design that wont restrict air flow. This was up graded to the newer 2008 models.Hi-Shine Spectral pebble reflective aluminum inserts sorry there not german.Tempered glass, 15 foot 14 gauge lamp cord with sun system style plug, powder coated, a 20 year warranty.
And you can find them on ebay for about 50.00 less that most other popular brands.
magnilume pro six" 110.00 free shipping
superwide 6" & 8" 120.00 free shipping

There is one problem with these reflectors and that is due to the adjustable socket the cord exits the reflector in the duct fitting. the little grove cut out for the cord will leak a little air. Maverick sun needs to make the lamp cord with a little rubber or plastic grommet on it to slide into that channel (maybe next year). Just seal the cord with tape or silicone.