Need advice on specific purpose air cooled reflectors

J

jjohns93

Well-Known Member
I'm using some free time I have to improve my setup and try to make my process simpler and easier on to maintain. It is very apparent that my 6 inch venting is not enough and I need to upgrade to 8 inch hoods. I am currently running 11 big kahuna hoods from htg. I feel like they are a complete waste of money because the hoods are falling apart. To begin with they are nowhere near sealed. Putting some new weatherstripping is not going to do the trick because there are holes in the welds, the hinges are bending and I feel like the quality of light is diminished by using these hoods. Additionally, I work this setup by myself and these hoods are very cumbersome in my small space. I have my setup divided into 3x3 tables instead of large tables because I would rather deal with multiple small resevoirs than one huge one. I know the craze right now is large reflectors but i use many 600 watt light over 1000 with a larger reflector because I think it distributes light more evenly over the tables. I am running an sog setup with ebbe and flow and am looking for a reflector with even 3x3 coverage over the canopy when placed about 16 inches away from the top of the canopy with a 600 watt bulb. I was looking at the daystar ac models but Don't want to waste my money on shitty reflectors like I did with the big kahunas. I also am willing to pay the exta money for Quality, well sealed reflectors. I would appreciate any advice from people with experience. Thanks
 
jason1976

jason1976

Well-Known Member
I got my reflectors from htgsupply never had a problem with them. I run 3 600s with one 6 inch fan my tent is 6x6x6. if you vent into the room your tent is in it will sooner or later just run hot air all the time . fresh air in hot air out. make the path through your lights as straight as you can to permit air movement also. unless your talking about an inline fan. then an upgrade is needed for sure.
 
Aeroknow

Aeroknow

Well-Known Member
jjohns93 said:
I'm using some free time I have to improve my setup and try to make my process simpler and easier on to maintain. It is very apparent that my 6 inch venting is not enough and I need to upgrade to 8 inch hoods. I am currently running 11 big kahuna hoods from htg. I feel like they are a complete waste of money because the hoods are falling apart. To begin with they are nowhere near sealed. Putting some new weatherstripping is not going to do the trick because there are holes in the welds, the hinges are bending and I feel like the quality of light is diminished by using these hoods. Additionally, I work this setup by myself and these hoods are very cumbersome in my small space. I have my setup divided into 3x3 tables instead of large tables because I would rather deal with multiple small resevoirs than one huge one. I know the craze right now is large reflectors but i use many 600 watt light over 1000 with a larger reflector because I think it distributes light more evenly over the tables. I am running an sog setup with ebbe and flow and am looking for a reflector with even 3x3 coverage over the canopy when placed about 16 inches away from the top of the canopy with a 600 watt bulb. I was looking at the daystar ac models but Don't want to waste my money on shitty reflectors like I did with the big kahunas. I also am willing to pay the exta money for Quality, well sealed reflectors. I would appreciate any advice from people with experience. Thanks
Click to expand...
Sun System - 8" Cool sun Xl Reflectors are of great quality. They are my go to hoods these days.

IMO, supermagnumxlxlxlxlxlxlxlxl hoods are not needed when shinning a 600w over a 3X3 area. Which is the perfect area, and 16 inches high is about rite, for that 600w. Go for it, you won't be
Disappointed
 
J

jjohns93

Well-Known Member
jason1976 said:
I got my reflectors from htgsupply never had a problem with them. I run 3 600s with one 6 inch fan my tent is 6x6x6. if you vent into the room your tent is in it will sooner or later just run hot air all the time . fresh air in hot air out. make the path through your lights as straight as you can to permit air movement also. unless your talking about an inline fan. then an upgrade is needed for sure.
Click to expand...
Thanks for the reply. I started off buying a lot of stuff from htg amd came to the same conclusion that a lot of people on here have already come to.....their items are mostly sub par. They are good for the amount of money that they cost but I'm at the point where I can spend the money for better equipment. I equate htg to harbor freight, the stuff is cheap and will do in a pinch but there is much better out there. My buddy has the same bulb and ballast in a daystar reflector and the difference in brightness was visually drastic. I have heard others say the same when comparing to the big kahuna reflector. The length of each run and number of lights requires me to upgrade to 8 ducting and fans to effectively push it out of my room.
 
J

jjohns93

Well-Known Member
Aeroknow said:
Sun System - 8" Cool sun Xl Reflectors are of great quality. They are my go to hoods these days.

IMO, supermagnumxlxlxlxlxlxlxlxl hoods are not needed when shinning a 600w over a 3X3 area. Which is the perfect area, and 16 inches high is about rite, for that 600w. Go for it, you won't be
Disappointed
Click to expand...
Thanks Aeroknow. How good is the seal quality and overall construction of the hoods? How uniform is the light spread over a 3x3 area?
 
C

Cannis

Active Member
Your right, no way I'd pay Manufacturers Suggested Retail Price of 381.00 either, about 90.00 less than that.
 
J

jjohns93

Well-Known Member
Cannis said:
Your right, no way I'd pay Manufacturers Suggested Retail Price of 381.00 either, about 90.00 less than that.
Click to expand...
Cannis, you must have misread my post. I specifically said I don't want some ridiculously large reflector. That might work in some applications but is the opposite of what I want. I also said that I have enough money to buy quality reflectors. I didn't say I won the lottery and want to spend it all on reflectors
 
Red1966

Red1966

Well-Known Member
jjohns93 said:
I'm using some free time I have to improve my setup and try to make my process simpler and easier on to maintain. It is very apparent that my 6 inch venting is not enough and I need to upgrade to 8 inch hoods. I am currently running 11 big kahuna hoods from htg. I feel like they are a complete waste of money because the hoods are falling apart. To begin with they are nowhere near sealed. Putting some new weatherstripping is not going to do the trick because there are holes in the welds, the hinges are bending and I feel like the quality of light is diminished by using these hoods. Additionally, I work this setup by myself and these hoods are very cumbersome in my small space. I have my setup divided into 3x3 tables instead of large tables because I would rather deal with multiple small resevoirs than one huge one. I know the craze right now is large reflectors but i use many 600 watt light over 1000 with a larger reflector because I think it distributes light more evenly over the tables. I am running an sog setup with ebbe and flow and am looking for a reflector with even 3x3 coverage over the canopy when placed about 16 inches away from the top of the canopy with a 600 watt bulb. I was looking at the daystar ac models but Don't want to waste my money on shitty reflectors like I did with the big kahunas. I also am willing to pay the exta money for Quality, well sealed reflectors. I would appreciate any advice from people with experience. Thanks
Click to expand...
I, too, bought a big kahuna. Its junk. Every seem, joint, and rivet leaked. Big leaks, too. I have a blockbuster six that works great and is less than half the weight.
 
C

Cannis

Active Member
Hence the link with a variety of hoods, didn't misread anything. I would never try to decide for someone else what they should get, just throwing you some info. Don't forget to always check reviews. GL
 
since1991

since1991

Well-Known Member
jjohns93 said:
Thanks for the reply. I started off buying a lot of stuff from htg amd came to the same conclusion that a lot of people on here have already come to.....their items are mostly sub par. They are good for the amount of money that they cost but I'm at the point where I can spend the money for better equipment. I equate htg to harbor freight, the stuff is cheap and will do in a pinch but there is much better out there. My buddy has the same bulb and ballast in a daystar reflector and the difference in brightness was visually drastic. I have heard others say the same when comparing to the big kahuna reflector. The length of each run and number of lights requires me to upgrade to 8 ducting and fans to effectively push it out of my room.
Click to expand...
Htg aircooled reflectors are junk period. At least the easy cool 6ers are. And i mean junk. Years ago my cousin fell for these. Wow they are total garbage.
 
since1991

since1991

Well-Known Member
If you want a quality smaller type air cooled reflector (those big ass ones that were all the rage a few years back are a joke - and completely marketed to American growers who thought bigger was better...more gimmick and hype than actual light science) ....for 600 watt mogul socket bulbs. ...one of thee best hoods if not thee best is the Sun System 2 6" by Sunlight Supply. You wan smaller reflectors....period. And close to the bulb. Gavita...p.l. and the more cutting edge horticultural lamp manufacturers have known this for years.
 
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