3000 Kelvin Light?

BluBerry

Well-Known Member
I have a 3000 Kelvin 400 W Metal Halide Light. When i ordered it i thought it was more of a cool spectrum bulb. Would this bulb be better to veg or flower with? Or would I be better vegging with a cool CFL 105w? The Metal Halide puts off alot of heat, what kind of glass should I put in the bottom of the light to keep it cooler? And will that affect the lumens or anything to do with the light output? Sorry for all the question but my a/c isnt working too well and with this light it is exceptionally hot in here. It averages about 94 F in Grow area w/ avg. 38% Humidity.
Feel free to comment.
 

green_nobody

Well-Known Member
well this is a coated MH bulb, has a yellowish sulfur coating on it. it could be used for flowering since it is close to the red spec, but it is just a rather poor alternative to the real thing since the coating eats up lumens like a bitch.

CFL will be far better for veg since it is in the right 6500K spec, so use this, the ruff rule of thumb with cfls is 60-100 lumen/Watt so if you lucky it could be in the 10000lum range...

your grow is damn hot, you gone get a heat issue in there soon or later dude!:(

and for glass in front of the MH, get heat resistant/tempered glass for this or it will break!
 

DoobsDay

Well-Known Member
you could use that mh for both veg and flower, tell us more about your setup so we can try and bring the temp down.
 

BluBerry

Well-Known Member
My grow is in a closet 3L x 2w x 4h. I have cardboard for a ceiling half way up in the closet. My nutes, water, & other accesories are in the top of the closet on shelf along with the light ballast (ignitor & capacitator). I have the closet door open with the top half of the lit area blocked off with piece of sheet metal to hold in a little extra light & box fan on floor blowing air in from room. A small 8 inch fan mounted on inside wall blowiing air up out into the top of the closet thru a opening that I left open in the cardboard. The closet door is open so I would think that the hot air would come out, but it comes back into the room and is recirculating hot air. I thought about cutting a 4 inch hole in the paneling & putting a vent cover or something decorative over it & exhausting back into the room. Would that work? I would like to have this setup to where I could close the door without burning them up. My central air isnt working properly so it has been staying in the high 70s in the house so I think that could be a problem with that. Im getting a good window unit here shortly, that should cool it down. but I was thinking about using CFLs to flower and using the metal halide to flower with. I should have just got a HPS, but I thought this would be more blue.
 

green_nobody

Well-Known Member
My grow is in a closet 3L x 2w x 4h. I have cardboard for a ceiling half way up in the closet. My nutes, water, & other accesories are in the top of the closet on shelf along with the light ballast (ignitor & capacitator). I have the closet door open with the top half of the lit area blocked off with piece of sheet metal to hold in a little extra light & box fan on floor blowing air in from room. A small 8 inch fan mounted on inside wall blowiing air up out into the top of the closet thru a opening that I left open in the cardboard. The closet door is open so I would think that the hot air would come out, but it comes back into the room and is recirculating hot air. I thought about cutting a 4 inch hole in the paneling & putting a vent cover or something decorative over it & exhausting back into the room. Would that work? I would like to have this setup to where I could close the door without burning them up. My central air isnt working properly so it has been staying in the high 70s in the house so I think that could be a problem with that. Im getting a good window unit here shortly, that should cool it down. but I was thinking about using CFLs to flower and using the metal halide to flower with. I should have just got a HPS, but I thought this would be more blue.

keep no liquids around or above the ballast if you don't want to end up well fried!
 

DoobsDay

Well-Known Member
a 400w mh in a 3x2x4 area is gonna be a pain, you need a better intake outake area, a fan to blow in fresh cool air and not just pushing hot air out.
 

green_nobody

Well-Known Member
that he will need in this little area for sure, bluberry, look up under mogie homemade threads the once that are about making a air-cool fixture, that would solve the trouble with the heat emitted by the bulb;)
 

Alpha1

Active Member
A/C Try this
first turn off the breaker or through the disconnect off

take the cover off the area where the coil is the raditor looking thing

with garden water hose flush out the coil and fan area

do not water soak the eletrical box area and if you do just wait for it to dry

spray straight through the coil area being careful not to bend the fins some will bend that happens

That fan pulls air through that coil so it needs to be clean and not plugged

That problem is common with central air and should be cleaned every year
 

BluBerry

Well-Known Member
I like all of those ideas. With the cool tube or the glass. does the glass reduce any of the lumens or have much of an effect of the light? I've got the a/c guy coming to look at the a/c i think its in the wiring or something. Hopefully when I get that working that will help out alot, but i do like the glass idea.
 
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