DIY water cooled lights and reflectors

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oxanaca

Well-Known Member
is there anyone out there thats building there own reflectors(lumenbright and lumenarc) and waterjacket tubes(fresca sol)?

i have plans and access to the tools but i wasnt sure if anyone else had experiance that i could tap into
a banned member named fatman7475 told me how to comstruct them, but he left a lot out before i lost contact so i will have to do some thinking of my own
. im going to make the end tubes using pvc or hdpe on a 3d printer, and pyrex tubes from here
http://www.glasscraftinc.com/home/gla/multilist_800_150?stpl=products

for the reflectors im going to build reflectors like this, however they maybe upsized to accomodate 600/1000 hps. this is a thread on the lumenarc, i plan on building lumen bright III reflectors these designs are reportadly some of the most efficent around, i will cut holes on both sides and insert the water jacket into the reflector.
https://www.rollitup.org/do-yourself/230773-diy-reflector-smaller-areas-great.html
will be using spectral aluminum from here, i will chose the 95% reflective stucco pattern
http://anomet.com/cgi-bin/online/storepro.php



ill be back tomarrow to right more.
 
O

oxanaca

Well-Known Member
so what im going to do is im going to buy the spectral aluminum from anomet
$45 dollars is the cost for a 24X48 sheet of 95%stucco pattern it is $60 for the 98% reflectivity. there is also a flat-rate shipping fee of $45 dollars this will cover the cost of up to thirty sheets though so if you buy quite a few the shipping price becomes more acceptable.
if anyone has any ideas on how i could emboss a flat sheet of aluminum in machine shop i would appreciate the help, as i would be able to use 98% reflective aluminum. a three percent gain in reflector efficiency over the 95% reflective stucco pattern. im thinking if i use the 98% i could beat out the hydro stores 95% reflectivity and be able to sell quite a few reflectors.

another thing i was thinking about is what size across the reflector should be if i will be using 600hps exclusively. im thinking my best bet would be to print these and taking it to kinkos and have them blow it up to 36 inches across
http://www.cvreefers.org/showthread.php?15091-DIY-lumunarc-and-lumenbrite-stencils

alright nuff said for tonight, will check back in tomorrow. also incase some one reads this is there a better place to post this?
 
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oxanaca

Well-Known Member
so for my water jackets i will buy borosilicate tubing it comes in 60" lengths but you can have it cut down by them for a small charge. the fresca sol is apperently 19.5" long so i will have them cut down to 20"

for all my water jackets i will use these on the outside
http://www.glasscraftinc.com/home/gla/page_5553_537/150x3x1500mm_simax_heavy_wall_tubing.html

for 600hps i will use this. i will get an approximate 3/4inch water gap
http://www.glasscraftinc.com/home/gla/page_5545_537/125x3x1500mm_simax_heavy_wall_tubing.html

for 1000 i will get this for a approximate 1 i inch water gap
http://www.glasscraftinc.com/home/gla/page_5543_537/120x3x1500mm_simax_heavy_wall_tubing.html

once i begin working on this august 1st i will give a detailed explanation on how to put it all together and put fresca sol out of business for good.
 
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oxanaca

Well-Known Member
once i have each water cooled/reflector put together i will be looking at a total cost under $120 and better reflectivity then fresca sol.
 
O

oxanaca

Well-Known Member
dont bother. i was a noob when it came to lighting when i wrote this.
every piece of clean glass absorbs 7-15% of your light. why put 2 pieces of glass between your bulb and your growing environment? water cooled lights are bullshit, im open reflector all the way

i recommend looking into gavita luminaries , instead. long term your gonna get the most bang for your buck that way. i own 10 1K models and wont ever use anything else
 
ss tokenkopf

ss tokenkopf

New Member
Right on, thanks for the quick response. I'll check in to the Gavitas. I've done some reading into them a year ago or something but still haven't wanted to spend the money and ditch my current setup.
 
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G Dog

Active Member
ss tokenkopf said:
Right on, thanks for the quick response. I'll check in to the Gavitas. I've done some reading into them a year ago or something but still haven't wanted to spend the money and ditch my current setup.
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Hey....I'm knew to this site...I run a fresca Sol platnum 1000 watt in a predator king cobra hood ..I have 2 x 275 gallon res tanks in my garage..my lines run under my house to my back bedroom to my 5x5 tent ...i use two 36 x36 air water heat exchangers ..two 48 inch fans to blow threw them..one going in one coming out.....my water stays 48 degrees in summer and in winter ..I live in Indiana . it stays right above freezing without the fans cooling at all...I use a pool pump and sand filter on my res tanks for perfect clear water....my tent temp right this second is 68 degrees... That's know shit..exhaust fan and filter run at 75 % ...I also have a home set up to where I can hook up a 6 inch fan to the end of the tube and pull heat out if I need to...I used it one time...it made my tent 12 degrees warmer..no big deal..I could've put a filter on it and ran it out threw the crawl space with the other one..it would've made it to cooled in the tent now....it was 10 below 0 here last night..if you run a water cooled light... You have to have a constant cooled water supply...I like to stay 44 to 54 degrees water temp....I can barely feel any heat off the light....my plants love to be right at 4 to five inches from the light...we will have to all talk ..I've learned what will work and what doesn't.. I've probably got four grand in this light set up ...was it worth it....hell yes it was worth it...once you get the constant cooled water.... You got it...that's all it takes...
 
nomofatum

nomofatum

Well-Known Member
Water cooling on bulbs? Lol, that would be interesting to see. LEDs this is no problem, but bulbs I can't imagine what that would look like.
 
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G Dog

Active Member
I have a video on utube....you should check out bestcoast growers water cooled lights..Fresca sol...I'm trying to figure out how to upload a video onto this site.
 
ttystikk

ttystikk

Well-Known Member
G Dog said:
Hey....I'm knew to this site...I run a fresca Sol platnum 1000 watt in a predator king cobra hood ..I have 2 x 275 gallon res tanks in my garage..my lines run under my house to my back bedroom to my 5x5 tent ...i use two 36 x36 air water heat exchangers ..two 48 inch fans to blow threw them..one going in one coming out.....my water stays 48 degrees in summer and in winter ..I live in Indiana . it stays right above freezing without the fans cooling at all...I use a pool pump and sand filter on my res tanks for perfect clear water....my tent temp right this second is 68 degrees... That's know shit..exhaust fan and filter run at 75 % ...I also have a home set up to where I can hook up a 6 inch fan to the end of the tube and pull heat out if I need to...I used it one time...it made my tent 12 degrees warmer..no big deal..I could've put a filter on it and ran it out threw the crawl space with the other one..it would've made it to cooled in the tent now....it was 10 below 0 here last night..if you run a water cooled light... You have to have a constant cooled water supply...I like to stay 44 to 54 degrees water temp....I can barely feel any heat off the light....my plants love to be right at 4 to five inches from the light...we will have to all talk ..I've learned what will work and what doesn't.. I've probably got four grand in this light set up ...was it worth it....hell yes it was worth it...once you get the constant cooled water.... You got it...that's all it takes...
Click to expand...
I know, but it's like pulling teeth to tell people about a better alternative to AC and minisplits!

I run a two Ton chiller and I built a compressorless chiller from a car radiator and a box fan. This has effectively cooled my op AND heated my home all winter.
 
G

G Dog

Active Member
Hey....how can I send you the link to my video.. The only way you can see it is if I send you the link cause its a private video..do you have gmail
 
nomofatum

nomofatum

Well-Known Member
Yeah more layers of glass and even better now we add water, I wonder what percentage of the light actually makes it through that thing. Sounds like a bad idea that will look like a good idea until you think it through.
 
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GrowUrOwnDank

Well-Known Member
nomofatum said:
Yeah more layers of glass and even better now we add water, I wonder what percentage of the light actually makes it through that thing. Sounds like a bad idea that will look like a good idea until you think it through.
Click to expand...
Not gonna say seems legit. Until after I watched this video. Now, that's a mega legit set up. Way over kill for my little stuff tho.

 
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