Few ideas to get around the heating issue with LED lights.

So I have often managed to save on heating my tents in winter by combining he extraction for my two tents. Running them in opposite time frames and passive ducting from one to the other.

However while I am now switching from HID to LED I am trying to think of other ways to reduce my dependency on heaters.

Ideas currently,

Run my extraction in reverse so bringing in cold/fresh air from above and exhausting out of the bottom, atleast this way any heat produced by the LEDs and Drivers will be drawn through my canopy.

Option two is to keep my current configuration but add an additional heat circulation ducting circuit taking the heat from top of the tent and pumping it back down into the bottom to draw back up to the top .

Does anyone else have any ideas?

not much help, but if it comes to it, , generate heat with HID's, heat n light. im thinking of running some extra 70watt hid's to get the heat up. extra light, extra bud

I'm in a garage. It stays about 50F. (hasn't been very cold out or it'd be colder) As a hobby grower...I wasn't/didn't/have no plans on heating the entire garage to grow weed I don't really need.

Tents/LEDs aren't my forte'. I like growing outdoors better. But I digress...

I couldn't figure anything else out w/o breaking the bank...so I just treated my tent like a sealed room. Put a small heater in there for lights off....and put the dehumidifier in there as well. There's enough CO2 without circulating the air...so I just run that b all closed up....75-80F...and the dehuey runs like crazy to keep up with the condensation. Every AM I go down and empty the full res on the dehuey and it all starts again.

Sounds like you've worked on it extensively and are doing OK... the LED's still put out a goodly amount of heat. Not as much as the HID....nor is the light spectrum as cool...(it's like shopping in WalMart)....but they work...yeah... yawn. LOL. I miss my deep blues and crazy orange spectrums....

best of luck figuring it out..

Diy geothermal heatpump setup on solar panels would be ideal I've thought about this a lot lately I think I could pull it off

The Bodgeineers said:

So I have often managed to save on heating my tents in winter by combining he extraction for my two tents. Running them in opposite time frames and passive ducting from one to the other.

However while I am now switching from HID to LED I am trying to think of other ways to reduce my dependency on heaters.

Ideas currently,

Run my extraction in reverse so bringing in cold/fresh air from above and exhausting out of the bottom, atleast this way any heat produced by the LEDs and Drivers will be drawn through my canopy.

Option two is to keep my current configuration but add an additional heat circulation ducting circuit taking the heat from top of the tent and pumping it back down into the bottom to draw back up to the top .

Does anyone else have any ideas?

Click to expand...

Sometimes I put the drivers on the floor to act as little heaters, but my usual way was to slow the extraction down a bit while increasing the air circulation. Slower extraction speed allows the heat to build up before being evacuated and the increased circulation fans stop stuff going stale.

Nowadays it's much easier using a system such as the AC Infinity fan and controller. You can set a minimum always-on speed as low as you like, and set it to auto-boost the speed when the temp or humidity goes beyond your set levels, which then returns to minimum speed once the temp/humidity is corrected.

You will be surprised how much heat a few boards and drivers can generate if you let the heat hang around long enough before sucking it out of the tent. A few well-positioned clip-on circulation fans can direct some heat from your lights down to your canopy while at the same time increasing air movement.

MedicinalMyA$$ said:

Sometimes I put the drivers on the floor to act as little heaters, but my usual way was to slow the extraction down a bit while increasing the air circulation. Slower extraction speed allows the heat to build up before being evacuated and the increased circulation fans stop stuff going stale.

Nowadays it's much easier using a system such as the AC Infinity fan and controller. You can set a minimum always-on speed as low as you like, and set it to auto-boost the speed when the temp or humidity goes beyond your set levels, which then returns to minimum speed once the temp/humidity is corrected.

You will be surprised how much heat a few boards and drivers can generate if you let the heat hang around long enough before sucking it out of the tent. A few well-positioned clip-on circulation fans can direct some heat from your lights down to your canopy while at the same time increasing air movement.

Click to expand...

I don't really like clip on fans. I have a big issue with noise as I grow in my attic/loft.
I find the clip on fans vibrate a fair amount with the tent poles acting like an amplifier.

I either need to use pedestal fans which can also be a pain with floor space , or what I have been using now is tower fans as they have a fairly small foot print .
I also rely on a high flow extraction/intake fan to aid in my circulation for the above reasons.

I will look to see if I can find some hanging ceiling fans that I can suspend with bungy cords .

One thing I have only just thought about ( atleast for winter) is to create a closed loop then run co2 instead of an intake for fresh air.

Before I just decided to keep my HID lamps for winter grows, I looked in IR lizard heating. They don't use much power and it all gets used as heat.
A few extra watts could be used to raise temps on leaf surfaces and aid in transpiration.

I use mh or cmh in veg tent and vent it as an intake into flower.

The veg tent runs mid 70s on average. That's worked for me in multiple places.

I ran my flower tent as mid veg last run with my leds and at 25% they performed brilliant with a lower temp than my normal aim

Since I have only wanted to bump temps a bit (I keep my shop at 70dF and sometimes the tent LEDs need a boost), I have taken to putting my controller right by the intake. Not really warmer, but better distribution of warm air.

I read that you want to stay away from heaters, but seed mats might be acceptable for general heat or creating a sort of heat exchanger at the intake (low wattage, anyway).

Oil filled heaters are nice and quiet, but in the basement they are a necessity here.
Slowing the flow and recycling what you can is a good thing...
Reverse extraction is a good idea and only goes so far. Because I drive softly I might have to revisit the reversal as I'm trying some "mixing" fans above the LEDs and I've never run them quite this high and expect I might be able to get away with just the stir from the upper "mixing" fans.
I'm going to drop the flow more than I previously had too.

The Bodgeineers said:

I don't really like clip on fans. I have a big issue with noise as I grow in my attic/loft.
I find the clip on fans vibrate a fair amount with the tent poles acting like an amplifier.

I either need to use pedestal fans which can also be a pain with floor space , or what I have been using now is tower fans as they have a fairly small foot print .
I also rely on a high flow extraction/intake fan to aid in my circulation for the above reasons.

I will look to see if I can find some hanging ceiling fans that I can suspend with bungy cords .

One thing I have only just thought about ( atleast for winter) is to create a closed loop then run co2 instead of an intake for fresh air.

Click to expand...

Maybe looking into some form of insulation might help? Add more tower fans perhaps if you are concerned about reduced air movement. If you can lower your extraction speed it will warm your tent more and could reduce the noise from the venting.
I use DIY strips in my 5x5's, in summer they are way underdriven and in winter I disconnect 1/2 to 2/3 of them and drive the remainder at max.
One time I stuck some strips onto an old large HID hood and that got hotter than I had planned, the steel hood held onto and trapped the heat underneath it just like an HPS but not quite as hot.

sfw1960 said:

Oil filled heaters are nice and quiet, but in the basement they are a necessity here.
Slowing the flow and recycling what you can is a good thing...
Reverse extraction is a good idea and only goes so far. Because I drive softly I might have to revisit the reversal as I'm trying some "mixing" fans above the LEDs and I've never run them quite this high and expect I might be able to get away with just the stir from the upper "mixing" fans.
I'm going to drop the flow more than I previously had too.

Click to expand...

yep northern basement grower here.. oil filled heaters are the way to go... if you really want to get fancy you can get electric base board heating for cheap and pretty easy install... the problem becomes now you are eating away at amps with a heater and obviously paying more. You can also get plug based timer thermostat combos that will give you a certain temp at night or during the day. I actually need to get a new one because mine burned out (maybe don't run the heater on the highest setting through them... OOPS!) but yeah something like that is what I have done. Thinking about moving to the garage soon (well I AM going to do it just a matter of how) I bought a full 100 foot greenhouse set up someone panic sold during the pandemic and I have 2 of the giant heaters... think I am going to set one up in the garage.

its is funny that we are now full circle... before HIDs had TOO much heat and it was always about cooling... I guess I'm just old lolz

meangreengrowinmachine said:

its is funny that we are now full circle... before HIDs had TOO much heat and it was always about cooling... I guess I'm just old lolz

Click to expand...

Infrared is really necessary, LEDs in winter are a bad choice

igna said:

Infrared is really necessary, LEDs in winter are a bad choice

Click to expand...

They work great, but you do need to add heat

See great!

The Bodgeineers said:

So I have often managed to save on heating my tents in winter by combining he extraction for my two tents. Running them in opposite time frames and passive ducting from one to the other.

However while I am now switching from HID to LED I am trying to think of other ways to reduce my dependency on heaters.

Ideas currently,

Run my extraction in reverse so bringing in cold/fresh air from above and exhausting out of the bottom, atleast this way any heat produced by the LEDs and Drivers will be drawn through my canopy.

Option two is to keep my current configuration but add an additional heat circulation ducting circuit taking the heat from top of the tent and pumping it back down into the bottom to draw back up to the top .

Does anyone else have any ideas?

Click to expand...

I like the unvented gas heaters with a standing pilot just the pilot running gives off 1000 btu.Put a BBQ tank on it last for months.

thumper60 said:

I like the unvented gas heaters with a standing pilot just the pilot running gives off 1000 btu.Put a BBQ tank on it last for months.

Click to expand...

Not sure i can do that. having previously had a grow room fire in my attic which costs me 10000s to fix and loss.
I would be so paranoid about fire i wouldn't sleep.
*Edit , the fire was caused by a blunt end not going out and nothing to do with equipment but still!

The use of heating reduces cultivation efficiency. If you don't have a suitable temperature, use sodium, lec or other lighting that raises the temperature and provides light. Do not use heaters that only provide heat.

I've thought of the only efficient way, I think...

Besides water cooling both the LEDs and driver with super efficient copper blocks, and pumping to small radiator\fan at the base of each plant. So that it blows nearly all the extracted heat back up into well trained umbrella like canopies, that is..

So check it out:

..

Each LED grow light fixture has a small built in go pro style camera, right in the center and facing down. So from there, basically in real time.. it projection maps out the leaf movements it senses, and creates a somewhat 3D virtual map of the entire plant from above. At all times, no matter how it grows. As long as the air circulation fans are running, and the leafs are slightly moving (and green, it senses that too), the advanced AI software analyzes that data and then controls a powerful fast moving IR laser beam, that scans only the mapped out plants in the area leaf by leaf, so fast (like, 100s of times per second!) you don't even know its happening, or see the beam coming out of the projector. It would be just the right frequency too, that it doesn't burn the leaves, or focus on any spot for too long. Just helps to mimic the intense heat of the sun rays, which you can tune with different settings to achieve the perfect VPD every time during lights on. All while using way less electricity than using any other kind of heater to supplement with.

Haha JK, HID is king!