HELP! 1st Grow - Heating problems!

UPDATE: With the light baffle my temperatures were steady all night at 100°F D: I don't understand though, as I can grip the bulbs and they are only slightly warm, and when I put my hand in the soil it's cool to the touch. I'm at a loss here.

QUESTION: Do you have a fan on the lights?

I encourage you to try my setup. Put the lights up top while you test temps. The lower intakes at the front/back should cool the lights when you have lights lower during early veg. You only need the 120mm exhaust--- you just need better air flow.

I'll go ahead and take a quick picture for you electronug, just give me a moment and I'll edit it into this post.

EDIT: Here are the pictures with brief notations. There is minimal light leaking, which isn't noticeable at all during the daylight hours so what I figure I'll do is run my lighting for vegetative 18-6 with the 6 being from 8pm - 2am and then run my flowering 12-12 with the dark 12 running from 7pm - 7am that way the light leaking isn't present during hours it could be noticed.

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DIY Light Baffle ------ Ghetto I/O Panel --- Cut to size scrubber

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Case interior --------- Frontal Intake Fans -- Interior Lights on

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Back w/ Lights on -- Back w/ Lights on 2

As a last little tidbit, I'd like to apologize for the poor angles and quality of these photos. I have a video that I will upload to YouTube and add in below this once it's done uploading. I had to use a webcam, as I've managed to misplace my camera

That 80mm on the rear should be an intake -- assuming it's exhaust from your description and the fact that you put a filter on it.

And that baffle seems too shallow to allow for proper air flow.

I was planning on opening up the baffle a considerate amount on the inside of the case to allow better airflow, and I will swap the the exhaust on the back to an intake. I managed to find another 80mm fan that I'll suspend from the top as you illustrated in your diagram.

EDIT: There are filters on all of the fans aside from the 120mm due to the fact it has the baffle. The filters are what make the light leaks only semi-noticable. Without the filters it's like I've got a lamp on in the corner of the room. I could baffle the back intake fan on the exterior, and the two front intake fans could be baffled on the interior.

Also, for my pot I have a container that fits perfectly into the bottom of the case, but it's only... 5" inches tall at max. Will this do, or should I use a 3" diameter and 3-4" tall pot and then transplant to something a bit bigger? I know roots need to go deep, but will 5" be deep enough?

UPDATE: I swapped the rear fan to intake, and temperatures are at 88°F after about 20 minutes (up from room temperature of 73°F). I'm going to take the filter off of the rear intake and see how that affects it.

UPDATE 2: After 15 minutes without the filter on the rear intake fan, the temperature has risen to 90°F.

UPDATE 3: After another 15 minutes, the temperature of the case has risen to 91°F. I've moved the bulbs up top to the 120mm exhaust fan, approximately 12" away from the top of the soil. Will update again with the temperature after another 15 minutes.

UPDATE 4: Another 15 minutes and the temperature seems to be steadily dropping with the fans up at top. I still haven't widened the light baffle. Temperature is at 88°F right now and has been that way for about 5 minutes.

Alright, temperatures are stable at 88°F with my lights 12" away from where the seedlings will be. I don't understand, I have 4 fans (soon to be 5) all properly ventilating yet temperatures are still very high... perhaps my thermometer is broken?

Remove all obstructions to see what it runs at under optimal conditions.

Aye-aye, cap'n! Should I have the fans up top or 1-3" from where the seedlings will be?

Up top, because during the seedling stage you only need 1-2 lights on and heat shouldn't be a problem.

Alright, I've got it going now and I'll update with a temperature report at 3:30 EST.

UPDATE: Without obstructions of any kind, the case lights up like a Christmas tree but the temperatures are steadily dropping around 2°F every 5 minutes. Right now it's down to 82°F and has been that way for about 3 minutes. I'll update again at 3:45 EST.

UPDATE 2: Well, 3:45PM and the temperatures are still at 82°F. Will update again at 4pm EST.

How is the airflow through the front fans?

The airflow through the front of the case is fine. I can feel it throughout the case. I suppose the fans could be stronger, but I've already exhausted my funds. I have one more 80mm case fan that I can use. The only spot it on the back of the case between the top exhaust and mid-rear intake.

EDIT: Forgot to mention that temperatures are at 81°F now.
--------- 4:05pm EST temperatures remain at 81°F.
--------- 4:15pm EST temperatures have risen to 82°F.
--------- 4:25pm EST temperatures remain at 82°F.

I've concluded that the temperature of the case allowing unrestricted airflow is 81-82°F. I've got no clue how the fuck to drop this though.

I may add my fifth fan on the bottom of the case, channeling the cooler air from the intake upward into the rest of the case. I feel that might be a bit more beneficial than a fourth intake fan on the opposite side of the case.

UPDATE: I made the light baffle bigger on the fan side, the exterior portion is still only an inch or so tall. I figure this way the exhaust still works as intended and the light is dealt with.

UPDATE 2: I read that putting a cup of ice in the case will lower temperatures by -5°F, give or take a bit. I may try this, as I have room for two cups of ice in my case, and could position them so the intake fans go over the top of the ice, introducing cooler air. Or do something with my fifth fan. The thing with my fifth fan would be a DIY "swamp cooler" type scenario.



Sub-par Garbagesque
done while I was half
asleep Light Baffler.

How hot are the ballasts on those lights?

And is there a fan on them?

Not sure what you mean by ballasts, do you mean these little bastards? If so, they're not hot at all. Actually, they are relatively cool, they are what I grab when I have to take the lights out to work on something in the case. The way the fans are in the case, the bulbs and those little adapters always have air blowing on them.

EDIT: After further review and research, I've learned that the ballast on a CFL is the plastic piece to which the glass is mounted. The ballasts aren't too hot, slightly warm, if I had to guess I would say 1-2°F above room temperature. By fan do you mean that tiny little spiral looking thing on the base, or one of the case fans? There are case fans and the little spiral on them.

I mean, is there an 80mm fan hanging and blowing on them?

At the top, no. When they are lowered to be within 1-3" of the plant tops, yes. Their will be fans blowing on the lights until about... 3-4 weeks into vegetative growth.

Just going to wait on these waterbottles to freeze up. I've got four that I'll cycle in 12 hour shifts. Swap them out when I wake up and when I go to bed. One set in the freezer, one set in the case. I'll update and tell you all how the temperatures are.

Well, the frozen water bottle/cup of ice technique is working! I've got the bottom half of the waterbottle in a sock that's rolled over on itself, preventing condensation from getting everywhere. The humidity rose from 33% to 50%, which is good, as humidity should be between 60-70% during vegetative and 40-60% during flowering, if I recall correctly. Anyways, moving onto the figures.

The temperature with two 26w 6500k CFLs about 2" from where the seedling will be was 77°F. I've placed all four bulbs back in and have the lights positioned at the top, where they will be after seedling stage is through and will update this post with the temperatures from that setup in about 20-30 minutes. One of my frontal intake fans is entirely too low, sitting right on the floor (it really only hits the side of the pot, cooling the growing medium) so I think I'll move it to the rear of the case as an intake fan. This will allow it to cool the ballasts during the late stages of seedling growth and the early/mid stages of vegetative growth.

I plan to mount my fifth fan on the top front of the case, suspended with about 2" of clearance behind it, to cool the ballasts during the later stages of vegetative growth and during flowering. This fan will be blowing toward the 120mm exhaust fan mounted where the PSU used to be. All in all, I think the heat problem is fairly well handled thanks to the help of all contributors to this thread.

I would especially like to thank electronug for his continued support, and ingenious suggestions throughout this little DIY build of mine. I feel that without his help, I would have wasted a lot more time and money than I would have needed to trying to set this thing up. Honestly, I probably would have sunk $200 into it, and then given up and shelled out $300 for a Mr. Grow Pro case. Thank you electronug, without you my grow wouldn't be possible! Your ability to visualize and think of solutions to my problems was exceptionally helpful, +rep.