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Woodburner

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Jan 23, 2017
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I'm looking to grow my own, in a spare room.
So, I bought a plastic greenhouse, approx 1m2 (73x143cm), a 600w HPS bulb and holder/reflector.
First problem, I think I should have also bought a 'ballast', as the bulb appears not to work. What is 'ballast' in this context? As I have all sorts of electronics 'inherited' from previous house owners, including a couple of items that look very similar.
Next problem, I suspect that I have gone overboard with the power anyway. If much of that 600W is chucked out as heat, I'm worried that it might melt the greenhouse cover or worse.
So finally, assuming none of the electronics lying about the place are any use, should I buy a suitable ballast, or start again with a different lighting system?
TIA :)
 
Setup is only for use in winter, but will probably also be used to grow herbs in winter, and start regular veggies in early spring, so heat is only an issue for the actual greenhouse, not the house in general, nor power consumption/bills.
Also, light is 'dual spectrum', is this ok?
eta, Do I also need a 'contactor switching relay'? I don't know why this has been indicated as necessary for a small set up. 600W is well within the capacity of a typical domestic timer socket thingy. (Maybe that is what is being referred to? )
Discovery is not an issue, but . . . just how badly do cb plants stink up the place? (2 to max of 8 each session, probably just one session a year.) I sleep in the room above, and generally don't want to whole house to reek. I've had a big binliner bag full of leaf lying around and that's not remotely been an issue, but has this lulled me into a false sense of how much this stuff is ok. iyswim. ?
 
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The ballast needs to be compatible with the bulb so they are usually a package deal. Dual spectrum is fine. Note that HPS is generally only used for flower. Vegetation typically uses MH or fluorescent. Some people also use LED. HPS is the hottest running bulb of all them.

You could return the products and buy a ballast, bulb and reflector combo. You are going to also need a fan attachment on the light (HPS) that exits the grow room easily, so your fan also needs to be compatible with your setup.

Heat is a major problem for grow spaces, even in the winter. 400W is going to produce a lot less heat and should be considered for any small grow area. You have choices, but it's best to figure it all out at once and buy them as a combo if possible so you know it's compatible.
 
w01fg4ng said:
The ballast needs to be compatible with the bulb so they are usually a package deal. Dual spectrum is fine. Note that HPS is generally only used for flower. Vegetation typically uses MH or fluorescent. Some people also use LED. HPS is the hottest running bulb of all them.

You could return the products and buy a ballast, bulb and reflector combo. You are going to also need a fan attachment on the light (HPS) that exits the grow room easily, so your fan also needs to be compatible with your setup.

Heat is a major problem for grow spaces, even in the winter. 400W is going to produce a lot less heat and should be considered for any small grow area. You have choices, but it's best to figure it all out at once and buy them as a combo if possible so you know it's compatible.
Click to expand...
Thanks for your input, I got the light and reflector from different people, and only found complete sets when I looked for ballast! So I'd have to get refunds, but the items aren't faulty . . .
600W is not going to make any significant difference to the room temperature, just the plastic greenhouse maybe. If I take the cover off, and just use the frame to support the light, it would not be an issue, but I would prefer to keep the cover on for the sake of smell and not raising the humidity in the rest of the house, also not sure that the plants would like the reduced humidity of being in so much space.
 
If you end up using what you bought, just make sure your ballast is compatible with your dual spectrum 600W hps. Regardless, it will get very hot in that tent.

Low humidity isn't a problem for cannabis.
 
w01fg4ng said:
If you end up using what you bought, just make sure your ballast is compatible with your dual spectrum 600W hps.
Click to expand...
Will do. :)
Thanks for your input. :)

If I remove the tent cover, so the plants are just growing in the room (oodles of space for the heat), will 2-8 plants stink the whole house out though?
 
Don't remove the tent cover. Use one of the large circular holes the tent has to have a Carbon filter/fan/ setup exhaust the heat and take care of removing the smell before it leaves the tent. ;)
 
This tent is meant for outdoors, so no holes, but I can rig a support and it'll be easy to just run the tube under the bottom edge. From what I hear, even one plant would stink the house out, so it's yet more expenditure. :(
 
I've gone with the 600W ballast option, as I'm going to use the light to grow vegetable seedlings in early spring, and I know the heat would be good for them too, and it will save me buying a (new) propagator (my old one has packed up).
 
Well, I got the light working last night . . . Holy crap is that bright!!
And after about half an hour it was too hot at the top (30degC), even with the door open, so I guess I do need the fan for temp control anyway, never mind any smell.
How big should I get, in terms of throughput?
Also, why is 5" cheaper than 4"? i.e. Is there anything wrong with this? :-
  • Full hydroponic grow room fan, filter & ducting kit.
  • 5" 125mm low noise radial fan capable of up to 192 m3/h and supplied with UK & EU plug & lead.
  • Long life matched carbon filter, 5m of high quality ducting, clips and sealing tape.
  • Matched to give a balanced airflow without compromising carbon filter.
  • Great for small set ups, tents and LED lights.
 
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Those are spec'd for LED's which put out much less heat into the grow room. Look for solutions based on 600W HPS/MH lamp heat loads.

BTW we (Bluelight) really don' t want links to sources. :cool: A spec list is just as good and we can ask questions if needed.
 
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Thanks, and noted. That source has terrible search facility, I'll have to try on the even more dubious ubiquitous internet search engine. (At least it is better for specific parameters.)
 
I can't find anything specifying lamp heat load. If I knew what volume throughput I needed to look for that would be some help, as lots of fans do specify that, but I'm losing the will to live now, so I'm going to go for the one I posted and if it's not enough I'll get something bigger and use that one in the kitchen, or maybe if it's good quality, I'll get a second one. Two smaller fans will be more flexible than one huge one.
 
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