Balast Heat Help?

[stealthcflbox]

Hi Guys,

 

Just a quick question, how much heat should a balast generate?

 

I'm just in the process of fitting out a new wardrobe and have begun heat/noise trials. My drobe is approx 500Dx1200Wx1600Hmm internal grow space, I have a 400w HPS in a cool tube being cooled by a 100mm inline. (I'm still not happy about this, the guy at my local store talked me out of centrifugal and into this, it seems ok at the moment but it is first on my upgrade list)

 

So, for the trials I have just sat the balast on the floor, but I have notice it is generating some serious heat, is this normal? It isn't in the direct light and the box is maintaining a nice 27c about a foot above floor level. By serious heat I mean you can still touch it, but only just, and not for any length of time. Hot as F#@&

 

Any thoughts would be good,

 

Thanks Guys

 

Stealth

[Harvest]

Ballasts get hot. 

 

What has you concerned? 27c is perfect for when the lights are on.

 

The guys at the shops normally know what they're talking about. Why aren't you happy with the cool tube setup, is the glass hot? Putting off heat?

 

Other thoughts are to keep the ballast off the ground incase of spills and to measure the temp half way up your grow space.

 

Another thing that will affect temps in the drobe and the tube is if you are running a separate intake / outtake setup and fresh air through the inline fan? Or pulling the air from the room through the inline fan only?

Edited April 21, 2012 by Harvest

[Cerberus]

I have a 400w HPS in a cool tube being cooled by a 100mm inline. (I'm still not happy about this, the guy at my local store talked me out of centrifugal and into this

 

Can you think of any reason why? I can't imagine the inline being more expensive. What brand is it?

 

So, for the trials I have just sat the balast on the floor, but I have notice it is generating some serious heat, is this normal?

 

Ballasts do get hot normally but probably not that hot (unless you have thin skin )

 

The guys at the shops normally know what they're talking about.

 

Not if they're being paid to push certain products, it does happen sometimes

 

 

Here's my motto:

 

+ =

[The Hash Nibbler]

I gotta agree with Cerbs, and take ya ballast outta the cupboard...aint gonna stay cool if you add more heat to it with the ambient heat from the light. Put the ballast on top of the cupboard, outside , bet ya heat problems disappear. I had one that worked inside a cupboard but it was in the path of the intake and the fan was 150mm Centrifugal.

You gonna need the centri outside of winter temps.....and a carbon filter to keep ya safe. (250 x 500mm) can put on top.

Also make sure you have at least a 200mm Diameter intake hole for fresh air.

All is not lost...get a 150mm centri to exhaust the Cupboard and with the 100mm inline, make a dedicated cooltube run. Then ya can really lower that light on em.

And like Cerbs drawings suggest....... An Oscilating fan in there, do wonders.

Happy growin Stealthcflbox. peace. Nibbler.

[Cerberus]

I didn't notice you had it inside, yep get it out

 

 

I meant for the fan to blow on the ballast too, that's why I did at first just in case and the ballast was cool, I didn't need it but it sounds like you do

[stealthcflbox]

Thanks for the quick responses guys.

 

I was trying to keep my first post fairly brief, as I have a tendancy to waffle on, but maybe I should clear some things up. Cause I'm still only new here I haven't figured out the whole quote thing, so you'll just have to bear with me.

 

Firstly, I'm totally happy with the temps inside my drobe, the fan/tube combo are doing better at heat extraction than I had expected, 27 is pretty much perfect, I moved the thermo to about 400mm below the night last night and it sits at 28, so mission acomplished. Its the surface temp of the ballast that had me worried, with all the electronics inside these things I had expected it to be warm to the touch, but this thing is scorching!

 

Now about my fan and the guy at the shop; I went in to get just the cool tube and told him i would be back in a week for a 125mm centrifugal (CanFan). He said that was overkill for one 400w and a 125mm inline would do the job just fine. They were out of 125mm's so he sold me a 100mm ezi air for $50 and a 125 to 100mm adapter for my cooltube. Now I must admit after listening to the noise on the inline, I got pretty excited about being able to afford all the pieces to the setup a week earlier, handed over my cash and went home to begin the fit out. Now what I probably forgot to tell him was stealth is my primary concern. I had decided on the centrifugal because I was going to bury it in a wooden box stuffed with blankets and pillows to reduce noise and just connect up a carbon filter when the time came. Now I have been told inline cannot be wrapped to reduce noise due to the heat, also when trying to limit the flow at the exhaust vent (again to reduce noise) the inline loads up pretty quickly and loses flow, this worries me for when it comes time to connect the CF.

 

So, there's the story of why I'm not happy with the fan, but it's ok, everything is still functional, just something else to be upgraded down the line.

 

Now nibler, let me elaborate on the setup. Firstly I'd like to stress my lights have been running for 48hrs, but the drobe is empty, my little girls are still in my CFL box, this is purely a noise and light trial. I like to have my lights running while I try and lightproof. It is a very simple drobe setup for 2 girls in a potting mix/perlite medium. Now instead of trying to explain, I have taken some pics, I'll try and upload them now......

 

Nup cant work it out, can someone explain how to insert an image into a reply? the image button asks me for a URL, but I have the pic on my computer?

 

Anyway, the fan sits inside the drobe, sucking air from the grow space, blowing it across the globe and out through an exhaust. The CF was then going to be connected to the intake side of the fan, also inside the growspace. This is different from my original plan, after i read it was better to use a fan to blow across a cooltube rather than suck warm air off it (better for the fan). I had thought of using an extra centrifugal to vent the box and plumbing the inline intake side to the outer wall. I figure I will experiment when I eventually get the centri, again noise is one of my biggest concerns. As for intake, I will be using a passive intake, as I lightproof generally the box becomes more airtight too so I will cut this in down the bottom of the box. I was unsure about the size of intake hole needed to maintain positive (or negative??) presure, thanks for the info Nibbler!!

 

My plans for the balast have always been simple, electronics go at the top of the box, water/wet items go at the bottom. But I have learned from the fan, anything attatched directly to the drobe causes the whole thing to vibrate (Probably because its very old, very cheap and very rickety) making more noise. So I was thinking of installing a shelf, up high near the fan, but now I think I will take the balast out of the box, maybe on the concrete floor beside it.

 

Anyway, thats prob enough carry on for now. I'll try and figure out how to upload these pictures in the mean time.

 

Thanks again guys

 

Stealth