LEDgardener

Hey people,

I don't know if there's already a thread specifically dedicated or made for/about heat (cooling) for LED grows. If there is, someone please tell me, share link and a mod can move or delete this thread. I couldn't find one.

I'm mainly talking about Quantum Boards and Mean Wells, as that's my only real experience with LED so far, and it's limited at that. I have a friend who got a pair of HLG 260w kits and is running them in veg in an 8x8 room - hoping to not need the AC. The room hit 95* the other day...I don't have all the details yet but can fill them in later.

I'm thinking of topics/things like:

-Switching from HID to LED (both watt for watt, and less LED watts than previous HID amount) and difference in heat.

-The type of heat (where it's emitted from, infrared vs. other, etc)

-Potentially different methods of cooling LED vs HID (environment - i.e.: ideal temp/RH, air movement, no air cooled hoods, air exhaust and intake needs, etc.)

-Difference in wattage/btu's versus, i.e.: people say 500 watts of HID is gonna be just as hot as 500 watts of LED. But in practice, this doesn't seem to translate to the same environmental/cooling scenario or requirements.

-What about drivers?
...I sizzled my fingers the first time I went to move an HLG-240H-C2100, while testing out a 260w kit. It was a weird heat - it stung, lol. Anyways, I grabbed my IR thermometer and the driver was 54*C!
Then I checked the data sheet for said driver and that's apparently the normal operating range?... "50-55*"?
So that leads me to also wonder:

-Driver quantity; is it better (hotter or cooler) to run four HLG-240H-C2100's in a given space, than it is to fun two HLG-480H-C2100's?
(*I'm personally very curious to know about this one, as planning a 4 x 260w setup for someone, using 4 x 240H-C2100's, mainly for a kinda modular "light bar" setup ability, and cost of drivers is cheaper.*)

That's all I got for now, just trying to help a friend and also figure this out for myself. Again, if this is redundant or not a good thread idea, let me know (and why please). *If people are cutting out their HID lights for a lesser wattage of LED/QB's and experiencing higher temps...something's wrong, no? Could just need to adjust or change how the environment is maybe? I don't know.

Thanks in advance for any input, numbers/data, scenarios, tips, methods, etc.
Peace.

I'm wondering about heat too. Switched from HID to strips at the end of the last grow, and had to add a 800w oil cooler. The room still felt way cooler then before.

HID's do have a lovely radiant heat. I don't really know the words for it, but pretty much everyone from Finland know there are huge qualitative differences in the way heat radiates, because of sauna culture. Electric saunas have that stinging heat, while a traditional smoke sauna has a strong calm radiating heat.

Can't you calculate the heat emitted from the driver through efficiency? Say the 240w, and 480w drivers are both 93% efficient. Both should generate 7% of their power in heat.

Why not just have the drivers run remote....a few bucks in wire and problem solved? Do the 480s have dual leads to the boards like the 600s? It would still allow 4 separate units, just any dimming would be limited to pairs of units, rather than individual as described.

unkle_psycho wrote: ↑

Fri Jun 22, 2018 8:03 pm

I'm wondering about heat too. Switched from HID to strips at the end of the last grow, and had to add a 800w oil cooler. The room still felt way cooler then before.

HID's do have a lovely radiant heat. I don't really know the words for it, but pretty much everyone from Finland know there are huge qualitative differences in the way heat radiates, because of sauna culture. Electric saunas have that stinging heat, while a traditional smoke sauna has a strong calm radiating heat.

Can't you calculate the heat emitted from the driver through efficiency? Say the 240w, and 480w drivers are both 93% efficient. Both should generate 7% of their power in heat.

Yea, there definitely seems to be different "kinds" of heat, so I don't know if it's as simple as "a watt is a watt" etc.

Woolster22 wrote: ↑

Fri Jun 29, 2018 2:45 am

Why not just have the drivers run remote....a few bucks in wire and problem solved? Do the 480s have dual leads to the boards like the 600s? It would still allow 4 separate units, just any dimming would be limited to pairs of units, rather than individual as described.

Drivers are remote mounted, but in the same room. At least in one setup I'm talking about. An 8x8 room that used to run 3 x 750 gavitas with AC. Now running two 260w setups from HLG, no other lighting and was hoping to not run AC but temps hit 94*C without the AC on. I don't know that it's unreasonable because I haven't seen the guys setup in person.
I've never run AC in my life and have run 1200w of HPS in a room with just passive exhaust/intake. So this guy's situation has me worried/thinking. I'm only planning a build of 4 x 260w and better not need AC.

It should produce a little less heat per watt used, and also use significantly less watts.