Jump to content

My Diy Air Cooled Hood Under 50 Bucks

Broken

By Broken
in The Grow Room

Recommended Posts

Broken Advanced Member

Broken

Posted
Posted

Whatup people, thought I'd post up some pictures of my diy reflector. Cost me like 35-45 dollars.

 

It's not 100% done in the pics need to make a better bracket for my socket assembly, and some hooks for hanging.

 

If there's enough interest I can give instructions...

 

 

would like some criticisms though cause i need to make another one:)

 

i got the glass from meijer 5 dollar picture frame, the rest from menards.

 

Anyway I put pics in my gallery, i cant figure out how to upload from my gallery.

 

http://www.michiganm...5_445_61274.jpg

 

http://michiganmedic...7-light-143jpg/

 

 

mod fixed pics

 

gallery_18945_445_61274.jpg

 

gallery_18945_445_988582.jpg

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Broken Advanced Member

Broken

Posted
  • Author
Posted

Nice!

 

Hows the efficiency I wonder? Saving money on a hood is cool unless it's costing you on light spread in the end...

 

It seems to be as good as most of the ones I've seen at the hydro shop, hopefully I won't lose to much yield. Might not be quite as pretty but I'm all about effectiveness over cosmetics.

 

I haven't grown for 10-15 years, I had this old 430 watt ballest in my shed, had no reflector for it though. If it weren't so close to Christmas, and the propane bill wasn't on the horizon I'd go buy a 175 dollar hood. This is really saving me a lot of money because I need two.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Broken Advanced Member

Broken

Posted
  • Author
Posted

That's pretty cool. Did you coat the inside with mylar, that must have been fun to get down, wrinkle free. What did you make the superstructure out of?

 

Hey, thanks!

 

I didn't use mylar, I used some sheet metal round type duct work from menards, I'll post a pic. There's two types of aluminum, one looks to be more reflective, it is a bit more expensive, I used that. Honestly it is more reflective looking then a lot of reflectors on the market, I'm sure its not quite as efficient of an internal design though.

 

I got a Nice big cheap 5$ picture frame from meijer, took the frame out and bent a drywall corner bead around the frame. I trimmed the inside flange down so it wasn't obstructing the light path as much.

 

Pretty simple stuff, didn't even use a tape measure, I scribed everything. Used self taping screws in the corners of the frame, and to connect the actual reflector to the frame.

 

Went threw and buttoned everything up with the real duct tape stuff; or aluminum tape.

 

tn_gallery_18945_445_1804526.jpg

tn_gallery_18945_445_808594.jpg

tn_gallery_18945_445_1599215.jpg

Link to comment
Share on other sites
capoalto Advanced Member

capoalto

Posted
Posted

It seems to be as good as most of the ones I've seen at the hydro shop, hopefully I won't lose to much yield. Might not be quite as pretty but I'm all about effectiveness over cosmetics.

 

I haven't grown for 10-15 years, I had this old 430 watt ballest in my shed, had no reflector for it though. If it weren't so close to Christmas, and the propane bill wasn't on the horizon I'd go buy a 175 dollar hood. This is really saving me a lot of money because I need two.

go to htg before u ever spend 175 on a hood

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Grow Thread Advanced Member

Grow Thread

Posted
Posted

go to htg before u ever spend 175 on a hood

 

im pretty sure he was just throwing a number out there. there are only a couple specialized hoods on the market today that cost $175.

 

 

----------------------------------------------

 

not trying to take anything away from your DIY project. looks good and proper............ but with the treat of fire lingering in the back of nearly every growers mind..... even with high $ stuff...... i leave you all with a couple links for budget materials :)

 

cooltube 24" long with 6" ports... w/ 15' cord for 80 dollars: https://www.ultraloh...uct_detail&p=72

 

hood very similar to your DIY for $99. this one is 22" x 22",,,, much larger.... with a 15ft cord as well (those cords are like $25 by themselves) https://www.ultraloh...uct_detail&p=81

 

heres one for 85 w/ cord that is about the same size as yours: http://www.htgsupply...productID=49541

 

 

and i dont do ebay/paypal anymore so im sure there are better deals there if you want to risk it.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Broken Advanced Member

Broken

Posted
  • Author
Posted

Hey guys thanks for all of your input. I'm learning every day.

 

I'm going to improve on this reflector a bit, when it's finished up i'll post better pics. It's more symmetrical and the socket bracket is much better making the bulb in a more ideal place.

 

I think that this thing should work good enough for my 430 watt lamp, but when i get my 600 I'll probably go a different rout.

 

I've seen people use those pyrex tubes, is the glass so thick that it would block a bit of the the light i think diffusing is the right term?

Link to comment
Share on other sites
SublimeWind Advanced Member

SublimeWind

Posted
Posted

Hey guys thanks for all of your input. I'm learning every day.

 

I'm going to improve on this reflector a bit, when it's finished up i'll post better pics. It's more symmetrical and the socket bracket is much better making the bulb in a more ideal place.

 

I think that this thing should work good enough for my 430 watt lamp, but when i get my 600 I'll probably go a different rout.

 

I've seen people use those pyrex tubes, is the glass so thick that it would block a bit of the the light i think diffusing is the right term?

 

 

The tube is actually thinner than the typical glass on a "hood"... like 1/8" thick.. It's Pyrex so it's TOUGH.. but it's still glass..

Link to comment
Share on other sites
The Digital Nomad Advanced Member

The Digital Nomad

Posted
Posted

glass from picture frame is not heat treated, it can crack and shatter due to the heat from the bulb.

 

Without science behind creating the parabolic reflector - you might have wasted much of the light, and even focused heat back into it. Those light relectors you buy at light shops have been engineered to spread the light efficently.

 

you do not want smooth reflective surfaces - they create hot spots, that is why almost all light reflectors are hammer finished - to dissapate the light and break up focused hot spots.

 

Fire is a BIG risk in a grow room, I can't really condone home made lights made with HIDs. I can enjoy someone tinkering around with technical stuff - I like that, I am a geek. But, for a system you will likely leave on for 18hours, and at times not be home to monitor it - you risk burning down your house. People need to respect High Intensity Discharge lamps. In a safe form - you would have been better off securing mounting the cabling, and just suspending the bare bulb in the room - aka vertical grow.

 

In a nutshell - it is just better to buy quality equipment if you want a quality grow. A reflector should only cost you $110 to $130 (thats for Easy Cool 8s or the Sunleaves SunSpot 8, glassed aircooled) a ballast for HID anywhere from $100 to $399. And the stuff today has dimmable switching, get it. You could get a 400 watt system complete for $250. Or spend $350 for a 600watter, $450 for 1k etc.

 

Now, what kind of bulb do you have in this thing...

 

-DN

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Broken Advanced Member

Broken

Posted
  • Author
Posted

glass from picture frame is not heat treated, it can crack and shatter due to the heat from the bulb.

 

Without science behind creating the parabolic reflector - you might have wasted much of the light, and even focused heat back into it. Those light relectors you buy at light shops have been engineered to spread the light efficently.

 

you do not want smooth reflective surfaces - they create hot spots, that is why almost all light reflectors are hammer finished - to dissapate the light and break up focused hot spots.

 

Fire is a BIG risk in a grow room, I can't really condone home made lights made with HIDs. I can enjoy someone tinkering around with technical stuff - I like that, I am a geek. But, for a system you will likely leave on for 18hours, and at times not be home to monitor it - you risk burning down your house. People need to respect High Intensity Discharge lamps. In a safe form - you would have been better off securing mounting the cabling, and just suspending the bare bulb in the room - aka vertical grow.

 

In a nutshell - it is just better to buy quality equipment if you want a quality grow. A reflector should only cost you $110 to $130 (thats for Easy Cool 8s or the Sunleaves SunSpot 8, glassed aircooled) a ballast for HID anywhere from $100 to $399. And the stuff today has dimmable switching, get it. You could get a 400 watt system complete for $250. Or spend $350 for a 600watter, $450 for 1k etc.

 

Now, what kind of bulb do you have in this thing...

 

-DN

eh there's no fire hazard really... I mean if the glass cracks or breaks or whatever it's not going to be molten lol. I'd say you were right about the reflective thing and hot spots, but a lot of the higher end reflectors are smooth. It has 6 inch intakes for a reason, I do plan on cooling it. As far as the loss of light due to engineering, I'm sure that i might be losing a little bit of light, it's probably not much.

 

it's really just a bat wing style reflector that's been closed so i can cool it, people use them all the time.

 

The bulb is a 10 year old 430 watt bulb, don't plan on using it of course... I'm not an idiot, not goin to do anything dangerous.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
boroboro Advanced Member

boroboro

Posted
Posted

It would also be a good idea to check that the lamp being used is rated for open fixtures. Some HID bulbs are only rated for being used in appropriate, closed fixtures. That's to help contain the hot bits of glass in case of an explosion. Explosions are rare with HID bulbs, but pretty serious when they do happen. Open fixture rated lamps have an "O" somewhere in the lamp type code. From wikipedia.org:

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metal_halide_lamp

 

Risk of lamp explosion

All HID arc tubes deteriorate in strength over their lifetime because of various factors, such as chemical attack, thermal stress and mechanical vibration. As the lamp ages the arc tube becomes discoloured, absorbing light and getting hotter. The tube will continue to become weaker until it eventually fails, causing the break up of the tube.

 

Although such failure is associated with end of life, an arc tube can fail at any time even when new, because of unseen manufacturing faults such as microscopic cracks. However, this is quite rare. Manufacturers typically "season" new lamps to check for manufacturing defects before the lamps leave the manufacturer's premises.

 

Since a metal halide lamp contains gases at a significant high pressure, failure of the arc tube is inevitably a violent event. Fragments of arc tube are launched, at high velocity, in all directions, striking the outer bulb of the lamp with enough force to cause it to break. If the fixture has no secondary containment (e.g. a lens, bowl or shield) then the extremely hot pieces of debris will fall down onto people and property below the light, likely resulting in serious injury, damage, and possibly causing a major building fire if flammable material is present.

 

The risk of a "nonpassive failure" of an arc tube is very small. According to information gathered by the National Electrical Manufacturers Association (www.nema.org), there are approximately 40 million metal halide systems in North American alone, and only a very few instances of nonpassive failures have occurred. Although it is not possible to predict, or eliminate the risk, of a metal halide lamp exploding, there are several precautions that can be taken to reduce the risk:

 

  • Using only well designed lamps from reputable manufacturers and avoiding lamps of unknown origin.
  • Inspecting lamps before installing to check for any faults such as cracks in the tube or outer bulb.
  • Replacing lamps before they reach their end of life (i.e. when they have been burning for the number of hours that the manufacturer has stated as the lamp's rated life).
  • For continuously operating lamps, allowing a 15 minute shutdown for every 7 days of continuous operation.
  • Relamp fixtures as a group. Spot relamping is not recommended.

Also, there are measures that can be taken to reduce the damage caused should a lamp fail violently:

 

  • Ensuring that the fixture includes a piece of strengthened glass or polymeric materials between the lamp and the area it is illuminating. This could be incorporated into the bowl or lens assembly of the fixture.
  • Using lamps that have a reinforced glass shield around the arc tube to absorb the impact of flying arc tube debris, preventing it from shattering the outer bulb. Such lamps are safe to use in 'open' fixtures. These lamps carry an "O" designation on the packaging reflective of American National Standards Institute (ANSI) standards.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Broken Advanced Member

Broken

Posted
  • Author
Posted

It would also be a good idea to check that the lamp being used is rated for open fixtures. Some HID bulbs are only rated for being used in appropriate, closed fixtures. That's to help contain the hot bits of glass in case of an explosion. Explosions are rare with HID bulbs, but pretty serious when they do happen. Open fixture rated lamps have an "O" somewhere in the lamp type code. From wikipedia.org:

 

 

Probably not a bad idea to check that out. I'm pretty sure that it's fine, the socket assembly has a ceramic type of cuff below where the bulb screws in. It was origionally a 430 Sun aggro model bulb, when they were brand new and all the rage. There will be good air flow and i have AC in the summer so i don't see things getting that hot.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

Go to topic listing
×
×
  • Create New...