600 HPS Cool Tube Grow Light System

[Al B. Fuct]

I wouldn't expect you'll need to solder anything for this task.

However, if you do need to connect bare wire ends together, solder & heatshrink is the safest, most durable way to do it in a grow op.

You should see Ratso's little toothbrush. It's soooooo coot.

[criom]

well thats good to hear at least, ive got the gun and solder handy anyway.

now if i could just seduce ratso into spending the night...

[Al B. Fuct]

Hey, you're halfway home. Haven't got Ratso's boarding pass yet, so this is encouraging.

A soldering gun will work, but they are usually 100 watts or so- a bit big for the small task of sticking a couple wires together. Work quickly with a gun- to avoid overheating the work and melting insulation. Heat the work for no more than a couple of seconds, touch solder to the hot wires and gun tip until the solder flows, remove heat, don't disturb until solder is cool & solidified. If you can't work fast, use a 15-25 watt soldering iron.

Ratso is a slut for the nuts. If you have cashews, he might never leave.

[criom]

hahaha

now i dont know which im more paranoid about, having to wire or possibly solder, finding a good enough fan to cool it, or having sex with a slutty rat electrician who lives in a matchbox.


THE HORROR

[Al B. Fuct]

also i keep hearing that i need at least an 8" fan to move enough air to keep it cool, is there anyway around this?

they are really expensive and im wondering if a Suncourt 6" In-line Duct Fan - 300 cfm would be enough to cool it.

I'd match the fan diameter to the cooltube diameter.

You gotta remember that these tubes are normally content to run without any air motion at all- even a small fan, matched to the tube diameter, will be a big improvement.

I expect a cooltube to be about 3.75" dia. A 4" fan, of good quality, should do you just fine. By 'good quality' I mean cast aluminum body and ball bearings, not a cheap plastic bodied computer fan with sleeve bearings.

Any cooltube fan should be on the cool side, blowing air first over the tube socket and then warmed air dicted out of the grow airspace.

If you can't find an appropriate 4" fan in a duct, the 6" will do, using duct size reducers from Ye Olde Hardware Shoppe.

I don't think an 8" fan is necessary, unless you're pushing air through two 4" cooltubes.

[PharmaCan]

Now I understand. Actually, this is a good way of doing things because then you can get the cord you want on the fixture you want.

What are you getting for $400?

I paid:

BGH cool tube $ 80
Lamp cord $ 20
cord adaptr $ 13
400w Ballast $180
MH bulb $ 20
________
Total $313

I just looked on BG Hydro and their price on the complete cool tube is $320.With the digital ballast it is $360.

BG Hydro 600w cool tube system.

[criom]

apparantly all cool tubes are 6" in diameter so i was thinking a Suncourt 6" In-line Duct Fan - 300 cfm would do it...

"Any cooltube fan should be on the cool side, blowing air first over the tube socket and then warmed air dicted out of the grow airspace."

so i should put the fan on the socket side of the tube...got it

do i want alot of ducting attached to the exhaust side? or does that not matter? im thinking it could add resistence and make the fan work harder or not as well. so should the exhaust side ducting just go outside the space and stop? or should i run it a bit farther


thanks for the info i was thrown off by the 8' fan suggestion because theyre so freaking expensive

[criom]

your right about the 320$ thas what im going to get.

the basic configuration with the sun system 10 ballast.

the shipping is whats killing me, like 65$.

and now that i need at least a 4" fan thats another 50$...

still way over 400$ :*(

[criom]

crap the BGH guy just emailed me back and said the smallest fan i could probably get away with is Dayton 265 cfm 75$

so that brings the total to like 460$....aaaaaaaaahrg

[PharmaCan]

Ratso sounds like a scab to me. First my wages are driven down by illegal aliens and now there's damn rats working for peanuts. The only upside is maybe all the illegals will be put out of work by the rats and they'll go back home. The rats would make much better neighbors.

For what it's worth, my socket has screws on it and the wire has lugs, so basically a blind trained rat could wire it. LOL