Cooling the ballast

[mat49]

can you buy a heat sync for your ballast if it didn't come with one, I have made one but it still heats up to around 45c after 18 hours but without goes 65+c in 4hours without, i wondered if you could get one that cooled it to around 20-25c, have googled it but can only find ballasts that come with them already, or has anyone got any tips for cooling it.
cheers
mat

mat49 Reviewed by mat49 on 08-31-2006. Cooling the ballast can you buy a heat sync for your ballast if it didn't come with one, I have made one but it still heats up to around 45c after 18 hours but without goes 65+c in 4hours without, i wondered if you could get one that cooled it to around 20-25c, have googled it but can only find ballasts that come with them already, or has anyone got any tips for cooling it. cheers mat Rating: 5

[Racerx]

can you buy a heat sync for your ballast if it didn't come with one, I have made one but it still heats up to around 45c after 18 hours but without goes 65+c in 4hours without, i wondered if you could get one that cooled it to around 20-25c, have googled it but can only find ballasts that come with them already, or has anyone got any tips for cooling it.
cheers
mat

well if your not scared of electronics, you can move your ballast internals to another ballast body "fairly" easily. Look for a broken ballast or something you can use. I assume you have a fan on the ballast already? Just having air move over the ballast should be good for a 10 degree lowering. Is your ballast outside the growroom? It should be. My friend cut holes in his ballasts and installed little computer fans so there is air running through them as well as over them. They sit at about 25-35 degrees C (1000 watts) depending on weather.

[mat49]

Thanks, will start looking for another ballast housing and try that , but i tried putting the heat sync of a processor on top of the ballast, then made a frame from a hard drive housing on an old computer to position the fan an inch and a half over the top of the ballast and heat sync and within 25 mins the ballast has cooled to 27c, oh and the ballast itself is mounted on top of the grow box on a ceramic plate at the min, as i am waiting for my fireproof boards to come, thanks again for the quick reply
mat