Led drivers outside of tent, does that mean no ac is needed?

Cookie Rider

Well-Known Member
I've got about 1000 actual watts being pulled between a mars 1600 (600ish actual), and a kind 750 (400ish actual watts)
Finally I add a 315 cmh up high between the leds.
I use ac to chill my tent and keep it about 77-78.
I also exhaust to control humidity and temps if needed.
With these new led boards I'm seeing the drivers mounted outside the tent.

Does that mean no ac needed?
Or just less?
 

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Gond00s

Well-Known Member
just waiting for some responses heat is still generated so yes in summer when its hot your gonna have to use the ac and 1000watts I don't even think idk but that is just plain out heat that's not needed but the drivers do get hot but I have a fan blower over my lights and my canopy always gonna need to cool down a room in summer
 

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Cookie Rider

Well-Known Member
Lol
Nice chair skills!

Are you saying I should dial down the lights?
I have been turning off the mars "bloom" (reds) switch. And they seem to like less of it.
The kind can be dialed back, but setting that thing is tedious.
Gotta be sober.
 

fragileassassin

Well-Known Member
I have 1300w of LEDs with my 4x 320-2800s mounted on the rafters outside my tent. I have to use a heater to keep it any more than a few degrees above the room temp most of the year. 80-82 is where I like to keep it. It's supposed to help with mag uptake under led and has seemed solid so far.
I did not need an AC over the summer my 1000cfm fan was enough to keep it the same as room temp.
My heat sinks are hot enough that its uncomfortable to touch them, but they wouldn't burn you or anything.
20200202_175234.jpg
 

Cookie Rider

Well-Known Member
Thanks for the reply.
That's the photo that got me thinking!
Like how it's all mounted out of the tent environment. Looks mint.


I do like the lights I have now.
Got a good deal on all, but the cmh I paid more for.
I'm always looking for ways to reduce heat and inefficiencies, in hopes of reducing costs and increasing quality.
 

10WeekFlushBro

Well-Known Member
What does the tent matter? What matters is the room the tent is in. If the heat from drivers in a tent is builds up the problem is that there is not enough air being sucked out of it quickly enough.
 

fragileassassin

Well-Known Member
It's a valid point.
I have very good air circulation in my room. Its stays a pretty steady 75F year round with the furnace running when it's cold and it's a basement so it stays around that in the summer. When it's not cold, I run the furnace on fan intermittently to circulate the air as the biggest intake in the house is in the middle of the ceiling of my grow. Tents are well filtered and you cant smell anything in the rest of the house. Been confirmed with non-smokers.
 

JavaCo

Well-Known Member
Newer decent drivers run over 90% efficient So they are putting off less than 10% of the total heat generated the LED's are putting off more than 90% of the heat. By putting the drivers outside the tent you will lower the heat load by about 8%, so not going to help a whole lot.
 

Cookie Rider

Well-Known Member
So it seems the heat is still there, maybe not in a tent but as pointed out it's in the same room so it will still be pulled into the tents and need to be cooled.

Is it possible to mount the drivers in a different room?
Isolated from the intake and air supply?
 

fragileassassin

Well-Known Member
So it seems the heat is still there, maybe not in a tent but as pointed out it's in the same room so it will still be pulled into the tents and need to be cooled.

Is it possible to mount the drivers in a different room?
Isolated from the intake and air supply?
If you had the tent against a wall you could probably run them through the wall and mount them on the other side. Seen a few people do stuff like that, but you want to keep it as short as possible.
 

PadawanWarrior

Well-Known Member
Thanks for the reply.
That's the photo that got me thinking!
Like how it's all mounted out of the tent environment. Looks mint.


I do like the lights I have now.
Got a good deal on all, but the cmh I paid more for.
I'm always looking for ways to reduce heat and inefficiencies, in hopes of reducing costs and increasing quality.
My favorite so far is the cmh with my HLG QB's, but the cmh definitely gives off more heat than 315 watts of QB's. When it gets warmer I turn off the cmh's and put other QB's in their place. I love the mix of led and cmh though. I personally think it's the best of both worlds if you can control the heat.
 
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