Help with temps with led light in stealth box. (Pic)

I built a chest stealth box. 26" deep, 2' wide and have about 3' from inside box to led. Original I was going do cfl, but decided on led instead. I got the (Apollo Horticulture GL100LED Full Spectrum 300W LED ). My problem is my temperature is hitting 106 degrees. I have ran it during night also. Hitting 106 to 104. Things I have tried, ice bottle, only went down to 104 with it being over top of intake fan. I add a booster fan on exhaust, didn't help. So what can I do to bring it down. Do I need a bigger intake fan? I'm using a 4" inline. Not sure on cfm on it.

Another question about led light. How far does it need to be away from plant. I have read some saying 20" or more to other saying 6" to 12"

Increase exhaust fan cfm and buy a better led grow light.

BM9AGS said:

Increase exhaust fan cfm and buy a better led grow light.

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So the led light I have is not that good?

It's not a great light but also not the cause of the heat problem. The hot exhaust is coming out the sides of the lamp and it looks like that fan is in the perfect place to blow the hot air down in the tent so it raises temps down there. Increasing the exhaust would help but I would try repositioning the fan and also running without it to see how those conditions affect the temps before I did anything else.

Azazel35 said:

only went down to 104 with it being over top of intake fan. I add a booster fan on exhaust, didn't help. So what can I do to bring it down. Do I need a bigger intake fan? I'm using a 4" inline. Not sure on cfm on it.

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what 4" inline fan are you using ? for my small grow spaces (4x2) I use the 4" S&P fans.

I'm guessing, but I think you should take your intake fan off and use it as an exhaust fan and make sure your exhausting from the top of your stealth cabinet.

Based on the pic. Are you trying to exhaust to the bottom? If so that is restricting air flow. I would exhaust out the back near the top and keep adequate space to the back and pull in air from the bottom. Passive. That liner is like insulation. Your light will probably work fine. Maybe not the best but... Should grow dank. No on the CFLs. They are too hot. Don't get in the CFL habit.

You're gonna struggle in a cab with limited space bro. I gave up on trying with mine. Heat, plants get too tall. Just always seems to be a problem. Others do fine with it. And that's a nice looking cab you built. Need some screw in hooks to run along the sides to keep your cords from hanging. Might consider taking down that liner and just paint it why. Get rid of the insulation effect unless it is actually thinner than what I think it is and don't matter.

Anyway, bigger fan and rethink the outlet exhaust is what I would think about first.

Your light will grow bud. But there are others that run cooler. In fact I believe you could grow nice bud with a less powerful LED. That would lower your temperature dramatically and you would only loose a minimum amount of weight.

I agree with gonnagro. In that space I bet you could do 1 Cree cob and make great yeilds for given box.
I don't know how many watts your light actually pulles but if temps are that high then your exhaust isn't circulating and expelling the hot air sufficiently. Only one thing in there producing heat and that's the light.....unless that black box is outside in the sun.

It doesn't look like you have enough intake openings. Does your 4" exhaust fan slow down when you shut the cabinet? The rule of thumb is four times the intake area compared to exhaust. That would be four 4" circle passive intakes. Powered intakes (fans blowing in) don't work very well and you can easily overpower an exhaust fan that is hooked up to a carbon filter creating positive cabinet pressure and forcing smell out every seam and joint.

Is there any way to dim your light? Some led drivers have a way to dim the current and run the lights softer. You would need to open the case to see if the driver is dimmable but it probably isn't. Any way to return it still?

Increase exhaust fan CFM and try to get your carbon scrubber up as high as possible in the cabinet and exhaust out the back. What exhaust far are you currently using? Maybe try to re position your circulation fan to the side blowing across towards the exhaust this should aid in removing some heat faster assuming your exhaust fan can keep up.

Rahz said:

It's not a great light but also not the cause of the heat problem. The hot exhaust is coming out the sides of the lamp and it looks like that fan is in the perfect place to blow the hot air down in the tent so it raises temps down there. Increasing the exhaust would help but I would try repositioning the fan and also running without it to see how those conditions affect the temps before I did anything else.

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I put another fan with my intake, and moved the black fan to floor, temps have been steady for last couple hours at 85. So I'm going to try Ice bottle with it in morning, but I think your right about the fan pulling the heat down.

GrowUrOwnDank said:

Based on the pic. Are you trying to exhaust to the bottom? If so that is restricting air flow. I would exhaust out the back near the top and keep adequate space to the back and pull in air from the bottom. Passive. That liner is like insulation. Your light will probably work fine. Maybe not the best but... Should grow dank. No on the CFLs. They are too hot. Don't get in the CFL habit.

You're gonna struggle in a cab with limited space bro. I gave up on trying with mine. Heat, plants get too tall. Just always seems to be a problem. Others do fine with it. And that's a nice looking cab you built. Need some screw in hooks to run along the sides to keep your cords from hanging. Might consider taking down that liner and just paint it why. Get rid of the insulation effect unless it is actually thinner than what I think it is and don't matter.

Anyway, bigger fan and rethink the outlet exhaust is what I would think about first.

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The intake is on the bottom, on right side. My exhaust fan is on the left in the fan box I made. Not sure what cfm is on exhaust fan. It's a 6" fan off air hockey table. Exhaust runs in at the top then back down through the bottom left,Curved toward the door side. So it's blowing away from intake. Nothing showing on outside of box. I want total stealth is reason I ran everything out of the bottom. I plan doing some lst, super crop and topping.

Azazel35 said:

My exhaust fan is on the left in the fan box I made. Not sure what cfm is on exhaust fan. It's a 6" fan off air hockey table. .

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this is what your problem is. suggest you reroute the exhaust fan out the back top of the cab, and get a decent fan. most of your fan power should be in the exhaust fan. I don't know what kind of fan was in the hockey table, but I suspect its not strong enough. If you are running a carbon filter, hard to tell from your pic. you need something like the S&P td-100.

http://www.amazon.com/Soler-Palau-TD-100--line-Exhaust/dp/B0027E3Q4Y/ref=sr_1_2?s=hi&ie=UTF8&qid=1444308521&sr=1-2&keywords=soler&palau+td-100

PurpleBuz said:

this is what your problem is. suggest you reroute the exhaust fan out the back top of the cab, and get a decent fan. most of your fan power should be in the exhaust fan. I don't know what kind of fan was in the hockey table, but I suspect its not strong enough. If you are running a carbon filter, hard to tell from your pic. you need something like the S&P td-100.

http://www.amazon.com/Soler-Palau-TD-100--line-Exhaust/dp/B0027E3Q4Y/ref=sr_1_2?s=hi&ie=UTF8&qid=1444308521&sr=1-2&keywords=soler&palau td-100

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Yep. I completely agree. It's your exhaust set up. Not the light. In a confined space like that your just going to need more heated air pulled out of the cabinet. And cooler air drawn in to exchange. It's that simple.