my current build - should I go LED's - pics

Hi guys, this is my DIY vertical grow build

I've got 2 of these right next to each other. One has a 600 metal halide in the middle and the other a 600 watt HPS.

They are attached to a light mover on pulleys so as the light mover moves along it raises one light to the top and lowers the other to the bottom and visa versa.

I was considering putting in 4 x 600 variable ballasts and having the 4 lights, 2 per rig static inside 8" diameter cool tubes. This is costly and requires a complete overhaul of my ventilation system cos ATM its on minimum spec and struggling with temps even in this mild winter. I'll go into the details of how I'm venting in a little while cos it's a bit awkward.

I know vertical LED's are expensive but so would be upgrading my entire venting system, maybe cheaper slightly than going LED but a lot of hassle if the LED's run as cool as I think.

Here is a pic of the left hand rig. I'm changing it from 16 x 100mm diameter tubes to 8 x 150mm diameter tubes and growing larger plants. My SOG grow measurements internally per rig are approx 24 square feet. That's a conservative measurement

Here are some pics

Many thanks

And this was how I was gonna set up the air cooled system inside both rigs. Not sure if you can see what I mean from this poor drawing but the circle at the top was gonna a 10" fan http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/280753130280?ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1438.l2649

on a 90 degree bend down to a 10" splitter reduced at each opening to 8" and then run up through the 8" cool tubes to each 8" carbon filter. This is the easy bit. Getting that air out of the room and out of the house is the hard bit. Hence considering LEDs.

Another reason for the LEDs is cos I figured I'd get 250-600 varible ballasts that will comfortably run 600s at 600 or 400 but in the peak summer I might have to change the bulbs over to 250s as 600 wont run right with just 250 going through them. They will fire, I know first hand, but I don't think they'll be efficient at all.

Thanks again

Could a mod stick this in grow room design/ setup please. I put it in the wrong place.

Thanks

Anyone used one of these?

http://www.prweb.com/releases/2012/7/prweb9691178.htm

First time posting here but to the OP, I had a similar setup 10 years ago. I'm not sure what the diameter of your setups are, but mine was an 8ft diameter by 7 foot high cylindrical vertical grow for 144 plants. At the center of mine was a custom fabricated 6" acrylic tube that housed 2 1000 HPS lights and was cooled by an inline 6" fan and i'd say the surface of the tube was only maybe 100 degrees farenheit. It was slightly warm to the touch at the bulbs, but the rest was ambient temperature. So a 10 inch main and 8 inch tubes would be overkill in my opinion. I was thinking of one day fabricating a LED tower to replace the 2000 Watts of HPS and after poking around it seems even easier w/ LED's because water cooling is possible.

The premise I was working on was the have an 8 sided aluminum panel that would be 6 ft high with somewhere in the neighborhood of 2-4 K Watts of LED's all heatsinked to the aluminum. Tig welding extruded aluminum heatsinks to the back side ( the inside of the TUBE) then welding a top and bottom on to make it watertight, welding on some inlets for water flow. All the water and electrical lines could then be routed outside the grow area. Cooling would require something along the line of a car sized radiator for the water and pumps to drive the cooling system.

Only thing that is driving me crazy is the power supply for the LED's. I know it will be the major cost of the system. Like a lot of people on here the Cree CXA 3590's would be perfect for some high power commercial growing by there are no power supplies out there that can operate at 90V. I see that for the 3070's the power supplies are alot better because 48V supplies are plentiful.

Sorry if I got off topic abit, but I think it depends on what your budget it for the lights. LED's are more expensive up front, but cheaper and better in the long run from all I've seen. I was curious what the diameter of your cylindrical grow was.

Me myself, I wouldn't waste a nickel on LED after using it for over a year. Check out using a VHO t5. Much better spread, and better results.