Heat problems with LED grow lighting - All brands discussion

Hey everyone....

I wanted to see how many others out there were having heat issues with their LED grow lights.

The issue: My issue with ALL current LED grow lights is they all advertise "lower heat". I find this not entirely true and even though there is some truth to the lights running at cooler operating temperatures, *bulb temp, but I don't find any of my LED grow lights reducing the heat of my grow area over HID...

Now where this problem lies...All LED lights currently on the market have fans that either suck air in, or blow air out... Now the problem with the current design of LED grow lights is that you have something evacuating "warm/hot" air from the light, into your garden/grow area, without any way to evacuate the heat like HID lights do with air cooled hoods and such...this is whats causing a heating up of a tent. Its like putting a heating pad in a box...eventually, even though the heating pad is cool to the touch for a human (wont burn) it still will over time heat up that box, because the heat is building up in the box, without means of excape. Same as the LED lights... May not be hot to touch, but still let heat fill your grow area...

So even though the lights may run cooler overall, they do not offer a solution to extract the hot air from the light and push it outside of your tent....


I wanted to know if anyone else is having issues with LED grow lights heating up your grow environment more or equal to HID lights...


I know that both of my brands of LED I have used do this, and actually run hotter than my 1000w setup I had, only running 600w of LED.... My Top LED tent used to run about 82F with my HID's on full blast, currently it is running around 84-85F with the Mars II, not a decrease in Temps at all...

Who else noticed this, what model do you have, did you find a solution????
 
Hello. I'm new here and use an Illumitex LED. It doesn't have fans. In a 4x4 tent the temperature is generally between 70-80 at canopy level. This is a new light so last week when the temperature reached the low 90's outside, it was a good test for how hot it will get during the summer. Even in bloom running the light at full power, the temperature didn't go higher than 85º. I do use a 6" exhaust fan at top of the tent, which is 8' tall.
 
I know the efficiency is less on the 5w units so presumably they do generate some heat. And if you are pulling 600 actual watts then that is a lot of watts. I would be surprised if 600 watts of led were less thermally efficient than 1000 watts of HID but I guess it could happen?

I am pulling 200 watts actual led plus 52 watts of cfl and my temps run 10 degrees cooler. Maybe the heat does not dissipate fully in the Mars so there is an eventual thermal build-up and it acts like a heater?
 
interesting that you should ask this question. I just got four 400 watt mars2 lights to replace one 250 watt one 600 watt and one 1000 watt hps lights. I expected them to be cooler than they are. that being said, I am topping out at 83 degrees with the led lights whereas the hps lights were getting up to 95 degrees. but I just ordered two more mars2 lights. we will see what that does to the temps.

MR
 
I have a Mars II 400, and I usually have closed door temps of 85, and 77 with door open. My box is a little under 2x2x5 feet, but I plan on bigger box after this grow. I do wish the temps were a little cooler. I know some people replace the stock fans in them with better computer fans
 
I guess the real question is: Did you have your 1000W HPS with an air cooled hood? If so, did it exhaust directly out of your room or into the tent? I'm guessing it exhausted straight out of the tent, therefore you didn't have the heat in the tent at all (other than the radiant heat from the light). It would be possible to enclose your LED light and have a venting system off of it just like a air cooled HPS hood with a little DIY ingenuity.
 
I guess the real question is: Did you have your 1000W HPS with an air cooled hood? If so, did it exhaust directly out of your room or into the tent? I'm guessing it exhausted straight out of the tent, therefore you didn't have the heat in the tent at all (other than the radiant heat from the light). It would be possible to enclose your LED light and have a venting system off of it just like a air cooled HPS hood with a little DIY ingenuity.

Yep, My HID lights had air cooled hoods...Hosebomber hit the nail on the head....the reason that my tent and others are heating up with LED is because there is no way to vent the warm air directly out of the tent. LED's just vent the warm air, right into your grow area. I was curious what others were experiencing and what panels everyone was using.

I switched from 1000w HID to around 600w of LED which was about equivalant as far as the light output, but yeah, the HID's ran much cooler in their air cooled hoods than the LED's are keeping my tent. I just find it funny that most LED companies use this as a sales pitch, that they run cooler, but have no way to evacuate the hot air they do produce. In all of my grow areas with different brands and models, the led's run hotter than HID's in air cooled hoods.
 
I tend to use my carbon filter as a heat exchanger too... It's placed at the top of the grow area to pull out the hotter air and also scrub the air. Can you increase your flow there and do the same? Maybe that's your billion dollar idea Ice... Make clip on heat exchangers for panels :)
 
Maybe if there was a way to retrofit an led to fit into an air cooled hood. If your box is small like mine you could cut a hole in top of box same size as led glass and leave led sitting on top outside box. if I wasn't moving my grow next month I would definitely have done that
 
I tend to use my carbon filter as a heat exchanger too... It's placed at the top of the grow area to pull out the hotter air and also scrub the air. Can you increase your flow there and do the same? Maybe that's your billion dollar idea Ice... Make clip on heat exchangers for panels :)

I do the same with my carbon scrubber, have it at the top to pull the hot air out and variable speed control to really crank it up on warmer days. I turned them up and got the temps down.
 
I am thinking about building some boxes to put my mars2 lights inside that I can vent outside air through to remove the heat from the room without removing my precious co2 and humidity.

MR

Which Mars II panel you building it for? If it comes out and works great, you'll have to post some design pics. I got the 400 watt, and have been wanting to do this since I got it
 
Which Mars II panel you building it for? If it comes out and works great, you'll have to post some design pics. I got the 400 watt, and have been wanting to do this since I got it

same as yours. I have 6 of them. it would basically be a box a little bigger all the way around. they would be tall enough to accept a 4 inch dryer duct on opposite sides so they would have a flow through design. they could be daisy chained together and the intake and outlets would be plumbed to the outside.

MR
 
So which fans on the 400 are intake? I feel air blowing out of all of the vents, top and side. Not feeling any suction anywhere

I think on the Mars II, the fans are intakes, and suck air in, and blow it downward on the heatsink. I believe most LED's are designed this way.
 
I think on the Mars II, the fans are intakes, and suck air in, and blow it downward on the heatsink. I believe most LED's are designed this way.

If that's the case with my Top LED Reflector then it will work out even better that anticipated since my air intake is up high right next to the lights. The air flow from the air intake to the exhaust fan, which sits on the floor, should help immensely to cool the LEDs and the grow box in general.
 
I think on the Mars II, the fans are intakes, and suck air in, and blow it downward on the heatsink. I believe most LED's are designed this way.

this is neither here nor there. the box will be larger on all sides accept the bottom. and air will flow through them from one side to the other.

MR
 
I never thought of building a separate air cooled box.. Great idea, Ive been trying to figure out how to keep the cab cool enough with out venting the out the co2.. What material will you use on the bottom? Glass? Plexiglass?

no you don't want to put any more material between the leds and the plants. I figured I would cut a hole in the bottom of the box the same size as the lens area. this would allow the light box to rest on the wood.

MR
 
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