Can't Get Good Airflow In Grow Cabinet. Hitting 90F.

[ultraduster]

What Strain is it? Bubblelicious Feminized (Nirvana)
Is it Indica, Sativa or Hybrid? What percentages? Predominantly Indica
How Many Plants? 1
Is it in Vegetative or Flowering Stage? Vegetative 18/6
If in Vegetative Stage... How Long? 5 Days from first sprout. 9 Days from planting the seed.
Indoor or Outdoor? Indoor
Soil or Hydro? Soil
If Soil... What is in your Mix? FFOF
If Soil... What Size Pot? 3.5 inch square
Size (Wattage) of Light? How Many? MarsHydro 100x3w
Temperature of Room/Cabinet? 90F
How Often are you Watering? So far every 2 days.
Size or Square Footage of Room? LxWxH : 23''x10''x27''

I put in an exhaust fan as well as an inlet fan and my temperatures are at 90F. I am trying a whole bunch of configurations, but nothing is working to bring the temps down.

The exhaust fan and inlet fan is this one: Cooler Master SickleFlow 120

I also have another vent for the inlet fan if you think it could be useful. It's just like the exhaust fan on the top left.

I forgot to mention that the ducts can be stretched out and can bend as well.

Can anyone give me advice on what to do to bring temps down? Thanks

 

[Antics]

Honestly man, you need a taller room for that light. When the plant gets taller, the light is going to start bleaching your leaves. Gotta get AT LEAST 36" tall with shallow pots, preferably 48" minimum. The closest I could get my light without bleaching was 16", and that's more than half the total space you have available there.

LEDs give off less heat than CFLs, and less heat than HIDs, you'll be able to correct your heat issue by upgrading your fans. Or you can try moving the intake fan up top to another hole, and have two active exhaust ports, and passive intake.

 

[eighty9concen]

Where are your fans located? Imo ideally you want your exhaust fan near the top of your box, and the intake near the bottom. Hot air rises so you want to pull it out where it is hottest and introduce the cooler air at the bottom where the plants are. If that doesn't work you will need stronger fans. Also a little clip on fan will help to move air around in side the box

 

[ultraduster]

I was thinking, instead of adding another exhaust port, can I just unplug one or more of the led drivers to lower the wattage and the heat? Because the square foot of my cabinent is roughly 1.6sq/ft so I only need about 100w. Pulling two of the led drivers leaves me with 150w and half the amount of heat generated.

How do I calculate the sq/ft of my cabinet as well? I am not sure I did it right.
I did Width x Depth. 23" x 10" = 1.9' x 0.83' = 1.577 sq/ft.
Is this correct?

 

[GrizzWald]

Your panel is only using around 160w...

 

[ultraduster]

I see... So do I base the light watt off of the draw power? Well this thing is, I did not buy it off of the marshydro website, but off of this ebay listing. Which states output power at 300w.

 

[GrizzWald]

Yeah, what your drawing... I imagine it's sold as a 300w reflector, or 300w whatever.... That's what you have 100x 3watt LEDs =300w, but panels cannot run at 100%. They run from 50%_70% some may run higher, just relative figures

 

[ultraduster]

Okay so besides what the real wattage is, it is still getting too hot. Would it be okay to disconnect two drivers? Will my one plant receive optimal watts?

 

[GrizzWald]

Working on your ventilation is a better option... I'm not a tech-head... But I don't see 50w being a good option, if that's what the outcome your aiming for is. You'd be better off buying some cfl's.

 

[Antics]

I was thinking, instead of adding another exhaust port, can I just unplug one or more of the led drivers to lower the wattage and the heat? Because the square foot of my cabinent is roughly 1.6sq/ft so I only need about 100w. Pulling two of the led drivers leaves me with 150w and half the amount of heat generated.

How do I calculate the sq/ft of my cabinet as well? I am not sure I did it right.
I did Width x Depth. 23" x 10" = 1.9' x 0.83' = 1.577 sq/ft.
Is this correct?

Okay so besides what the real wattage is, it is still getting too hot. Would it be okay to disconnect two drivers? Will my one plant receive optimal watts?

Unplugging some drivers still doesn't change the LED distance, that problem really needs to be addressed.

 

[newoldguy]

As has been said that's too much light for that height space.
I've got a small cabinet (for vegging/clones) and have a ufo with 60 3 watt leds (mars) with no problem.
but I'm also closer to 3 foot than 2.

 

[ultraduster]

Unplugging some drivers still doesn't change the LED distance, that problem really needs to be addressed.

Then I guess if I experience light bleaching and can't get the light any higher, I'll switch over to cfls because there is nothing I can do to address the height. Except topping and lst.

 

[Antics]

CFLs typically run hotter than LED panels, so if that becomes the route you take, you may need to increase ventilation a little more than the 2 fans, but it'll depend on how many bulbs, wattage, etc....

 

[ultraduster]

The only reason it was running hot is because the light is too big for the cabinet, but after disconnecting two drivers, temps have gone down to 82F. The light I bought was overkill for this cabinet and the only reason I got the 300w instead of a 150w was because of a 10$ difference. By cutting 50% of the panel, it is closer to the optimal wattage for the grow space I believe.

 

[LEDBud]

When your plant gets bigger you can hook the ballasts back up and add one more somewhat larger exhaust fan at the top of the grow box and patch the other hole or use it as a second intake point.

From a purely energy savings standpoint disconnected two of the ballast is a great idea when the plants are seedlings.

 

[DownSouthMtns]

I have 4 autos in a closet with a 400w mh/hps that regularly reaches temps over 100F. This really worried me by they've seemed to handle it fine. They're about 20 days from harvest and look good so far. However I do have fair airflow just hi temps due to closet intake bringing in warm air instead of air conditioned air.

 

[Notchrob]

Dam that's hot.it is a weed and most can adapt.I've done 85-95 and had no problems.

 

[JBUptown]

I'll second that 95 degrees isn't a death sentence for a cabinet grow. I've done several in that range with no problems as long as humidity is at or above 50% and the plants have a good amount of air circulation. Over 100 degrees and I start having problems with wilting and slow growth. Sounds like you made the right choice to bring the temps down with less wattage, but you will likely lose some growth running lights at that wattage.

 

[FloridaSunset]

The only reason it was running hot is because the light is too big for the cabinet, but after disconnecting two drivers, temps have gone down to 82F. The light I bought was overkill for this cabinet and the only reason I got the 300w instead of a 150w was because of a 10$ difference. By cutting 50% of the panel, it is closer to the optimal wattage for the grow space I believe.

Wish I was as tech-savvy as you because I've got the exact same prob on a slight larger tent - 2x2x4 - and arrived at the offered suggestion resolution of replacing the LED (300w with actual draw being around 180w) with CFLs (2 32w with equivalent 100w) that tamed the temps down to within reason. Will be looking forward to hearing how your solution works out for you...