Hey gang, happy Friday! Waiting on the 650s, but while I get planning for setup I had a question. Im in a lite tent that is only 79" tall, not sure of the required clearance of the light above I figure at least 9". I believe hlg states for flowering you should have it 30-34" above canopy, which doesnt give me a lot of room. I have some GG that already looking big, that will probably be in some other thread eventually. But if I run ~80% of that 650, could I take 20% percent off that 30-34? that would buy me 6-7 inches. Not sure if that is how the math works wanted to ask the experts. Enjoy the weekend. Tim
If you gradually harden plants you can probably successfully run inside of 30" at full power. Reduced power should buy you some room too. How much is going to vary some from to grow to grow, plant to plant and method to method.
In 4x8 space you should have plenty of room to mount fan filter between fixtures, which wonāt eat up overhead clearance. You need some room from light to top of tent for proper cooling though too. Iād say if bottom of light is foot from top of tent is more than enough. That leaves you 67", and 30" from light to canopy gives you plants that are roughly 4ā tall. Imo that is taller than you want with artificial lighting, too much drop in intensity to bottom of plants. You can combat this by training plants wide and shorter, or running more plants and flipping them earlier. Seems like would be manageable even if you didnāt, but lower half of plants will probably be more larfy than desired. Trying to run canopy lower would fix that and give you more room. Hopefully this feedback helps.
That helps a ton. By training wide would that be using a SCROG like method? The GG seems like it will be tall (didnāt know that when selecting that seed), the GSC and Banner donāt appear that way. Just topped at around 10 inches (past 4th node) and expect more stretch.
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Ya. But you can bend and tie off without screen too, super crop, or probably other things too. Just a matter of finding something that will work and makes sense to you.
Iāve got the trellis netting for the tent. Figured I could tie along the lines like a Scrog if needed, not sure if I needed more of a fixed screen thatās plastic. Either way Iāve got research to do and Iām in the right place. Thanks all!!
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If you run trellis try not to tie plant to it. As plant grows through you should literally be able to just push plant back under and call it a day. Easy money as long as you donāt allow plant to grow through too far.
Morning/Afternoon @dbrn32 I really appreciate the quick responses. Since you are the light guy I am in the right place, but should I keep these questions buried in a 8x4 thread or start something specific to the HLG so its easier to search for others? Still learning the forum. Anyway, todayās issueā¦
HLGs came, great. But reading the specs, they recommend at least 15" on top of the driver, and 30-36 above canopy during flowing. Remember, I have a 4x8x6.7" tent coming, so that vertical is only 77".
Taking off the 15, were at 62, and being conservative and going with the 30" puts us at total height of 32". Thats why I asked about saving some inches due to running at 80% due to strength of the 650. Still, were looking at 36 total height.
That doesnāt seem like its very tall. I donāt want big plants, id rather have busy wide ones. So thatās where the LST will come into play (thanks for turning me on it appears thatās a huge benefit).
Is that enough room? I havenāt run the numbers on the 550 or 600 as of yet, I do know the 550 is 24-30" above canopy, so that saves me 6-10" thereā¦
Thanks
Tim
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I think youāll be fine. Worst case scenario you can throw clip on fan or something blowing over top of heatsinks and cheat 15". But you also shouldnāt need as much room to canopy if you are intending on dimming. Start low intensity and increase a little 1-2 times a week, that will acclimate plants gradually to the higher light intensity.
Far as where to post, I think youāre fine. Itās your topic and not necessarily a high level discussion that would be valuable easily searched.
Hi @dbrn32 and gang. Id appreciate a bit more guidance from the HLG/tent gurus.
For the overall tent, I have the 2 650s, humidifier, 2 12" oscillating fans, and the 8" AC infinity inline.
Could I run all this off a single surge protector w/ built in timer? If I can, the HLG doesnāt appear to support a daisy chain, so any recommendations on a extension cord inside the tent?
If I need to run off a separate strip running from another outlet, can I exceed 20 feet of cord length? Ive read that you donāt want to run long distances with a lot of power.
Finally, when I fire the light to start veg, is it advisable to start at maybe 50% power then ramp up 10% or more over the next two weeks of veg?
Thanks !!
I wouldnāt. Mostly because you donāt want exhaust fan strictly running with lights in most cases. But the inrush current from both drivers starting simultaneously may trip breaker too.
If you gonna run over 50 feet Iād recommend a 12 gauge extension cord 20 fot could he 14 easily. run your lighter load stuff on the extension cord ā¦I ran each 600 watt driver on different leg but i had 2 on 1 with no issue u should be fine with a cord ā¦ still had 4 lights after the 4thone was needed and all 4 would come on same time it started to trip unless I off set them a couple minutes instead of that I ran 100foot extension cord (10gauge) from other side of the shop and problem stopped shouldnāt load the breaker more then 80 % ā¦10 amp run 8 20amp run 16 I was up around 7000watts at max for 12 hrs
Thanks @fano_man and @dbrn32. This is probably the most important topic, safety! I think I may just need to call in an electrician, I think I am in over my head here.
While I wait on that person to get here, could I get by with just 1 hlg and a small fan (not the AC infinity) running a thick 12/3 cord?
If I had the ability for the electrician to give ideal setup, what would you recommend (in laymen terms!).
Thanks you two
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Yes definitelyā¦easy way to check u might need 2 ppl I would plug into 2 farthest outlet and make sure they are different circuits have some one on the phone by the lights and start flicking breakers on and off see when you flip a different circuit turns of each light individually alot of times same room is same circutā¦ unless your in garage or basement where heavier equipment could beā¦ there would be multiple circuits your gonna have to identify separate circuits on separate outlets if not untill be on same breaker and easily over load a 10 amp breaker in a house with 2 650s alone Iād find 2 circuits and split everything over the 2 ur not pulling crazy ampsā¦ a good amount but not crazy a 650 pulls 5.4 amps maxed out so a fan and some other lil things would be acceptable on a 10 amp u get what Iām saying
No problem with that.
Is what you have now as big as you will ever be, or is there any chance at all you will expand?
Only expansion would be putting a 2x2 elsewhere for veg. Thats later on.
I donāt know anything about electricity. My large breaker is pretty full, there is on section with a 20 and another with a 30.
I have another breaker that is pretty empty, but my pool filter runs on that.
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So the deal is, your lights will run slightly more efficient on 240v. And you could run them both on a 240v 30a circuit. If you were calling an electrician anyway, that is probably what makes the most sense. The downfall there is that it would limit you on what you could run for timers and would probably require you to change plugs on your power cords. If youāre going thst far, you may as well have electrician installed a dedicated 120v 20a circuit too. Thst would cover whatever you could throw its way for fans and dehumidifier or portable ac. If you ever needed anything like that anyway.
Thanks for this, let me try to summarize. For the 240, I would need a new cord going into the 240, and can have a single surge/timer to handle both 650s. Then another 120 to handle things that are always on, fans, exhaust and humidifier. Correct?
I donāt know if my contractor buddies can handle the 240, which puts me into looking for external help. I notice you are in the midwest, is there any ānetworkā or anything you know of trusted electricians? All of this is under medicinal licensing, but privacy is somewhat of a concern as well.
220v is real easy instead of a hot a neutral and a ground for a 110vā¦ 220 is a double lug breaker instead of a singleā¦ and its 2 hots and a ground itās just doubling the remove the neutral same 3 wires basicly with different breaker ā¦normally 2 black and a green for 220 whit red green for 110 usually to easily distinguish a 110 and 220 line apart away from the breaker thatās down here in Florida atleast Iām sure probably something similar elsewhereā¦ a 220 plug for your fixtures ā¦ I though I saw 110 to 220 plug adapter that easily plug in without having to strip wire and physically change the fixture permanently ā¦ Iām not a electrician but basicly itās pretty easy but I dont like getting shocked Iām a plumberā¦water an electric dont mix lolā¦ but I can get buy so I understand the electric is not someoneās strong suit comment ā¦i can run 220s 110s but its intimidating first couple times not knowing where to start so having an electrician first hand do it for you but pay attention when hed there you will see itās not so hard just gotta know where to start
If your running lines id stick with 110 so the versatility is there and you can plug more then just a light into itā¦ the efficiency is raise the volts go up the watts stay the same in turn lowering the amperage ā¦I believe that makes em run cooler over all from less resistanceā¦ parallel and series I still canāt tell you why and if thereās a difference in how a 110 to 220 boards can be wired I believe itās the same because the driver gets the 220 or 110 and makes a steady current to the board in higher and lower amp ā¦I think thatās where the efficiency kicks in
Thanks guys. ElectriciN coming tomorrow.
In the meantime hlg question.
Iāve got the light at the recommended 40 inches but currently only running at 50 percent. Temp in tent is perfect and using the ā15 second hand testā if feels fine. But Iād like to also not shortchange them. Can I slowly increase by 10 percent over each of next three days? Figure I have got about two weeks before I flip the switch
Try and split the rise in intensity untill you start flowering ā¦ they dont need over kill in veg
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