Light schedule throughout all cycles. Plus large temp swings

What’s a good beginner grower light schedule for all growth stages of autos? I swore I found a chart here once put now can’t seem to locate it now. (For Autoflowers).

I’m addition:
I’m running a BloomPlus XP3000 in a small grow enclosure I made by sectioning off a part of a closet with heavy duty cardboard for a door to make a forth wall and all sides lined with Mylar with an open top (~2x3ft).

At 45-50% power it produces heat at ground level around 80°
At 100% power it produces heat at ground level at 110°
So… you can see the problem I have with going full power.

What I haven’t done yet and what’s on the agenda tonight or tomorrow is to remove the ballasts and either put them higher up in the closet or somehow outside the closet. I feel like this will allow me to utilize higher power with lower temps to some degree. Dunno.

On the flip side of this, when the lights are not on, temps drop into the mid/upper 50’s. I thought of running a small space heater on a timer when lights are off. But honestly, I’m just not to keen on that idea as it doesn’t seem all that safe.

Anyhow, I’m looking for any input from anyone who has encountered a similar situation.

Thank you all!

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So light schedule is easy, 18hrs on 6 hours off.
That will work perfectly start to finish.
I do 24hours on for the first 2-4 weeks then I go to 18/6.

Removing the drivers will help alot. Air circulation in and out is still important even if temperatures was perfect all the time.

Ideally theres no more then 15° temperature difference from lights on and lights off.
80 to 50 is a big swing.
Assuming the 50° temps are at night, you could run lights on at night and the 6 off hours in the hottest part of the day.
My autoflower tent is off from 2pm-8pm just for this reason. Its on all night to keep things warm and off when its the hottest outside…

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If you’re in a rental a can’t cut holes in the door.
You could take the original door off and just stick it up somewhere fur safe keeping till you move out and put it back up, good as new.

In the mean time, make a temporary door with all the holes you want for ventilation out of cardboard, foam board, or absolutely anything you can make a door out of…

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That’s exactly what I did to section off the closet. I just made a door out of some heavy cardboard. The other three walls are the closet. I just stapled some Mylar up. I can easily cover the staple holes later. No big deal.

The piece on the left, hanging over the carpet is the cardboard door.

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Sweet, that’s what I was planning on doing with the schedule. Wasn’t sure about the schedule if I should just run 18/6 all the way through or what. Thanks for that clarification. And I haven’t ran a cycle with the 6 off in the afternoon yet. That makes obvious sense, I’ll give that a go.

I’m going to try and rig up a mount tomorrow to relocate the drivers to see if it’ll balance out the heat.

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I have an intake fan and an exhaust fan. That helps regulate temperatures. Intake takes from outside cool air, turns off when reaches a certain temp. Exhaust blows air out when reaches 82 degrees or set time.

I wish I could do that. But I can’t drill holes in my walls or ceiling. That would sure help.

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You can still install an intake on the outside of the grow area which may aid in lower temps during lights on. If not, a portable AC is your best bet, but I’m unsure of your grow area and what it is! Is it a closet?

Yes, it’s a closet in a extra room.