A/C unit connected to Lights. Any issues?

Hey everyone,

I currently have a setup using my carbon filter inside the tent connected to two lights, high velocity fan then goes outside. See picture below.

Current Setup

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My question is can I connect my A/C unit to my lights? Will it damage it at all? I was going to connect it to the lights, high velocity fan then goes outside. See picture below

New Setup

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I want to do this because my tent is roughly 85F with my current setup. Sometimes a little higher when it's hot outside. I have a 20lb co2 tank, regulator and co2 controller that's not in use. I would like to start using it again.

I used the co2 tank before when I didn't have my fan installed. However, the tank kept running out after a week and half.

Please any feedback would be great.

Thank You

dk

So what are you hooking to the A/C to get the air to go where you want it to.

A/C blows the air by itself. It will go straight into the lights and at the other end there is also a high velocity fan moving air the same direction. I'm pretty sure this isn't a problem for the bulbs but just wanted to double check.

With the A/C unit, it might make the bulbs a little colder and I don't know if that would cause it to break or anything.

why don't you just have the fan pulling the air out of cool-tube and have your Ac cooling you room! means the Ac wouldn't have to work very hard to keep the room at perfect temps.

I have the lights in two hoods. Have my fan already pulling the air out through my scrubber and the A/C blowing over the hoods. But, my temps are still high around 85-87F. Last year around this time it was a lot hotter outside. My room temps went up to 97F and I added the A/C unit over the hoods and it dropped down to around 92F.

Also I should mention that it's a grow tent 8x4x7. 1K watt light and 600watt light.

I would be extremly worried about condensation blowing up the bulbs. I almost did the same thing but for safty decided against it.
Please let us know if it works because if it does Id switch in a heartbeat.

That is exactly why I['m trying to figure out if it's safe. I was thinking about just doing it tomorrow morning. But, not 100% because of that and that I won't be home for a while to check to see if they do blow or not.

If the bulbs are cool the entire time. I don't think condensation would be much of a problem. I know when the bulbs are really hot and cold water gets on them they blow. But, if the A/C unit turns on at the same time the bulbs do. I think it might be able to work without problems.

dk0515 said:

If the bulbs are cool the entire time. I don't think condensation would be much of a problem. I know when the bulbs are really hot and cold water gets on them they blow. But, if the A/C unit turns on at the same time the bulbs do. I think it might be able to work without problems.

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Im pretty sure the bulb would never actually be all that cool, its the air exchange that keeps the area around the light from heating up. Pumping 50degree air over a 140degree bulb is only going to bring you down to like 110-120 or something like that (totally making it up but id guess the number are actually higher in reality). But since the air in the array would be nice and cool you'd get very little heat exchange (I think). I can totally see this as a more efficient way of using cooling but I could also see bulbs exploding. Someone needs to figure this out.

Part of my issues is that I have nowhere to pump the light air to except into the area outside the grow room so I end up with a recirculating hot air problem near the end of the day cycles. Its hot outside and inside the room making the ac units job hard, if I actually had cooler air coming out of the lights then I could break that cycle. The ac itself has to dump its hot air into the same ouside the room space so temps climb like 5 degrees and hour, thank goodness its underground and the ambient is only like 65 tops without the stuff running.

You're right. the bulbs won't actually be cold. It would only lower the degrees a little and keep the air around it cooler.

I might just try it tomorrow morning.

at the very least please keep me up on how it works.

I was thinking about doing it later today when I get home but I think the bulbs will be too hot. Don't want to take that risk.

I'll just do it tomorrow morning and I'll keep you posted.

So I set it up that way this last night at lights out. It ran for 3 1/2 hours with lights on today. The bulbs were perfectly fine. My temps dropped a 2-3F only. However, my humidity went up from 41% to 57%. I noticed the ducting on the A/C where it connects to the lights got really wet.

So I put it back to my original setup. I'm thinking about getting a dehumidifier now though. But, if you don't have a humidity problem then it would work good.

Dont worry about condensate inside the hood or on the lights. The A/C unit is actually a dehumidifier. The only condensation would be on the outside of the cooled equipment (ducting, hood, etc.). To stop the condensation on the duct where it connects to the lights, you need to insulate it. Use a thin, backed insulation around the problem area (and probably an extra 6" or so past where it condensates), taped well with foil-back so that no air can get between your insulation and piping. It won't happen anymore.

Also...no worries concerning the bulb bein too cold. I've personally worked under 400watt MH bulbs that stayed on 12+ hours in sub-zero temps.

If the glass is warmer than the air blowing over it there shouldn't be any condensation. I'd feel safe enough to try it because it's not an extreme, sudden, temp change... it's slow and even... but I still wonder if there would be any stress on the glass from the rapid exchange of heat on the outer surface. It could be a gradual thing.... couple of hours, days, weeks or it could be nothing but it wouldn't stop me from trying it.

Thanks for the info. I will try it out again with some insulation. Also, I think I'm going to pick up a small dehumidifier and set it up in the tent. I would like to drop the humidity.

This is a tent, right? What is the temp outside the tent ... the room that the tent is in? If the A/C is ducted across the lights and then exhausted from the tent (actually pulled out of the tent from the exhaust fan), the space of the tent wouldn't be directly cooled by the A/C. Yes, it would benefit from the cooler lights, but if the room outside the tent is warm ... such as, a 90 degree day, and the tent is in a garage or some such place, the tent is going to get pretty warm on its own and the A/C is dedicated to just the lights. Now, if the tent is inside a house that stays constantly at 70-75 degrees from a central A/C than it would probably work fine.

Hey man I been running this setup with one 600 watt hps in a 4x4. It is a 8000 BTU air conditioner and it runs the same time the lights run. Its been working perfectly fine for 4 weeks now. Cheers!

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That makes no sense to me. The AC should be cooling the entire tent not directly on the lights. How strong is that AC? With a 1k and 600, no reason why a good AC wouldn't cool that tent down to 70-75.