Is this a good idea to maintain temps?

Okay so I'm sick of the weather. It plays a massive part on the indoor environment and the only way to solve it involves copious amounts of electric and noise. What I want is a constant maintained temperature that is around 26 degrees during the day and 19 degrees at night. This is whats going on at the moment...

- 1.2 x 1.2 x 2.0 tent
- 600w HPS 12/12
- 4 x Blackstar chrome LED's 12/12 (Just for some overkill)
- 1500m3 Box fan for extraction to outside 24/0
- 720m3 RVK for extraction from outside 24/0
- SMS Pro dual fan controller 24/0

This works okay in the summer, even with the complete overkill of lights but in the winter it's getting much colder during the night. The trouble is having that outside intake, but I'm determined to keep it so I don't have to go back into my attic The trouble is it will get too hot during lights on if I vent from the room. and still get too cold at night as I can't afford heating. This was my plan..

Using a 80 x 80 x 160 tent...
- Run a 250w MH (for veg) on a 12/1 Light cycle (Gas lamp routine) during the 12 hours of Lights off.
- Have that heat pumped straight into other tent using a fan controller that is set to 18 degrees.

The fans in the 1.2m tent will shut off to about 15%/20% (Enough to keep negative pressure) when the temp drops below 25 degrees and won't come on again until the temp goes above. So my logic is that the 250w will heat the 1.2m continuously over the night and if it gets to hot the main fans will kick in and sort it out.

My Questions to all you experts is....

- Will the 250w MH produce enough heat?
- WIll the air being heated by the 250w be dry or humid? I'm hoping dry as humidity is always high here.
- Does the gas lamp routine actually work? Be nice to hear from someone who uses it.

Thanks, any advice is always valued.

im not a professional but...a 250w will produce heat..and where there is heat there is usually humidity when it comes to plants especially when growing in a soil medium as the heat evaps the water from the soil. sounds like your plan will work.

can I ask why the temps at night are such a bothersome to you? I mean they plants don't need it to be warm at night and unless they are getting frost or your getting a condensation problem at night lower lights off temps shouldn't bother them too much..in the past outdoor grows I have done have been hit with some pretty harsh frosts and they didn't seem to be affected. Are they showing any signs of stress due to the cooler night time temps? what are the low temps reaching? why not use a small space heater set to your desired temp? you could rig something up for about 30 bucks with a thermostat and a small electric space heater.

Hard to say it'll work, I have several cabs/tents and seasonally they fluctuate up/down. I just try things and monitor with wifi enabled temp/humidity sensors, then adjust as needed. I've used similar methods to raise temps in a small tent (2x2x4') using a panel with CLF's and LED bulbs, adjusting the amount of CFL bulbs until I got what I wanted. The extra lighting raised temps and lowered humidity in my case, should work with your hps, trick will be adjusting the fans to come on when you need them.

Thanks RetiredMatt, I've had problems with hermies and it's temp is the last thing to sort out bar the humidty. I've no light leaks and everything runs fairly well but the temps at night are dropping from 27 during the day to around 13/14 degrees at night. It's not even cold yet either. And I really wanted extra heat to lower the humidity as it's jumping up at night to nearly 80%. I assume its because the lower the temps, the lower the fans run and humidity's building up somehow. I do have heaters but I find they are okay if you are venting back into the room. In my case I need constant heat to go in during lights off.

Thanks GroErr, would you say I could get more heat from CFLS than HPS at the same wattage? It's nice to hear your humidity lowered with the lights, feeling a bit more confident now. Them wifi enabled temp/humidity sensors sound marvelous. Do you have a link?

t0adgr0w said:

Thanks GroErr, would you say I could get more heat from CFLS than HPS at the same wattage? It's nice to hear your humidity lowered with the lights, feeling a bit more confident now. Them wifi enabled temp/humidity sensors sound marvelous. Do you have a link?

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No, I'd think hps will provide a lot more heat. I like the CFL's for a small tent and the DIY fixture I made from 2x 3 socket bathroom fixtures allows up to 6 CFL's or LED bulbs. Total wattage in my CFL/LED panel is about 70w. In mine I ended up with 3x CFL's and 3x LED bulbs to get the temps where I wanted, but my tent is half the size and 2' shorter. If I need more heat I can just replace the LED bulbs with CFL's until the temps get to where I want them. Nice thing with this, is the added bonus of extra light on the canopy, with CFL's you can get almost touching the buds without burn. Here's a pic of what I'm referring to, I just hang it on an angle above the canopy:

Sorry missed the link. Here's a link to one of my journal entries, links and info on what they do and where to get them. I use 3 of them in different rooms at different times as needed, since they're wireless it's just a matter of moving it where I want it. Fantastic for monitoring/dialling-in a room with, I take readings every 15 minutes and can see/adjust as needed. I'm always changing lights and run different configs in the various cabinets/tent/flower room, amazing how much a small change can make in both temps and humidity. Handy little tool.

GroErr said:

No, I'd think hps will provide a lot more heat. I like the CFL's for a small tent and the DIY fixture I made from 2x 3 socket bathroom fixtures allows up to 6 CFL's or LED bulbs. Total wattage in my CFL/LED panel is about 70w. In mine I ended up with 3x CFL's and 3x LED bulbs to get the temps where I wanted, but my tent is half the size and 2' shorter. If I need more heat I can just replace the LED bulbs with CFL's until the temps get to where I want them. Nice thing with this, is the added bonus of extra light on the canopy, with CFL's you can get almost touching the buds without burn. Here's a pic of what I'm referring to, I just hang it on an angle above the canopy:
View attachment 3259989

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That's good to know, I have a dimmable 250w so in the warmer months I can turn it down if need be. That's a nice little panel you've made yourself there, I'm slightly obsessed with lowering the bills and using the heat from the lights as a form of heating. Is that plant just under that 70w panel?!

GroErr said:

Sorry missed the link. Here's a link to one of my journal entries, links and info on what they do and where to get them. I use 3 of them in different rooms at different times as needed, since they're wireless it's just a matter of moving it where I want it. Fantastic for monitoring/dialling-in a room with, I take readings every 15 minutes and can see/adjust as needed. I'm always changing lights and run different configs in the various cabinets/tent/flower room, amazing how much a small change can make in both temps and humidity. Handy little tool.

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Sorry was my bad I forgot how to use the site hah. That thing looks incredible, like you I am too constantly changing things trying to find 'The perfect setup' I guess. Defiantly will be investing in one of those! Thank you.

t0adgr0w said:

That's good to know, I have a dimmable 250w so in the warmer months I can turn it down if need be. That's a nice little panel you've made yourself there, I'm slightly obsessed with lowering the bills and using the heat from the lights as a form of heating. Is that plant just under that 70w panel?!

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If it's dimmable that should work well, just adjust as needed. No, the main light in that tent is an 200W LED directly above them, the DIY CFL panel is just supplemental lighting and provides the extra heat I need. As temps adjust with the seasons I can add/remove bulbs. Had originally built them as supplemental lighting and for clones/seedlings, now I have a bunch of LED panels for clones/seedlings/vegging so I use these DIY panels for things like this heating purpose if needed. I've used them to provide some heat under my seedlings before as well. Cost me about $35 to build it, well worth it, here's a link to the build I had posted in the DIY section, easy/cheap. I only used 2x bathroom fixtures, you could do up to 3 safely, allowing for 9 bulbs.

t0adgr0w said:

Sorry was my bad I forgot how to use the site hah. That thing looks incredible, like you I am too constantly changing things trying to find 'The perfect setup' I guess. Defiantly will be investing in one of those! Thank you.

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They've saved my ass a couple of times, with readings every 15 minutes I can just look at the dashboard (anywhere, anytime on my phone/iPad/laptop) and know when something's up, like when a couple of timers blew I knew right away as the temps spike up as soon as the lights go on.

GroErr said:

If it's dimmable that should work well, just adjust as needed. No, the main light in that tent is an 200W LED directly above them, the DIY CFL panel is just supplemental lighting and provides the extra heat I need. As temps adjust with the seasons I can add/remove bulbs. Had originally built them as supplemental lighting and for clones/seedlings, now I have a bunch of LED panels for clones/seedlings/vegging so I use these DIY panels for things like this heating purpose if needed. I've used them to provide some heat under my seedlings before as well. Cost me about $35 to build it, well worth it, here's a link to the build I had posted in the DIY section, easy/cheap. I only used 2x bathroom fixtures, you could do up to 3 safely, allowing for 9 bulbs.

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Ah okay, I was about to tare down my setup and start making loads of 70w panels haha. I love the LEDs, I would just use the 4 blackstar chromes but after seeing the results using a 600w with them I was flabbergasted. You have the same principle though adding extra spectrum with the CFLs clearly works nicely. I never thought about using LED's to heat under my seedlings lol, is this better than a heat mat? More light is more light!

GroErr said:

They've saved my ass a couple of times, with readings every 15 minutes I can just look at the dashboard (anywhere, anytime on my phone/iPad/laptop) and know when something's up, like when a couple of timers blew I knew right away as the temps spike up as soon as the lights go on.

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It's like now I know about these things I'm wondering how I'm even growing anything lol, yeah I have a min/max thermo but not a humid one (whatever they are called). But I love the idea of knowing exactly whats been going on and being able to check wherever I am. Bud rot and Hermies suck so so much that words can not explain and I'm sure even small spikes in temp and humidity can cause some strains to go wrong. Certainly in my opinion anyway.

t0adgr0w said:

Ah okay, I was about to tare down my setup and start making loads of 70w panels haha. I love the LEDs, I would just use the 4 blackstar chromes but after seeing the results using a 600w with them I was flabbergasted. You have the same principle though adding extra spectrum with the CFLs clearly works nicely. I never thought about using LED's to heat under my seedlings lol, is this better than a heat mat? More light is more light!

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Yeah I'd try the dimmable ballast first you should be able to manage them with that. It takes about 2 - 3 hours to build one of those panels if you need them and they're cheap enough. The 70 watts is juts the total wattage I have in them right now, I can go up/down by swapping out bulbs, I've run as much as 23Wx 6 in them. That's just my breeding tent, it's small so I can move it around depending on what stage I'm at. When I go to pollinate, I throw it in a closet in a spare bedroom to keep it far away from my flower room. When I'm finished pollinating I usually move it to the basement under the stairs for stealth and manage the smell as they get into flowering. For flowering my main plants I'm using CMH now, I tried low end LED's for flowering, they don't cut it, gotta go high end if you're going to flower with LED's, Apache, A51, or DIY with Cree 3070 COB's, those can flower well. This round with the 200w LED and additional 70W panel they did well, 270W in a 2x2x4' and within 10" of the canopy.

t0adgr0w said:

It's like now I know about these things I'm wondering how I'm even growing anything lol, yeah I have a min/max thermo but not a humid one (whatever they are called). But I love the idea of knowing exactly whats been going on and being able to check wherever I am. Bud rot and Hermies suck so so much that words can not explain and I'm sure even small spikes in temp and humidity can cause some strains to go wrong. Certainly in my opinion anyway.

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I'm all about data and knowing exactly what's going on so those sensors are worth the money to me. I travel a lot so it's a bit of peace of mind too. One wrecked crop because I didn't know the lights or a fan died is worth $100 (the initial setup is about that, then about $70/sensor, you can have up to 5 sensors with one controller).