Lighting How to setup 8 x 600 Watt lights?

[Happy Horticulturist]

Hi there

I have a grow space 3.6m x 2.4 meters and I worked out at 50 watts per square foot I need 8 x 600 watt lights. Thats' 96 square feet and 4800 Watts total so that gives me enough.

Now the question is how do I go about spacing the lights out to be in perfect harmony with each other and the space?

I can't really wrap my head around it. This is an image of what I'm thinking so far.

Any advice positive negative or otherwise would be greatly appreciated.

The circles have a circumference of 1.2m which is what I've read is the maximum coverage of a 600 watt light.

Thanks

 

[SkatterBrayne]

I don't see that working, to be frank. You will need room to tend to your plants also.... You are also going to need some serious airflow, and AC. fhe footprint of a 600 with a standard horizontal reflector is about 4x4.

What is the most watts you have run before? There is more to the logistics of a project this size.

- - - Updated - - -

I don't see that working, to be frank. You will need room to tend to your plants also.... You are also going to need some serious airflow, and AC. fhe footprint of a 600 with a standard horizontal reflector is about 4x4.

What is the most watts you have run before? There is more to the logistics of a project this size.

- - - Updated - - -

I don't see that working, to be frank. You will need room to tend to your plants also.... You are also going to need some serious airflow, and AC. fhe footprint of a 600 with a standard horizontal reflector is about 4x4.

What is the most watts you have run before? There is more to the logistics of a project this size.

 

[Son of Hobbes]

Hi there

I have a grow space 3.6m x 2.4 meters and I worked out at 50 watts per square foot I need 8 x 600 watt lights. Thats' 96 square feet and 4800 Watts total so that gives me enough.

Now the question is how do I go about spacing the lights out to be in perfect harmony with each other and the space?

I can't really wrap my head around it. This is an image of what I'm thinking so far.

Any advice positive negative or otherwise would be greatly appreciated.

The circles have a circumference of 1.2m which is what I've read is the maximum coverage of a 600 watt light.

Thanks

What exactly is the scope of your project?

Is this strictly for autoflowers?

What size pots are you considering?

How many plants total are you considering?

All one strain? Multiple strains?

Is this a grow tent? Grow room? On owned property (important to know in case someone suggest punching a hole in the wall or ceiling.)

What are you considering from smell and odor control? Using carbon scrubbers? Planning on ventilating them on their own or tying them into the light's ventilation? Or are you considering not venting them at all and using them as active scrubbers?

Are you planning on using vented hoods or cool tubes? Parabolic? The type and shape of the reflector used in all of them will greatly effect how the light disperses down on your plants.

What is your ambient temperature outside the grow space?

What is the ambient temperature inside the grow space with lights O.

What do you have for HVAC? Air conditioning? Exhaust? Intake? Humidity? Are you planning on using controllers of any sort for any of these things?

What size duct are you planning on using?

Have you looked into timers and time schedules for the equipment you'll be using?

Are you planning on using a CO2 system at all?

I know this is a buttload of questions, but your ventilation system is tied into a lot of different variables, and that's going to be pretty important when you're talking about that many lights (in my opinion.) I ran 1800W of HPS in an 18 square foot area; I think what you're proposing it completely doable, I just think there's a lot of variables that can effect what recommendations should be given.

Oh and hey bro, have you ever given this grow journal a visit?

Thread: 650+ plants/9 strains/3600w grow out

Some good information in here on a large setup and you can see from the pictures a bit of how they have theirs setup!

 

[Happy Horticulturist]

Hi SOH - Firstly thanks for all your questions. You've thought of everything. I have considered all of these factors. Hopefully by my answers you can see the only real issue I'm left with facing is the ideal placement of the lights.

Secondly I'll say I'm quite familar with all the issues raised. The heat, smell, humidity, safety etc. As I've been running this same 24 autopot system before using only 4 lights and a light mover. I thought I might be able to get away with using half the watts required if I were to use a light mover. But that just wasn't producing compact fat enough buds. So I've scrapped the light mover and am not opting for static light / double the watts.

Prior to that I was running 4 fixed position lights and doing a sea of green with 64 plants.

I have had aircon that's more than powerful enough and a dehumidifier and carbon scrubbers and ozone generation and CO2 in place to deal with the environment. So that's not an issue really. I'll be running all the lights once they've hung for a couple of days with no plants and if the temps are too high I'll deal with it before introducing plants. I'm hoping the Air Con I have will be able to deal with it, as right now its' oversized for my 4 lights.

What exactly is the scope of your project?
To produce a lot of high quality meds to a lot of people. Some people want pain relief, some people want anti-anxiety, some people want something to help them sleep etc. Others just want something enjoyable to take. I want to meet the needs of my clients and patients and produce high quality product for a reasonable price. I have been producing some decent stuff in the past but I'd like to take it up a notch.

Is this strictly for autoflowers?
No in this room I'll be growing photo sensitive. CBD Kush, Night Queen, etc etc. All about 9 week flowering varieties. If there were CBD autoflowering strains I might consider trying an autoflower grow in this room but I need CBD strains for my patients so must do one grow that's photo sensitive.

What size pots are you considering?
11 Litre Autopots + Airdomes + nice and airy Coco/Perlite mixture

How many plants total are you considering?
24 plants ( 4 rows of 6 plants ) However I can change this if necessary. But I found this is a good number to grow, because after veg they fill out the space.

All one strain? Multiple strains?
Multiple strains by dutch passion all with similar (9 week) flowering times.

Is this a grow tent? Grow room? On owned property (important to know in case someone suggest punching a hole in the wall or ceiling.)
Grow room. Long term rented property. I have punched a hole in the sealing before and have repaired the dry wall. I have punched a small hole to feed the AC power and gas lines through. This can easily be fixed before moving out. I'm very adapt at punching holes and repairing them over my years of growing in rented properties.

What are you considering from smell and odor control? Using carbon scrubbers? Planning on ventilating them on their own or tying them into the light's ventilation? Or are you considering not venting them at all and using them as active scrubbers?
I have a large Rhino carbon scrubber + an Iso Max fan and an ozone generator. I've been using it all before in a very similar setup. Smell isn't an issue. If it is I'll upgrade but last grows with 24 (or more) plants was a none issue.

Are you planning on using vented hoods or cool tubes? Parabolic? The type and shape of the reflector used in all of them will greatly effect how the light disperses down on your plants.
I've 6 x SunKing Emperors already in stock which I'll be using for MH bulbs and switching to HPS. I also have 2 x Gravita Pro HPS lights.
http://www.fastlight.co.uk/acatalog/Emperor 510.jpg

What is your ambient temperature outside the grow space?
Not an issue, I have split AC.

What is the ambient temperature inside the grow space with lights O.
Depending on the season about 10-18 degrees if I were to leave the room with no heating for ages. During lights out the temperature usually drops to around 18-20 degrees. The dehumidifier running at night keeps things warm enough.

What do you have for HVAC? Air conditioning? Exhaust? Intake? Humidity? Are you planning on using controllers of any sort for any of these things?
I have split air con and a dehumidifier. If I need to upgrade these I will. I can pretty much set the temperature I want. Humidity is a bigger issue. Usually this runs at between 40-59%. I don't have as much control over humidity but it's in an acceptable range. It would be nicer to get it down during flowering. I may invest in a more powerful dehumidifier in the future.

Have you looked into timers and time schedules for the equipment you'll be using?
Yes I've got a massive 8 way contact relay to suit the lights I'm using. I've also had a consumer board with 3 x RCBO's. I'll throw up a picture of this in a couple of days. But that's all taken care of.

Are you planning on using a CO2 system at all?
Yes - Ecotechnics controller - Bottled CO2

I know this is a buttload of questions, but your ventilation system is tied into a lot of different variables, and that's going to be pretty important when you're talking about that many lights (in my opinion.) I ran 1800W of HPS in an 18 square foot area; I think what you're proposing it completely doable, I just think there's a lot of variables that can effect what recommendations should be given.

No worries dude I'm very glad for all your questions

Oh and hey bro, have you ever given this grow journal a visit?
Thread: 650+ plants/9 strains/3600w grow out
Yip bro I've seen that I'll be growing less plants but bigger.
So I've almost got the room setup and I'm just wondering about spacing of the lights. Once I've got them hung I can post some pics. thanks again SOH really appreciate it.

 

[Happy Horticulturist]

I don't see that working, to be frank. You will need room to tend to your plants also.... You are also going to need some serious airflow, and AC. fhe footprint of a 600 with a standard horizontal reflector is about 4x4.

What is the most watts you have run before? There is more to the logistics of a project this size.

Hi SB and Cheers

The most watts I've run before in this space is actually 5 x 600 watt lights. I have good airflow and I have AC and I have just enough space to get all the way around the outside of the growing/lighted area and tend to them. I won't be taking them in and out of the space. I will just be spraying them and super cropping the tops etc to keep an even canopy. The footprint of a 600 watt is 4x4 foot or 1.2 meters as shown in the diagram yes. I can see it working to be frank I appreciate your sentiment however. There's a lot to think about here but from my reply above hopefully you can see I have been thinking about this long and hard for quite a while now. *thumbs up*

 

[SkatterBrayne]

Do you have all 8 600s already?

I feel like it would be better to arrange 4x 1000w lights in that room.

Do you have any imterest in vertical growing? You could stack 2x 600w and have a few of those setup. Take aa look at the pics of my new build to see what i mean

https://www.autoflower.org/f10/autoflowers-not-imferior-photoperiods-period-31321-2.html

- - - Updated - - -

Do you have all 8 600s already?

I feel like it would be better to arrange 4x 1000w lights in that room.

Do you have any imterest in vertical growing? You could stack 2x 600w and have a few of those setup. Take aa look at the pics of my new build to see what i mean

https://www.autoflower.org/f10/autoflowers-not-imferior-photoperiods-period-31321-2.html

 

[Happy Horticulturist]

hi there SB. Yes I have the 8 x 600 watt lights already. I can't see your images on your thread because AFN doesn't allow me to view images.

I feel more comfortable doing a horizontal grow rather than a bare bulb vertical grow to be honest.

 

[SkatterBrayne]

The lights will only have that circular footprint if you are hangimg your lights vertically (Which is more efficient, and you can stack your lights to fit more)

Otherwise you need to make those footprints rectangular.

HID lights have a wide periphery as well. The lights should prbably have so,ewhere aroumd 18" between them.

you should create the dimensions, and plot every inch of the space to know what needs to be done, before moving forward

 

[dude]

That looks like the best solution for your set up :thumbs:

24 autopots and 8 lights is a nice 3 plants per light.

What type of shade do you have? Those parabolic ones?

I have just ditched the shade/reflector for the bare bulb. Light spread is better and the heat has reduced.:check:

Mine is just a 400w though, not like your badboys

 

[Happy Horticulturist]

Nah dude I have horizontal square wide ones. Rather large powdered white ones with a dimpled v shape chrome plate inside above the bulb

*high fives the dude*

Yo SB. I'll fix my diagram tonight and upload a new version taking into account your advise.

*gives SB bro fist bump*