Lumenarc 3 - Vented vs Non-Vented, difference in output?

kroe · 01/26/2007, 10:59 PM

I am about to order a Lumenarc 3 reflector, and am trying to decide whether to get the "AC option" or not (the vent that you can hook up to a duct).

I was thinking the vent might be a good way to get heat out of the canopy - by running a tube from the reflector vent to a fan that exits the canopy directly.

Will the vent make any difference in light output? Has anyone tested this?

hahnmeister · 01/27/2007, 12:47 AM

halides dont have heat buildup problems like phosphor bulbs... If you want to vent your canopy, you can do so from the canopy without vanting the reflectors.

kroe · 01/27/2007, 12:57 AM

hahn: I was thinking more along the lines of pulling the hot air the bulb generates out of the canopy before it can heat my water. Am I off track here? Are the vented lumenarcs pointless in a reef?

hahnmeister · 01/27/2007, 12:39 PM

Well, heat will go from a warmer body to a cooler body with rare exception. So if the heat from the air is more than the water, then yes, your water would be getting heated. But as long as the air in your canopy is properly vented, this wont be a problem. Just because you would have the reflectors themselves vented wouldnt mean that the fixtures would give no heat through radiant or conductive heating, so you would still want to vent your canopy anyways to reduce heat. The air that you would be drawing from your reflectors would be from the canopy anyways, no? I suppose what Im getting at is that you would still want to vent your canopy, as the added cooling that this would provide (evaporative cooling is great) would still be desired. I dont see an advantage of directly cooling the reflectors.

kroe · 01/27/2007, 01:49 PM

I ordered the one with the AC kit. I'll have the vents in the reflector hooked to tubes attached to two fans that exhast out of the canopy. I won't be running the glass shield (SE bulb), so air will enter the canopy through vents, be sucked through the reflector and past the bulb, then the heated air will exit the canopy through the vents in the reflector.

Not sure if it will work as well as I hope, but I like the idea...

mcarroll · 03/25/2010, 01:35 AM

For posterity, how did the venting work out?

-Matt

Nexenn · 03/25/2010, 09:35 AM

I was actually planning on doing this exact same thing with lumenmax 3s in a few weeks... let me know how this worked for you

01/26/2007, 10:59 PM	#1
kroe Premium Member Join Date: Apr 2004 Location: Wallingford, CT Posts: 1,211	Lumenarc 3 - Vented vs Non-Vented, difference in output? I am about to order a Lumenarc 3 reflector, and am trying to decide whether to get the "AC option" or not (the vent that you can hook up to a duct). I was thinking the vent might be a good way to get heat out of the canopy - by running a tube from the reflector vent to a fan that exits the canopy directly. Will the vent make any difference in light output? Has anyone tested this?

01/27/2007, 12:47 AM	#2
hahnmeister Moved On Join Date: Sep 2005 Location: Brew City, WI Posts: 10,156	halides dont have heat buildup problems like phosphor bulbs... If you want to vent your canopy, you can do so from the canopy without vanting the reflectors.

01/27/2007, 12:57 AM	#3
kroe Premium Member Join Date: Apr 2004 Location: Wallingford, CT Posts: 1,211	hahn: I was thinking more along the lines of pulling the hot air the bulb generates out of the canopy before it can heat my water. Am I off track here? Are the vented lumenarcs pointless in a reef?

01/27/2007, 12:39 PM	#4
hahnmeister Moved On Join Date: Sep 2005 Location: Brew City, WI Posts: 10,156	Well, heat will go from a warmer body to a cooler body with rare exception. So if the heat from the air is more than the water, then yes, your water would be getting heated. But as long as the air in your canopy is properly vented, this wont be a problem. Just because you would have the reflectors themselves vented wouldnt mean that the fixtures would give no heat through radiant or conductive heating, so you would still want to vent your canopy anyways to reduce heat. The air that you would be drawing from your reflectors would be from the canopy anyways, no? I suppose what Im getting at is that you would still want to vent your canopy, as the added cooling that this would provide (evaporative cooling is great) would still be desired. I dont see an advantage of directly cooling the reflectors.

01/27/2007, 01:49 PM	#5
kroe Premium Member Join Date: Apr 2004 Location: Wallingford, CT Posts: 1,211	I ordered the one with the AC kit. I'll have the vents in the reflector hooked to tubes attached to two fans that exhast out of the canopy. I won't be running the glass shield (SE bulb), so air will enter the canopy through vents, be sucked through the reflector and past the bulb, then the heated air will exit the canopy through the vents in the reflector. Not sure if it will work as well as I hope, but I like the idea...

03/25/2010, 01:35 AM	#6
mcarroll Registered Member Join Date: Jun 2008 Location: Northern VA Posts: 327	For posterity, how did the venting work out? -Matt

03/25/2010, 09:35 AM	#7
Nexenn Registered Member Join Date: Jan 2010 Posts: 575	I was actually planning on doing this exact same thing with lumenmax 3s in a few weeks... let me know how this worked for you