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Pinstripe's 2nd try: PC case + 22W LED

pinstripe

Member
Hello icmag! I'm back with a new grow box, and this time I'll hopefully make it to harvest without messing up. In my last grow, the pots were too small and I ended up killing 2 out of 3 plants by overwatering them and the surviving plant turned out to be male.
This time I'll keep the plants in a 4L pot all the way to harvest. My babies have been above soil for almost three weeks, and they're growing incredibly fast. It's nothing like my previous attempt. The strain is NLxC99 (Nectar Seeds), and I'll be using high quality soil mixed with 15% perlite.

The grow box

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Almost two weeks of veg (19/5). The plants are kept on the floor exclusively for the photo shoot :) Normally, they're sitting about 4 inches from the LEDs.

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Two weeks

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Still two weeks


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Here we are at almost 3 weeks. I flipped the timer to 12/12 after 13 days of veg.
The plants aren't all happy, though. About 2 days after putting the scrog-screen on, the lower leaves became all soggy. They haven't been watered for 5 days, but the soil is still moist 2 inches down and I'll really afraid of overwatering 'em.
I heard plants sometimes bitch with each other when kept in the same pot. Anyway, we'll see what happens :)

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I also found a spot, actually a hole, on one of the leaves. Do you think this is something to worry about?

All the best,
Pinstripe
 
i likey. a while back i was looking into leds for a pc build, but i gave up. il be following this thread and periodically asking a few questions. nicely put together.
 

TokeSolo

Member
Hey Pinstripe :wave: your LED PC looks pretty slick! Sorry to hear about the last grow attempt, it was a shame about those blackberry younglings but these babies are looking great!

If you are worried about overwatering your vegies wait until your soil is VERY dry to touch then water, you shouldn't have any problems by doing this, your roots will just search for water. Just don't forget to feed them lol.
 

maryjohn

Active member
Veteran
heya pin, another thing to watch for is shrinkage. If your soil shrinks and pulls away from the edge, you waited too long.

really though just go by weight.
 

ScrubNinja

Grow like nobody is watching
Veteran
Sweet case, dude! Better luck for this time. So they've been raised completely under LED so far? Looking good.
 
L

Lonesome Burt

pinstripe, that light is way cool; nice fabrication.

I like to tinker with electronics; haven't done it for a few months because I didn't know what I wanted to work on. Now this looks interesting.

Any links to websites or anything like that you can post up with more information about building one of these?

I'm a certified electronics tech and have a fair amount of experience doing breadboarding, PC board assembly, DC and AC electronics, so I think I could figure one of these out.

Cool, I'm subscribed.
 

Dr 4 four

Member
Nice LED PC case Pinstripe.

You might need to add a small fan inside the case to keep the air moving around. That might help cheer up your ladies.
 

pinstripe

Member
Disfunktional, TokeSolo, maryjohn, superpedro, #1cheesebuds, ScrubNinja, Lonesome Burt, Dr 4 four, whatissixbynine, thanks for your comments and for looking in!

I really appreciate the words on how to water, too. The plants got really happy when I watered 'em with 1/3 strenght Hesi bloom complex.

Scrub, yup, the plants are raised completely under the LEDs.

Lonesome Burt, you would probably manage assembling a LED system like the one I have while sleeping :D. I built it all according to knna's thread "how to build your DIY LED array" on GC. The ratio of leds and system wattage are also by knna's recommendations.

I'm gonna start the LST/scroging once the plants show sex, and they'll probably do so within a week.
Pics will be up this coming weekend.

Peace out! :D
 
I love the way you implemented the carbon scrubber, and everything else is lookin great too. How much did the DIY led rig cost ya?
 

pinstripe

Member
I love the way you implemented the carbon scrubber, and everything else is lookin great too. How much did the DIY led rig cost ya?
Thanks man! Yeah, I'm pretty happy with the scrubber. I wanted to use two 80mm fans to keep the noise down, so I figured this would be a clean and space efficient design.

I got the whole system for about $150. LEDs, driver, and tape were about $100, the heatsink was (expensive!) $45 and fuses ~$5.

All the best!
 
G

greekguy

very nice built man! im starting a led-pc grow my self, hope you can be of help

ur more experienced than me in this :p
 

pinstripe

Member
greekguy: Thanks :) Good to hear you're getting one too! My growing skills definitely could be better. :eek:: I think I'm starting to get the hang of it, though. If you're having any questions on designing the grow box - shoot!


Update time!

Growth has been okay even though I'm still getting dialed in on the watering. The plants have been drooping a lot this week, and I found that they need to be watered every two days. I had a hard time believing this was true, but here's the proof:

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2 days after watering

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... and a few hours after being watered


I removed a male today, so we're down to three plants. The male plant had been growing balls for 3-4 days, so if the genetics are consistent I could end up having three ladies :yoinks:
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All the best,
:D
 
G

greekguy

im so happy that ur plants are looking so good+ur willing to help man!

the leaves in the outer edges bend downwards in order to receive light reflected fromthe mylar or there is smth wrong with them????

could you please give me links with all the different led parts you have used in making this??????? im between of buying a commercial unit+making one of my one, please help me decide!
 
G

greekguy

just noticed your filter system man, looks very tricky! does it include some carbon filter of some sort????
 

pinstripe

Member
No problem, bro! :) I think some of the outer leaves get bent by the walls. It's getting crowded in there.

If stealth is really important to you, I suggest going with a DIY one like mine. It will be more energy efficient and therefore a lower wattage is needed. Lower wattage means less cooling = quiet fans.
If you can ventilate 50W of lights without problem, you could also go with a 50W ebay-UFO. That will cost you about as much as a DIY-system.

I'm not sure I'm allowed to post links to other boards, but if you google "how to build your DIY LED array" you'll find the tutorial after which I assembled my light.

I got Osram Golden Dragon Plus LEDs:
12 x Red (bin JX, 45-52lm@400mA)
3 x White (tone 6Q, bin KZ, 97-112lm@350mA)
2 x Blue (450nm, bin 4T, about 450mW@350mA)

The LEDs run at 500mA and the driver is a variable constant current one. 35W max.

If you're living in Europe, you should drop Knna a PM. He's a great guy and maybe can help you get the parts to the light ;)

The scrubber is just made out of two motor filters (for vacuum cleaners) with carbon pellets in between. I used hot glue to mount the filters to the framework that I built. My version is more fancy than easy to make, though. It took an evening just to finish the framework. Lots of caulking was needed too.

Hope that helps :D
Peace out!
 

pinstripe

Member
how many watts is each of these leds man?
I'm not sure of what "rated wattage" they have. I'm guessing it is "1W." Usually, they call LEDs driven at 350mA "1W", 700mA "3W" and 1000mA "5W."
The actual power a LED uses is calculated by multiplying it's forward voltage by the current. The red LEDs have Vf (forward voltage) = 2.1V and the white and blue ones are about 3.5V => In my lamp, the Red ones use 1.05W and the Blue and White ones use around 1.75W.
 
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