150w HPS Club and Resource Guide......

[TraneRek]

TraneRek, how high is your cabinet?

I haven't built my cabinet yet.. I plan on it being around 20"W x 18"D x 48"H (12" utility space), but I want to get all my innards first to make sure it's all gonna fit okay. I ordered my e-conolight the other day so it should be here by Monday or so, and I plan on getting a Lasko at Walmart w/in the next few days.

I never received any feedback on my exhaust idea. What do you all think?



It would go:
flowering chamber --> cooltube --> carbon scrubber --> utility area --> fan
This way my fan won't warp, and I can cool everything w/ just the one..

-Rek

 

[hoosierdaddy]

TR, you are not going to warp the fan. You are using a 150w bulb here.

I think that you should either loose the glass, or go vertical.
You can get plants within about 8 or so inches from the raw 150 bulb with no harm, IF you have adequate air moving in the chamber. You need fans on the bottom pushing the heat up.

This is my flower chamber with two 150w econolights w/no glass.
I kept this cool using only two 6" Suncourts, and pushing into a carbon scrubber.

​

The Lasco fan will do you fine, but be very discerning about your filter. A bad build will net a failed mask.

 

[CaptainStoner]

Man hoosier that's a nice setup.. love those little cage fans, could do with one meself so i'm going to have a look for some in the UK

I do have to ask the members of the 150w HPS club.. Can I join if i have a 150w CDM-T lamp? Been looking around and I reckon that's the best available choice for me, they aren't really that much more expensive than a similar quality HPS and digi ballast even if you get a CDM-T specific digi and at the end of the day, even with the slightly more expense, it's still well cheap compared to dealerbud, and this is my grow, my girls, only the best will doodle-do for my bishes.

this micro growing thing is amazing and if my experience with such a lamp can help you guys to make your grows even better, it would be an honour to share such knowledge.

 

[Bulénath]

Man hoosier that's a nice setup.. love those little cage fans, could do with one meself so i'm going to have a look for some in the UK

I do have to ask the members of the 150w HPS club.. Can I join if i have a 150w CDM-T lamp? Been looking around and I reckon that's the best available choice for me, they aren't really that much more expensive than a similar quality HPS and digi ballast even if you get a CDM-T specific digi and at the end of the day, even with the slightly more expense, it's still well cheap compared to dealerbud, and this is my grow, my girls, only the best will doodle-do for my bishes.

this micro growing thing is amazing and if my experience with such a lamp can help you guys to make your grows even better, it would be an honour to share such knowledge.

E Komo Mai, of course you are welcome here.
Hang out and show us what you create

 

[Bulénath]

I haven't built my cabinet yet.. I plan on it being around 20"W x 18"D x 48"H (12" utility space), but I want to get all my innards first to make sure it's all gonna fit okay. I ordered my e-conolight the other day so it should be here by Monday or so, and I plan on getting a Lasko at Walmart w/in the next few days.

I never received any feedback on my exhaust idea. What do you all think?

It would go:
flowering chamber --> cooltube --> carbon scrubber --> utility area --> fan
This way my fan won't warp, and I can cool everything w/ just the one..

-Rek

I am with Hoosierdaddy on this one...
You definately have the height to loose the cool tube, and it will most likely increase yeild in the end.

What kind of fan are you worried about warping? I use a 60CFM PC fan to pull straight on my 150w air cooled hood- the Floralux Mini, and it lasts for about 4-5 grows until it finnaly just craps out....But they cost about $10-$15 and are super easy to swap out, so it is no big deal...

With that kind of height, basically a 36" chamber, you will have no problems with a bare bulb! Forget the cool tube in this case, mount the bulb as high as it can go, with a reflector, and use a really strong desk-top fan or any super strong fan to constantly blow across the bulb, 24/7.

Unless your ambient night time temperatures are reaching up ways to 80F, and you dont have an air condition, you wil have no problem with a bare bulb.
That is, if you have 5 air exchanges per minute or more.

My black cabinet has that same height and depth, but just a little more length...

So 36" is more than enough height for a 60 day indica...




Or a 133 day stativa....

 

[TraneRek]

Alright, I won't use the cooltube. I can always add it next time around if I want..

I went to Walmart and Home Depot today looking for a Lasko, but since it's a seasonal item all I could find were heaters

I guess I'll have to just order it online (and pay for shipping, grr). I'm gonna call them tomorrow and get the CFM ratings on a few of their models so I can pick the best one for my situation.

Could anyone post a few pics of their utility housing? I'm not really sure how much room the ballast and all the other electric stuff takes up. Thanks again for all the help everyone! I can't imagine how growers did it w/out the existence of the internet.. You've all been so informative

-Rek

 

[hoosierdaddy]

Home DePot carries the Lasko (Stanley) blower, and you can order them online.
http://www.homedepot.com/webapp/wcs...langId=-1&catalogId=10053&productId=100609205
Go with this model. It will do the job.
Go to the link and specifications are also given, including dimensions.
Be sure and check out the Stanley Blower DIY in the DIY links.

Information back in the day was passed on by those with the passion to pass it.
And it was collected and passed on by others with the same passions.
Although, due to it's clandestine nature, sources for good info on growing was very seriously limited.
Just like now though...once you had a handle on the basics of what makes things happen, you can figure out a way to get 'er done.

 

[CaptainStoner]

What kelvin rating colour temp are you guys' 150w HPS lamps? i know 2700k is best but 150w 2700k lamps just dont seem to exist here in the UK.. they're all 2050k..

would this work? anyone got any lamps to suggest?

 

[ThinkGREEN]

@ Bulénath

very impressive for only 150W.
I just started trying out a Philips MASTERColour CDM-TD 150W/830 & 945.
If I get somewhat close to what you accomplished, then I`ll be happy.

greetz&respect
ThinkGREEN

 

[RediJedi]

Vapor Tights

Vapor Tights

Just ordered two 150 watt Vapor Tight High Pressure Sodiums and I was just wondering if I made a good purchase for my 2x7 (small grow room). Are these difficult to wire and are there some good suggestions on mounting distance from the plants? Any advice would be nice. Thank you.

 

[catman]

RediJedi - Quazi made a COMPLETE guide of how to wire the vapor lights. I didn't go through the extra work of making an external ballast housing box and just used the fixture it came with instead. Use the search to find that post.

Most people say ~8 inches from the bare 150 bulb.

 

[ambr0sia]

Are these difficult to wire and are there some good suggestions on mounting distance from the plants? Any advice would be nice. Thank you.

For basic, general advice, the best place to start is the begnning of this thread. Start from page one and work your way forward with note-taking tools in hand. Another good reference is the Link-o-rama, which you can find in my sig below.

 

[RediJedi]

Thanks, Ambrosia and Catman. I will most likely not make the external ballast either, Catman, because I need to learn much about wiring, grounding, etc. I will most likely only use the light fixture it came with too. Hope it works out.

 

[ambr0sia]

Thanks, Ambrosia and Catman. I will most likely not make the external ballast either, Catman, because I need to learn much about wiring, grounding, etc. I will most likely only use the light fixture it came with too. Hope it works out.

For what it's worth, you don't really have to know much about wiring to remote ballast these lights - You're literally just extending the length of two wires. That's it.

 

[Quazi]

To add to what amrbr0sia said above: it's worth it to take the time to remote ballast.

The ballast puts off quite a bit of heat.

In smaller spaces, heat is one of the first (and sometimes last) enemies. Anything you can do to remove heat from the grow area is highly recommended early on so you won't have plants stressing out while you figure it out later.

He's right too: it's really not that hard. If you can cut a wire, strip the coating off, and twist it to another wire then you've got all the "electrical skills" you'll need for the task.

-Q

 

[TraneRek]

RediJedi, If you've got 14 sq.ft. of grow space two 150's doesn't sound adequate to me, but I haven't grown yet so I'll leave it to those who know better to give you the advice..

I got my light in today so I'm gonna make another trip to home depot to get all I need to remote ballast it..
I always wondered why they called it "remote ballasting". That makes it sound so much harder than it really is; not that I would know, YET

-Rek

 

[Bulénath]

RediJedi, If you've got 14 sq.ft. of grow space two 150's doesn't sound adequate to me, but I haven't grown yet so I'll leave it to those who know better to give you the advice..

I got my light in today so I'm gonna make another trip to home depot to get all I need to remote ballast it..
I always wondered why they called it "remote ballasting". That makes it sound so much harder than it really is; not that I would know, YET

-Rek

Basic Rule:

50 watts per square foot flower.
35 watts per square foot for veg.

You don't really need more than 50 watts/square foot in any case But plus or minus a couple single digits won't matter much.

CFL's are good for vegging becasue they come in a wide varitiey of spectrums. In this case you need blue, about 5500k-6500K. But the best thing is they come in low wattages, low enough to not zap the humidity too much below 40-60%. Vegging plants like higher humidity, and closer to optimal conditions within a plants first 2 weeks of its life, the more prone it will be to developing into a female. This is becasue, if a plant lives in a sub-optimnal enviroment, such as high heat and low humidiy and red spectrum, the higher the tendency to crete male pollen to get AWAY from the bad enviroment. However if the conditions are favorable, the plant will bare the fruits of a female in hopes of getting inpregnated with pollen and creating seeds to drop directly in the sweet spot.

Now when you flower, you want a redder spectrum, like 2500k-ish, and humidity about 20-40%...But 50% RH won't hurt much. The HPS bulbs cater to both of these aspects. It is a powerful bulb that will zap the humidity way more than a typical low wattage CFL (like 12-19watters).


But back to vegging, a really good way to create higher humidity is to have a very good ventilation system. Infact, the best thing would be, in my opinion, is to have such good ventilation that it cancels the need for a vegging-chamber fan used to blow around the air, which usually dries the soil much quicker and zaps the humidity more.

So I built my vegging box with a 1.2-ish square foot floor print, made it less than 3 cubic feet, and installed a 70CFM Panasonic whisper fan! (discontinued model that I removed from its shell and hooked up to a rectangular vent)
Overkill? Not really!














Oh and was it Tranerek who wanted utility area pictres? Well here are pictures of my 12"-14" high (I forgot which height) attic with the Panasonic whisper fan 80cfm with carbon scrubber and remoted ballast and wirring and timer and all that junk...







And the White cabinet with the 17-1/2 high flower chamber...










And another picture of my old 133 day strain that was my third grow many years back, since you had such a nice comment, ThinkGREEN

 

[hoosierdaddy]

LOL...that is just one unruly plant there brah!
Love it!

 

[Bulénath]

Each plant in a five gallon pot yeilds 140-150 grams per 133 days of flower.


Oh I have great news! I thought the above strain was extinct, but I found a few seeds in labled packages! So Nuclear Cloud may live after all! She is (G-13 x Molokai) x Ducksfoot! The seeds are about two years old, but have been well kept. We shall see what happens when I put her in a 10 gallon pot under 600watts of HPS!

Even better....I found Sugabears OB1 F-2's!! I got a couple OB1 seeds!
That is Oregon 90 x Burmeese pure
Sugabears OB1 genetics live on aswell! Lets hope they are still viable and produce females, when I sprout them in a few months!

NOTE: my current strain is a cross between the two!

 

[RediJedi]

If I only use one Vapor Tight 150 then will it still be necessary for me to lower the operating current?