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Best Addition to your Room?

toohighmf

Well-known member
Veteran
slowing a fan wears it out. I have yet had a problem with my AC running full speed as intended. what is the point? the goal is to remove as much heat as possible
 
J

johndoe123

No problem bro and too high want to thank you after reading a thread that was about flip devices I decided to go with the horti control flip. Very solid investment.
 
A

ak-51

1. Actual Tent: A nice Secret Jardin 5x5 replaced my janky PVC pipe/black trashbag/emergency blanket homemade tent.

2. Large Rolling Toolbox: I keep all of my nutes in it. It's very convenient.
 

lokes

~Pollinator~
Veteran
1. Actual Tent: A nice Secret Jardin 5x5 replaced my janky PVC pipe/black trashbag/emergency blanket homemade tent.

2. Large Rolling Toolbox: I keep all of my nutes in it. It's very convenient.

I've heard nice things about Jardin.
Funny about the toolbox, I didn't think of that.

Picked up a 4x4x2 file cabinet out for scrap at the office building I use it the same way. Frickin the best to keep organized.
Organics, salts, plumbing, dry's, very nice. Everyone should have something similar for anything over 1k.
We're always switchin it up, so it helps to know where shit is.
My kitchen cabinet looks like a pharmacy.

Thanx for postin Ak.
 
toohigh brings up a good point. You should only use a speed controller on a high-quality fan that is designed for that use. I use Vortex fans and they are built to handle it. My scrubber is also in a sealed room, so air exchange isn't my concern. Increasing dwell time with a speed controller does work though, I promise. It's not just stoner-theory, hahaha. :)

Although the better solution would probably be to get a bigger filter.
 

Tweexican

Member
white-flood-tray-36x72x7-pi-3437.html
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Picked up two of these 3' X 6' botanicare flood tables for under $150 apiece. They were cheaper online, but shipping was nuts.

Now just to figure out if I'm going to go ebb and flow or drip...

suggestions?
 
A

ak-51

3. Variac / Variable Auto-Transformer

toohigh brings up a good point. You should only use a speed controller on a high-quality fan that is designed for that use.
Everything that I have read on the subject, and my own experience, leads me to believe that a variac (variable auto-transformer) is the only proper way to control fan speed. I have a small 5 amp unit that is more than powerful enough to run either of my fans (a 6" and a 10", both the blue plastic sunleaves ones). For less than a couple minutes I used a fan speed controller that I made myself out of a dimmer switch and an extension cord. That thing made the fan make a very noticeable humming noise that wasn't there before. At lower speeds the hum was louder than the noise from the fan casing resonating or air movement. The variac works great, I can run it all the way from 0 to 120 volts and it is very quite. The 6" is almost completely silent up to 50 volts. The 10" can run up to 60 or 70 volts before the noise level is noticeable beyond a few feet. Seriously great investment.

There was a great thread that had to do with this. I'll look for it later and edit this post.

Side question for the_extremist: what makes an in-line fan more or less able to be used with a fan speed controller? Electrical stuff is fascinating to me, so I genuinely want to know.

Funny about the toolbox, I didn't think of that.
The toolbox idea was born out of my desire to make things much more mobile. I've had to breakdown twice and each time I had to pack a lot of shit up. Having as much stuff as you can in movable containers makes things a lot easier when you have to get things clean quick. I also now have a bunch of big black duffel bags to keep most of my loose gear in. I measure nutes in my bathroom, but I don't want to keep everything in there, the toolbox helps with that too. I can keep it in my growroom and just wheel it out whenever I am mixing. In less than 5 minutes it could be in the trunk of my car.
 

growshopfrank

Well-known member
Veteran
3. Variac / Variable Auto-Transformer

Everything that I have read on the subject, and my own experience, leads me to believe that a variac (variable auto-transformer) is the only proper way to control fan speed. I have a small 5 amp unit that is more than powerful enough to run either of my fans (a 6" and a 10", both the blue plastic sunleaves ones). For less than a couple minutes I used a fan speed controller that I made myself out of a dimmer switch and an extension cord. That thing made the fan make a very noticeable humming noise that wasn't there before. At lower speeds the hum was louder than the noise from the fan casing resonating or air movement. The variac works great, I can run it all the way from 0 to 120 volts and it is very quite. The 6" is almost completely silent up to 50 volts. The 10" can run up to 60 or 70 volts before the noise level is noticeable beyond a few feet. Seriously great investment.

I run a variac as well but one thing to keep in mind is to not slow the fan down too much as fan motors are cooled by the air that flows through them low flow equals less cooling of the motor and the problem gets worse at higher static pressures. The safest bet is to not run the fan less than about 50 percent of rated RPM
 
I use an 8'' Vortex 747cfm and only slow it down 15-20% so my scrubber works a tiny bit better in my sealed room. More precautionary than anything, my filter is sized just fine for the fan and would work great without the speedster, but it makes me think I'm going the extra mile and it does run considerably quieter, which is a huge plus for me because I like to have company from time to time and I don't like my dining room sounding like there's a jet engine running underneath it. lol

Anyhow, the only way to know if your fan is "fan-speed controllable" is that the mfg. will tell you. It says so right on the side of the box the Vortex came in and on Sunlight Supply's website. Assume that the fan is not for this purpose unless the mfg. says so. I imagine it's just a matter of higher-quality internals that makes it durable to stand up to it.

To F. Dupp: I would think maybe larger filters and/or a redundant filter and fan would help too. Just a thought.
 
I'm jumping the gun here a little bit since I'm still waiting on it, but it should only be a couple more days, in fact I could get the call tomorrow! (referring to my tent).

#1: Grow Lab Horticulture's - GrowLab 80L - 2'7" x 4'11" x 6'7" which works out perfect for my system!

Followed by my 400w MH - right now they're under some T5s thrown up as a temp. solution. until the tent arrives. I have a Nextgen 400w elec. ballast, decent hood + 400w mh bulbs. These were all given to me as a gift (the lighting equip) - I am very thankful as I didn't even really know what I had on my hands until just recent.

-SinSe
 

lokes

~Pollinator~
Veteran
I'm jumping the gun here a little bit since I'm still waiting on it, but it should only be a couple more days, in fact I could get the call tomorrow! (referring to my tent).

#1: Grow Lab Horticulture's - GrowLab 80L - 2'7" x 4'11" x 6'7" which works out perfect for my system!

Followed by my 400w MH - right now they're under some T5s thrown up as a temp. solution. until the tent arrives. I have a Nextgen 400w elec. ballast, decent hood + 400w mh bulbs. These were all given to me as a gift (the lighting equip) - I am very thankful as I didn't even really know what I had on my hands until just recent.

-SinSe

Oh Bro, sounds like you're ready to be one happy guy. Can't wait to see your thread.
Rep that tent man. Good shit.
 

Marlo

Seedsweeper
ICMag Donor
Veteran
I recently added a light mover to my small setup. I rigged up a lil DIY yo-yo thingy to make it work in my vert set up.

picture.php



A light hangs from the loops on each end. The bar with the pulleys hangs from the ceiling and bears the weight of the bulbs. The mover and track are mounted to the ceiling (off center, so it doesn't hit the scrubber) and connected to the cable with the bolt provided.



YO-YO UP

picture.php




YO-YO DOWN

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:tiphat:
 

Flux451

Member
Marlo your vertical skillz are dakine

-the scientific method
-an mp3 player for your phone / ipod
-a nice chair
-glasses
-a piece (and patience / curiosity)
*good circulation
*a good attitude
*wet vacuum
*no faulty partners on which to rely H202

Anyone know growers who don't smoke herb? It just doesn't work out right - they can't cop the feel

PS- Haven't really used it but a rolling garden seat always seemed like a great idea if you grow horizontal and have a row(s) to cruise down on your rump (Plus hanging out below the canopy makes you feel like your on Planet Pandora str8 Eywa praising) - I love that thing for standing on and washing the top of my SUV, but hey its made for gardening right? Also thought about grabbing a cheap fish tank net for grabbing debris out of the rez, but haven't done that yet either... so yeah if its cheap and has a function, I am all about it. Pump bags kinda suck so an easily removable/cleanable filtration screen is nice if recirculating to your rez
 

simon

Weedomus Maximus
Veteran
Just ordered a Blockbuster to test. We'll see how it rates on the best additions list. Same goes for the Sentinel controller that I'll be installing in a few weeks.

Generally, I'm very happy with all my equipment: Uvonair 5000, Quantum and Galaxy 1000HPS and 600HPS ballasts, GE and Sylvania lamps, Vortex fans, SS CoolSun reflectors (which may or may not be replaced by the Blockbusters).

If I had to pick a single, best non-grow tool it would be a rolling mechanic's chair. Honestly, I don't know how I'd work without one.

In terms of grow bargains, Jack's Classic fertilizers are #1 on my list. I've been using All-Purpose for veg and Bloom for (err..) bloom for years, tested others and kept coming back to Jack's. It's ridiculously easy to get excellent results for virtually no money. I hate to think what I'd be spending on nutes, otherwise.

Simon
 

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