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Cheapo 9W LED Ikea Trashbin Grow - GHS Super Bud

hempfield

Organic LED Grower
Veteran
Quite a lot of growth in 2 days!
View Image

This comes along with bad news, the LED driver somehow broke, i.e. the LEDs were a lot darker after two days running straight. A new driver is on the way from china, I'm using a 18W 865 CFL for the time being.

Those drivers are not so reliable, you should order 2-3 to have spare parts available.

Until the new driver arrives, why don't you use the poor's man driver (you must read - current limiter) which can be build in just a few minutes with very cheap components - http://www.instructables.com/id/Circuits-for-using-High-Power-LED-s/

picture.php


I also promote this type of current limiter on the Romanian section of this forum : https://www.icmag.com/ic/showthread.php?threadid=258324

Good luck !

P.S. I forgot to mention that I'm already sub to this thread :lurk:
 

tebos

Member
Thanks guys!

Wow .. nice clean build .. I'm sub'n to this one for sure!

Would be ok if I stole the idea?
Please go ahead :D

@hempdfield: It's no hassle to use the CFL at the moment, I'll just stick to it until the driver arrives. But thanks anyway (I already took a peek at your thread :) )
 

tebos

Member
Thanks! I don't know if I can keep up taking pictures every second day but here we go:

picture.php


I also switched to 18/6.
 

GP73LPC

Strain Collector/Seed Junkie/Landrace Accumulator/
Veteran
i'm in... :lurk:

this should be quite interesting, thanks for the little test grow :tiphat:

btw, i guess you have already planned for some odor control down the road huh?
 

tebos

Member
Thanks guys, appreciate it.

btw, i guess you have already planned for some odor control down the road huh?
I'm filtering the air at the exhaust fan, this won't be as effective as a carbon filter but it should decrease odor dramatically. I'll defintely report on this. The plant doesn't smell yet, even at close range.
 

hempfield

Organic LED Grower
Veteran
How do you filter the air ? What filtering media do you use ?

No other dry material can remove/absorb the odor better than the activated carbon so you can think to build a DIY filter. Be sure to over size it to avoid any decrease on the air flow.

We are watching you ! :biggrin:
 

tebos

Member
This is from the first post of this thread:
picture.php


It's a 3cm thick kitchen filter, apart from that I haven't taken any precautions. The air leaving the bin is filtered and I hope this is enough.

I know that a carbon filter is the best because the particles bind best on it but they also stay stuck in a filter like the one I'm using, just not as good, hopefully it will be enough :)
 

tebos

Member
The plant is looking really healthy and is growing as expected. I noticed today that the plant starts to smell (from <1cm distance), we'll see how it developes.

picture.php


As usual, my sucky photographing skills at work.
 

GP73LPC

Strain Collector/Seed Junkie/Landrace Accumulator/
Veteran
Thanks guys, appreciate it.


I'm filtering the air at the exhaust fan, this won't be as effective as a carbon filter but it should decrease odor dramatically. I'll defintely report on this. The plant doesn't smell yet, even at close range.


sorry, i didn't read the OP close enough, i should have. my bad.

anyway, i just ordered a very, very small ozone genny/neg ion genny. small enough to be used in a car 24x7. only 0.05 ppm per hour.

i will test it with some ozone strips when i get it to ensure it's safe. i'll report back, but for $40 you might want to consider something similar.

:tiphat:
 

hempfield

Organic LED Grower
Veteran
Question: why don't you place the heatsink outside the plastic bin ? You only need to make some holes for the LEDs and that's all - the heat will be dissipated outside the growing space.
 

exploziv

pure dynamite
Administrator
Veteran
Maybe because 9w of leds don't put out so much heat that he needs to worry?
But that's a great ideea, he could add leds to have more power, and take the heatsink out to get better temps inside. All that would work if this trash bin doesn't need to be stealth.
 

joe guy

Member
Hmmm I'm wondering if the white trash can will allow ambient
Light thru the sides hurting the 12/12 light cycle.. Are u running during the day
Or night? Wondering if some foil taped to the inside of the can it self
Will help block any unwanted hours of light coming thru...
Awsome lil cab u made I love cheap boxes especially when they are green inside
Thanks for takin the time to break down the build for buddy
Good luck
 

GP73LPC

Strain Collector/Seed Junkie/Landrace Accumulator/
Veteran
Question: why don't you place the heatsink outside the plastic bin ? You only need to make some holes for the LEDs and that's all - the heat will be dissipated outside the growing space.

good idea...

and as joe guy said, light could be an issue. black plastic krylon spray paint could solve that.
 
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