Check out my cabinet -29x15x56-

[Guest]

Just finished building this. Plan is two plants under 150 or 400w light (havn't decided which to use yet)

What do you all think? Next step is light proofing I think

 

[Sauce]

A 150w or 250w would work nicely. 400w is overkill and will be a bitch to vent.

 

[Latitude18]

looks good ... a few well placed peices of trim on the doors will seal that up good , tounge and groove will help even more , i would tell you to raise it off the floor and to not try to move it too much , raise it up so you can use the bottom to vent for stealth and those type tend to rack side to side when moved alot , so while building try to put a few temp braces on it better if they stay on , easy as screw'n a few triangles in the corners on the door side (front ) and i'd change the back panal to real ply . soon after opening that sitting on the carpet like that it'll get shakey , hard to close , harder to seal ... It's a good cab , I'm sure , just pre drill and screw all work , I use alot of "white wood" from HD , easy to cut and cheep . I've been looking for a big cab. like that too , think i'm gunna just build one though .

 

[Guest]

Yeah the cabinet is a little shakey, especially without the middle shelf which is supposed to be permanent and obviously add support.

 

[Fat Puta]

Heres some threads that will help

www.icmag.com/ic/showthread.php?t=20641

www.icmag.com/ic/showthread.php?t=21879

www.icmag.com/ic/showthread.php?t=20729

 

[Jnugg]

You have 3.02 square feet to work with and a total of 14 cubic feet.

With a 150w HPS you have 49.6 watts per square foot and 5298 lumens per square foot.I would recommend a fart fan that is rated 40-70cfm from HD or Lowes.


With a 250w MH you have 83 watts per square foot and 7284 lumens per square foot.With the Horizontal Super MH you would have the same amount of wattage but it would increase your lpsf from 7283 to 7615lpsf!
I would recommend a 170cfm inline with optional solid state speed controler and a DIY cool tube.


With a 250w HPS you have the same 83wpsf but lumens per square foot is bumped up to 9437lpsf.Recommend same ventilation/cooling setup as above.


With a 270w HPS you would have 89.4 wpsf and 9768 lpsf.
Either same ventilation/cooling as above or step up to a 265cfm inline wired to a solid state speed controller if temps of the room the cab sits in can't be lowered to 65 degrees.

 

[Latitude18]

cool charts

 

[Guest]

Yeah man thanks for the info and charts!

Here is a quick mockup I was working on.

-pic removed-

I'm thinking of cuttin large openings on the top and bottom shelves. I could make a lightproof way to suck in lots of fresh air from BELOW the bottom shelf and have a fan blowing it up through openings on the shelf. Then have another fan on the top shelf with large openings as well. I would like to have an air exit at the top, possibly with a filter? Tell me what you think of my plan.

I also sourced a 150w HPS with 150W Ballast from www.1000bulbs.com

Thanks again to everyone who has given me awesome advice, I can't get enough reading material.

 

[Guest]

Looks like your plan is a good start. Don't think you necessarily need a vent fan blowing air in if you got one sucking air out...but, you'll need one moving air around your plants at any rate. Just use some passive vent holes on the bottom & raise the cab up like Lattitude said or get a couple darkroom vents & put one each on the bottom sides.
Just keep the pics/updates & questions comin......there's a lot of handy folks on this site that have tackled all of the cab design problems before.

Best of luck on your project.

Bh

 

[minds_I]

Hello,

Try looking into darkroom vents-its what I would do agian if I had the chance.

minds_I

 

[Guest]

Okay little update here, hydro store was open today so I picked up some panda plastic and some foil duct tape (lowes)

Everything except the middle door seam is now light proof, I still don't know how I am going to seal that up and make the cabinet still openable. I am thinking of making some sort of drape that I just roll down before closing the doors.

Anyways as far as a light I'm starting to like the idea of the Lowes 150w security light conversion. The hydroponics store only had 1 150w with internal ballast and light shield for $140.

As far as ventilation I plan to just put a fan on the bottom blowing air up with probably a dark room vent on the top of the cabinet.

As always input and sugestions are appreciated!

 

[Guest]

One thing you might do to light seal the seam between the doors is to put a strip of wood trim on the back of the left door such that the right door closes against it. In other words....make it bridge the gap. Just an idea to toss at ya.........

Bh

 

[green_grow]

i have a couple of questions for the pros which are directly related to this thread ...
i was thinking of putting 400w hps in a cabinet only slightly larger than this; will i have a serious heat problem in a room where the ambient temperature will never be over 70F ? i can get a 400 no problem but the hydro shops around here seem to think that less than 400w doesnt exist. a couple of the shops i went to barely even wanted to look at me. maybe because i could be a cop ? middle aged, white, and reasonably clean-cut, but sheeeesh !

what is a solid state speed controller ? is this different from the standard dimmer switch ?

us newcomers certainly appreciate being able to tap into this knowledge; at least I do !

 

[Sauce]

It would be hard to vent a 400w in a cab slightly bigger than that one but with a strong fan it could be done. I'd say 200cfm minimum. Having an air cooled hood or cool tube helps a lot in a small cabinet. I recommend building or buying one. The cost is easily offset by the increased yield you will get from cooler temps and a closer light.

 

[Guest]

i have a couple of questions for the pros which are directly related to this thread ...
i was thinking of putting 400w hps in a cabinet only slightly larger than this; will i have a serious heat problem in a room where the ambient temperature will never be over 70F ?

Can be done no problem. Just be sure to vent out away from the cab to avoid heat build-up. ie. If the cab's in a closet, vent to the outside of the closet. Someplace like another room or the attic.

Bh

 

[Jnugg]

400 is overkill in that little cab.250/270w HPS no bigger.If you want more light in flowering add a few 4' fluoro tubes to each wall.

As for the little fan at the bottom and a darkroom vent at the top...not gonna work,sorry.You need either a fart fan or a nice inline fan.Fart fans are easily and cheaply bought at HD and Lowes.Inlines are bought at hydroponic stores.

Fart fans can be bought in all different shapes,airflows and noises.Inlines are the best hands down.

Just get a 4" 170cfm to 6" 265cfm inline for around $140 to $ 200 and use insulated ducting and a soilid state speed controller/Use one 8x8 darkroom vent on the opposite side of the cab as the exhuast fan.

If you must be cheap and go the route of a fart fam do not use a "booster" fan but an actual batgroom exhuast fan rated for about 170cfm but heat may be a proble, still becuase once hooked up to ducting and/or a filter their airflow/cfm rating is slashed in half if not more.Hell a dayton would be better.

Baisclly an inline will use less power to push big amounts of air

a fart fan will use lots of power to bush sub-mediocre amounts of air

a dayton/squirrel cage blower will use large amounts of power to push mediocre amounts of air.

Best = Inline (Vortex,Eco Plus,Can Fan,FanTech etc etc)

Better = Squirrell Cage Blowers (Dayton,Active Air)

Good = Fart Fan (Panasonic etc etc /visit HD or Lowes)

Worst = Inline Booster Fan (visit HD or Lowes)


You would have temp problems with a 400w HPS in that cab even if temps didn't break 70F especially if only using a) a fart fan B)a small fan with passive exhuast on top.

As said before no more than a 250w/270w HPS with a few supplemental 4' fluoro tubes for extra lumens in flowering.

I seriously beleive that the three options I gave you in my first repky are your best options.

 

[Guest]

^^ if that post was for me I am planning to use a 150w HPS in my cabinet, not 400.

 

[dizzythug420]

is that the cab from walmart? it looks like the one i used for my first grow. i used a 250w in a cool tube with a 265 sucking air out the top through the cool tube, passive intake in the bottomof the back... btw replace the cardboard back with a sheet of ply wood it will make the cab more stable...

 

[green_grow]

hey jnugg ...thanks for the fan tutorial. exhaust is one of the things i have been puzzling over . what is a fart fan ? where would these higher end fans be found ? where does a range hood kitchen fan fit into the picture ? i ask because i have one thats not being used for anything right now.

 

[Latitude18]

Fart fan is a bathroom exhaust fan , CFM is what you need to look at as well as noise lvl , if thats a concern for you , average fart fan runs about 70-80 cfm , cubic feet per min., run anywhere from 35-117 bucks