DWC 300W DIY LED SCROG Grow: AK47 and Mazar

[hempfield]

Indeed firberglass insulation or even rockwool would be much appropriate for this but I did not have any of those materials around and the minimal quantity would be to much to buy a whole role of that kind of insulation.

Forgive my english, I have a terrible headache - probably caused by my lazy gallbladder or pancreas (like somebody keep hitting my head with a hammer) and I barely see and understand what I am writing.

 

[hempfield]

DWC system

DWC system

As I promised, I came back with pictures taken during the DWC system assembly.

Because my growroom has a height restriction ( with an average height of 120cm /4') I wanted to have the reservoirs a flat as I could, without spreading them on the entire area of the room.

Unfortunately I couldn't find any opaque plastic boxes to use them as reservoirs, but I found two transparent storage boxes of 22cm (~10") height, 30cm(~12") wide and 45long (~18").

I spray painted the boxes with 2 layers o black paint, and the lids with 4 layers (2 layers of black and 2 of white paint). Unfortunately, because I used the cheapest spray paint I could find and because the mold used to form this boxes has been probably greased with silicon base Vaseline, the paint is peeling of very easy. IT's not a problem for the tubs, but for the lids it's quite annoying, so I decide to cover the with sheet of white/black plastic film.

Because if very hard to extract the water from the reservoirs I decide to use one small aquarium pump in each tub. To avoid pump clogging by the roots, the pumps are used together with the filters and I modified the filter body, by filling all the holes on the top with a hot melted plastic gun and I drilled a large hole (16mm) on the bottom, to be able to extract as much water as I can from the reservoir.

So here are some pictures (more in the album 2012 Fall-Winter Grow : AK47 and Mazar :

 

[hempfield]

The plants have been transplanted Saturday evening on the DWC systems and it seems that everything it's OK with them. The leaves started to grow and they do not stretch so much under the 'moonlight' blue LED light.

The temperature with the light ON is ~24.5C (~76F) and around 22-23C with light Off. Humidity stays to 45-50%, but I intend to add a ultrasonic humidifier into the growroom to increase it up t0 65%.

And again some pictures from the growroom (more in the album 2012 Fall-Winter Grow : AK47 and Mazar) :



L.E. I forgot to mention that I am EXTREMELY proud of my mobile DWC systems. Usually it's almost impossible to move a 15L (~3.5gals) flat reservoir without spilling out it's content, but with this system it's so easy to move and rotate them whenever I want.

 

[repuk]

hempfield, didn't notice this post!! I'm subbed!

You make DIY an art! Same love I saw in the LED build, in fact your grow space reminds me an art museum!

I see it's an open space, how will you do when flowering time comes to get dark?

Do you have pics/post of the carbon scrubber build?

 

[hempfield]

hempfield, didn't notice this post!! I'm subbed!

You make DIY an art! Same love I saw in the LED build, in fact your grow space reminds me an art museum!

I see it's an open space, how will you do when flowering time comes to get dark?

Do you have pics/post of the carbon scrubber build?

It's not an open space, I just used the term 'moonlight' for a more 'romantic' description of that beautiful color spread all over the growroom by the LED panel.

Because it's to small ( 1.2meters height, 1 meter wide and 2.5 meters long) I could not go to the other end of it to take pictures (I always sit in the 'lotus' position when working there).

Unfortunately I did not took pictures during the building of the carbon scrubber , because I am very focused when I work to my projects and never take a break, so I started to built it and after it was ready I realized that I forgot to take pictures.

 

[Bushwacker]

Wow! hempfield,
Thank you for sharing all of your efforts, and documenting them so well. I don't get to visit here very frequently, but I will be subscribing for certain.

Best wishes on your excellent DIY DWC grow. Hope the AK and Mazar do your room justice!

 

[vukman]

L.E. I forgot to mention that I am EXTREMELY proud of my mobile DWC systems. Usually it's almost impossible to move a 15L (~3.5gals) flat reservoir without spilling out it's content, but with this system it's so easy to move and rotate them whenever I want.

My friend, you have ever damn right to be as proud as a
about your DWC system and everything else you've
built and designed there. I don't know if a lot of people
are aware of the fact that you are in Europe in a country
where everything is not as easily available to you as it is here
in North America which makes what you do all the more amazing!!

Great work!!!!!

 

[señorsloth]

wow man, all i can think to say is...wow...you have creativity on a whole other level! that muffler is the sweetest frickin thing i have ever seen! no other diy muffler can touch that thing as far as looks go, and it looks like it would do a great job of muffling as well! So incredibly creative...then throw in the lights and the hydro system...you should be an engineer for a big hydro company! lol

and your thoughts on the resonance of the carbon filter...i have often wondered about why it doesn't seem to dampen sound at all...your theory must be dead on...i mean i just tap the bottom of my can33 and i can hear it plain as day on the end cap...

i've decided, i can never match your creativity...so im just gonna watch in a state of jubilated awe...rather than try to replicate any part of what you've done...it's just..on a whole other dimensional plain...

you should really make that muffler at the least into a diy in the growroom construction forum, though everything you design is seemingly an improvement over all other diy designs on the site...we would all benefit to follow your lead a little more lol

 

[hempfield]

Thank you very much for your kind words guys !

I think I am sometimes a perfectionist and this is not always so good, or it makes me feel a little uncomfortable, like in the following situation :

Some time ago I bought couple of LED dimmers from the Ebay, at a very reasonable price (~$4/piece).

I want to use on of them to control the speed of my exhaust fan (a 12V burshless fan, 280CFM) because it's to noisy (55dB).

The controller was a failure, because it did not have a linear variation of the output (voltage or duty factor if it's a PWM controller).

So I decide to build a simple PWM controller by myself (done this before in the past) using a IC555.

After couple hours of crafting the controller was ready and I was surprised that it has a smooth variation of the duty factor and I was able to change the speed of the fan between 60-100% . Lower than 60% the fan refuse to work and some strange sounds can be heard inside of it . At 80% the noise decrease considerably and the air flow is quite high.

Tested with a rezistive load (5M led strip) or with low power engine it works like a charm especially on "LOW", where the dimming is more visible to human eye. At 54W the MOSFET transistor stays cool (no need for a AL heatsink) .

Anyway, all together, my controller has less parts than the chinese controller and it work much better.

But I did a very silly, stupid thing : I have installed 2 LEDs on the plastic box , a green one for the 'power on' notification and a red one which light accordingly with the output. In a day by day usage this could be very useful, but I totally forgot that I must eliminate any source of light from the growbox during the dark period.

So I worked 10-15 minutes in vane , doing this LED stupid thing.

Here are some pictures with the chinese controller and with the DIY controller :

 

[hempfield]

Advise needed

Advise needed

I am in a serious dilemma :

I have 3 types of powerful 12V burshless fans :


- a Delta EFB1512HE , 3 blades, DC12V, 2.4A, 250-280CFM , 55dB:


- a Delta EFB1512HHG, 3 blades, DC12V, 3.2A, 280CFM, 57db :


- a PAPST 6202N/2MT , 7 blades, DC12V, 830mA, unknown CFM, very quiet



At this moment I use as a extraction fan the first one , but I don't like it so much because it's noisy. The second one it's more powerfull but it's louder.

The one with 7 blades is almost quiet, it does not create to much noise . I have 6 pcs. of this type and I ask myself which is the best choice.

At this moment the fan is silenced enough to be almost impossible to hear from outside the growroom, but it's annoying when I am inside.

What do you think guys, which fan should I use ?

 

[rootidec]

this is absolutely brilliant, neat job
there are quite a few wonderful DIY already in this thread that could be easily copied/pasted in the DIY section lol...

 

[señorsloth]

when i use those style fans i just use a smaller transformer to make them go slower, lol

the one attached to my ballast wants like a 12v transformer plug, i couldn't find one, so i used a transformer from a cell phone, its only like 3 or 4 volts...so it goes really slow and quiet...i remember once i was at a surplus store to pick up a transformer for one of those fans, and i found one that had a switch on it, i could set it at any voltage 1-12 or something...it was like a decade ago...but the switch worked just like one of those variable resister dimmer dealys...you could make the fan go fast or slow or anywhere in between by sliding the switch...

of course im not some mad scientist genius like you...i have like a middle school understanding of electronics, why solder a cell phone plug when you can completely wire and program some little machine to do it ten times better eh?

 

[hempfield]

@señorsloth : unfortunately, lowering the voltage (to 8V or 9V) decrease the noise just a little but the amount of air decreases radically so it's not an option to limit the voltage/current . This fans require high amps ( >2) and this can harm the under voltage transformer.

I think I will build a housing for the 7 blades fan ( it's diameter is 15cm plus the brackets and my tubing is 10cm ) to see which of them perform best.

Or maybe, if the situation demand it, I will use the less noisy fan on veg, when the smell it's not a problem (because this is in fact the main problem - the smell ) and I can switch to the powerful fan on flower.

At this moment I am thinking how to build the housing for this fan . With the previous one it was simple because it has almost square shape and I just put it in a cardboard funnel. So back to the drawing table

 

[rootidec]

hi hempfield,
I have a link to a table with the most silent fans,
It's quite comprehensive and detailed:
http://www.hwupgrade.it/forum/showthread.php?t=962589
(2005-2011 last update)
You already have good fans, but you may get some ideas on the housing design seeing how they perform.
C ya

 

[exploziv]

I'd use the first one.. easy to attach to anything, and quiet enough.. I have some just like that, but they run on 220v. (not so quiet tho.. but easy to use, and powerful)

good luck brother! this thread rocks!

 

[repuk]

I understand you hemp. I'm also a perfectionist and sometimes we miss crucial points while being carried away trying to improve small details to the max

I use a dimmer for my inline extractor because it uses AC, yours are DC have you tried a thermoregulator? it's dirt cheap and easy to build... I'd try it with the two first "big" models...

Regarding the 7 blade fan you could try a housing similar to those inline fans use, plus you could keep your tubing. You could get pipe diameter reducing adaptors...

A shame you didn't take pics of the scrubber, though a description on how it was built would be great too...sure you improved the typical DIY design!!

 

[hempfield]

Do you guys have any idea how I can measure the airflow without a anemometer/Air flow meter ?

L.E. I think I found the answer - I will try to build a DIY anemometer from a small 40x40mm fan mounted on a short piece of 10cm PVC pipe . I can measure the voltage on the wires and I guess it will be proportional with the amount of air flowing through. What the hack, it will worth trying ! ;-)

hi hempfield,
I have a link to a table with the most silent fans,
It's quite comprehensive and detailed:
http://www.hwupgrade.it/forum/showthread.php?t=962589
(2005-2011 last update)
You already have good fans, but you may get some ideas on the housing design seeing how they perform.
C ya

Wow, what an interesting link ! Thanks mate !

I'd use the first one.. easy to attach to anything, and quiet enough.. I have some just like that, but they run on 220v. (not so quiet tho.. but easy to use, and powerful)

good luck brother! this thread rocks!

It's extremely powerful indeed ! It's not quite a good idea to touch the blades with your finger while running. I accidentally did that with a 80x80mm Delta fan (same family) and I'v got my finger bleeding in just a fraction of a second. It's like a shredder or blender - this is why they come with protective grid installed (which I had to removed to decrease noise and to increase the air flow).

For the moment I will stay on the first one and if I figure how to build the housing for the third one I will give it a try. (working to any kind of DIY projects is always fun).

I understand you hemp. I'm also a perfectionist and sometimes we miss crucial points trying to improve small details to the max

I use a dimmer for my inline extractor because it's an inline using AC, yours are DC have you tried a thermoregulator? it's dirt cheap and easy to build...

Hmmm .. I thought at thermoregulator at the beginning, but the temperatures are always in an acceptable range, even when the fan is stopped. I even thought if it's possible to build a 'smell-regulator' but I think this could be the most expensive part of the entire project. If I could put my hands on a digital nose/sniffer like the ones used on the airports (never seen such a device, only heard about them) I could set to start the fan when the smell became noticeable

 

[vukman]

hemp..I have seen how they reduce turbulence in wind tunnels...similar to what you need to cut noise, you can use a funnel and then in the funnel place straws to make air flow uniform..That should drastically reduce the noise...

http://ntrs.nasa.gov/archive/nasa/casi.ntrs.nasa.gov/19930091087_1993091087.pdf

page 10 shows a diagram of what I am talking about.....with your skills...making something similar should be fairly easy and it doesn't have to be huge..just big enough to stop air cavitation hence stopping noise..........should work but I don't know how effective it will be on a small scale though..

Good Luck

 

[PetFlora]

Exc set up.

Word of caution: dripping water/nutes will channel into a few channels, leaving much of the hydroton dry.

Try adding a manifold with 3-4 openings to wet more of the surface area, or get drip rings

 

[hempfield]

@vukman Very useful information mate !

I think that I will made the funnels from aluminium expanded sheet and the housing from OSB 10mm thick (I already have this materials ).
The housing will have ~ 250x250x350mm, and the fan will be fixed on the box with some L shaped brackets.
On both ends I will use a 100mm PVC flange and I will bond the funnels with quick release clamp.
The space between funnels and enclosure will be filled with acoustic insulation material (fiberglass, rockwool).

Right now I am working for the box design and it's so funny to remember the trigonometry learned in school